The street is quiet. Too quite.
The sound of car sirens and commuters walking along the busy streets of New York sounds further away than before and the hair on the back of Tora's neck stands on end.
With an unlit cigarette hanging out her mouth and an eyebrow raised, Tora looks to her right.
"What did you just say?"
With three other guys standing behind him, he removes his sunglasses from his eyes, hooking them over the collar of his t-shirt and wiping a hand on the side of his trouser leg.
"I said: You're on the wrong side of town. Need some help from a local?"
Tora lights up the end of her cigarette, inhaling and exhaling smoke before she turns to the group. "That's what I thought you said."
"You're not from around here, are you? You're not even Chinese." Eyebrow cocked and a sinister grin on his face, the guy takes a few steps towards her. "What business do you have here?"
Tora shrugs. "I don't know what you mean."
One of the other guys speaks up from behind him. "We mean talking to Nadia Wong."
The first guy nods. "What reason would you have to talk to her?"
Flicking the spent ashes from the end, Tora motions to the restaurant behind her. "We just chatted, you know, 'girl to girl'."
He huffs menacingly. "Is that so? Well, whatever business you have with Nadia, you have with us too. Her brother used to be our boss, you know."
Tora blows the smoke into the bitter air. "What makes you think I have business with you guys? Maybe my business lies elsewhere?"
He scoffs. "Like who? Ash Lynx?"
The guys laugh together, the first crossing his arms over his chest.
"Maybe." Tora shrugs.
"Sing has chosen to ally with Ash these days, so," He steps closer to her. "I'll ask again, what's your business in Chinatown? Jap?"
Reaching the end of her cigarette, Tora looks down at her yellowed fingers, considering crushing the butt against his cheek, only to drop it to the floor and kick it to the side.
She flashes him a sweet smile. "How about we agree I got lost and I walk away, huh?"
He reaches a hand to the side of her head, stroking her long hair with his fingers. "I think that's probably for the best. You seem like a clever girl."
"So where's this new leader of yours then? Don't fancy taking me to see him before I leave? Or do you not like following his orders?" Tora questions.
The guy scoffs, furrowing his eyebrows. "Sing's out doing 'whatever'. Most likely roaming the streets for our missing guy."
She raises an eyebrow. "What missing guy?"
"That's none of your business." He sneers, raising his hand to her head, attempting to grab hold of her scalp. Tora slaps his hand away, grabbing his wrist and twisting his arm behind his back.
The three guys quickly pull out their guns, aiming them at her threateningly.
She slides her hand out of her pocket, flashing the blade of her pocket knife and resting the cold against his neck. Holding his wrist in one hand and pulling him down with her knife in the other, she uses him as leverage.
"From what we've established, I don't think you know what my business in Chinatown is at all." Tora hisses into his ear. "But I think by now you understand that I'm not someone you should mess with. If they make any sort of movement towards us, I can slice your neck quicker than that. You seem like a clever guy."
Beads of perspiration forming on his forehead, he calls out to the three. "Drop the guns, boys."
Seeming confused by the order but not answering back, the three drop their guns to the floor.
"Now," Tora continues. "I'm not interested in starting something with you or your boss Sing, although you seemed pretty quick to do that yourself, so let's make a deal. I don't slice your neck open, you let me walk away and we forget this ever happened. Make sense?"
A sharp nod of his head and Tora slowly releases his wrist, pulling the blade away from his neck.
Before she steps back, he quickly reaches behind his back to retrieve his gun while Tora raises her booted foot to his knee and, with a quick snap of the bone, he falls to the floor in agony.
As the three grab their guns from the floor, she cocks the gun, her finger on the trigger as she points it to the first guy's head.
"Shit! You bitch!" He cries out from the floor, squeezing his eyes shut and holding his broken knee cap.
Tora scoffs. "I think you'll live. You want to tell them to stop pointing their guns at me so I can go?"
As he continues to wail from the floor, Tora leans down, grabbing his hair from the root and pulling his head back.
"Did you not hear me?" She jabs the gun to his cheek and he whimpers, his face against the concrete. "Tell them to stop so I can leave, damnit. I already told you that I have no problems with the China gang so lay off already!"
Huffing, he looks to his guys as Tora presses her knee into his side. "Just let her go. There's no use getting Sing involved."
The three look between each other, the guy from the floor crying out.
"She's got my gun! Put yours down and kick them to the side, for god's sake!"
Following his order, they once again place their guns to the floor, nudging them to the side with their hands raised above their heads.
Tora leans down to the guy's face. "Try me again and I'll break your neck instead. Understand?"
"Yes!" He cries out, his face muffled against the pavement and she slowly pulls her knee away from his side and removes her hand from his scalp.
Holding the hammer of the gun back with her thumb and slowly pulling the trigger, she lowers the hammer again and releases the trigger to un-cock it. Tucking it into the back of the waistband of her trousers, Tora closes her pocket knife and slides it back into her pocket.
"Next time, send me to your boss and let us talk it out. Or just don't harass girls in the first place. Especially me." Tora shrugs, walking away and turning the corner in the direction of the main shopping district.
-
Sat around in the dingy, graffitied room, a singular low hanging lightbulb above the wooden table, Sing and the rest of the China gang huddle together to discuss their next plan of action.
"You all need to understand that Ash is our ally. He's helped us out and in return, we trust him and help him too. There's no use making enemies with a guy like that and Shorter trusted him so he's reputable." Sing tells them all. Dressed in his usual get-up of a white t-shirt, blue and white bomber jacket, black jeans and boots, the short, slender Chinese boy leads his gang with a determined expression and drive —his bold leadership skills overriding his small stature.
As he opens his mouth to continue, Yu runs in seeming distressed. All eyes go to him.
"Yang's injured! He's being carried by Shen and Lok!" He explains, the three walking into the hideout after him. Shen and Lok hold Yang up under his arms, the injured gang member groaning in pain as they place him down on the nearby couch.
Sing is the first to stand up, running over. "What happened? Was it one of the guys in Soho?"
Clutching his knee, Yang vigorously shakes his head. "It was some Japanese bitch!"
Sing looks to the other three. "What's he talking about?"
"We saw some Japanese girl talking to Nadia and when we asked her about it, she didn't want to tell us." Yu explains.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Sing crosses his arms over his chest and narrows his eyes at the four. "Are you telling me that you threatened her?"
Suddenly looking guilty, the four look between each other.
Sing shakes his head. "What you four don't know is that I found Lao today, his body in an alleyway holding a knife with a gunshot wound to his stomach. So, not only am I spending my day trying to clean our reputation as a gang of my stepbrother's blood, but I'm also having to deal with you four picking fights with a girl. All because she was talking to Nadia Wong. Didn't it occur to you that they could just be friends?"
Shen speaks up. "With all due respect, Sing, she didn't want to tell us why they spoke and she had a pocket knife!"
Yu nods. "When Yang touched her hair, she pinned his arm back and threatened us with a knife, before taking his gun and breaking his knee."
"How did you leave it?" Sing asks.
"She said that if we had any problems with her that we should bring her to you next time but she'd break my neck if we tried her again." Yang tells him, sweat dripping down his forehead.
"Did she say what she was doing in Chinatown?" Sing questions.
Yu shrugs. "We asked her what her business was with Nadia and if we had anything to do with it. She implied that she has business with Ash Lynx, not us."
Conflicted and not sure what to believe, Sing raises an eyebrow, nodding to Yang on the floor. "Someone take Yang away and treat his knee, right now. I'd better go and ask Ash, see if he has any idea what this could be about. Did she say what her name was?"
One of the other members of the gang speaks up. "Boss! I was about to tell you, Ash was stabbed yesterday and he's in hospital. He's doing alright but the cops are swarming him."
Eyes wide, Sing slams his fist against the wall. "Damnit! I'm going to go and see his gang, find out if they know anything."
Grabbing his fingerless gloves from the table, Sing runs out of the hideout in a rush, climbing onto his red motorbike and riding away.
-
-
-
"motherfucker, don't play with me" - Halsey