The Marshal Pt. 04

Bae stood in the back of the elevator as Marshals Janet Ryder and Yoshiko Taunt placed themselves between her and the door, shielding Bae with their bodies as they rode to the fifth floor and the apartment that had served as her home for the past nine days. She shouldn't bitch, the apartment the marshals had her in was bigger than her own apartment, but she was sharing it with twelve other women. Thank God it was only two at a time. Ten of the marshals Bae liked well enough, but a couple she only tolerated. The problem wasn't the marshals, or even the apartment. The problem was Bae's entire world had narrowed down to the four rooms of the apartment, the conference room at the office of Richard Martinelli, and the Chevrolet Suburban that shuttled her between the two.

Bae was being deposed, giving her testimony against her brother and the jopok he led. Martinelli had done everything he could to make her comfortable, but she was under constant supervision by the witness security teams of the United States Marshal Service. While they were very good at their job, and she felt safe, she was tired of only seeing the same set of walls.

The elevator doors rumbled open. Janet stepped off while Yoshiko remained with Bae in the elevator, her finger on the button to hold the door open for her partner in case they had to make a hasty retreat. Unlike her time in L.A., and when Rob had first taken charge of her, Bae tried not to give the New York marshals ulcers and followed their instructions, so the procedure was all very low key and routine. Several long moments after Janet exited the elevator, Yoshiko motioned Bae out and led her to apartment 5A, the one nearest the elevator. Janet was standing beside the opened door, her eyes alert. Bae knew from experience Janet had already checked the apartment, and she walked in with Yoshiko just behind her, Janet following her partner in before closing and locking the door.

Bae's days never varied. Up at seven for breakfast. At Martinelli's office at nine for two hours of testimony. A two-hour break for a boxed lunch in the conference room while Martinelli and his team reviewed the testimony from the morning. Another three hours of testimony in the afternoon, then back to the apartment. At six, one of the marshals on duty would leave to bring food back for dinner while the other stayed behind. They ate, then depending on who was on duty that night, they either watched television, gossiped, or ignored each other.

Bae usually retired to her room between ten and eleven, earlier if it was Tonya and Lori on duty because they were about as much fun as a case of the clap, and then her day started all over again the next morning. Weekends were even worse because she didn't even get to leave the apartment.

She liked Janet and Yoshiko, though. Yoshiko had loaned Bae a Kindle she didn't use anymore so Bae would have something to do when she wasn't giving testimony, and Bae was pretty sure that little piece of plastic and glass was the only thing staving off the cabin fever. Yoshiko had an extensive collection of romance books that Bae was working her way through. The Kindle was loaded with bad-boy biker, billionaire, and sci-fi, and Yoshiko's stories of choice were raw with a lot of explicit sex that ran a little to the kinky side. In addition to straight up hard and sweaty fucking, Yoshiko seemed to have a taste for light bondage and multiple partners sharing the heroine.

Reading about studly men and beautiful women getting it on in wild, passionate encounters passed the time, but it left Bae feeling horny and out of sorts. If only Rob were here. Bae smiled with the thought. If he were here, she wouldn't mind being cooped up in the apartment so much, and she wouldn't need the Kindle to help her pass the time.

So far, the Marshals didn't seem to care that she had the card Rob had given her, but she'd memorized the number just in case it was taken from her. She was headed for witness protection and was supposed to cut all contact with her past. She was willing to do that, except for one person.

Michelle and Lou had joined the rotation on Bae's protection detail. Bae was certain that Lou had figured out that she and Rob had fucked, but she never mentioned it, and Bae certainly didn't bring it up. Lou and Michelle had kept her informed on what was going on with him. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been covered in gunk, cut, bloody, stooped over, and stiff, but according to Michelle, in the almost two weeks since, he'd nearly fully recovered.

If they'd put Rob on Bae's protection detail, especially at night, the marshals could save a protection team, and in return she'd be willing to help Rob work out any lingering stiffness he might have. Unfortunately, it was against the rules and--

"What do you want for dinner tonight, Bae?" Yoshiko asked. "I was thinking I'd run over to Chinatown for Cantonese. I'd kill for some char siu about now."

Bae turned to the pretty woman. Yoshiko was a first generation American. Her parents were born in China, so she could speak both English and Chinese. She was married to an American, but when she was on rotation, she always wanted to go to Chinatown for dinner.

"That sounds fine," Bae replied.

Bae glanced at Janet. Where Yoshiko was thin and graceful, with beautiful eyes and short dark hair, Janet was bigger and stockier, and she always wore her dishwater blonde hair pulled severely back and pinned. She was friendly enough even if she did always look pissed off at the world. She waved her hand in dismissal.

"Whatever. You know what I want."

"Great!" Yoshiko grinned. "You want jajangmyeon again?" she asked, looking back at Bae.

Bae smile. "Sure. With pork this time, I think."

"Okay, great. Since I didn't have lunch and I'm starving. I'm going now, okay?"

Bae smiled as Janet rolled her eyes. Yoshiko was always hungry. Janet acted like the older, wiser partner breaking in the new kid, but she knew the two women were close. "Sure. Pick me up a McDonald's sweet tea on your way back."

Bae's smile spread. Janet was from Montgomery, Alabama, and she wore her southern pride like a badge of honor. Bae had learned Janet had transferred to New York when her husband's job was relocated to New Jersey, but her heart was still in the south.

"I hear there are only three or four more days before you go underground," Janet said as they waited on Yoshiko to return.

"Martinelli said he thought he'd be done with me by Wednesday. After that, I go into hiding for a couple of months while he issues warrants and what-not. Then he'll bring me back for the trial." She shrugged. "I guess after that, I'll be out of your hair."

Janet grunted. "Hon, you're not even close to the worst person I've had to sit on."

"I've tried to behave."

"You've been fine. Not all our protectees have been as cooperative."

Bae smiled slightly. Janet was hard as nails, so that was a high compliment from her. Janet's phone rang, and she pulled it from her belt.

"Ryder."

She listened for a long moment, her eyes and face becoming dark and hard. "So Gwynn wasn't the leak?" She listened again. "Fuck. Okay. Thanks for telling me."

"What?" Bae asked as she hung up.

She glared at Bae, her eyes cold. "NYPD just found SDM Gwynn and his family. Their bodies had been dumped at the harbor." She continued to glare at Bae. "They were shot, execution style, and there's evidence Drew was tortured. Coroner said they've been dead a week to ten days." Janet looked away, her lips thin in disgust. "Looks like Rooster was right."

"I'm sorry," Bae said softly.

Janet looked back to Bae with her eyes blazing with anger. "You just keep on telling Martinelli what you know so we can nail that bastard brother of yours. Gwynn was a good man."

Bae swallowed and nodded. She'd never met Drew Gwynn, but she owed him a debt of gratitude she could never repay. Rising silently, Bae retired to her room to give Janet some space. Bae knew Janet wasn't directly blaming her for the death of a fellow marshal, but Bae felt guilty by association since it was almost certain it was Kwang-hoon who had ordered Gwynn's death.

Thirty minutes after she left, Yoshiko returned with cartons of food. Yoshiko and Bae ate with chopsticks while Janet used a fork. Bae kept her eyes low as Janet filled Yoshiko in on SDM Gwynn, adding in some details she hadn't given Bae, such as Drew's wife appeared to have been raped and killed before Drew and his daughter, which was probably why SDM Gwynn had been so terse on the phone. The jopok had probably raped and killed his wife in front of him and then threatening to do the same to his daughter if he didn't do what they wanted. Kwang-hoon may have done it personally, but even if he hadn't, the order would have certainly come from him. Bae couldn't blame Gwynn for cooperating in a desperate attempt to save his daughter. Kwang-hoon might be her brother, but the news only hardened her resolve to see that gaesaekki paid for what he did.

The meal was tense, and they were eating in silence when there was a knock on the door. Janet and Yoshiko stiffened and looked at each other. Almost before the sound of the knock faded, Bae was rising, heading for the bedroom as Yoshiko moved to cover and Janet went to the door. Bae hiding in the bedroom was supposed to prevent anyone from seeing her, but having three plates on the table and two armed women in the room made it clear to anyone this was no ordinary couple. Bae hovered close to the door, out of sight but where she could listen. Bae knew Yoshiko was standing in front of the closed door, ready to defend her with deadly force if necessary.

"Who is it?" Janet asked.

Bae heard a voice, but she couldn't understand what was said.

"You'll have to come back on Monday afternoon."

More talking. Yoshiko opened the door but continued facing outward. "It's the super. He said water is leaking from the bathroom into the apartment below. Have you noticed any leaks?"

"No. Want me to look?"

"Yes," the marshal said with a nod. "Bae's going to look," she said louder as Bae turned to the bathroom.

Bae saw no problem and the floor was dry. She returned to the bedroom. "Nothing."

Yoshiko repeated it for Janet, who repeated it to the superintendent outside the door. Bae heard more talking.

"What do you think?" Janet asked. "He has a plumber with him."

"I don't like it."

"I know, but he said if we don't at least let him look at it, we're, well, the government anyway, is going to have to pay for any damages to the apartment below."

"I still don't like it. Why didn't he come by earlier, when we weren't here?"

Janet asked the question. The only words Bae got were 'not allowed.' He probably wasn't allowed to enter the apartment without clearance from the tenant unless it was an emergency, and a water leak probably didn't constitute that.

"Shit!" Yoshiko snarled.

Bae heard the scrapes and bumps as the door was unlocked. "Make it quick," Janet said.

"Thank you!" a man's voice said.

His voice was wrong. He was too relieved and the hairs on the back of Bae's neck began to prickle. Yoshiko must have picked up on it too because she stiffened and began drawing her weapon. Bae heard a loud pop. It didn't sound like a gunshot, at least not like Rob's gun sounded when they were fleeing the goons that had wrecked their car. Yoshiko was still drawing her weapon when the pop occurred again, and Yoshiko's head snapped back before she staggard and then fell, blood leaking from a bullet hole in her head.

"No! Wait! You said you wouldn't--!" the man's voice cried, the panic in his voice unmistakable.

Bae heard two more pops and the sound of another body hitting the floor.

"I lied," a woman's voice with a strong Latina accent said. Bae was frozen for what felt like an eternity. The pistol popped again, the sound not much louder than a hard hand clap. "Bo-bae?" the woman called. "Don't make this harder than it has to be. Kwang-hoon wants you suffer, but if you give up, I'll make it quick and painless."

Bae's brain began working. She shut and locked the bedroom door before rushing to the bathroom and locked that door behind her as well. She whimpered as she stood in the center of the small room, her hand covering her mouth to prevent her from screaming in fear. The was another pop, closer this time. The gunman must have been shooting the marshals a second time to make sure they were dead.

"Bo-bae? I know you're in there," the woman said, her voice muffled by the two closed doors. "Come out and I'll do you quick and painless. If I have to come in there after you, I'm going to hurt you... I'm going to hurt you bad."

Bae's heart was thudding in her chest like a drum, her blood roaring in her ears like a waterfall. She began to pant in panic. She knew the killer wouldn't wait long. She looked around for anything to use as a weapon, searching behind the mirror and under the sink. There was nothing! The bathroom knob rattled softly as the woman tried the door.

"Bo-bae? Come out, come out, come out wherever you are..." the woman called softly.

Bae tried to think. What would Rob do? How had the woman gotten into the bedroom so quickly and quietly? The pistol was the primary concern. Bae had to disarm the woman. She had to!

Bae grabbed a towel. Maybe she could wrap it around the assassin's wrist somehow. She discarded the idea as soon as it occurred to her. She had to strike fast, hard, and unexpectedly. She grabbed the container of bodywash from the shower and dropped it into the towel before pulling the corners together to form a type of club. She was twisting the towel to take up the extra cloth when the lock on the door popped out.

With the towel wrapped container gripped tightly in her hand, Bae stepped to the side and flattened herself against the wall so she wouldn't be seen as the door opened. The knob turned, and as the door slowly opened, Bae began to pant softly, her entire body feeling like it was quivering. Screaming with fear, Bae kicked the door fully open while stepping into the opening and swinging the towel in an upward arc as hard as she could. The bottle was nearly full and quite heavy, and by the time it connected with the shooter's chin it had built up plenty of momentum.

The woman's head snapped back as Bae's improvised bolas smashed into her jaw. The gunwoman staggered back and fell, squeezing the trigger of her weapon as she did, the bullet shattering the sink just to Bae's right. Bae's instinct was to run, but she knew if the shooter wasn't unconscious, the killer would gun her down before she was out of the bedroom. She had to get the gun!

The gunwoman was stunned and off balance, but she wasn't out of it. Bae dropped to the floor and grabbed the gun as the assassin started to roll over. The woman squeezed the trigger again, the gun barking against the floor. Bae banged the woman's gun hand against the floor, once, twice, and then again, the weapon falling from the gunwoman's grip with the third impact. Bae seized the weapon as her foe grabbed Bae by the hair, hauling her head back and causing her to shriek in pain.

Bae swung blindly with the gun and felt it contact something firm but yielding. The gunwoman screamed and her hand loosened enough for Bae to tear herself free. Bae kicked away from the assassin and bounced to her feet, pointed the gun at her opponent, and squeezed the trigger. The gun spit, but she missed and heard the bullet thock into the wood floor. She tried again, but nothing happened. The gunwoman must have known the gun wouldn't fire because there was no hesitation as she scrambled to her feet and charged Bae, blood flowing from a deep gash on the woman's cheek. Bae tried to fire again, pulling the trigger as hard as she could in a desperate attempt to protect herself.

The woman hurtled into Bae, knocking her down, the gun flying from Bae's hand. The killer tried to rise. Bae didn't know where the gun landed, but she knew if the other woman reached it before she did, the assassin would correct whatever was wrong with the weapon and kill her with it. Bae seized the woman before she could rise and hauled her down to the floor, Bae's hands wadded in the gunwoman's hair.

"Puta Perra!" the killer snarled as she tried to free her hair from Bae's desperate grasp. "I'm going to fucking kill you!" she continued, switching to English.

The killer drew her fist back to hit Bae, but with her head crushed into Bae's chest, her punch was ill aimed and weak. Bae twisted the killer's head to the side, their grunts of effort and pain as they squirmed the only sounds in the apartment. Lunging her hips, Bae rolled on top of the assassin, but her foe twisted her hips and kept turning to dumped Bae back to the floor, the gun woman wrapping her hands in Bae's hair as she did. Unable to escape Bae's desperate grip on her hair, the hitwoman drove her head forward, the collision of her head against Bae's stunning them both.

Bae lay still a moment, trying to clear her head and shake off the blow. The killer recovered first and tried to break free, but Bae further tightened her grip on the other woman's hair, desperately trying to prevent the assassin from retrieving the gun. Bae hauled the woman's head to the side again while twisting and lunging her hip to dump the bitch to the floor. Rather than try to wrap the killer up, as Bae had the last time, Bae twisted away as much as she could, arched her back, and drove her knee directly into the assassin's womanhood with as much force as possible. The defense was equally effective for men and women, and was something Bae had learned to protect herself from Kwang-hoon.

The hitwoman shrieked, an animal like scream of pain as her hands left Bae's hair. Freed from the killer's grasp, Bae scrambled to her feet as the woman lay on her side, curled into a fetal position with her hands clasped between her legs as she rocked and keened softly.

Bae glanced around and found the gun, dove for it, and grabbed it up before turning and pointing it at the injured woman. She squeezed the trigger again, but as before, nothing happened. Bae realized the gun looked wrong. The top part of the gun was slid back to cover Bae's hand as she gripped the handle, and there was a hole in the bottom of the handle that looked like something belonged there. She saw another piece of the gun laying on the floor and she quickly picked it up. It was obvious that the broken part went into the hole. She shoved the part into the handle, but it immediately started falling out again. She removed, flipped it over and pushed it back in. This time it stayed. She pointed the gun at the woman and squeezed the trigger, but as before nothing happened. Bae tried to push the slid back part forward, hoping that was the problem, but it wouldn't move.

The hitwoman was trying to get to her feet, and Bae knew that while she might be able to eventually figure out the problem with the gun, she was out of time. As the killer paused on all fours, panting with pain, Bae took two steps and kicked her as hard as she could in the stomach. The killer cried out and fell back to the floor, laying still a moment as she gripped her stomach before starting to rise again.

Bae couldn't shoot her, but she could still use the gun. The weapon felt heavy and solid in her hand, so Bae swung the pistol like a club, hitting her enemy on the head as hard as she could, the impact of steel against the woman's skull tingling all the way up Bae's arm and made her wrist ache and causing the piece to fall out of the handle again.

The killer immediately collapsed to the floor and remained still, but Bae was taking no chances. She dropped to her knees beside the felled woman and, using the pistol as a bludgeon, hit the unconscious woman twice more on the head as hard as she could for good measure. The hitwoman's head was bleeding profusely as Bae staggered to her feet. Panting with effort and fear, Bae stared at the body of the woman before kicking her in the face, just to be sure she was unconscious.