The cold six thousand

86

(Saravan, 9/22/65)

Torture:

Six slaves strapped down. Six Cong-symps wired. Six hot seats / six juice buttons / six testicle feeds.

Mesplиde worked the juice box. Mesplиde ran the juice. Mesplиde asked the questions. Mesplиde talked franglogook.

Pete watched. Pete chewed Nicorette gum. It was wet and hot-rainstorm boocoo. The hut sponged heat. The hut stored heat. The hut was a hot-plate boocoo.

Mesplиde talked gook. Mesplиde talked threat. Mesplиde talked fast. His words slurred-gobblede_GOOK_.

Pete knew the gist. Pete wrote the script. Pete read six faces.

Slaves escape. All pro-Cong. Who let them? I no know!-all six say it-I know no who!

It droned on-you tell me!-no no! Pete watched. Pete chewed gum. Pete read eyes.

Mesplиde lit a Gauloise. Pete cued him. Mesplиde hit the buttons. Juice flooowed.

Testicle ticklers-black box to balls-nonlethal volts. Gooks tingle. Gooks absorb. Gooks yell boocoo.

Mesplиde cut the juice. Mesplиde pidgin-gooked: Congs run! Steal Mbase! Tell what you know!

The gooks buzzed. The gooks squirmed. The gooks afterglowed. Talk now! You tell me! Tell what you know! Six gooks jabbered-this gook ensemble-we no know who!

One gook squeals. One gook yips. One gook salivates. Loincloths to ankles/grounded gonads/feed plugs to feet. One gook squirms. One gook prays. One gook urinates.

Pete cued Mesplиde. Mesplиde hit the buttons. Juice flooowed.

The gooks buckle. The gooks absorb. The gooks gyrate. The gooks scream. The gooks thrash and pop veins.

Pete cogitated. Pete chewed gum. Pete brainstormed eyes shut.

Tran tells Wayne-slaves escape-steal M-base boocoo. They cook it. They dump it. Fuck up our GIs boocoo.

But:

You don't dump Big "H." You _sell_ it.

And:

Wayne rotates home. Wayne's lab is empty. Rival dope cooks could sneak in. Said cooks could utilize. Said cooks could appropriate.

Surveille the lab-do it soon-before _you_ rotate.

Mesplиde coughed. "Has that chewing gum put you in a trance, Pierre?"

Pete opened his eyes. "One of them has to know something. Ask them _why_ the guys ran, and turn up the juice if they shit you."

Mesplиde smiled. Mesplиde coughed. Mesplиde pidgin-gooked. He talked fast. He blurred inflections. He fastballed his words.

Gooks listen. Good absorb. Gooks say: No No No No-

Mesplиde hit the buttons. Juice flowed. Near-lethal volts. The gooks screamed. Their nuts flushed. Their nuts swelled.

Mesplиde cuts the juice. Gooks absorb pain. Gook 5 talks ricky-tick. Mesplиde smiles. Mesplиde absorbs. Mesplиde translates.

"He said he woke up and saw Tran pull them out of the hut. Tran… _qu'est-ce_… forced them to run, and he heard shots a few minutes later."

Pete spit his gum out. "Cut them loose. Give them some extra beans for dinner."

Mesplиde said, "I appreciate compassion."

o o o

The hills hurt.

He breathed hard. He walked slow. He trailed back. Mesplиde walked fast. Two guards flanked him.

They cut through camp. They pushed through brush. They dodged biter snakes. The rain held. Brush slapped them. Pete gobbled breath.

He took pills. They thinned his blood. They scrubbed his veins. They sapped him. They fucked him up. They held him back.

He ran. He caught up. He gobbled breath.

They kicked through mud. The mud had weight. The weight hurt his chest. They walked two miles. They hit downslopes. His chest weight slacked off.

Pete heard grunts and oinks. Pete saw a mud pit. Pete smelled human decomp. Pete saw wild pigs root.

There:

Said mud pit. A buffet. Said pigs and boned flesh.

Pete jumped in. The pigs scattered. The mud was deep. The mud had weight. Pete bobbed for flesh.

He rooted. He flailed. He found an arm. He found a leg. He found a head. He shook off mud. He pulled off skin. He peeled off scalp flaps.

He saw a hole. It was bullet-sized. He gripped the jaws. He cracked the skull back.

Good breath. Good strength. Good outpatient stats.

A bullet dropped. Pete caught it. It was butterflied and smashed. It was a soft-point magnum. It was Tran Lao Dinh's brand.

o o o

Tran tried charm. Tran tried shit. Tran tried shuck-and-jive. Mesplиde hooked him up. Mesplиde hooked dual clamps-gonads and head.

The rain held. Monsoon stats-mud 4-ever.

Pete chewed gum. Pete cracked the door. Pete stirred outside air.

"Your shit's not working. Give up the details and tell us who you're in with, and I'll see what John Stanton says."

Tran said, "You know me, boss. I no work with Victor Charles."

Pete hit the switch. Juice flowed. Tran buckled. Tran clenched.

The clamps sparked. His hair sparked. His nuts spasmed. He bit his lips. He bit his tongue. He cracked his false teeth.

Pete said, "That demoralize-the-GIs story you told Wayne was bullshit. Admit it and go from there."

Tran licked his lips. "Victor Charles, boss. You don't underestimate."

Pete hit the switch. Juice flowed. Tran buckled. Tran clenched.

His bladder blew. The clamps sparked. His head twitched. His dentures flew.

Mesplиde said, "_Il est plus que dinky dau, il est carrйment fou_."

Pete kicked the dentures. They hit the doorway and popped out. They hit the mud monsoon. Tran flashed his gums. Pete saw old scars-Cong torture tattoos.

"I'll double up next time. You don't want that. You won't-"

"Okay okay okay. I kill slaves and sell base to ARVN."

Pete spit his gum out. "That's a start."

Tran worked his chair back. Tran flipped Pete off-_le bird boocoo_.

"You French fuck number ten. You _carrйment fou_."

Pete popped more gum. "You're in with somebody. Tell me who."

Tran flipped Pete off. The wop stiff-arm-_il bah-fungoo_.

"Fuck the frogs. You number ten. You run at Dien Bien Phu."

Pete worked his gum. "Tell me who's running you. We'll have a drink and discuss it."

Tran wiggled. Tran worked his chair back. Tran flipped Pete off-up and rotated-you twirl boocoo.

"You French _cochon_. You fuck fat men."

Pete worked his gum. Pete blew a bubble. It popped ka-poo.

"Who's running you? You're not in this all by yourself."

Tran worked his chair back. Tran spread his legs. Tran humped his hips boocoo.

"I run your wife. I eat red pussy 'cause you homo-"

Pete hit the switch. Pete _locked_ the switch. Tran buckled. Tran humped his hips. Tran worked his chair back boocoo.

He slid it. He squared it. He made the doorway. Mesplиde jumped. Pete tripped.

Tran flipped them off. Tran dumped his chair. Tran went BONZAI! He hit the rain. He hit the mud. He electrified.