Martin Limon - Buddha's money

Doubt flickered, for the first time, in Lieutenant Ho's eyes. Still, his face hardened.

"You interrogate them in prison."

Someone screeched behind me. A policeman. Four rivulets of blood ran down the side of his face. Fifi Kang stood in front of him, red nails bared. The injured policeman snapped open the holder of his nightstick and belted Fifi on the flesh of her arm. She screamed, and suddenly Ernie was in the middle of everything, windmilling one punch after another.

A KNP leapt on Ernie's back. Without thinking, I hopped forward and smashed the cop's head with a sharp left jab. He flopped to the ground like a sack of barley.

Another KNP came at me. I crouched and punched him in the stomach, and then I was shoved against a wall and I saw Ernie barreling toward the door, pushing the women in front of him.

Lieutenant Ho charged me with his nightstick. I hooked one of the wooden benches with my foot and slid it in front of him. The lieutenant crashed into it with his shins, howled, and slammed face-first onto the floor. As the other policemen started to close in, I picked up more of the short benches, tossing them into the narrow corridor, forming a barricade, and then I was backing out the door.

Through a curtain of rain, I saw Ernie and Fifi Kang and Lady Ahn disappearing down an alley. Ernie waved for me to follow.

I did. Sprinting at full speed.

We sloshed through the alleys, making dozens of hairpin turns, the heavy footsteps behind us gradually fading.

All four of us were breathing heavily when we finally stopped long enough to look back and catch our breath. Rainwater ran in rivulets down my face.

"We lost 'em," Ernie said.

"Great," I wheezed. "But for how long?"

Ernie caressed the raw knuckles of his right fist and grinned. "But it was worth it, wasn't it?"

I could never figure why he loved trouble so much. We were in deeper shit now than we had been since we first heard about this kidnapping two days ago, but Ernie seemed elated.

The two women seemed a lot more worried than Ernie.

"Bali wa," Fifi Kang said. Come on. "We go my hooch. Policemen no catchy up there."

"Yeah," I said. "You bet. Policemen no 'catchy up' there."

Ernie slapped me on the shoulder.

"You worry too much, George. Think positive." He pointed to the side of his skull. "That's the secret."

As we wound through the narrow pathways of Taejon, rain slamming down on our backs, Ernie offered the two women a stick of ginseng gum.

Fifi Kang accepted. Lady Ahn stared at him as if he were a piece of dragon dung. Even with her hair sopping wet, she looked regal. Ernie grinned sheepishly and stuck the gum back in his pocket.

Lady Ahn sat on a plump pillow, the pale blue silk of her billowing skirt spread before her. Her chima was embroidered in red and gold with the Chinese characters su, for long life, and bok, for good fortune.

Fifi, the Widow Kang, knelt on the floor and bowed, placing a lacquered wooden table in front of Lady Ahn. The table was laden with handleless porcelain cups and a steaming pot of imported Black Dragon tea. Shuffling backward, Fifi waited, her hands on her knees, until Lady Ahn poured steaming tea into the cups and handed them to Fifi, who in turn handed them to us.

Royalty doling out favors.

I'd heard a lot about royalty when I was growing up. Mexicans, like most people, are slightly in love with it. I was told proudly about Maximilian, the red-bearded Austrian archduke who'd been appointed by Napoleon III to become Emperor of Mexico. I was told somewhat less proudly about Quatemoc, the last emperor of the Aztecs, who'd been murdered by the treachery of the Spaniard Hernan Cortes.

I'd heard plenty about royalty, but I'd never seen it up close. Not until now.

Lady Ahn looked gorgeous on her low dais. Anybody's idea of a queen, or an unfortunate princess stranded amongst commoners.

Ernie chomped on a pecan cookie and slurped on his barley tea. "You have any soju around here?"

Fifi Kang shot him an evil look. "You wait for soju. You drink too early, pretty soon too much stinko."

"Hey," Ernie objected. "The sun's almost down."

I knew what he meant. Back at Eighth Army headquarters it was Happy Hour. The go-go girls were dancing, the cheap booze flowing. We both missed it. But my aching need was eased every time I gazed at Lady Ahn. The skin of her face was as smooth as the handcrafted porcelain cup I held in my hand.

She looked so gorgeous, so serene, that I almost didn't want to bother her with my questions. Still, questions had to be asked. I took a deep breath.

"Lady Ahn," I said, "tell me about the jade skull."

She tilted her head toward me and her eyes tightened slightly. "Why should I?"

Her English was pronounced expertly. No doubt that she'd been well educated.

"You know why you should," I answered.

I reached in my pocket and pulled out what even Ernie didn't know I had, a clump of red-stained newspaper. I tossed it on the table next to the tea. Slowly, the crinkled sheets opened, revealing the gore inside: crusted blood, shredded flesh, the shriveled remains of a little girl's ear.

Lady Ann's face paled.

Fifi screeched, recoiled, but recovered quickly.

"What's the matter you?" she hollered. "Why you do that? Your brain go TDY?"

TDY. Temporary duty, when GIs are sent for short periods of time to assignments away from their base camp. With that one slip of the tongue, I learned a lot about Fifi Kang. She'd dealt with GIs before. Extensively. She knew our jargon. Maybe she worked on the compound as a clerk or a waitress. Maybe she dealt on the black market. Or maybe she had been a business girl.

A woman alone, building up the capital to open her own antique shop. Unless she were an heiress, the fastest way to do that was by becoming a professional girl. Looking at Fifi Kang, that's where I'd bet my money.

Ernie picked up on it, too. He chuckled and bit back into his pecan cookie.

Lady Ahn couldn't keep her eyes off the slivers of mottled flesh. Slowly, her face drained of blood. Pulling out my handkerchief, I picked the shredded ear up again and tucked it back into my pocket.

"That ear," I said, "belonged to an innocent child. The men who are holding her have already cut off one of her fingers. If we don't give them the jade skull by the full moon, they will kill her."

Trying to keep her hand from shaking, Lady Ahn reached for her tea. She sipped on it daintily.

Fifi Kang swung her mane of black hair toward me. "You bother her too much, GI. Why don't you shut the mouth?"

Ernie growled at her. Fifi tightened her lips.

"What I need," I said, still addressing myself to Lady Ahn, "is the jade skull. If I give the skull to these men, they will let the little girl go."

Lady Ahn didn't answer.

"We're willing to pay for it," I continued. "Between the two of us," I nodded toward Ernie, "we could probably raise a few hundred dollars."

For the first time Lady Ahn laughed. The soft derisive laugh of a queen.

'Yes," she said. "You will pay for it. Everyone pays for the possession of the jade skull."

I waited for her to go on. She didn't. I leaned forward. "Tell us about it, Lady Ahn."

Ernie shot a warning look at Fifi. For once, she kept quiet. Lady Ahn sipped once more on her tea and cleared her throat.

"I don't have the jade skull," she said.

"But you made arrangements with Herman-"

She held up the soft flesh of her palm to quiet me. 'Yes. I made arrangements. With something as valuable as the jade skull, one must make all arrangements in advance. Even before the piece comes into your possession."

Lady Ahn stared out the sliding paper door that led onto a narrow balcony. The gray pallor of the sky was darkening. A light rain began to fall. If it kept up, I wouldn't be able to see the moon tonight. How close was the silver orb to full? Too close. And getting closer.