Chapter 451

The tension in the room rose significantly as he showed off the amount of cash inside the bag. The colorful Malaysian ringgit - following the Canadian's, they'd shifted from paper to plastic to make it harder to steal - caught the light, the dark red of stacks of 50 Ringgit bills more than sufficient to whet the greed of the gang. 

"Give it to us."

"No." Arthur shook his head. "Talk first."

"We could take it." 

"You can try," Yao Jing zipped the bag again, slinging it over to his back and flexed his biceps once more in threat. He even made his pecs dance a little, something that caught Arthur by surprise. Caught between amazement, envy and amusement at the same time. Yao Jing grinned a little back at his boss when he saw the grin, neither of them particularly worried.

They'd faced a lot worse situations in the Tower, including larger numbers. They might not have their weapons, but neither of them needed it - not for a bunch of mortals. Not to forget their friends outside, who'd make the fight go from unfair to downright merciless in moments.

"Check outside." A voice rose from behind, catching the group by surprise. The gang looked at one another, before one of them scurried for the front. 

Arthur turned to stare at the boss, because that had to be the cooler head and wasn't exactly surprised to see an older man, in his thirties seated there. The angle of his eyes and the straight black hair was at odds with the muted tan, slightly darker than he'd expect. A Chindian for sure, leaning a touch more heavily into his Chinese heritage. At least that explained the use of the Mamak Gang bit, and their presence here.

There was a hardness in the man's eyes, though he was going a little fat. A scar ran down one arm slung up on a raised foot, placed on the stool in front of him, his whole body posture screaming - a little too loudly to be anything but affected - that he wasn't worried about the two other.

At the same time as Arthur checked the boss out, he was being looked over too.

"Boss! Two more, standing outside. Not even trying to hide."

"We have nothing to hide," Arthur said, gently. "We're just here to pay off some loans."

"Whose?" 

Arthur walked over to the man, smiling. “Pak Saleh and everyone else in the complex’s too.” Without being asked, he took a seat and reached for a tea cup, pouring himself a cup. He noted idly how everyone shifted, annoyed; while he continued. “And then, once you guys are paid off, I’d ask you not to come anymore.”

“You’re confident.” The man looked Arthur up and down, a little frown on his face. He looked to Yao Jing then, the bag of money and then back to Arthur. “Who are you?”

“Arthur Chua.” He smiled. “I live in that complex. Might not forever, what with things, but for now – it’s home. And I don’t like gangsters in my home.”

Slowly, the Mamak Gang boss nodded. “You’re a Climber. These your friends?”

“Yes.” Arthur tapped the table with the bottom of his cup, drawing the man’s attention to him fully. “Now, how much?”

“Whatever’s in your bag is enough.” The Boss said with a smirk. 

“Really?” Arthur sighed. “We came here to ask, nicely. You know you can’t stop us, if we decided not to be nice.”

“But you chose to come with money. And you’re a Climber. You can always make more.”

“Doesn’t meant I intend to use it all here.” Arthur tapped the bottom edge of the teacup on the table again. “Different deal. Everything in the bag, plus you keep an eye on our place. Keep the rest of the gangs and what not away. No triads, no tongs, nothing coming.”

“You want to buy us permanently? No way.”

“Three years.”

“One.” 

“Done.”

That made the boss eyes narrow, while Arthur let the cup loose and stuck his hand out. The other man frowned, staring at Arthur. He looked at his own men, the bag and Yao Jing, and then asked.

“How much is in there?”

“Enough that you’re not losing out.” Arthur shrugged. “It’s not like many people are idiotic enough to bother a Climber. Especially one with ties to the government.”

“Then why pay me?”

“You did the work, you get paid. And I can always use new friends.”

“You kena ada problems, with the triads, eh?” 

“Why’d you say that?”

“Every Climber has problems with the triads and gangs in the Tower.” The boss shrugged his shoulders. “That’s why we don’t bother their places. Too many Climbers in their group too.”

For the first time, Arthur looked at it from their perspective and understood why they had started putting the squeeze on places that had been avoided thus far. As the Climber-linked gangs grew in number, as more Climbers came into play, smaller gangs had to either bow down and join or move. Just like the way that he and his team could have taken apart the gang here, so could the triad.

And the triad’s had a lot more numbers.

A factor that he was not looking forward to, even as the Mamak Gang boss – Ramli - made sure to clarify that they weren’t taking on any triads. Just the normal gangs coming to bother the apartment complex. Once all that was agreed, mopping up the conversation was simple enough, with the bag dropped off and the group wandering off for the day.

Knowing that in a few days, he would have to have a much more interesting conversation with the triads, where the power balance was going to be in the entirely opposite direction.

Which, of course, was why he was talking to the government at last; tomorrow.