Chapter 8
Her and Min had not caught up in such a while that it took a majority of the day for them to do so. While Zeke worked on the vehicles and Sevigny dealt with whatever he was dealing with, the girls designated the loft upstairs as theirs. There were a couple of couches, one in better shape than the other, an armchair, a blow up full mattress with sheets and Min’s clothes, and a card table. It was where Stevie, the little teacup pig, sat and snorted as the girls coated his hooves in polish.
They just finished laughing over a story Min shared when Remedy noticed her sudden uneasiness.
“You didn’t want to come back, did you?” Min asked. Remedy sighed as she twisted the cap back onto the paint and leaned back in the wobbly chair. Her hair was down over her shoulders, drying from the shower. She wore her sweatpants and a baggy dark shirt as if ready for bed again. Min had been her best friend for a long time, in a way that she helped with Remedy’s language barriers, going out for drinks, and simply being girly. Some emotions skipped over them, which was different compared to most friendships normal women had- emotions were everything. Min got attached pretty easily, but then detach just as quickly, and took things real personally. Remedy wasn’t too different. She recognized leaving the team for what she wanted was selfish, but the loss of a child so long ago fueled her decision to try and be a mom again. It’s hard to explain that grief to someone who never went through it.
Min wanted things to stay as they were, never changing. Remedy needed change.
“Personally, it feels like a huge step backwards,” she said. “But- it’s hard for me to let Sevy down...given the circumstances.” She looked over at her silent friend who was obviously sad, but nodded in agreement anyway.
“You can come visit, you know. My door is always open to you.”
A vehicle squealed to a stop in the street outside the body shop, followed by another doing the same. They heard loud music with a dropped base and multiple car doors shutting. When they heard men’s loud laughter they knew Klaue had arrived with his entourage. Min stiffened, Stevie snorted and tried to scamper off the table. Her and Remmy faltered to make sure he didn’t fall off and break something. Once he was on the floor he hurdled under the armchair and stayed.
“How bad was the flight?” Min whispered when they stood up to head downstairs, but neither girl moved. They could hear happy commotion echoing up to them. Hesitantly, they walked to the stairs and leaned over the rails, seeing shadows move about. Between Klaue and Beau talking, Zeke was telling guys not mess with his stuff, but they were setting things up. Whatever it was. Klaue was giving orders to put shit over there or in the corner.
“You would have to ask Sevigny,” Remedy whispered. They continued to listen.
“We could have set things up if you’d let me know. Once again,” Sevigny said.
“Ooh, don’t gimme dat; I called you earlier. Never picked up. After your wordless departure I figured a wordless arrival was appropriate anyway,” Klaue laughed.
“Oh? So what happened in Korea then, when you said you’d be in Germany?” There was a pause and what sounded like a giggle from Klaue.
“Fair enough, frog. Look, you wanted de plans? Plans are done. Everyone is here now, ja?” He slapped Sevigny on the shoulder rather hard.
Remedy and Min looked at each other.
The garage doors were shut, their windows covered in foil to make it pitch dark. Klaue was using green holograms that emitted from a laptop along with an oddly lit blackboard that at first, struck her and her teammates as odd, until Klaue wrote on it. The words popped, glowing rainbow. It was a giant ass light bright board.
A couple of Klaue’s men chose to sit in the fold up chairs. Zeke found one for Min and stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. Remedy stood up instead, crossing her arms overself. Sevigny stood close beside her. Klaue clapped his hands together and rubbed them, grinning. Remedy couldn’t help but wonder how something so simple gave him joy now that he had a left arm again.
“Finally,” Klaue said, looking over everybody. Remedy couldn’t look him in the eye though, when he scanned over, and instead just watched his arm. The blue light trimming was so thin in the dark, it was almost annoying. It felt as if his eyes lingered on her, like they did back in Korea just...a couple nights ago? Was it? Her days were mixing. She should start wearing a watch again.
Klaue dove right into it. Sections in London popped up on a map, and it was a wide area to cover. He had confidence. Each jewelry store was random, never the same company except for one retailer which Remedy learned belonged to a man named Bradley, who Klaue quite literally spat out as Junior. Police stations, traffic lights, alleyways, and Klaue’s directional switch ups between truck and van, van to car, motorbike or running, he pointed individually to in the garage or gestured to the vehicles outside. His men had to gun the gas pedal after shooting; Remedy became nervous. There'd be casualties.
She hated field work.
The last store he brought up was Bradley’s chain again; the oldest, it had more value. This one, the only one, he wanted robbed. Then once robbed and transferred to the heavy bank truck, he wanted it set on fire and blown. Slowly, Remedy looked over and up at Sevigny. His jaw was tight.
Assuming the police would be too busy and too spread out to focus on their team, they’d switch over to another vehicle and drive the merchandise over Tower Bridge. From there, follow directions to another location Klaue had set up.
“What’s the location,” Sevigny asked suddenly. Klaue held his hands out.
“Just another big house I bought,” he grinned.
“No.” It went silent, it got tense. Remedy couldn’t help but widen her eyes and stare at Sevigny, Min and Zeke doing the same.
“I’ve known you long enough. I’ve known when sudden new locations mean you pop people off when you don’t need them anymore,” Sevigny said and Remedy’s stomach dropped. Her heart raced.
“I am not , killing, any of you,” Klaue said and he said it loud, with a smile and as if he had to say this over and over and over again so many times that day.
“We are past that point; you and your lil underlings there,” he gestured with his real hand, special lite brite pen wriggling between the three of them.
“You all go home, back to whatever, with some jewels in a pocket or two.” He shrugged, lips pouted and that was that. He turned back to the board and looked it over. There was touch ups with him and his men about who was teaming with who, what else needed to be done to the vehicles- Zeke being in charge of that, and the small arrival of handhelds which Klaue was taking care of himself. At which, he walked off and let his men take everything back down, foil ripped off, and garage doors opened. Zeke went back to work, Min went to help him if to stay away from those of Klaue’s men who didn’t drive off to practice the routes. Sevigny pinched his nose, gave a solemn pat on Remedy’s shoulder, and walked outside. He needed air.
She herself, not knowing what to do or where to go, mindlessly wanted coffee and walked to the back to start a pot. Remedy stopped in the doorway when she saw Klaue’s back and almost left, had she not been curious to see him try and open the bag of coffee grounds with his robotic arm.
He was trying to be slow with opening the top, but instead it burst open in a loud rip and coffee flew everywhere across the counter, floor, and him.
“Ah fuck shit,” he muttered. She bit her lip trying not to smile, felt horrible about smiling, and forced it away. While turning to look at his mess he stopped and stared at her in the doorway, and immediately grinned.
“Still gettin’ used ta it, huh.” He held out the ripped bag, but in his movement he spilled even more of it on the floor.He flung it on the counter. Remedy knew it was better to turn around and leave him there, but she didn’t. She walked over to him, tiptoeing around the mess, got another bag and opened it. She scooped four cups into the filter, the tank was already filled with water. She pressed the on button. It gurgled.
“Danke, dolly,” Klaue murmured low, not wanting to be heard. She felt him watching her and looked away from him. She didn’t want him to see her flustered, and how bad she felt for feeling flustered. What was wrong with her?
“Sure,” was all she could say before turning to walk off. He grabbed her hand, not roughly but enough to stop her. Remedy tensed up, but still didn’t look at him. So she didn’t see the amusement in his eye and the hesitance on his face when he opened his mouth twice to say something and nothing came out. How odd that was for him.
He let her hand go and turned away, brushing the coffee off his shirt. Remedy paused for a couple of seconds, then hurried out and up the steps to the loft, where she waited by the windows for him, thermal in his good hand, and the rest of his men to leave to practice the routes. Absentmindedly she held her hand, replaying his few words over in her head and hating the way it made her face burn.