The Eastcoast Fishermen often sailed far off shore for a good catch. As men of the sea, they grew accustomed to naval battles, which they now prefer over fighting on land. The buildings of their primary base was constructed to suit their needs. Garak Island was composed of a housing district where their boss Raike resided with his men. It was fenced off from a larger area where the cargoes are stored to be later loaded onto ships that would dock here rather than at the coast. 

Tax evasion. Jayden thought to himself as he checked out the place. Karl lead him into an unused storage shed, as per the instructions of this 'mysterious mastermind'. 

"It will be fine," He heard Karl reassure him as he left the place. Karl had left the lights off so that Jayden could find some rest.

But the carpet was made out of a material known as cold hard concrete, and the A.C. was blowing in chilly seaside wind. Of course there's no A.C., but Jayden was tied with his back to what was most-likely a window, and for the sake of metaphor he allowed himself to claim it as a malfunctioning A.C. His only other form was entertainment was to imagine what he would do if he was to push the boxes around in this obstacle filled room. From the natural lighting shining in through the "A.C". he saw layers of shadows stacked onto one another.

He heard voices behind him but for a moment refused to acknowledge it when he felt that it would force him to recognise that a standard "A.C". is incapable of producing voices. He had tried to eavesdrop though their conversation had a pirate-ish "arrh" about it, which was less-likely from their descent and more-likely from the fact that it was fitting to their position as waterborne outlaws.

From what he could make out of what had been said, there was apparently a special guest being invited to stay here. This person is the representative sent by Chang Mama to act in her place for the trade. They had talked about this special guest in high regard, who had mastered three various styles of fighting techniques at a young age. This person, they continued to describe, had monopolized the cotton market in Shanghai as part of a stock market ploy; had handed down orders of execution in Chang Mama's place; and had never needed a weapon to end a life.

Sometime later, the door to the warehouse opened to let Christina in.

"I see our guest is awake."

From the darkness, Jayden made out three silhouettes behind her. Two strong muscular henchmen, and another with a long hair and a petite physique.

***

The lounge of the saloon was decorated by a large mirror, stained with that of a depiction of the milky way. Lights hanging off the ceilings over the bar and the pool tables bounced off to appear as stars within the glass

"WHERE IS JAYDEN!!!" 

Thrown into the middle of the room were two defeated men who the others recognized as the ones who had been assigned as guards. Alex appeared in the door way with a handgun in one hand and a dagger in the other. Alerted, the members began to draw their weapons.

But one-shot...

Two-shots.

Three-shots...

Alex counted as guns were banged out of the hands of those who bore it.

Alex took a nearby wine bottle and smashed it on the forehead of an approaching attacker to expose its sharp glass edges, then impaled it into the stomach of another, throwing the remains towards a third. 

He hear footsteps approaching behind him. Men from the area are being called in.

"AND HERE I WAS, THINKING I DIDN'T BRING ENOUGH AMMUNITION," he thundered as he threw the chair before him into an appearing gangster, who had tried to ambush him with a machine gun. He took it from the man, who likely had a few ribs broken from the impact and began firing upon everything in sight, his back against the mirror.

It wasn't long before the place was wiped down with a rain of bullets.

"What do you want?" An older man exited the VIP room into the now destroyed lounge. Alex judged that this man was more distinguished from the rest.

"JAYDEN, WHERE DID YOU TAKE HIM?" Alex marched forward with a shard of metal, and his half-empty machine gun, forcing the boss-guy and his two henchmen to scuttle backwards.

"Calm down, we will prepare a boat for you and take you to your friend tomorrow morning, tonight the weather is getting too fierce even for experienced sailors," he said, still a little unnerved by Alex. "As a token of trust, I will come along as your hostage."

"No, boss Raike let me."

Some variant of that sentence was mumbled by each of them that managed to retain awareness, but he turned all of their offers down. Letting Alex grab him by the arms, Raike, the boss of the Eastcoast Fishermen followed him outside, asking his crew to arrange a boat by tomorrow.

The place, now a display of trash and torn furniture, stood behind Alex with one part intact. 

The mirror, which fortunately remained untouched.

Well, even if there was a couple of stray bullets, it'd not have done much harm. For it was made from a special steel alloy, and from the other side it was a one-way window with a good view of the lounge. And the person enjoying this view? 

She just knocked on wood with her glass to bid Alex good luck for his trip.

CHAPTER END

XXX

"Two tequila shots," Jayden said to the bartender.

"I'll have that too," Alex said.

"Idiot, I've already ordered one for you." Jayden said, reminding Alex that he called for two tequila shots. But Alex was already pretty drunk, and all he did was smile.

"Stop smiling at me!" Jayden said, putting his hands against Alex's cheeks and turning them around to face the bar. "You're being so embarrassing."

"Not gonna," Alex said, getting up to hug Jayden. "I'm so hot for you right now."

But Jayden ducked. "Go get off heat in the toilet at the back. We're not gonna do it in public."

"No." Alex asked, catching Jayden in his arms anyway. "I'm not coming without you."

XXX