Learning Kim

Four

Chapter 4

All of them are there in the meeting room, sitting around the large wooden table where the important meetings are being held, where people have been shot before and where Ken's head once lay. Each person with a different drink on front of them: Kinn with a whisky, Porsche with a martini, Tankhun with a Pina colada with a pink paper umbrella and two colourful straws, Vegas with a glass of dark red wine, Pete with a glass of white wine, Arm with water and Porchay with mango juice. All other bodyguards have been ordered to stay outside and secure the room and the premisses; Porchay being the last person arriving and allowed inside the room before Kinn locked the doors by pressing the button, activating sound scramblers at the same time.

"Pa is back at the safehouse with Nampheung after his blood test, I will keep him updated personally. He wants this solved as soon as possible." Kinn opens the meeting and Porchay is reminded of the pictures on the murder board in Kim's house: Korn and Kinn as one unit in the middle. Porchay knows that Kinn is affected by Kim's state, but Korn so far has not shown any interest in his injured youngest son. Porchay wonders if Kinn will become like Korn one day, fully uncaring about his family and only about business? It's who he is trying to achieve to be after all, trying to be like his father. Porchay hopes his brother will have a positive effect on him and not become like that himself. Or will Porsche also become like Korn one day? Maybe they are both well on their way with how they treated him in the past months, Chay thinks.

"Arm," Kinn nods in the bodyguard's direction, who pulls something up on his iPad and shows it to everyone on the large screen hanging on the wall.

"We got an anonymous call today, leading us to the eight dead bodies of Kim's attackers. They were shot from a distance with a sniper's rifle. Head shots, one shot each, deadly." He pulls up the pictures and Porchay flinches. Seeing dead, naked men his age with bullet holes in their heads is not what he expected for this meeting. He puts his glass back down that he just wanted to sip from, suddenly not able to stomach it anymore.

"They are a minor street gang of no importance who did a bit of drug dealing and robbery for money and are aged 13 to 20. The one who shot Kim was not the leader. He was a seventeen year old teen named Plan who dropped out of school over a year ago. No former reports about gun violence or even owning a gun. When he was shot he was wearing a school uniform. We contacted his sister, she doesn't know the uniform and assured us his had been given back to the shop they rented his uniform from. She was also surprised that he fired a gun, because she was sure he has no experience with guns. She says he only ever carried a knife. We can't tell if she knew the full extend of his actions in the gang."

"You can rent school uniforms? That others have sweated through? That's disgusting," Tankhun pulls a face, before noisily slurping his cocktail through the straw.

"Not everyone can afford new uniforms constantly," Porsche tells him and exchanges a look with Porchay. Rich people!

"We are currently trying to find out where the uniform, especially the shirt, is from, since the school logo and name have been ripped off and there are weird stains on it. We also tried tracing the phone call and the phone, but so far no luck. It's a burner phone bought with cash over two years ago. The seller couldn't remember anything, even after Khun Vegas 'talked' to him," Arm continues and pulls up the security footage of the morning Kim was shot. Porchay finds it hard to watch, but he makes himself look closely. Kim looking aloof, arrogant and relaxed at first, then something catching his eye, Kim slowly lowering his weapon, stopping, then the shots being fired and the some commotion breaking out amongst the gang. The one with the gun suddenly falling down, then the video cut off. The video starting to play again, as Arm kept talking.

"We are also trying to find a connection between the gang and Khun Kim, but again, so far we have nothing. Going by the video it doesn't look like a chance meeting, but like something pre-arranged. We also still don't know why Khun Kim went there or when he did exactly. All we can say is that the shots were fired at 5:46 am, he arrived at the compound at 6:23 and went right into emergency surgery."