Chapter 18: Back to New York City
"I'm heading to bed now," Li Xin said eventually. "We can talk tomorrow. Oh, and thank you."
She didn't want Jun Qi to find out too much about her situation with Ya, and neither did she want the other man to find anything out about what she had been up to lately. These two people were from two different worlds and bringing them together was unnecessary.
"All right then, good night! Have a good night's rest," Jun Qi replied, his buoyant expression not changing. He leaned over and kissed Li Xin goodnight on the cheek.
Li Xin watched him saunter off with an air of grace and scratched the tip of her nose. Honestly, she couldn't understand him. Just earlier in the evening, he'd been asking her out. You'd think he'd be miffed to see another man in her room, but his demeanor was just as nonchalant as always. It seemed he was just extraordinarily generous when it came to love — either that, or he was into open relationships since he himself was hardly the faithful type.
What Li Xin didn't know was that Jun Qi was an expert when it came to reading people; he could tell instantaneously whether or not there was anything between two people. Although Ya and Li Xin were in the same room, the atmosphere was not that of a couple. In fact, Jun Qi felt that there even existed a certain degree of antagonistic vibe between them. He hadn't spent so many years being a player for nothing. Because of this, he felt sure that there was nothing romantic between the two — though of course, that didn't mean he wasn't going to mark his territory.
~~~
Li Xin had just showered and chosen another room to sleep in when the doorbell rang. A representative of the hotel had come to report that since the lock was broken, it needed to be fixed. When the hotel employees had finished their job, Li Xin was once again just about to head to bed when yet again, the doorbell rang. It turned out to be the same hotel employee, returning to make apologies for a second time.
When the doorbell rang for a third time and it happened to be the employee once again (this time bringing a gift of apology), Li Xin glanced out the window at the sky that was just beginning to brighten with the first hints of sunlight and left her room, annoyed.
She kicked open the door to Jun Qi's room, which was right next to hers. Jun Qi happened to be standing right near the door. Li Xin barely glanced at the amused expression on his face before heading straight towards his giant bed and throwing herself onto the comforter. This was the only way she was going to get any sleep tonight.
Jun Qi shut his door and watched her, his eyes crinkling in laughter. She was already asleep. He felt better knowing that she was sleeping in his room, anyhow.
The next morning, Li Xin was still half asleep when she was woken up by an incessant beeping near her ear. She got up and blinked herself awake. There was no one else in the room with her.
After a long, hesitant pause, she reached up to press one of the ruby red earrings she was wearing, and Ya's voice immediately filled her ear.
"What's going on?" Li Xin hadn't expected it to be Ya on the other end.
"I just got news that the boss found Sui Xin," he said quietly.
Li Xin was upright in a flash. "Is that true? Where?"
"I don't know if it's true or not. I got the news from Fei Xin. Apparently she's somewhere in New York. I'm just telling you because you helped me this time. Do whatever you want with the information. We're even now." The connection ended as soon as Ya finished speaking.
Li Xin sat on the bed unmoving with her eyebrows creased tensely. She and Sui Xin had said they would keep in touch with each other, but she hadn't heard from the other girl in ages. Before separating, they had manipulated their communication frequencies so that any time one called for the other, the connection would not fail. It was highly unusual for Sui Xin to have dropped off the radar for so long.
The more Li Xin thought about it, the more apprehensive she felt. Sui Xin had been her partner for over ten years. Over time, they had developed professional chemistry and had become close friends — sisters, if Li Xin were to be completely honest. She knew what terrible things were likely to happen to Sui Xin if she had really been found and caught.
However, she wasn't senseless. It wouldn't be that easy for them to lure her back to them. Besides, the two of them had a method of communication, and Sui Xin should have been able to contact her the instant something happened, even if she had been caught.
The whole situation was baffling.
Li Xin mulled over the latest turn of events in a heavy silence. "Shit," she cursed eventually. It wasn't going to be possible for her to ignore the news about Sui Xin. Even if it wasn't true, she still felt unsettled.
~~~
"I need the next flight out to New York."
A few hours later, Li Xin found herself at the airport dressed inconspicuously in casual clothing and a baseball cap. She needed to get to New York to personally assess the situation.
Several miles away, Jun Qi was racing towards the airport in his silver-white race car. Upon seeing Li Xin's airplane take off into the sky through the window, he punched his steering wheel in consternation. The bloody woman had slipped away from him yet again.
Earlier that morning he'd gone back to the room to call Li Xin up for breakfast but found the room completely empty save for a note saying that she had some business to deal with and was leaving. He had known that something serious must have come up for her to leave so suddenly when she had planned on staying in Vegas for a longer time.
He had cursed right after reading her note. He couldn't believe that after all this time, she wouldn't trust him with whatever she was dealing with and had just left.
Jun Qi watched from the driver's seat as the plane drifted up into the clouds and disappeared from view. The hand he'd used to hit the steering wheel clenched into a fist. He had no idea what Li Xin was thinking, leaving the safe haven of Las Vegas.
She was an enigma — self-reliant, overly independent… but he was not so easy to get rid of either. He would find her, no matter where she went.
~~~
Obsidian Alley in New York City was a hidden alley that appeared ordinary during the day, but was the source of nearly all of the city's darkness; it was a place where all kinds of information could be purchased and sold — such as, where the largest arms smuggling organization's latest goods were being exported, and on what route.
Everything could be bought for a price.
It was also here where drug addicts came for their cocaine and heroine; its grimy pavement was a perpetual witness to a plethora of violent murders, gang shootings, and prostitution.
Over time, the previously ordinary alleyway gained reputation amongst the city's criminal underworld and earned its name: Obsidian Alley.
Li Xin stood at the dim entrance of the aforementioned alleyway, leaning against a wall. She was fiddling around aimlessly with a lighter, faint glimmers occasionally glinting off its metallic silver body as it caught the occasional ray of sunlight that passed into the otherwise dingy place.
"Come to buy information again?"
The deep, heavy voice came from behind her and she watched as a distinctly human shape emerged from the shadow of the wall.
Without turning around, Li Xin asked, "I want to know the latest on the thieves."
"A million."
"I can do that."
Neither of them wasted any time.
"Follow me," the voice responded, turning around and heading off in the opposite direction. After a beat, Li Xin followed him down the familiar path.
"They got a new job recently…" The cold, detached voice in front of her made her whole body tense.
~~~
Li Xin walked slowly down the brightly-lit streets of New York City, deep in thought. She couldn't fight the uneasiness that enveloped her since leaving Obsidian Alley. The information she had received had been clear and concise… unnaturally so.
She had been a personal witness to her former organization's prowess all her life, and she had never known them to leak their agenda to the outside to such a degree. Anyone who was determined could have gotten the information she'd been given; there was no secret about it. A thief sent on such a blatantly overt mission was a thief that had been sent to die.
The organization wanted Sui Xin dead.