Madman's Monster

by Michael Louis Weinberger

  Another policeman fired in Larson's direction and the bullet struck the bar sending shards of wood into the air like shrapnel. Larson moved quickly and confidently in a crouch through the crowd and "appeared" behind the shooter in time to do some kind of abrupt maneuver that flipped the man over and drove him head first into the floor.

  I couldn't help but chuckle at the idea that the floor of the club was turning into one of our best assets in this situation, but I stifled the frivolity as I ran for Rogers and nearly collided with two more police officers who emerged from the panicking crowd. They both went wide-eyed as they saw me coming, but quickly recovered and pointed their weapons at my chest. I dropped to my knees and slid across the floor while bending backward until the back of my head nearly touched the ground. One man fired and the bullet sailed harmlessly over me, the other tried to compensate for my slide and fired to one side of my body as I reached the spot where they were standing. I twisted and kicked one man's legs out from under him with enough force to spin him in the air and, right before his head would have hit the ground, I kicked my other foot out and into his face. The second officer jumped back and adjusted his aim just as a set of manicured fingers grabbed onto fistfuls of his hair. Lei leapt back and dropped her body to the floor taking the back of the policeman's head with her. There was a sickening crack as his head struck the floor and another of Bangkok's finest was unconscious on the ground.

  What was that now? Floor: 5, Policemen: 0?

  I rolled to my feet at the same moment as Lei only to notice the bar had emptied and gone quiet. Larson was hovering over Rogers and was pressing a rag into his side.

  "We need to get him to a hospital!"

  I ran over and, to Larson's surprise, lifted the nearly two hundred pound man as if he weighed nothing.

  "Can we take him to the local hospital with the police after us?"

  Larson frowned, "You think they were after us?"

  "I think it's too much of a damn coincidence to be anything else. Probably a good idea to play it safe in any case."

  Larson blew out a breath and nodded, "So what do we do?"

  Rogers was conscious and clearly in a significant amount of pain, but managed through gritted teeth, "I know a doctor, just get me in a cab."

  "A cab?!?" Larson clearly objected, and, frankly, it did sound a bit ridiculous.

  Rogers countered, "Easier to find, and it will get me there just as fast as an ambulance."

  Lei was kneeling behind me and I could feel her bolt upright as something caught her attention. Without a word she leapt onto the stage and took off at a run for the other side of the bar. I watched her go for a door on the far side of the club and she slammed full force into it. The door didn't shatter, but the force of her hit took the hinges right out of the wall and the heavy wooden door fell on top of two men who were apparently guarding the exit. Lei ignored them and sprinted past where their bodies lay beneath the door, while I headed for the front of the club carrying Rogers in my arms with Larson leading the way.

  We made our way through the "Walking Street" and approached the area where cars were once again allowed. I quickly realized that Rogers had been right about the cabs as the commotion had resulted in pedestrians leaving the area en mass and a number of cabs had converged on the street to gather up the fares they could gouge for extra money in order to take them away from the action. Larson ran for a cab who's driver immediately wanted to haggle over the cost without even knowing our destination. When Larson pulled out an American hundred dollar bill the man's eyes widened and a smile creased his faces he plucked the bill from Larson's fingers...and then he saw me coming with Rogers and the blood that now covered both of us. Fear and panic can apparently overwhelm avarice as the cabbie desperately tried to hand Larson back the money, but instead of taking the bill Larson brandished one of the police revolvers he had apparently taken from the club.

  "Get in and drive. Now!" Larson growled.

  The driver quickly and repeatedly "wai'd" him as he cowered into the driver's seat. Larson climbed into the passenger seat next to him as I set Rogers into the back.

  Larson looked at me after I closed the door. I cut him off before he could say anything, "We'll put the pieces together here. Take care of your man and get back as soon as you are able. We'll wait for you at the hotel."

  Larson didn't reply, instead he turned to the driver and ordered him to go.

  Chapter 25

  I watched the cab disappear among all the other vehicles on the road as its taillights blended with a mass of multiple flashing lights and multi-colored neon that Bangkok offered to the night crowds. Eventually I turned and made my way back up the Walking Street to the club. Things had begun to calm down and the crowds were emerging from wherever they had sequestered themselves as things began to return to normal. Several electric police vehicles had parked in front of the Pink Pussy Club and I could see some of the newly arrived officers were helping their previously incapacitated brethren out of the club still on shaky legs. One was even being carried on a stretcher while, on the street, a pair of EMT's worked on the security guy who had been shot. Amazingly, that unfortunate fellow was the only one who had been shot, despite the multiple rounds I had heard being discharged inside the club.

  I scanned the crowd for Lei, but didn't get too close to the club in case any of the officers fully regained their wits and might recognize me. From what I remembered about the layout inside the club, Lei had run through what I was pretty sure it hadn't been a back door exit, but more likely an entrance to an "employees only" area or maybe a stairway to the "short time" rooms above the club.

  Careful to be as unnoticeable as possible, I made my way down the alley next to the club in the hopes of finding a rear door that was unlocked, or better yet, unobserved.

  Unfortunately, once I arrived at the potential entrance it was surrounded by club employees, all of whom were speaking rapidly to a pair of policemen who were clearly overwhelmed by the barrage of voices. Part of me wondered if this was a standard ploy on the part of the employees in order to confuse the authorities whenever an incident took place in their questionably legal business. At the moment they weren't being raided and had no reason to stonewall any investigation, as far as I knew.

  I was about to turn and walk away when a new voice called out from inside the door. Everyone quieted immediately and began looking around for something, until one small man saw me. Instantly he pointed and called out something in Thai that caused every head to swing in my direction. The urge to turn and run was overwhelming, but I managed to stifle it long enough to realize that no one was running toward me or threatening me in any way.

  One of the policemen called out to me in Thai, a complete effort in futility there, but then seeing my blank face, quickly changed into broken English.

  "You Steve?" he asked in a choppy manner that made it seem as though he was self- conscious about how bad his English was.

  I nodded.

  "You want inside."

  It wasn't a question, even though the words sounded as though they should have formed one. I was too confused to move, so I said, "uh, yes?"

  The policeman rolled his eyes, "No! You want go inside." I frowned and shrugged my shoulders, still not really understanding what was happening.

  "You want go inside now!" the policeman pointed to me and then to the door. I looked at the door and took a hesitant step forward. There must have been a dozen employees. Cooks, bus boys, dancing girls and a couple battered security men all watching me in calculated silence that made me fairly disconcerted. I started walking toward the door, but never took my eyes off the policemen. Their fellow officers may have just attacked the club in the hopes of taking Lei, Larson, Rogers and myself out of the picture and who was to say that these new arrivals didn't have the same goal in mind.

  I climbed the three steps that led to the doorway, and walked inside without being shot or accosted by the police or anyone else, and found myself in what looked to be a storag
e space, lined with boxes and various crates of wine, beer and hard alcohol bottles. I kept walking until I passed around a room separator and found myself in the girl's changing area.

  I must have appeared a bit stunned as a couple of the girls began giggling at my expression and obvious unease, before returning to their dressing, undressing and makeup application. It seemed none of the girls were fully clothed, and any sort of modesty had apparently run its course with everyone present but me, and not a single one girl bothered to cover herself because of my presence. Strangely, although people might think that it was a fantasy come true, the girls attitude was so ‘business as usual’ that despite the vast amounts of attractive skin, skimpy costumes and high heel shoes, I felt no stir of desire. Of course, if Lei had been present, I would have received an elbow to the ribs, in any case, and responded with a weak "I only have eyes for you darling." comment, but the truth was that there was a total lack of sexual energy being generated in that room. It actually made me a little sad, as I made my way through their "locker room," and entered the interior of the main club, walking through the tables to the main dance floor. I could only wonder how many of these girls had been sold into the club's service just like the little girl with whom "Zach" had become involved.

  A little man wearing what appeared to be a tuxedo ensemble, minus the jacket, walked up to me while holding a bloody dishrag to the top of his head.

  "You Steve?" "Yes."

  "Boss want to see you. She in her office," he pointed to the far end of the club, "I take you."

  I held my hand toward the direction he had indicated and inclined my head, "after you."

  The man started to "wai" me but the motion seemed to make the area on his head worse and he grimaced with apparent pain.

  "That looks like a nasty bump you've got there. Are you the manager?"

  The little man shook his head slowly, "Bartender," he said, and began walking toward the club's offices.

  It was then that I remembered a man, apparently flying across the club and crashing into Larson. It had been a nasty fall, but not something that would have cracked his head open like that. I wondered if he had been grazed by one of the bullets that had been fired into another of the club's employees by one of those strange police officers, and if so, how lucky this guy was to still be alive.

  We made our way through the dance floor and past various walk up bar tops, until we arrived at another set of doors. He knocked quietly and a voice called out what must have been "Come in." in Thai. The bartender held the door open for me. I watched him, and then realizing that he had no intention of joining me into the office, I "wai’d" him, and walked through the door.

  The office seemed initially to be sparse, filled with what appeared to be plastic lawn furniture. There was only man in the room and he was sitting with his back to me and a bag of ice pressed to his temple.

  "You wanted Steve?" I felt ridiculous referring to myself in the third person like that, but I didn't know how much English this guy had command of, just hoping it was significantly more than my command of Thai. The man in the chair turned around and peered angrily at me, but something in his eyes changed the second he took in my face and he immediately softened as he stood up and "wai’d" me.

  I returned the gesture and watched as the man moved to a wall and felt behind a plastic table. I heard a click and watched as a section of the wall popped open a couple of inches. The man put his bag of ice on the table, opened the hidden door and gestured for me to enter yet another room.

  I "wai’d" the man again, and walked through the door, finding myself in a room that could only be described as the most extreme example of over-the-top ultra consumption that had ever been created. It actually felt like I needed to wear sunglasses, as I tried to take it all in, because every piece of metal was bejeweled gold. Exotic woods were used in the construction of all the furniture and a pattern of marble tile were set into the floor. Rare animal pelts from bear and lion to what appeared to be monkey were draped over chairs or strewn about the floor as throw or area rugs, and the ceiling was painted with a blue-sky mural, complete with wispy clouds and a rainbow. Everything, and I mean everything, clashed with everything else in the room. It was the most expensive God-awful mess I had ever seen.

  Off to one side was an older woman sitting behind a desk composed of gold and glass. She sat blankly, even defiantly, in an oversized luminous Asian red/orange leather chair decoratively riveted down the front of the arms with what looked like solid gold studs. In front of the desk were a couple of black leather chairs that were somewhat smaller but of a matching design to the large red one, complete with matching gold studs.

  I walked over to the woman and stood in front of the desk. Her vacant, yet somehow defiant expression never changed, as I waited for her to say something.

  "Hey babe, take a seat."

  I blinked in surprise as the woman's mouth hadn't moved when the words came out. Of course it only took me another second to recognize that the voice had not been from the old lady’s mouth at all.

  "Lei?"

  Lei peeked a portion of her head out from behind the chair and smiled mischievously at me as she stood up and walked from behind the throne. I was about to ask what was going on, when she brandished the Desert Eagle, keeping it pointed squarely at the woman's face.

  Now it was my turn to smile, although it was mostly because I had been worried about her since she bolted away earlier in the evening. "I see you made a friend?"

  Lei ignored me at first and leaned in to kiss me lightly, without allowing the red dot of the gun’s laser system to leave the center of the woman’s forehead.

  Then she said, "Let me introduce you to Chonpak Boonliang, Madame and manager of this hell hole."

  "So that's what...who...you went after earlier?"

  "Yep, I saw Madame ‘Pak making a break for it when the shooting started. I caught her about to climb up to the roof and convinced her not to leave."

  I squinted my eyes at her and said, "Convinced her how?"

  Lei smiled, "That guy outside is her main bodyguard, and he had been with her when I caught up with them. Once I took him down, well she seemed to want to quietly submit to whatever I told her to do. I think that she believes me to be a former employee, come back for vengeance or something."

  I nodded, "Has she said anything?"

  "No, but to be fair, I haven't asked her anything, yet."

  "You've just let her sit and stew the entire time?"

  "After I had her bribe the police to leave us alone, yes."

  I stifled a smile, "You've been cruel."

  Lei didn't smile back, "No, I haven't even started to be cruel yet."

  The chill in her voice sobered me quickly, "Does she speak English?"

  "Very well, thank you," Madame Chonpak snorted abruptly.

  "Good," I turned to her and looking directly into her eyes, said "that will make everything easier, that is, if you want things to go, easy."

  She met my glare, "Easy, how?"

  "You see this amazingly beautiful woman with the gun?" I inclined my head at Lei who sneered a smile back at the woman, "She really, really wants to hurt you. She has issues, most of which came from someone exactly like you and it would be…" I paused searching for the right word, "therapeutic, for her to exact more than a little punishment on you."

  The Madame only grunted as if bored by the idea that we might torture her. I turned and saw Lei's eyes darken at the expression and knew I had to get this done quickly.

  "You tell me what I need to know and we leave what remains of your club intact." I moved in closer and commanded her full attention, "If you don't tell me what I need to know, then I will burn this club to the ground with you still inside it."

  The faintest trace of a facial tick quirked on one side of her face, which told me she wasn't nearly as fearless as she'd like us to believe, but she wasn't exactly singing out her cooperation either.

  I pulled one of the photographs of the girl out
of my pocket and slid it across the desk so that it faced the Madame. She didn't even look at it. Instead she slowly lowered her hands to her cleavage and removed a small, shiny, silver rectangle. I could instantly tell it wasn't a weapon, as it was very thin and square in shape, still I reached over the desk and grabbed her by the throat until she gagged. The object fell onto the desk and popped open revealing itself to be a cigarette case. Lei picked it up and inspected it for a minute before setting it back down on the desk.

  "It's cool," she said calmly, "But feel free to strangle the bitch if you'd like."

  I released my grip, but growled, "I really don't have time for this shit!" The Madame’s eyes were wide, she was used to dealing with the police, who had rules to follow in how they treated their suspects. It looked as though she suddenly realized that we were something else entirely as her hands shakily plucked a cigarette from the case and placed it between her lips. When she closed the case an internal lighter ignited and she lit the cigarette, puffing the smoke away from me instead of in my face as I had almost expected.

  When she was done taking a pair of deep drags she looked to the picture and said only, "Who she?"

  Lei reared back to pistol-whip the woman, but I caught her arm. She struggled against me for a moment until we both heard the Madame chuckling at us.

  When Lei had regained control of herself the Madame said, "You Americans always think we're a bunch of piss ant people who are small and weak compared to you. You come here, you order us around like we're all you're butlers and maids, here to serve your every wish. But we're a proud people. Ancient people. We strive toward enlightenment, while you soil yourselves everyday with the lives you lead."