SEVENTEEN

Jaisen and I stepped inside the Crow’s Nest. The Crow’s Nest, a British styled pub, had seen better days. Paint peeled from the walls and the tables and chairs looked like they were all about fifty years past their expiration date.

We found a rickety table near where Stan had settled himself in at the bar and sat down. We pulled peeling laminated menus out of the holder at our table. We had the options of fried this or fried that. Pretty much everything was fried and I didn’t think that it probably made a huge difference what we ordered.

The pub was filled with a smoky haze from cigarettes and the deep fryer, clearly this place did not follow the California smoking ordinances. I would have to make a note of this in my report tonight.

Different languages were being spoken all around me and I strained to pick out bits I could understand. Jaisen appeared to be enjoying himself across the table from me and not listening intently to all of the conversation around us, as I knew he was.

I watched Stan at the bar out of the corner of my eye.

Jaisen looked up at my sharp intake of breath.

“What?”

“I’m just a little jumpy.” I kept my voice low. “I keep thinking I see people I know. Last night I thought I saw my brother Paul at Schliesman’s Drugs and for a minute there I thought that guy at the bar was Mr. Front, my history teacher. It’s just nerves.” I hated admitting this, I was so not the type to get nerves, but I imagined all spies had moments like this one every now and then.

Jaisen glanced over at the bar. “That is Mr. Front, your history teacher.”

“No way.”

“I’ve seen him in the halls.”

I couldn’t look. “Oh god. Is he looking at me? Do you think he recognizes me? This is just great. I’m going to get caught at a bar by my history teacher.”

“Relax. You’re well disguised.”

“Even better–getting caught at a bar by my history teacher wearing a disguise. Mom will just love getting that note home.”

“He’s getting up now.”

“Probably to come over and ask me why I’m not working on my history homework.” I shut my eyes as I felt him brush by my chair.

“He’s gone.”

Our order came and I dove into the fish and chips. They might only serve fried food here, but they certainly knew how to fry it.

My plate clean, I wiped my fingers on a napkin. Jaisen caught my eye and nodded. It was go time. He stood up and made his way to the far end of the bar.

I went up to the bar nearer to our old pal Stan. Just close enough to hear if he said anything. I sat down on a stool and noticed that even as a “young man” I was smaller than most of the other men around me. I ordered some apple juice. The bartender didn’t even look up as he took the order and handed it to me.

The guy next to me turned to me and said something in Cantonese. I turned to answer him and almost fell off of my stool. The guy next to me looked like a Chinese Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Caribbean, complete with silver rings on his fingers and dreadlocks pulled away from his face. He was gorgeous. I shook myself. What was I thinking? I had a date with my dream man tomorrow night. I was not in any position to swoon over a Pirate. He was too old for me anyway. And I was on a mission.

He looked at me curiously and repeated the question I hadn’t had time to answer as I was staring at his lovely visage.

“Are you new here?” he asked.

“Yes,” I responded, thankful for once that I spoke Cantonese so well. “My family just moved here. Do you work at the docks? My brother and I are looking to work there. We have one job lined up already.”

“Not me,” he said shaking his head. “I crew for the pleasure sailboats. You couldn’t get me to haul boxes all day when I could be out coasting the wind on the ocean. My name’s John,” he reached his hand out to shake mine.

“Shen Li,” I said. I reached out and shook his lovely hand, the rings on his fingers warmed from his hand.

“Sailing is the most wonderful occupation a man can have,” John said. As he described the pleasures of sailing I leaned in closer. His eyelashes were long and dark. He smiled at me as he talked and for a second I thought maybe he was flirting with me, until I remembered I was dressed as a boy and not a very attractive one at that. He finished with “Who did you pick up a job from?”

“An ONC Corp. shipment on Monday,” I said.

He nodded and then was pulled away by some friends.

I sat sipping my apple juice.

Stan sat a few stools down sipping whatever he was sipping–though somehow I doubted it was apple juice.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a Chinese man sit down next to Stan. They began speaking earnestly to one another in quiet voices. I tapped on my mic and kept watch out of the corner of my eye.

I missed the first few mumbled phrases.

Stan was leaning forward. “It’s the Translator,” he said in English.

“The whole plan?” The cold voice of the Chinese man hit my ear–a voice filled with authority that sent shivers down my spine.

“Yes, the shipment, the exchange, everything. It all comes down to the Translator.”

The icy Chinese man nodded and was silent. Stan turned back to his drink.

“Is it all written down?” the Chinese man said after a while.

“Yes, it’s all right here,” Stan pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “But maybe you should rewrite in your own handwriting…”

The Chinese man put the piece of paper in his pocket.

Stan was silent.

“You should leave now,” the Chinese man said.

Stan left. He just up and left, as though he had no will of his own. Before it hit me what had happened, Stan was gone. Unless I ran out the door without Jaisen right that minute, there was no way we were going to catch Stan. This was why having a partner sucked. Among other things. You just weren’t mobile.

I could hear Jaisen laughing uproariously with two other guys at the other end of the bar. We had lost Stan and Jaisen was having a grand old time with the guys. I went over to Jaisen to see what was so funny.

Apparently, it was me.

Jaisen shouted. “Brother! Show them how strong you are. They think you are puny like a girl, but I told them how you can lift more than men twice your size.”

This was one of the reasons why I was thankful every day that I had not been born male. Why did they have to think up such stupid stuff to prove themselves?

I shook my head. No way. In disguise as a guy or no, this was just too stupid. Besides I had to go to the bathroom and I hadn’t figured out how I was going to go about doing that dressed as a male.

But this one man just wouldn’t leave it alone. He got in right close to me. “He is like a girl.” His stinky beer breath washed over me. I wished I could close my nostrils up to keep the stink out.

“Puny little scab,” he went on and jabbed my shoulder with his beefy finger. So I did the only reasonable thing I could. I took him down. A swift kick up and under his knee and he was down flat on the ground.

Suddenly, I noticed that all eyes were on me. Not friendly eyes either. Great, I had started a bar brawl.

The man on the ground looked shocked. I prepared myself to fight as soon as his shock turned to fury.

But the next expression on his face wasn’t fury. It was something else. Hilarity. He started to laugh. He laughed so hard his whole body was shaking.

He stood up, waving away the many hands that turned to help him. He patted me on the back.

“This one is all right,” he said.

Now, I really had to go to the bathroom.

He turned to talk to Jaisen and soon they were rambling away again like old friends.

I left them to scope out the bathroom situation.

After just a few steps I heard a cold voice in my ear–the same voice that had sent Stan Staley running and sent shivers down my spine.

“Very interesting, your little feat there. I take it you are new around here?” the voice asked in Cantonese.

I turned and found the icy Chinese man staring intently at me.

“Yes, I am new around here,” I said.

“Looking for work at the docks?” he asked.

“I have one job lined up, but I’m looking for more.”

“I have work much more interesting than dock work for someone with your size and strength,” he said. He pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it to me.

Printed on it was the name “Ja Wong” and nothing else.

“There is no phone number on this,” I said.

“If you want to reach me, show that card to the bartender and we will arrange a meeting.”

I pocketed the card. What type of work could he possibly think I would be useful for?

I continued on my way to the bathroom. It was tucked down a hallway behind the bar. I didn’t see anyone around. I took a deep breath and opened the wooden door marked “Men’s.” Inside was empty. A stall and a urinal. I was saved.

I went about my business as quickly as I could–I think I may have beat some records at getting in and out of a stall. I was washing my hands when the door behind me swung open. Oh god oh god oh god, was all I could think. I so was not ready to share a bathroom with a man. I mean maybe someday when I was very old and had lost all sensitivity to these matters I would be able to handle this, but I wasn’t there yet.

I looked into the mirror and saw that the gorgeous pirate from the bar was standing behind me. John. Now I really could not handle this. I reached as quickly as I could to get some paper towel, averting my eyes, and flew by him out the door into the hallway.

I stood alone in the dingy hall, the noise from the restaurant floating in, and took a deep breath.

The door to the room I had just vacated opened and out stepped John, the beautiful pirate.

“Hey,” John said, coming right up next to me. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh?” I said, shocked.

“I saw Ja Wong talking to you,” John said. “You seem like a good kid. Ja Wong, he’s,” John paused. “Well, I just don’t think you want to get mixed up with someone like that. You don’t know what you would be getting yourself into. Look, if you decide not to work at the docks, I can try to find some work on the pleasure sailing vessels for you. If I put in a good word, I could probably get you some work.”

I nodded, letting him talk. I tried not to let myself be distracted by his dashing pirate good looks. I reminded myself that he was too old for me. He continued his earlier monologue on the wonders of sailing.

He didn’t trust Ja Wong. There was something he wasn’t telling me. I waited for a pause in John’s monologue to ask him more about Ja Wong. It didn’t come. This guy was really into sailing. Rigging, cleats, knots. I was getting a full sailing lesson right in the hallway to the restrooms of the Crow’s Nest.

Just as I was about to interrupt him to find out what he meant about Ja Wong, who should come slinking into the hallway but Cora. That stopped John short.

Cora stepped right up to John.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” he said back and I was forgotten.

What in the world was Cora doing here? She was supposed to be back up. I didn’t need back up! I was just about to get the key to who Ja Wong was and what he had to do with Captain Staley and ONC Corp. and then Cora had come along and ruined everything.

I found Jaisen and glared at him until he turned away from his new friends.

“Why is she here?” I whispered furiously.

“You disappeared and I saw that guy follow you. When you didn’t show up for fifteen minutes, I decided to call in our back up. That is why she came along,” Jaisen whispered back.

“I was doing just fine. I was about to find out something really important.”

Jaisen shrugged. “I didn’t know.”

Then we saw Cora and John come out of the hallway. Together. Cora put her hand on his arm and said something to him. Then she walked over to where we were standing and picked up her purse from the bar beside us.

“Club Momo,” she said and left.

Stunned we both sat at the bar. Had Cora just ditched us and the mission?

Out in the car, where I sat in the front seat where I belonged, I attacked Jaisen.

“I cannot believe you sent for backup! I didn’t need backup. I was just about to find out something important.”

“Maybe Cora will discover it.”

“Cora has no idea what’s going on.”

“We better follow her then,” Jaisen started the car.

“I don’t think that’s what she had in mind when she ditched us.”

“Then why tell us where she was going?”

“So you’re telling me that now our backup needs backup?”

Jaisen shrugged. “What did you find out?” he said.

“Stan and that guy, whose name, by the way, is Ja Wong, have something going on together. They were talking about the person in charge–the Translator. Ja Wong gave me this,” I pulled out his card.

“And?” Jaisen said.

“And what?”

“What does Ja Wong do?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me. It looked like that John guy was going to tell me, but then Cora came traipsing in and I didn’t learn anything.”

Jaisen sighed. Like he was disappointed in me.

“What?” I asked, peeved.

“I was hoping you would figure out what Ja Wong did.”

“I did the best I could. Which is more than I can say for you. What were you doing back there? Hanging out with the guys. Did you learn anything? And what was up with that picking on me thing?”

“I was hanging out with the guys, because they were giving me information. They warned me that Ja Wong recruits men–usually small wiry men. So I set you up. I figured that he would approach you and you would figure out what he was recruiting men for.”

“Oh,” I said, possibly feeling a tiny bit dumb for yelling at him. “Well, it doesn’t work that way. He said that if I wanted to contact him I should go to the Crow’s Nest and give the bartender his card and they would make arrangements.”

“I don’t like it. Why is he so secretive about what he’s doing?”

“I don’t know. That John guy might know. He seemed to have some information.”

“I think we should change,” Jaisen said.

“Why?”

“Because we aren’t supposed to know Cora and it would be too coincidental if we showed up at the same club. Besides we aren’t really dressed to go out clubbing.”

“I’m not going to argue with that. Anyway, I would definitely like to get back to being a girl again.”

Jaisen grinned.

I punched in the name of the club in the console between us. Clubbers. Club Momo here we come.