Ch. 32 – Good Night

Derrick got up, turned around, pretended to stretch, and then scratched his crotch. He had gowned out and changed back into his pajamas, which were still damp, sweaty, and stained with blood. After Alan had stabbed Tony, and when they were rushing him to the hospital, Derrick hadn’t had time to change into clean clothes. The first rays of sunlight trickled into the lobby through the automatic glass doors. Derrick sat across from Ping and a few other White Leopards, who were supposed to be watching him, but were mostly half-asleep or on their phones. Theo was with Ah Jun somewhere else in the hospital, probably the ICU, most likely conferring with the White Leopards’ boss about something.

Derrick was drifting in and out of sleep, but the White Leopards wouldn’t let him leave until they were convinced that Ah Jun was fine. He didn’t want to be out cold, in case something really had gone wrong and he needed to make a run for it, so he pinched his leg, letting the sharp pain jerk him awake. It worked . . . for a few minutes, and then he moved onto pinching his arm, and then his face, as pinching the same place did less and less as he grew more tired . . .

Derrick jerked upwards and wiped the drool from his cheek as Theo came into view. He sat down opposite Derrick and threw his legs up onto the seat to Derrick’s left. “What a day.” He inhaled deeply, and breathed out, looking somewhere out at the wall in front of him.

Most of the other White Leopards were gone, save for one foot soldier who was watching the entrance, and the old driver, who was looking over at Derrick and Theo. Derrick had fallen asleep after all. “So . . . how is Ah Jun?” Derrick asked.

“He’s fine. Ah Jun woke up in time for the Boss to call us. The information on the Hermanos was a bit stale, but it got the job done. Still, he’s safe now, and that’s what counts to the Boss.”

“Good to hear . . . .” Derrick said. He stood up, and the exhaustion hit him all at once, and the caked blood on his legs and stomach itched. He squinted, and blinked his eyes rapidly. What he would give for a shower. Derrick tried to face Theo and bow his head, but stumbled a bit to his left, and fell back onto the chairs again. Each sudden movement made his headache worse, but he grit his teeth and settled for making eye contact with Theo instead. “Listen, thanks for paying for Tony’s treatment.”

Theo nodded, eyes half closed. “Oh right, about that.” He took an unhurried breath, and shook his head before looking at Derrick and continuing. “I could only find money for the surgery, and a few days stay in the hospital, but you’re going to have to come up with the payment for the rest of hospital’s continuing treatment.”

Derrick perked up, truly awake for the first time in hours. “But . . . we don’t have insurance. How are we going to pay for it?”

“Well,” Theo said. “Do you remember my offer from earlier? You could work as a mod-doc for the White Leopards. We always have mod work that needs doing, and you’ve also proved yourself as a surgeon in a pinch. Plus, we have a few jobs that will need doing very soon. It’ll be quick money.”

Derrick squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced, before swallowing and forcing the grimace away. “Look. Tonight was . . . really rough for me and Tony. We don’t want to be involved with—any of this: shoot-outs with gangs, secret implant receivers. We’re just trying to get by, man.”

“Well, we were going to waive your protection money, as thanks for operating on Ah Jun,” Theo said.

“And I appreciate that!” Derrick said, glaring at Theo, who didn’t bother to meet his gaze. “But my mentor almost died tonight, because we got caught up in your gang wars. We can’t live like this forever, and honestly, I’m not sure how you do.”

A smile flickered across Theo’s face, and then his tired, distant look returned, as if it had never left. Huh. The wrinkles on Theo’s forehead had never stood out before, but they seemed all too apparent in the sterile light of the emergency department lobby.

“I believe in fair exchange,” Theo said. He finally looked back at Derrick, but with a hard, unyielding smile. Derrick shivered as Theo’s presence came down to bear on him, despite the man not actually moving an inch from the waiting room chair. “I think it’s perfectly reasonable for you to help us out a bit if we’re waiving your protection money. Think about that, no protection money. Forever. This has endless value for your business. And not to mention we’d actually be paying you. So, how about this.” Theo tapped a finger on his leg. “We’ll wait for your boss to wake up and make the final decision on whether or not to do mod work for the White Leopards. But if he refuses, then we can’t justify waiving your protection fee.”

Derrick held his tongue, as he was on the verge of clicking it in annoyance. “I thought you were waiving the protection fee to thank Tony for saving Ah Jun?”

“Maybe a month or two of it, but that’s it. And don’t forget, we protect Chinatown. If you ignore the protection fee, I can’t promise the Hermanos won’t come over and ruin your business.”

“The Hermanos?,” Derrick said. “But, you guys got that intel . . . it was something that was supposed to help you chase out the Hermanos, right?”

“Well, maybe it’ll be the Dixies next time. Their leader’s been eyeing this territory for a while now, and he’s not a nice guy. They might hurt one of you even worse than Alan did, who knows?”

That was a threat. A bold threat, if Derrick had ever heard one. Sweat trickled from his scalp down the back of his neck.

Theo chuckled. “Well, I don’t really need to hear your answer, or Tony’s, tonight. If we knock on your door, and you don’t open up, we’ll know your answer then.”

“O-okay,” Derrick stammered. “I’ll talk to Tony about it.”

“That’s all I could ask for,” Theo said, getting to his feet. “Alright, I’m glad we had a chance to talk, Derrick. Why don’t you get some rest? One of my men can send you back to your shop. And if you want to see Tony, you can take the bus back in once they’re running again. I’m guessing you don’t want to sleep in a chair at the hospital after all you’ve been through.”

‘My men,’ Theo had said. It seemed that the gangster had moved up in the world after Alan’s betrayal was revealed. He had a fair point, though. Derrick was so drained he wouldn’t be able to help Tony even if he tried, and he really wanted to sleep on a bed.

“Okay, that would be good . . . . Thanks,” Derrick said.

Theo whistled toward the old driver, who was sitting in the corner, reading a magazine.

The driver grunted and set the magazine down neatly back in the rack.

“Take care, Derrick,” Theo said.

Derrick nodded and trudged toward the front door, following the old driver, who had the same grumpy energy as earlier in the night.

The rain had stopped, but Derrick could still taste it in the air. A chill morning gust threatened to blow the last of his heat and energy away from him. Derrick wrapped his arms around himself, painfully aware that he was still in his sleeping attire.

the old White Leopard said.

Shit. The man looked like he had been working for the White Leopards for a while. It wouldn’t be weird if he had been driving the gang that night when the fire happened. Derrick still remembered the posters with his face on them that the White Leopards had put up all around town when they figured out who was to blame for the inferno. The old man might’ve seen them back in the day.

Can he recognize me even through the facial surgery? But it’s been years. Derrick shrugged, and then shivered and wrapped his arms tight around himself even harder. Please stop asking questions. Please stop asking questions.

The older Leopard grunted and slapped Derrick’s back. The man’s hand was surprisingly warm, despite the cold weather, and his lack of gloves.

Jacky said.

Derrick was rooted to the ground. It was all too much. The old White Leopard was going to figure out Derrick’s identity sooner or later if he kept looking at Derrick’s face. Would it be better to bluff and try to leave on good terms, or make a break for it?

Derrick decided it’d be even more suspicious if he walked off toward the bus stop cold and alone in his pajamas, so he relented. And so he crossed the parking lot, caked in blood and sweat, and followed a White Leopard into a White Leopard van.

They slammed the doors shut, and the next thing Derrick knew, his forehead was sore, and he was leaning against the car window, through which the early morning light shone.

the driver said.

Derrick shook his head, watching the world spin for a bit. He opened the door, and stumbled out onto the street, wetting his bare ankles as he stepped into a puddle.

Water pooled up in an even larger puddle in front of the threshold to the shop. Jackie the driver helped Derrick pull Hack Alley’s front out from the van, where they had kept it after rushing Tony to the hospital, and leaned the door against the door frame.

Derrick said to the driver, who had gotten back into the van, and was dumping a carton full of cigarette butts out of the driver’s seat window.

The driver looked up. He nodded and rolled the window up, before driving out of the alley and down the block.

Derrick walked through the doorway, stepping over the puddle, and walked past the ruined components that Alan had spilled upon the floor before he came into Tony’s room with knife in hand. Derrick would have liked to pick them up, and clean the floor, but it had all been too much this night. Too much.

The door to his room was still ajar, from when he had burst out of it, armed with nothing but a tablet, ready to risk his life to save Tony’s.

He locked the door to his room, flopped on the mattress, and felt his muscles cry out in relief, even as they still pulsed and ached.

And then, he was asleep.