“What brings you back to Beijing?” she asked.
I could either lie to her, or tell her the truth. Chances were, she was already steps ahead of me. Why did she want to speak to me, a nobody in the chain of things? I had to be careful, ready to jump out of the car and hurtle the light bomb at the guard.
“What do you want?” I asked back, not faltering from her eye line. It wasn’t so hard knowing it was only a hologram.
“I want to know where you stand in all of this.”
“In all of what?”
“This precarious situation we find ourselves in.”
“What’s precarious about it?”
“Larry was your close friend?”
“Still is.”
“Commodities control the world,” she stated. “In the past, the British fought a war for tea. Tulips were the rage for the Dutch. Oil drove most of the internecine Middle-East diplomacy in the early part of the century. Now, hair is the most precious of commodities. I suppose one day, that’ll change. But now, we have to fight over who controls the production of hair. Chao Toufa has some secret recipe that allows them to make the most realistic hair anyone has ever seen.”
“I’m not really involved in the business side of things. I just help Larry shoot his films.”
“I’ve tried everything to find out that formula, but my spies have failed.”
“I’m not trying to put you off, ma’am, but I really don’t know anything about the formula.”
“You know what I’ve found out in this business?” she asked. I shook my head. “Never underestimate the lengths people will go to quench their vanity. At any time, if you find yourself tired of this farce and want to make a deal, let me know. I can help you. We can do it over a phone call, or you can visit me in Bangkok.”
“What kind of deal?”
“I don’t want war with you.”
“War with me?”
“I’ve been informed Chao Toufa is trying to make a move against my factories in Saigon and Detroit,” she stated.
“Not that I know of.”
“There’s no need for a charade of innocence. Let’s talk terms. What do you want?”
That’s what I wanted to know from her.
“Respectfully, nothing,” I informed her. “I don’t have any information about the formula or a fight. I honestly doubt Larry does either, and I don’t think the people who do are gonna tell me.”
The Colonel regarded me coolly, not saying a word. The message ended abruptly. I stepped out. The messenger I’d seen earlier was smoking on the corner. I didn’t care. Everyone was trying to push me around. So she was a psychopath. Could she be any worse than the religious nut I’d endured? I realized, probably. I suppressed a shudder and headed for the Korean restaurant where Shinjee worked.
III.
I couldn’t get the deadly glower of the Colonel out of my head. Was I a target now? Was it her that George was so scared of? What made her think I’d know anything about the formula for the hair? Unfortunately, I’d have to deal with that later. Right now, my focus was Shinjee.
I knew she was trouble from the first moment I saw her. But I never thought Larry’s relationship with her might nearly get me killed. As I went back to the restaurant, I thought about that first date when Larry told me Hyori looked like Linda to get me to go along. Why had he been so pig-headed about his desire for Shinjee? I felt pain in my teeth, smelled blood even though I knew there wasn’t any. The more I thought about Shinjee, the more my gums hurt.
Was Larry getting into another mess with the Colonel? Would I have to rescue him again? Then my mind went to the convention center. He’d barely noticed I’d been gone. I had assumed if I had vanished, he would have scoured the planet to find me. Perhaps I wasn’t as important to him as I had believed. The idea disappointed me. It was a wakeup call too. After Linda, I’d attached myself to Larry as he was the closest person to family I had. I’d been looking for family as long as I could remember, searching for it wherever I could, but never truly able to find it. I remembered my biological mother telling me that her birth dream for me was a cute puppy wagging its tail. Was my search for a new family as pathetic as a stray puppy trying desperately to find a home?
Larry always pursued lovers and while in the past, I’d forgiven him his vices, I realized, I was older now. We couldn’t play the young man’s game forever. I’d survived when I thought there was no way I was going to survive. We couldn’t go back to the way things had been in the past.
I would confront Shinjee because I owed her for the suffering I’d undergone. I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do to her. But I had to at least confront her. And then?
I felt myopic. The future was too distant. Pain was now.
IV.
The restaurant looked the same as before; a three-story building with BBQ grills and a courtyard. I had been expecting differences and was underwhelmed that there were none. I ordered a beer at the bar, walked through the restaurant but didn’t see Shinjee. There were many drunk patrons gorging on kimchee, families enjoying grilled spicy squid, and foreigners who wanted to try something new. I spotted Hyori in a traditional Korean costume serving soju to a group of older businessmen, recognizing her by the tattoo of the mouse fighting the lion.
There was a back entrance that led to an alley they used to exit which was where we’d met them on our first date. I’d have to wait there for her later.
If anyone in the restaurant recognized me, they didn’t indicate it. Maybe it was the crew-cut wig and the fact that I’d lost so much weight. I ordered a miso soup and rice, ate it slowly to give my body energy. Korean food could be heavy and I needed to keep nimble and spry which was why I held off on ordering any casseroles or meat. There was corn in my rice and my aluminum chopsticks felt heavy in my hands. The tofu in my soup was old, indicating this was from a bigger batch they’d kept boiling throughout the week.
After I finished my meal, I paid my bill and exited. The hostess and several waitresses bowed respectfully and wished me safe travels.
I walked around to the back alley and waited.
V.
It wasn’t a long wait. Hyori was in a hurry somewhere and ran out by herself, focused on a phone call. She was blabbering in Korean about a guy she’d met and what a perfect body he had. With what Korean I knew, I translated what she was saying in my head. “It’s too bad we gotta have him sent to a camp. We should just keep him around…I know we’re behind on quota, but there’s only so many we can send at one time…No, I missed that episode. She’s such a drama queen…He deserves better. Much better. Like me.” A squealing chortle followed.
I raised up my wooden gun and fired. A dart hit her in the neck. It must have felt like a mosquito bite to her. She took a few more steps before coming to a standstill, the chemicals paralyzing her body. I walked towards her and lifted her into my arms. “You’ve had too much to drink, honey,” I said. “I’ll carry you.”
The best thing about the paralyzer was that it kept her fully conscious. There was a cheap love motel nearby masquerading as a KTV where I rented a room. The attendant gave me a lewd grin when he saw me carrying her in. “Needs somes protections?” he asked, his teeth colored piss yellow.
“I don’t like rubbers,” I told him.
“Have fun,” he said.