NaNoWriMo Day 7

Word Count: 12,600

Joseph

Ooooh sweet god in heaven I feel worse than the worst hangover I’ve ever had multiplied by a thousand. I’ve been eating aspirin like pez and washing them down with as much vodka as my queasy stomach can handle, but nothing seems to be helping. The last twenty-four hours are a blur, I can’t even remember how I got back to my room. Molly must have helped me come back from the hospital. She is a sweet girl underneath it all, too bad about the stick up her ass. Speaking of Molly, I wonder if she knows what happened to my wallet and passport, I can’t find them anywhere in the room. I tiptoe across the hall, due to the fact that even the sound of footsteps is painful more than the fact that it is late as hell, and knock softly on her door. She doesn’t answer and I knock progressively louder a few more times, which really puts a hurting on me. I realize that if I don’t lie down immediately I am going to be sick all over this hallway so I scoot back to my own room and try to shut the pain away by hiding under the pillows and squeezing my eyes shut until I pass out.

The intense pain is a more manageable dull ache in the morning. At least I can be somewhat functional today. Molly still doesn’t answer her door and I’m getting anxious because I don’t like being in a nutty country like this without my identification. Maybe she’s taking up the slack for me going down by interviewing more people. What a trooper. I can’t remember where she was supposed to go yesterday while I was off getting brained by some chicken shit backstabbing son of a bitch. I vaguely recollect that it was some nightclub, but I’ll be damned if I can remember where it was or what it was called. Hopefully my stomach can handle breakfast this morning because I am starving.

The waiter, the same guy we’ve had every time we’ve eaten in the restaurant no matter what meal it is, asks where my lovely wife is and I can’t help but chuckling before grunting a non-response. I order the works, pretty much one of everything, and I am just plowing in to a Greek omelet when who should appear out of nowhere and take a seat at the table but our new friend, General Xu. I could tell that Molly was uncomfortable around him from the get go, but he seems like an ok guy to me. Pretty much a no-nonsense kind of fella, just like the old man. I can respect that. He too asks where Molly is and I tell him that I was wondering the same thing. He glares at me suspiciously for a good long time, and now I am starting to get a little uncomfortable. I explain that I don’t remember much after getting hit and that she wasn’t in her room when I came to and this seems to placate him a little bit. He tells me that he will have his men check around, just to be safe, even though he is sure she is fine. He actually cracks a joke and chalks up her being missing as a typical woman thing. Nice one. If I do not hear from her by this evening, he suggests that I ask the hotel manager to open her room just to check in and make sure nothing is wrong. Such a helpful guy, no wonder he’s a General.

Xu leaves a few minutes later and I finish cramming in every scrap of food that will fit into my mouth. Oh man that was good and I am feeling mighty satisfied. Shit, Molly has the list of people yet to be interviewed, so there isn’t much I can do until she comes back. Not that I would want to go hopping around without ID as it is. I decide to take a dip in the pool and I immediately realize that this was a wonderful decision as soon as I’m in the cool, relaxing water. Molly can take her time, wherever she is.

Dinner is another solo affair and I am definitely getting worried. Before I came down the hotel manager and I peeked into Molly’s room but she wasn’t sprawled out on the floor and there was nothing that might hint to where she might have run off to. This isn’t good, she is far too uptight to be gone this long without checking in. Dammit, if I have to call Cleaver and tell him that we now have two missing employees in this hellhole I can kiss any future promotion hopes goodbye. If that stupid bitch got herself raped and murdered in some filthy back alley, it is going to completely screw over my career. My third Jack and Coke with dinner isn’t taking the edge off. I go back up to my room and call for General Xu at the Ministry of Defense. A flunkie tells me that the General will return my call immediately and I’ll be damned if he doesn’t do just that. I tell him that there are no clues in Molly’s room and he regrets to inform me that there has been no sign of her in town, and that the driver who was assigned to her is now missing as well. Jesus, this is turning into a major clusterfuck. I tell the General about my wallet and passport, although I really didn’t want to, and he replies simply with a cryptic “I see.” Now I am even more worried. Xu decides that I should be moved to the Ministry until it can be determined that I am in no immediate danger. Of course, I could have used some of that protection before I got my head bashed open, but I agree just the same. He sends a jeep full of soldiers to pick me up and I grab some clothes and go. I hope this won’t last too long, I am going to miss the food at the hotel.



Candy


Gosh, it feels good to have a day without a single thing to worry about. Sure, tomorrow I’ve got a shipment of Norwegian pornography coming in by mule and a bunch of horny buyers waiting very impatiently for it while forgetting the rules of politeness and subtlety, but today is just dandy. Max gets extra petting this morning and he purrs his approval vigorously. I’m so warm and snuggly that I never want to leave this bed, but it would be a shame to waste such a lovely day so I drag myself up and get dressed.

Score, Yao has the good stuff today and I lap it up as if it were my last meal. Feeling fat and sassy, I have the sudden and brilliant idea to fix the brakes on the scooter so I don’t careen headlong into oncoming traffic next time it rains. I so rarely get to work on the old girl these days, I love having the time to get out the tools and get nice and dirty. Prajeet, the younger and slightly less obnoxious of Pratima’s brothers, sheepishly shuffles over and asks if he can help. I give him a stern glare just for yuks, but I can’t hold the serious face very long and we both bust out into giggles. He becomes my tool hander too-er, and we have a grand old time working on the bike all afternoon.

By the evening, I am feeling restless and in the mood to party so I drag Pratima out to go clubbing, very much against her will. She is a very traditional girl, she explains for the hundredth time, and if her parents were alive to see her like this then they would surely be dead of shame. I tell her that didn’t make a whole lot of sense and she slaps my ass hard. Traditional my fanny. We are all sorts of dolled up and looking very much like trouble when we hit the town. Mothers, lock up your sons!

The first place, the name of which means Red Hot in Chinese, is a total meat market tonight. Before the most recent regime change, the government was a hardline theocracy. Women weren’t allowed to drink, and they certainly weren’t allowed to dance in public wearing shockingly little clothing. The boys at the top nowadays have too much other stuff to worry about rather than oppressing little old me. Well, oppressing any more than they already do at least. I rescue Pratima from no less than three potential suitors, one of which she’s crazy for not jumping his bones right away, and she has had her limit and wants to go somewhere else. I pout and agree grudgingly but I wasn’t really having all that much either. It’s just fun to mess with her.

I consider taking her to the Q, just because it would be a riot to see the look on her face when she saw some of the more interesting rooms there. I don’t think she’s drunk enough yet, the shock would probably send running for a convent. We go to a pretty chill little karaoke bar and have a ball amusing the regulars and trying to top each other with terrible renditions of Bollywood songs that are at least fifteen years old. Pratima is glad that I made her come out, she tells me with a tipsy giggle that she hasn’t had this much fun in ages. I remind her quickly that the last time she had this much fun was the last time I forced her to go out with me, and she sticks her tongue out at me before spilling her drink and collapsing into laughter. Why anyone would want anything to do with us crazy bitches is beyond me, but we seem to have attracted quite a bit of attention from some of the older men at the bar. One of them very generously sends over a replacement drink for Pratima and she thanks him by blowing a kiss. I swear, get some liquor in this girl and she is a completely different person. Had that happened when she was sober she would have turned beet red and her eyes wouldn’t have strayed from the floor for the rest of the night. We overstay our welcome a few times over and I finally decide that it is time for some real fun.

Pratima is nervous when we approach the Q but the alcohol is helping her deal with it. I already explained that there are no signs or anything because the place is very hip and they want to keep a relatively exclusive clientele. Of course, gullible as she is she buys this completely and even seems a little bit impressed that I am wise to such things. Oh god, is she going to hate me soon. A new guy that I don’t recognize is at the door but Chirag spots me almost immediately and welcomes us in. I introduce him to Pratima and his eyes light up. She blushes when he kisses her hand, I can tell she thinks he is a gentleman. I’ll let her hold on to that notion for a while.

We head over to the couches in the lounge and there are a few acquaintances there so I make introductions and we work our way into a most interesting conversation about the current geopolitical state of the west. After an hour goes by Pratima seems completely at ease so I decide that it is time to take the party up a few notches. I call Chirag over from where he is sleazing around some kid who looks way too young to be legal and tell him that Pratima has never had the grand tour. She immediately gets suspicious because she knows me all too well. If she noticed the people that came in and went right to the back before, she didn’t say anything. Now I bet she’s mighty curious about just what it was they were up to. Chirag takes her hand and she nervously follows him through the curtain that leads to the back, shooting me a questioning yet venomous look over her shoulder. I smile my most innocent smile, savoring the deliciousness that is about to come as we walk down the hallway toward the numerous doors that branch off to the sides.

Chirag starts us off light in the bubble room, and I can see by the look on Pratima’s face that she is curious but she knows something is up. She almost shrieks when she accidentally steps on the two women in silver lycra bodysuits that are writhing around lip locked on the floor, blending in with the chrome almost perfectly. The next two rooms are also relatively mild, if a little strange. The garbage room is unoccupied, sadly. I always wanted to see just what the hell people did in there. There are three people in the prison room, and the two men are doing very naughty things to the young woman through the metal bars. Pratima’s eyes get huge and she grabs my arm, pulling me close. She hisses that she wants to go right now, and I can tell she’s serious enough that no amount of cajoling from me will change her mind. I sigh and call her a prude before telling Chirag that we have to cut the tour short.

But wait, he says with a devilish gleam in his eyes, he has added a new room that he thinks I especially will enjoy very much. Oh that Chirag, he always knows how to push my buttons. I promise Pratima, who is positively begging me not to go alone but won’t come with me, that I won’t be gone for more than a few minutes and that she can wait for me in the lounge. She clearly doesn’t like the idea but dammit I am intrigued as hell and she is not going to spoil my fun. She hesitantly makes her way back to the lounge and I scurry over excitedly to catch up to Chirag and see the new room.