Day 208 - La Grandia Part 2

 La Grandia Part 2

Matthew Ryan Fischer

 

In the end, Bagus had cried and Maliq felt bad about what happened. It felt inevitable, and Maliq had never liked him, but still he was glad that he wasn’t the one who actually pulled the trigger. Maliq had killed before, but never someone who was a member of his crew. People would call Bagus a rat and say he was working with the police, but no one had any proof. But that wasn’t necessary. The suspicion was enough. Either way, Bagus was dead.

Yaz and Junko had disappeared. The Reapers, The Reavers and Warpath had partnered with Naxis and were supposed to challenge The Dragons for control of Jakarta. But now all foreign support had disappeared. Maliq had caught Yaz and Junko meeting with the old lady, but he had seen her at the apartment on the floor bleeding to death. So maybe Junko skipped down and fled back to Japan. Or perhaps Naxis had other partners they were working with. Either way, Maliq and his crew were left out.

There was a standing order to kill Yaz and Junko, no questions asked. Maliq was getting tired of orders. He had been happy out on the street. It was safe and he made enough and nobody ever died. Occasionally he had to chase someone or beat someone, but nothing ever got out of hand. Now, everything was out of hand all the time.

Weeks ago, Maliq had followed Yaz and Junko and watched them hold a meeting at The Grandia Jakarta with The Queen. Ever since then the bosses got their people positioned in jobs at the hotel, with hotel vendors or at nearby buildings. They wanted eyes and ears on all possible meetings between The Dragons and the foreigners. A couple of weeks ago security tightened and now hiring was frozen. The bosses owned several delivery services, but even those were having a tough time getting into the hotel. It was obvious that something important was about to happen.

Maliq and his crew were outfitted with uniforms and ID badges from The Grandia Bandung. The badges wouldn’t hold up to any scrutiny, but the uniforms would look right. The problem was they couldn’t all get into the hotel at the same time. Too many new faces would be obvious; one or two new faces would probably get them caught, but it was worth the risk. The rest of the men were stuck sitting in the back of vans that were driving around the neighborhood. They would close, hopefully close enough to pounce when the moment came. Their top priority was to kill Yaz and Junko and The Foreigner and anyone else Naxis related that had betrayed them. Priority two was to kill any top brass from The Dragons. If the opportunity presented itself, they could ascend to leading the city in a single afternoon.

Maliq was sticky sweaty hot, crammed in the back of the van when the voice came over the radio. The cars had arrived at the front and Naxis had been spotted. The conference was set and it was time to move. Maliq tried to stretch out as best he could, pressed up against men all around him.

The van turned the corner and the headed back towards the hotel. Maliq had never participated in an attack quite like this. He imagined the armies of history storming beaches and charging up hills. When those doors opened, he had to be ready to kill. There would be no time to stop or think. Every important gang was here, bodyguards and all. The only advantage they had was surprise. They had to move quick. Maliq thought of Bagus as his blood and guts spilled out onto the floor. There was no prize for failure. No fame from taking a bullet to the face. There was only the one option, win or die. Maliq hoped his bosses knew what they were doing.