#18 The Lotus Wolf

"Jasmine can we talk about this shit later I really gotta get a fucking move on!" said Simon into his cell phone. "I gotta go pick up this guy I'm going to be working with and I'm already late!" He straightened out his clothes as he approached the Cortina. "The Damsel is fine baby. It's safe. Me and Jacquie fucked up that one guy because he was a raging psycho but that shit ain't normal, that ain't run a da mill kinda shit. The cops were cool they saw our licenses and we're good. Go to work, have a good time, and make some money." He switched the cell phone to his other hand, unlocked the car, and got in. "bye, babe."

Simon jingled the keys as he put them into the ignition. Just as he was about to turn on the car, he caught sight of something in the mirror behind him. When he looked up at the mirror he saw a thin round faced man sitting in his back seat. The shock delayed all of Simon's reactions. He turned around in the car and went for his gun. The little man in the back seat quickly punched Simon and became the little man in the front seat. Everything happened so fast, Simon barely realized he had been punched by the time the little man had taken his own gun from the holster and was pointing it at his head.

"I hope to God your fucking name is Lee," said Simon gritting his teeth.

"You are late," said the little man, "I am Lee Fook. They call me Lotus Wolf. You ever late again, I kill you."

"Are those to be the parameters of our relationship?"

"Yes. You fuck up. I kill you," Lee put Simon's gun back in his holster for him. He then turned around and put on his seat belt.

Simon turned on the ignition and began driving away from his apartment, "Gillingham gives you permission to kill me if I step out of line?"

"Mr. Gillingham tells me I may kill you if I think you thinking about stepping out of line."

"Damn, so right off the bat I already know you're a brown noser. No question about who's daddy's favorite."

"Don't be a child, Mr. Refing," Lee seemed impossible to get a read on but Simon found himself actually liking the guy.

"Call me Simon. Is it cool if I call you Lee?"

"Lee is fine. Actually, Mr. Gillingham never gave that order."

"That's a fucking relief."

"I made it up but that does not make it untrue."

"What? How can something you made up still be true?"

"Did Gillingham tell you anything about me?" asked Lee.

"Not a fucking thing."

"We are on our way to kill Lessox Vernon."

"What?" Simon replied rapidly. His eyes grew large and the Cortina slowed down. "We're going to kill Lessox Vernon, the Gun Bearer?"

"Yes. I am Lee Fook. I am Lotus Wolf. I am a Gun Bearer. If the Gun Bearers are killers who kill bad people, who kills the Gun Bearers when they've been bad?"

Simon swallowed hard, "Lee Fook does."