In Cold Blood [Ash Lynx] - Banana Fish

Twelve - Enemy

Staring down the cue stick, aimed at the last striped ball on the felt table, Ash shoots and the black 8 ball rolls into the pocket. He grins, turning to one of the members of the Chinese gang and holds the stick in one hand with the other outstretched.

"Good game." He says. "Very close though."

The gang member shakes his head, turning to see the three solid coloured balls left on the table. "You win, Lynx." He hands Ash a crumpled 20-dollar bill.

Accepting the note, he tucks it into his jeans pocket and tightens the green flannel around his waist as he walks over to Cain sat at the bar. "Still want to challenge me to a game now?"

Cain sips the last of his beer. "I still think I could take you on, I just don't feel like it right now."

Sitting down on the stool, Ash gulps from his beer bottle. "Whatever you say."

"So, has anything happened with that girl? What's her name...?" Cain nudges him.

Ash rolls his eyes. "Tora, you mean? Oh yeah, we've seen each other."

"And...?"

He shrugs. "Nothing much, I'm helping her out with something. I was right, by the way."

Cain laughs. "What do you mean?"

"She begged me for my help the next day," Ash smirks. "Just like I told you she would."

As Cain opens his mouth to answer, Ash raises an eyebrow and nods his head to Cain.

"Oh, you might want to duck your head down." He warns.

Before Cain can question him, the door of the bar swings open, thumping against the wall, and a knife narrowly misses Cain's head and hits the bulls-eye of the dartboard.

Stood in the doorway with a furious look on her face, Tora shakes her head —her blood boiling.

"Speak of the devil." Ash mutters to Cain and the rest of the bar stand wary, guns and knives lowered to their sides.

Running up behind her from the hallway, Alex raises a hand and looks to Ash. "Sorry, Boss. She just charged in, I couldn't stop her without having a knife pointed at my throat and my—"

She storms over to him, slamming her fist on the table. "What the hell are you playing at Lynx?"

Continuing to sip his drink, Ash shrugs. "I don't know what you're talking about, Tora."

Swiping his bottle away from him, she points a finger to his face. "You've got some explaining to do. Right now."

"I honestly don't know what you're saying." Ash raises his hands in defence. "Oh, this is Cain Blood. Cain, Tora."

Sending Cain a sarcastic smile, Tora narrows her eyes to Ash. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, you pretentious—"

"What did you do, Ash?" Cain asks, confused.

"I'm at this gala last night, and one minute the guy I'm supposed to keep an eye on is there and the next thing I know, he's been invited to another bar by a certain 'Mr Sphynx'. You wouldn't happen to know who that is, Ash?" She growls at him.

Ash shrugs. "There was an event at a club that our clients were going to and I thought he'd be interested."

"You knew I was there last night and you knew that was who I was looking for," Tora says through gritted teeth. "I can't believe you."

He raises an eyebrow. "This guy last night, he had nothing to do with what we'd spoken about with Max, right?"

Tora crinkles her nose. "No, why?"

Leaning closer to her, Ash smirks. "So, it doesn't really matter that I did that then, does it? He brought in revenue for us, so I don't see the problem."

"The problem is," Tora clenches her fist. "That I didn't do my job and now I have to do another damn conference and undo the shit you caused me."

Ash waves a hand, grabbing his bottle back. "I think you'll be fine."

As he lifts it to his lips to drink, Tora snatches it back. "I'm trying to do my job, so please just let me."

Head tilted, Sing walks through the door to the bar, striding over to Ash. "What's going on here?"

"Who's this?" Tora questions.

Sing crosses his arms, puffing his chest out. "Who the hell are you?"

Ash rolls his eyes. "Tora, Sing is the Chinese boss. Oh and Tora here was the one who took Yang's knee out."

Narrowing his eyes, Sing raises a gun to her. "That was a bad choice you made the other day."

"Oh really?" Tora raises an eyebrow. "Last I checked, it was your guy who threatened me first and I defended myself."

Ash lets out an exasperated sigh. "Sing, I told you to not worry about her, I've got it under control. And Tora, trust me, don't mess with Sing."

"I don't give a crap about what you have to say." She leans closer and hisses at him. "And trust you? I don't trust you as far as I can throw you."

He crosses his arms. "Do you take pleasure out of killing people?"

"What?" Tora scoffs. "You kill people too!"

Chin up, Ash shrugs. "That's different. As a gang leader, I kill people to survive —I have to."

She runs her hand through her hair, tugging at the root. "I have to! I kill people because it's my job! You only do it to gain power, you selfish prick!"

The chatter from the bar dies down and all eyes are on Tora.

"I just can't believe you!" She throws her arms up.

Standing up from the barstool, Ash walks over to the dartboard and yanks her knife out of the centre. Handing it back to her, he sits back down and sends her a tight-lipped smile.

"I told you, Manhattan is no place for a feline like you to roam. So, I'll help you out with what we agreed, but that's all."

Cain raises a hand. "Ash—"

"Stay out of it, Cain."

Spinning her knife between her fingers, Tora stabs the knife into the bar top —narrowly missing his fingers. "Get in the way of another job and I'll pull your throat out quicker than you can say 'sorry, Tora'."

Pulling her knife out and placing it behind her back, she stomps out of the bar and slams the door shut without another word.

The rest of the guys go back to their conversations and Sing takes a seat next to Ash. "What the hell was that?"

Ash tuts, sipping the rest of his beer. "I can't believe I agreed to help her."

"Yeah, but what did you do?" Cain questions. "Sounds like you screwed her over."

Shaking his head, Ash ignores him and asks Kyle for another beer.

Cain huffs a laugh. "Anyway, she's pretty feisty."

Ash scoffs. "Pain in my ass, more like."

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"oh, the misery

everybody wants to be my enemy" - Imagine Dragons