Within hours Phuong had confirmation through his intricate network that Trung and his thugs had indeed kidnapped Bill, and that he was being held in a house just outside the old quarter. With this confirmation he realized that he had to take immediate action to save Bill's life, generally in situations like this the victim would already be dead and so he wondered why Anh had not given Trung permission to end his life immediately.
It was clear that Phuong's course of action was to treat fire with fire, calling together his closest confidants he briefed them, much as he had all those years before. Strangely it felt like old times, with the adrenaline rush of going into action coursing through his body. He hadn't felt this alive in years...
Nhu Ha squatted by the brazier next to her stall at the ChợĐồg Xuân in the early morning light, few others were around at this time of day but Anh's mother had always risen at 4:30 am to begin her day while her husband Quang walked to the nearby square to begin bargaining with the farmers that had brought their produce for the days market.
She hadn't noticed the darkly clad figure stealthily observing her from a nearby stall, but looked up to see the headlight of a scooter slowing moving toward her down the darkened lane. She turned back to her food preparation as the scooters motor drowned out the peace and quiet of the early morning. It stopped close by, and before she make a sound an arm enveloped her small frame and while another covered her mouth before being bear hugged onto the back of the waiting scooter, thus now trapped between the two figures as the scooter accelerated down the narrow laneway.
Quang returned with his cart full of produce for the first of many trips and was surprised that Nhu Ha wasn't ready with her morning bowl of piping hot Pho. He called her name softly but with no response, and with only the slightest wisp of smoke still raising from the brazier she had simply vanished...
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