Killing Phi. [MeanPlan - COMPLETE]

one way or another, I'm gonna find ya.

Plan stood outside the temple, dressed in black and half tempted to find a secreted corner where he could light up his cigarette without being seen.

He discarded the thought for two reasons. Firstly because he couldn't think of anything more disrespectful and secondly because he didn't smoke. Still, toying the filter between a forefinger and thumb somehow made him feel better.

The funeral felt like a charade.

He'd sat through the bathing and the chanting and the cremation, all the while quietly fuming as other people gathered to pay their last respects. They had told Captain's family it was suicide, the story fabricated by P'New. Plan knew he was grieving in his own, private way, but that didn't make him any less angry about it.

What is there to gain from telling them the truth? His boss had said.

Plan had reluctantly agreed to go along with it, even though he couldn't quite shake the feeling that they were doing Captain an injustice. His killer was free, roaming the streets and living their life whilst that of his friend had been cut so cruelly short.

Maybe that was what happened when you worked in intelligence. Their lives reduced to nothing, their deaths reduced to clean-up operations. Maybe all of them were destined to end up as just another name on a murder file.

"You got a spare one of those?" a voice asked, a voice Plan did not want to hear.

He looked down at the cigarette in his hand, crumpled but still intact before handing it over resentfully.

P'New took it, eyes on Plan who was refusing to look at him.

"Take a walk with me," he said calmly, although to Plan's ears it sounded more like an order rather than a request.

He followed anyway, walking silently next to his boss until they were well out of sight of the temple. The Thai traffic was heavy and they moved at a faster pace than most of the cars. P'New put the cigarette between his lips twice, turning a lighter over in his hand but he didn't spark it either time. After the second, he sighed wistfully before taking it from his mouth and breaking it in half.

"Hey!" Plan objected.

"Temptation is always better kept out of sight."

"Says who?"

"Our lungs?" New shrugged.

Plan didn't have a smart remark to reply with, so he shut his mouth and carried on walking. He observed the city as it buzzed around them, Bangkok bright and busy and beautiful. The street vendors selling tourists fast foods, the modern buildings which loomed above them and the business makers commuting from A to B, blissfully unaware of their grief. The sun was strong, burning down and colouring Plan's cheeks. He needed the vitamin D, his skin pale and blemished from not having slept a full night since he'd found Captain hanging.

"Management wants us to shut down the operation," P'New informed him, breaking the silence.

"What?" said Plan, his voice incredulous.

"The safety of the building has been compromised. The safety of all of us has been compromised," he explained, "whoever he is, Plan, he walked into the Bureau completely undetected and murdered one of our team. We can't risk that happening again."

Plan could feel the rage boiling his blood. "He was your cousin, P'New."

"I know."

"Don't you want justice?" Plan challenged, a look of disdain written all over his face. "Don't you want to find out who did this and stop them from doing it again?! It's more important now than ever!"