NaNoWriMo Day 6
Word Count: 10,215 (1/5 of the way there!)
If he looks at my chest one more time, I swear on everything that is holy that I am going to castrate him. Joseph is drunk, again, and it isn’t even three o’clock in the afternoon yet. The only minor accomplishment that we managed so far today was convincing General Xu to authorize a flyover of some of the more rural parts of the province for any possible sign of Freidrich Brandt. At least he assured us it would be done, I trust him less than I trust Joseph’s ability to keep from making a fool of himself for at least one whole day. The way he salivated over that girl at dinner last night was revolting, although a little hussy like that certainly doesn’t deserve much better. Candy. Honestly now, what normal person is named Candy? I started to get the feeling that she knows more about Mr. Brandt than she lets on, but she seems awfully skittish about the government involvement in this matter. She’s probably a criminal, just like everyone else in this god-forsaken country. I don’t care if there is nothing left of Freidrich but a pile of bones, brilliant though he may be, I just want to go home and never again have to speak to the drooling jackass sitting across the table from me.
Mercifully, he got it in his head that we should split up for the afternoon so that we can interview different people. Unfortunately, the government provided Joseph with an interpreter, and General Xu has decided to personally escort me. Just his very presence sends a shiver down my spine; he’s like a villain in a movie. The man exudes pure malevolent evil. There is nothing I can do about that now, so I straighten my skirt and wear my polite little smile and off we go in the General’s car.
Today I am checking into a club where a number of people remember seeing Brandt often frequenting before he disappeared. When you have a government official hanging over your shoulder, people tend to remember a whole lot more than they normally would. At least Xu is useful for something. The weird thing is, whenever I ask for any additional information about the club, whomever I’m talking to clams right up and sheepishly try to change the subject. I’m guessing it has to be a gay bar, judging by how many times the different witnesses who mentioned it swore that they just stopped in there to use the phone or the bathroom, or to buy a pack of cigarettes. If that is the case, then this place is awfully swinging for a fascist military police state. The gentleman who owns the club, a Mr. Chirag, seems like a decent enough fellow on the phone, and I’m hoping he doesn’t turn out to be a degenerate like most of the people we have met on this trip. I’m not exactly counting on it though. He agrees to meet us at the club before business hours.
The club doesn’t seem to have any type of sign whatsoever on the outside. To see it, one might think it was an abandoned building or a secret lair. I’m still not one hundred percent sure what the name of the place is actually supposed to be, most of the people that I talked to called it “The Q Club.” Xu knocks sharply on the front door and a small, thin, Indian teenage boy opens it and peers out, then disappears quickly. Moments later, an older, heavier Indian man opens the door fully with a warm smile. He greets us as just plain Chirag, and welcomes us inside. Xu leads the way with a suspicious sneer set into his face, and his driver slash guard follows behind me. The place is nice, very decadent in its décor, and my initial assessment looks to be accurate. This, Mr. Chirag informs us, is merely the welcome area for new visitors to the club so that they will feel at ease before continuing. The real fun, he says, lies deeper within. I really don’t like the sound of that.
Even though we asked for no such thing, Chirag continues with the grand tour and I am starting to see why someone might be hesitant to reveal that they are a regular customer. There are various fantasy rooms set up that range from the everyday kink to some truly bizarre stuff. I bet Joseph is going to be irritated that he missed out on this place. General Xu looks positively mystified at the whole thing, and I must admit that I’m a bit confused how people can get off on things like a room full of mouse traps or an electric chair with a dildo-shaped metal rod protruding from the seat. To each his own, I suppose, and if Mr. Brandt was a regular here then I guess he wasn’t quite the buttoned down quiet man that we assumed from the nature of his work. Of course he can’t be normal, nothing about this ridiculous assignment is normal.
Chirag finally leads us to his office so that we can sit and talk. He lights a small cigar and looks carefully at the pictures of Brandt that I lay on his desk. He nods slowly, not saying anything, as if he is trying to think of where exactly to start. He eventually does begin by explaining that they do not use real names here, so he did not recognize Mr. Brandt’s name when I mentioned it over the phone. He knows him well, however, in the club he went by Hans. How original. Hans was indeed a regular at the club, in fact he was there almost every night. One wonders how he ever managed to get any of his vaunted important work done if he was sleazing around a fetish club every night. From the looks of his lab when we searched it the day before, not much work at all. I ask if there was anyone that Mr. Brandt was often seen with at the club and Chirag chuckles softly. Apparently, randy old Hans was seen with a whole lot of people. There was one man Chirag remembers that seemed to be around more often, perhaps a lover. The only way he could think to find this man, however, is if I were to come back when the club is open to see if he shows up. That is just great.
Chirag is unable to think of anything else that might help, but at least we have a slim bit of hope with this boyfriend maybe knowing where Brandt is. Chirag gives me a VIP pass, which I accept grudgingly, so that I can come back inside the club any time. Maybe I’ll slap some leather chaps on Joseph and send him in there instead. I’m sure he would have a grand old time. When we walk out of the dark club and back into the painfully bright afternoon, I ask General Xu to drive me back to the hotel because I have a headache and I would like to lie down. He eyes me coldly, probably judging my weakness as a woman, and nods curtly. They drop me off at the entrance and drive off in a cloud of dust. Thankfully, Joseph has not returned yet and I actually can actually have a moment’s worth of peace.
I must have dozed off because it is dusk when a loud banging startles me back to the world. I have no doubt that it’s Joseph, even his knock is obnoxious. When I open the door, he is standing there staring at me stupidly, swaying just a little. I ask how his interviews went but he still doesn’t say anything. This is starting to creep me out. I wave my hand in front of his face and call his name but he doesn’t flinch. He can’t be that hammered already can he? Suddenly his eyes roll back in his head and he collapses to the floor in a heap. That’s when I see the blood caked in the hair on the back of his head from a nasty looking would. I call hotel security, who in turn call emergency medical services, and after a whirl of activity and sirens I am sitting by Joseph’s hospital bed while machines beep and click and I wonder what the hell is going on.
It takes Joseph seven hours to come to, and when he does, General Xu has just arrived. Even in the middle of the night he is pressed and in full uniform. He probably sleeps in it, on a board so as not to wrinkle anything. Joseph looks around the room in dazed confusion at first, then smiles goofily when he recognizes me. As much as I can’t stand him, I am slightly relieved that he is ok. If the person who is supposedly in charge goes down, who knows what they would do with the assistant. General Xu doesn’t let him clear his head for long before he begins to interrogate him thoroughly. It takes a while, but Joseph is eventually able to remember that he spoke with the contact he was to meet with but didn’t learn anything useful. He then decided to visit the lab again, in case we missed anything, and that’s the last thing he remembers. The doctors told us it looks like he took a nasty crack on the back of the head, more likely from a blunt instrument than a fall. He just needed a few stitches and he’ll probably have a concussion. They want him to stay another day for observation, which leaves myself the one who has to accompany the General back to the lab to investigate. Lucky me.
The General is barking orders at the small group of soldiers he has assembled to accompany us into the lab. Each man is armed, rather heavily I would think, and they storm into the quiet building like gangbusters, nearly scaring a poor old Asian janitor to death in the process. The squad checks every square inch of the sparse lab before reporting that there is nothing there. Xu growls in frustration and orders the squad to stand guard outside. He turns to me and asks if there is anything missing that was here when we last searched the lab. I look around and shrug, there really wasn’t much here in the first place. The General huffs angrily and suggests somewhat forcefully that I look again to be sure. I bristle at being ordered like that, but I don’t think this is the time or place to pick a fight. So I slowly, almost sarcastically slowly, look around the lab extra careful and still don’t see a damn thing. I tell the General this and he stamps his foot.
When we leave, Xu makes one of the poor guys stay behind, I guess to guard the lab all night. I am starting to get a sneaking suspicion that even though they initially just promised to help us with whatever we needed, the government is also becoming very interested in Freidrich’s whereabouts. For what reason, though, I don’t quite know just yet. Brandt wasn’t working on anything that would be beneficial to them, at least not in any way that they would possibly be able to conceive. Xu assures me he will leave more men at the hospital to watch over Joseph, so I should head back to the hotel and get some rest. I agree enthusiastically, that is a very good suggestion indeed.
The local news here is strange. There are no actual news stories, it’s all fluff pieces and profiles of hardworking local citizens. The anchors look like hostages reading from a list of demands while men off camera point AK-47s at them. I shake my head and decide on Scooby-Doo in Chinese while I wait for the hospital to call and let me know that Joseph is cleared to go. I slept until pretty late in the afternoon, so it pretty much feels like the whole day is lost. Not that we had any promising leads to follow up on. I suppose I could stake out the club tonight, but I dread being mixed in and pressed up against all of those freaks. I wouldn’t even know what to wear, the sensible outfits I brought would make me stick out like a sore thumb there. I’d probably attract some weirdo with a secretary fetish who wouldn’t leave me alone all night unless I let him smell my shoes. Joseph is going to be in no condition to go, so I guess I am stuck with the task. The hospital finally calls and I go with the driver to pick Joseph up. He is still a little woozy when we get back so I help him into his room and on the bed. He opens his mouth to ask something but I toss the remote control at him, which he barely catches before if hits him in the forehead, and make a beeline out of the room. He isn’t hurt that badly and I am in no mood to play nurse. Although I suspect I’ll see plenty of other people playing nurse where I’m going tonight.
The best outfit I can put together is a black pantsuit without the jacket. I guess it doesn’t look too stuffy. Maybe if I tie the shirttails up on my stomach like a slut I will be at an acceptable level of deviance. You must be this gross to enter. I actually laugh at my reflection when I try it, so no, I don’t think that is going to work. They are just going to have to deal with this, I have a VIP card so I can come looking however I want. It’s good to be very important. The driver looks surprised when I tell him where I want to go, then he leers at me in a most horrifying fashion. This is already not going well. I raise the divider up as soon as possible so he can’t keep staring at me in the rear view mirror and I take a deep breath. I can do this, those people may be freaks but they still have to respect your boundaries. I’ll just cozy up to the first bouncer I see and make sure not to stray too far from his orbit. Unless the bouncers are freaks too, in which case I am in trouble.
The stupid driver wishes me well a little too jovially as I step out of the limo, and I sternly remind him for the fourth time that he better be right here the instant that I am ready to leave. The place looks just as deserted as it did during the day, the only thing indicating that they are open is the full parking lot of cars. I say a little calming poem, take another deep breath, and knock feebly on the door. Instead of a harsh wave of bad techno and cigarette smoke, I am greeted with pleasant violins and a well-dressed Chirag. He is so happy I came and might he say that I look lovely indeed. I thank him, still dazed by the low-key scene that I was totally unprepared for. Nicely dressed guests lounge on the couches drinking wine and laughing softly. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. Chirag hands me a glass of wine and tells me that he has not seen Hans’ male friend, but there are a good deal of those in the know that think he just might make an appearance this evening. He regrets to tell me that he must attend to some small matters for a time, but I assure him that I will be just fine here. He says he has alerted his staff to keep an eye out for our mystery man. I make my way to the couches and have a seat, smiling at the man who nods at me. He is handsome, possibly Turkish. He says his name is John, I introduce myself as Betty, and I think I just might enjoy myself tonight after all.
If he looks at my chest one more time, I swear on everything that is holy that I am going to castrate him. Joseph is drunk, again, and it isn’t even three o’clock in the afternoon yet. The only minor accomplishment that we managed so far today was convincing General Xu to authorize a flyover of some of the more rural parts of the province for any possible sign of Freidrich Brandt. At least he assured us it would be done, I trust him less than I trust Joseph’s ability to keep from making a fool of himself for at least one whole day. The way he salivated over that girl at dinner last night was revolting, although a little hussy like that certainly doesn’t deserve much better. Candy. Honestly now, what normal person is named Candy? I started to get the feeling that she knows more about Mr. Brandt than she lets on, but she seems awfully skittish about the government involvement in this matter. She’s probably a criminal, just like everyone else in this god-forsaken country. I don’t care if there is nothing left of Freidrich but a pile of bones, brilliant though he may be, I just want to go home and never again have to speak to the drooling jackass sitting across the table from me.
Mercifully, he got it in his head that we should split up for the afternoon so that we can interview different people. Unfortunately, the government provided Joseph with an interpreter, and General Xu has decided to personally escort me. Just his very presence sends a shiver down my spine; he’s like a villain in a movie. The man exudes pure malevolent evil. There is nothing I can do about that now, so I straighten my skirt and wear my polite little smile and off we go in the General’s car.
Today I am checking into a club where a number of people remember seeing Brandt often frequenting before he disappeared. When you have a government official hanging over your shoulder, people tend to remember a whole lot more than they normally would. At least Xu is useful for something. The weird thing is, whenever I ask for any additional information about the club, whomever I’m talking to clams right up and sheepishly try to change the subject. I’m guessing it has to be a gay bar, judging by how many times the different witnesses who mentioned it swore that they just stopped in there to use the phone or the bathroom, or to buy a pack of cigarettes. If that is the case, then this place is awfully swinging for a fascist military police state. The gentleman who owns the club, a Mr. Chirag, seems like a decent enough fellow on the phone, and I’m hoping he doesn’t turn out to be a degenerate like most of the people we have met on this trip. I’m not exactly counting on it though. He agrees to meet us at the club before business hours.
The club doesn’t seem to have any type of sign whatsoever on the outside. To see it, one might think it was an abandoned building or a secret lair. I’m still not one hundred percent sure what the name of the place is actually supposed to be, most of the people that I talked to called it “The Q Club.” Xu knocks sharply on the front door and a small, thin, Indian teenage boy opens it and peers out, then disappears quickly. Moments later, an older, heavier Indian man opens the door fully with a warm smile. He greets us as just plain Chirag, and welcomes us inside. Xu leads the way with a suspicious sneer set into his face, and his driver slash guard follows behind me. The place is nice, very decadent in its décor, and my initial assessment looks to be accurate. This, Mr. Chirag informs us, is merely the welcome area for new visitors to the club so that they will feel at ease before continuing. The real fun, he says, lies deeper within. I really don’t like the sound of that.
Even though we asked for no such thing, Chirag continues with the grand tour and I am starting to see why someone might be hesitant to reveal that they are a regular customer. There are various fantasy rooms set up that range from the everyday kink to some truly bizarre stuff. I bet Joseph is going to be irritated that he missed out on this place. General Xu looks positively mystified at the whole thing, and I must admit that I’m a bit confused how people can get off on things like a room full of mouse traps or an electric chair with a dildo-shaped metal rod protruding from the seat. To each his own, I suppose, and if Mr. Brandt was a regular here then I guess he wasn’t quite the buttoned down quiet man that we assumed from the nature of his work. Of course he can’t be normal, nothing about this ridiculous assignment is normal.
Chirag finally leads us to his office so that we can sit and talk. He lights a small cigar and looks carefully at the pictures of Brandt that I lay on his desk. He nods slowly, not saying anything, as if he is trying to think of where exactly to start. He eventually does begin by explaining that they do not use real names here, so he did not recognize Mr. Brandt’s name when I mentioned it over the phone. He knows him well, however, in the club he went by Hans. How original. Hans was indeed a regular at the club, in fact he was there almost every night. One wonders how he ever managed to get any of his vaunted important work done if he was sleazing around a fetish club every night. From the looks of his lab when we searched it the day before, not much work at all. I ask if there was anyone that Mr. Brandt was often seen with at the club and Chirag chuckles softly. Apparently, randy old Hans was seen with a whole lot of people. There was one man Chirag remembers that seemed to be around more often, perhaps a lover. The only way he could think to find this man, however, is if I were to come back when the club is open to see if he shows up. That is just great.
Chirag is unable to think of anything else that might help, but at least we have a slim bit of hope with this boyfriend maybe knowing where Brandt is. Chirag gives me a VIP pass, which I accept grudgingly, so that I can come back inside the club any time. Maybe I’ll slap some leather chaps on Joseph and send him in there instead. I’m sure he would have a grand old time. When we walk out of the dark club and back into the painfully bright afternoon, I ask General Xu to drive me back to the hotel because I have a headache and I would like to lie down. He eyes me coldly, probably judging my weakness as a woman, and nods curtly. They drop me off at the entrance and drive off in a cloud of dust. Thankfully, Joseph has not returned yet and I actually can actually have a moment’s worth of peace.
I must have dozed off because it is dusk when a loud banging startles me back to the world. I have no doubt that it’s Joseph, even his knock is obnoxious. When I open the door, he is standing there staring at me stupidly, swaying just a little. I ask how his interviews went but he still doesn’t say anything. This is starting to creep me out. I wave my hand in front of his face and call his name but he doesn’t flinch. He can’t be that hammered already can he? Suddenly his eyes roll back in his head and he collapses to the floor in a heap. That’s when I see the blood caked in the hair on the back of his head from a nasty looking would. I call hotel security, who in turn call emergency medical services, and after a whirl of activity and sirens I am sitting by Joseph’s hospital bed while machines beep and click and I wonder what the hell is going on.
It takes Joseph seven hours to come to, and when he does, General Xu has just arrived. Even in the middle of the night he is pressed and in full uniform. He probably sleeps in it, on a board so as not to wrinkle anything. Joseph looks around the room in dazed confusion at first, then smiles goofily when he recognizes me. As much as I can’t stand him, I am slightly relieved that he is ok. If the person who is supposedly in charge goes down, who knows what they would do with the assistant. General Xu doesn’t let him clear his head for long before he begins to interrogate him thoroughly. It takes a while, but Joseph is eventually able to remember that he spoke with the contact he was to meet with but didn’t learn anything useful. He then decided to visit the lab again, in case we missed anything, and that’s the last thing he remembers. The doctors told us it looks like he took a nasty crack on the back of the head, more likely from a blunt instrument than a fall. He just needed a few stitches and he’ll probably have a concussion. They want him to stay another day for observation, which leaves myself the one who has to accompany the General back to the lab to investigate. Lucky me.
The General is barking orders at the small group of soldiers he has assembled to accompany us into the lab. Each man is armed, rather heavily I would think, and they storm into the quiet building like gangbusters, nearly scaring a poor old Asian janitor to death in the process. The squad checks every square inch of the sparse lab before reporting that there is nothing there. Xu growls in frustration and orders the squad to stand guard outside. He turns to me and asks if there is anything missing that was here when we last searched the lab. I look around and shrug, there really wasn’t much here in the first place. The General huffs angrily and suggests somewhat forcefully that I look again to be sure. I bristle at being ordered like that, but I don’t think this is the time or place to pick a fight. So I slowly, almost sarcastically slowly, look around the lab extra careful and still don’t see a damn thing. I tell the General this and he stamps his foot.
When we leave, Xu makes one of the poor guys stay behind, I guess to guard the lab all night. I am starting to get a sneaking suspicion that even though they initially just promised to help us with whatever we needed, the government is also becoming very interested in Freidrich’s whereabouts. For what reason, though, I don’t quite know just yet. Brandt wasn’t working on anything that would be beneficial to them, at least not in any way that they would possibly be able to conceive. Xu assures me he will leave more men at the hospital to watch over Joseph, so I should head back to the hotel and get some rest. I agree enthusiastically, that is a very good suggestion indeed.
The local news here is strange. There are no actual news stories, it’s all fluff pieces and profiles of hardworking local citizens. The anchors look like hostages reading from a list of demands while men off camera point AK-47s at them. I shake my head and decide on Scooby-Doo in Chinese while I wait for the hospital to call and let me know that Joseph is cleared to go. I slept until pretty late in the afternoon, so it pretty much feels like the whole day is lost. Not that we had any promising leads to follow up on. I suppose I could stake out the club tonight, but I dread being mixed in and pressed up against all of those freaks. I wouldn’t even know what to wear, the sensible outfits I brought would make me stick out like a sore thumb there. I’d probably attract some weirdo with a secretary fetish who wouldn’t leave me alone all night unless I let him smell my shoes. Joseph is going to be in no condition to go, so I guess I am stuck with the task. The hospital finally calls and I go with the driver to pick Joseph up. He is still a little woozy when we get back so I help him into his room and on the bed. He opens his mouth to ask something but I toss the remote control at him, which he barely catches before if hits him in the forehead, and make a beeline out of the room. He isn’t hurt that badly and I am in no mood to play nurse. Although I suspect I’ll see plenty of other people playing nurse where I’m going tonight.
The best outfit I can put together is a black pantsuit without the jacket. I guess it doesn’t look too stuffy. Maybe if I tie the shirttails up on my stomach like a slut I will be at an acceptable level of deviance. You must be this gross to enter. I actually laugh at my reflection when I try it, so no, I don’t think that is going to work. They are just going to have to deal with this, I have a VIP card so I can come looking however I want. It’s good to be very important. The driver looks surprised when I tell him where I want to go, then he leers at me in a most horrifying fashion. This is already not going well. I raise the divider up as soon as possible so he can’t keep staring at me in the rear view mirror and I take a deep breath. I can do this, those people may be freaks but they still have to respect your boundaries. I’ll just cozy up to the first bouncer I see and make sure not to stray too far from his orbit. Unless the bouncers are freaks too, in which case I am in trouble.
The stupid driver wishes me well a little too jovially as I step out of the limo, and I sternly remind him for the fourth time that he better be right here the instant that I am ready to leave. The place looks just as deserted as it did during the day, the only thing indicating that they are open is the full parking lot of cars. I say a little calming poem, take another deep breath, and knock feebly on the door. Instead of a harsh wave of bad techno and cigarette smoke, I am greeted with pleasant violins and a well-dressed Chirag. He is so happy I came and might he say that I look lovely indeed. I thank him, still dazed by the low-key scene that I was totally unprepared for. Nicely dressed guests lounge on the couches drinking wine and laughing softly. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. Chirag hands me a glass of wine and tells me that he has not seen Hans’ male friend, but there are a good deal of those in the know that think he just might make an appearance this evening. He regrets to tell me that he must attend to some small matters for a time, but I assure him that I will be just fine here. He says he has alerted his staff to keep an eye out for our mystery man. I make my way to the couches and have a seat, smiling at the man who nods at me. He is handsome, possibly Turkish. He says his name is John, I introduce myself as Betty, and I think I just might enjoy myself tonight after all.
Labels: NaNoWriMo
posted by B at Tuesday, November 06, 2007
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