The Fear Artist

20

There are two places he could go, but it’s 10:00 P.M. already, and the laundry will be closed. So at least he’s spared that. For the moment.

With some misgivings, then, he calls Vladimir and tells him to come get his money. And thinks of a way to put Ming Li to work.

An extra pair of eyes, she’d said. Well, why not?

He’d told Vladimir to go to the closed Asia Books on Sukhumvit and then call him. A thumb on the phone had cut short Vladimir’s protest that he could be trusted with the actual destination. He’d hauled Ming Li out onto the sidewalk, the guys in Coffee World drooping in disappointment, and grabbed a cab for Sukhumvit. The drizzle had lifted, but the streets still shone like obsidian and the air smelled almost fresh, or at least wet.

According to the driver’s radio, water from the rising river is being diverted into several canals, and residents of the areas intersected by those canals are being advised to get their belongings-and, presumably, their asses-to higher ground. The cabbie says to Ming Li, in Thai, “It’s going to be bad.”

“Poot Thai medai,” Ming Li says. I don’t speak Thai.

“There’s already flooding around the Temple of Dawn,” Rafferty says in Thai.

“My house is near there,” the driver says. “My wife’s taken the kids to her parents. Where do you live?”

“Silom.”

“Never happen,” the driver says. “Silom is a rich area.”

“Yes, but does the water know that?”

Ming Li is ignoring the chatter. She seems entranced to see Bangkok again. Her nose is practically pressed to the taxi’s window.

“The guy,” Rafferty says to her in English. “He’s six-two or so, getting a little paunchy, with a long face, a black mustache, and eyebrows that almost meet over his nose. And a cleft in his chin deep enough to be a national park. Head shaped like a bullet, black hair-”

“Got it,” she says. Her breath fogs the window.

“Practically oozes melancholy.”

“I said I’ve got it.”

“He looks the way a Gypsy violin sounds.”

“Tall, narrow-faced, dark hair, cleft chin, unibrow, mustache, depressive. Looks Russian, in other words.” There’s a lot of patience in her tone.

“Oh, right, I forgot. He’s Russian.”

“I said I’ve got it.”

“Good. You just stand a few stores down and wait for me to call.”

“I’m seeing a lot of girls on this street,” she says.

“Oh, good Lord,” he says, remembering Pim.

“Well, if you don’t mind depraved tourists hitting on your little sister, I don’t.”

“They’ll survive the encounter,” he says.

He lets her out a few blocks from the store, tells her to be careful, and gets a snort in return. The cab takes him another quarter of a mile to a small soi with a cluster of Arab restaurants on it. He goes into the second one back from the boulevard and orders a Diet Coke. One swallow into the second can, his phone rings.

“I am here,” Vladimir says. “You are not.”

“Okay. Face Sukhumvit so the store is at your back. Got it?”

“This is not difficult.”

“Turn left and start walking. Call me in two blocks.”

“You are not trusting me.”

“Of course I trust you. We’re friends.” He disconnects, and the phone rings instantly.

“He’s towing somebody,” Ming Li says.

“Does he know it?”

“Yes. The guy was about twenty feet past me, so I was in between them, right? Fighting off prospective husbands right and left.”

“Come on, come on.”

“So he put the phone away, turned and looked past me, and gave the other guy what I’d call a ‘significant glance.’ You know, melodramatic countries shouldn’t even try to spy. Russians all think they’re in an opera.”

Rafferty signals the waiter and makes a scribbling motion in the air. “Can you tamp down the adrenaline a little? So they’re both coming toward me, right?”

“I don’t know where you are, do I? Sorry, it’s just that it’s so much fun to be doing this again.”

“Vladimir turned away from you, and he and the other one are going in that direction.”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’ll lead you to me, unless I move. Describe the other one.”

“Mmmm. That’s not easy. He looks like every Caucasian gene in the planet was put into a blender and-”

“Never mind. I know who it is.” He hands the waiter some money and waves off a halfhearted offer of change. “Okay. Where are you?”

“Crossing a big, insane intersection with a street coming in at a diagonal and-yikes! — buses going in the wrong direction in the lane nearest the curb.”

“Right. Okay. Dawdle a little. Hang back. Look both ways. Stop for a minute or two.”

“I’m very popular when I stop.”

“Dazzle them. Burn off some of that energy. I have to hang up.”

His call-waiting signal beeps again. “Vladimir,” he says. “You’re being a bad boy.”

“Always,” Vladimir says. “But why you telling me now?”

“What’s-his-name-I mean, Janos.”

“Oho,” Vladimir says. “You are looking, yes? Where?”

“Why is he here?”

“He is not trusting me. You are not trusting me, he is not trusting me. Good thing Vladimir is not sensitive.”

“I asked why he’s-”

“You owe him money. He is not wanting to have to kill me to get it.”

“Money for what?”

“Ah-ah. We talking when we see each other.”

“Okay. Keep walking. In about three blocks, there’s a hotel, the Alpine Suites. Go through the lobby and into the bar. I’ll be in a booth at the back. Bring Janos.”

“You buy me drink?”

Rafferty says, “Oh, for Christ’s sake,” and turns off the phone.

On the way in, he stops at reception and asks for three standard letter-size envelopes. He takes them into the men’s room, claims a stall, and closes the door, then does some quick sorting with the hundreds and twenties Ming Li brought from America.

The bar is empty. At this hour most of the businessmen who stay here are out experiencing the more vivid aspects of Bangkok life. He calls Ming Li and says, “I’m in a hotel up ahead of you, the Alpine Suites. They’ll be going into it, if they haven’t already. Just walk past it, twenty or thirty yards. The guy Vladimir is towing is going to come out in a few minutes. Make sure he goes all the way away, and then come in and go through the lobby into the bar.”

Ming Li says, “I’m not old enough to-”

Rafferty hangs up and waves across the room to Vladimir and Janos, who is two steps behind. Vladimir crosses the room as though it’s a minefield, eyes everywhere, and slides into the booth. When Janos starts to follow, Rafferty holds up an envelope and says, “Take this and go away.”

Janos crinkles his generic forehead and says, “Why should I-” and then hefts the envelope and changes the subject. “How much?”

“One thousand, U.S.”

“Ha,” Janos says. He pops the flap on the envelope and looks inside. “This one, this Vladimir, he is so cheap. You I can work for.”

“And you probably will, but right now go away. All the way out of the hotel and then into a cab and somewhere else. I have someone watching, and I’ll know.”

“You learn fast,” Janos says. To Vladimir he says, “Bye-bye, cheapskate.”

Watching Janos go, Vladimir sags back against the booth and says, “Five hundred. I tell him you can only pay five hundred. You Americans, you throw money ewerywhere. And still nobody love you.”

“What did he find out?”

“Oh, no, no. Do not reduce me to laughter. First I am seeing some money. Already you owe me.”

“Well, gee,” Poke says, taking out another envelope. “I don’t know. Now that you’ve told me I’m overpaying-”

“Him,” Vladimir says, both eyes on the envelope. “You pay him too much. Me, I am contractor. Always you pay contractor good.” He lifts the cleft chin in the direction of the envelope. “How much?”

“Two thousand.” He puts it on the table. “For everything you told me last time, and for getting things moving.”

Vladimir shrugs and reaches for it. “Good.” He uses his fingertips to square the envelope precisely with the table’s edge and folds his hands over it.

“Not going to count it?”

“I trust you.” He surveys the room lazily, and Rafferty figures he’s memorizing everything in it. “I count it later. One more small information for you. Murphy has first name. Heskell.”

“Heskell?”

“No,” Vladimer says. “Heskell.”

“Oh,” Rafferty says. “Haskell.”

“I tell you two times, Heskell.” His eyes lock on something and follow it. He reaches up and smooths his hair. “This is pretty girl,” he says, and Rafferty looks up to see Ming Li.

“Get you guys something?” Ming Li asks. “You must be Vladimir.”

Vladimir says to Rafferty, “She is yours?”

“How Old World,” Ming Li says. She looks down at Poke. “Scoot over, whoever you are.”

“I’m Poke,” Poke says as Ming Li sits. “Vladimir knows my name. Vladimir, this isn’t Minnie Lee. Minnie, this isn’t really Vladimir.”

Vladimir says, “Poke is not a name.”

“If you’d told my father that thirty-seven years ago, I’d have been spared a life of shame.”

“Poke is better than Philip,” Ming Li says. She looks at the envelope. “Is that what I think it is?”

Vladimir puts a protective hand on the envelope and says, “Depends what you think-”

“Money,” she says. “You going to earn it?”

Vladimir straightens up an inch or so and looks down his considerable nose at her. “Is already earned.”

The two of them examine each other in a way that makes Poke feel he’s in the next room.

Into the silence he says, “I wonder how you get a drink in here.”

Vladimir says, “You have wery interesting eyes.”

Ming Li says, “You’ve got a nice kind of aging-Borat thing going yourself.”

“Was a time,” Vladimir says mournfully, “you would have chased Vladimir through the woods.”

“And caught him, too,” Ming Li says.

“Would either of you like a-”

“But your eyes,” Vladimir says, sliding the envelope back and forth with his fingertips. “Yes, pretty, wery pretty, but interesting.”

“I’m just your basic hybrid.”

“Glad you guys are getting along,” Poke says.

Vladimir says to Poke, “She is baby spy, yes?”

“I’m his bankroll,” Ming Li says.

“Yes? And you are knowing him how?”

“I’ve heard about him my entire life.” She laces her fingers together and clasps her hands over her heart. “This is a dream come true.”

Vladimir’s lower lip comes out half an inch, apparently propelled by doubt. “You are young,” he says. “You will have better dream later.”

“Hey,” Rafferty says. “My life is in danger.”

“You guys talk for a minute.” Ming Li gets up. “What do you want?”

Rafferty asks for a Singha. Vladimir says, “Wodka. The bottle, please,” and watches her cross the room.

“A million dollar, she would be worth to me,” Vladimir says. “Two million. Already I have a hundred ideas.”

“Not for sale.”

“With fifty like her, look like her, smart like her, I could have won war in Wietnam.”

“You did.”

“No. Wietnam won. We lose ewerything. We lose whole world. We were killed by American telewision.” He puckers as though to spit but instead says, “Dallas.”

“Back in the present tense.” Rafferty takes out the third envelope and hits it against the heel of his hand. It makes a nice, thick thwack that gets Vladimir’s attention. Rafferty puts the envelope down and says, “Three thousand.”

“For what?”

“Murphy’s address.”

Vladimir picks up the envelope and slides it into his shirt pocket. He fumbles in the pocket with two long fingers for a moment and then extracts them. There’s a folded slip of paper between them. He holds it out to Rafferty. “Is here. But wery difficult to get in.”

“That’s my problem.” He opens the paper and sees an address in a part of Bangkok he never visits. “How did you do this?”

“Janos. You already pay him for it. I have him waiting outside Shen’s, two day, three day. People look at him, forget him, look at him again. Follow Murphy two time. Both time go this house. Wery big, with gates.”

“Good. That’s good.”

“You go there, he will kill you.”

“He’ll kill me anyway.”

Vladimir shrugs acceptance. “For two thousand dollar-what you pay me already-I tell you more things.” He opens the flap on the envelope in front of him and peeks in. “U.S. Not so good these days.”

“It’s what I’ve got. Give it back and I’ll write you an IOU in yuan.”

“Coming up,” Ming Li says, sitting next to Poke. Vladimir looks at her like she’s a veal chop.

“You can’t have her,” Poke says to Vladimir. “Tell me what else I’ve bought.”

“In the house, Murphy’s house. Is two women, maybe both Mrs. Murphy. And one girl.”

“Two Mrs. Murphys? What do you mean, a girl?”

“One Mrs. Murphy come from Wietnam, other one maybe Laos. Girl is twelve or thirteen. Daughter of Murphy. Wery strange, my friend say.”

“Strange how?”

“Wery dirty. Wears always same thing. Hair like snake in a ball. Maid is afraid of her.”

Ming Li looks impressed. “You’ve been talking to the maid?”

“Not me. Poke owe me five hundred more. Have friend, wery handsome Thai boy, talk to maid in supermarket, make some kind friend with her.” He glances at Ming Li and leans toward Rafferty and lowers his voice. “You understand, ‘some kind friend’?”

“I think I get it.”

“So they”-he makes a rolling gesture with his hand-“talking. Thai boy and maid. House have two maid, two women, one girl, and Murphy.”

Ming Li asks the question that’s on Rafferty’s mind. “Dog?”

“No. Maid says girl-” Vladimir breaks off as a waitress arrives with a big tray. She puts Rafferty’s beer in front of Vladimir, Vladimir’s glass and bottle in front of Ming Li, and Ming Li’s Coke-Rafferty guesses-in front of Poke. She gives them all a blinding smile and retreats.

“Says girl kill two cat,” Vladimir says.

Nodding acknowledgment, Ming Li rearranges the drinks in an expert fashion. She unscrews the cap on a small bottle of vodka and pours for Vladimir, her free hand supporting the hand with the bottle in it, laying on the formal Asian etiquette. Vladimir watches her so intently that Rafferty half expects a long tongue to dart out and snatch her across the table.

To distract him Rafferty pulls out a short stack of money and counts off five hundred. He starts to hold it out and then pulls back. “What do you know about Yala?”

“Yala? Ewerything is in Yala.” Vladimir wrenches his eyes off Ming Li and drinks. Then he puts the glass down and gives Rafferty his full attention. “If Murphy is working with Shen, he is thinking about Yala. If he is thinking about Yala, he is thinking Phoenix, yes?”

“What’s Yala?” Ming Li says. “What’s Phoenix?”

“Tell you later,” Rafferty says. His beer is heart-shrinkingly cold. “But Phoenix, that was against an invisible enemy. The people who carried it out didn’t know who was Vietcong and who wasn’t. Everybody knows who’s Muslim down there.”

“I am disappoint in you. You are thinking like American. Most Muslim wery peaceful. Have Buddhist friend, maybe even Buddhist husband or wife. Is the center of the problem, yes? If all Muslim is dangerous, solution is easy. So same problem like Wietnam. Which is which? What is command infrastructure? Who is giwing order? Are crazies from outside running ewerything? Don’t be so straightforward.”

Rafferty had mentioned Yala mostly to see Vladimir’s reaction, whether he’d been withholding information about Murphy’s trips down there. He still doesn’t know the answer, but what he’s getting is interesting anyway. “Straightforward how?”

“You are liwing here long time,” Vladimir says with an undertone of reproof. “You can see what happens. Many people die, Thai gowernment sits around. Send soldiers, soldiers sit around like gowernment, except they get shot at. Newspaper don’t talk about it so much. Maybe, if Murphy is working for Uncle Sam, Uncle Sam would like to see more action. Think Wietnam. Maybe time for Gulf of Tonkin.”

Ming Li says, “I am so lost.”

“American operation, long time ago, when I am young,” Vladimir says with a glance at his glass. “America want to support gowernment in South Wietnam with troop, so they make phony incident. They say North Wietnam ship make bang-bang at American ship. Not true, but now America can send in many troop. Self-defense, yes?”

“Provocation,” Rafferty says.

Vladimir fills his glass, holds up the bottle, and checks the level. “Why not? Many people, Thai people, want big show in south. Now five thousand, six thousand Buddhists dead and nobody do nothing. America, too, America probably want something big. You ewer see kid make sand painting?”

“Yes,” Ming Li says.

Rafferty shrugs.

“Kid take paper,” Vladimir says. He holds up a finger, knocks the glass back, and then uses the finger to blot his mustache. He puts down his glass, and with his long hands he frames a rectangle on the table. “Paper. Put line of glue on paper-maybe doggie, maybe house with tree. Draw with glue, yes?

“I actually am following this,” Rafferty says.

“Then pour sand all ower paper.” He mimes a big shaker. “All, all now under sand. Cannot see paper, cannot see lines. Then take paper and shake it back and forth and turn ower so sand falls off. And now sand is only where lines of glue were. Doggie was always there, yes? But only wisible now.”

“Because it got shaken up,” Ming Li says approvingly.

“Same in Wietnam, later,” Vladimir says. “Phoenix use many Wietnamese, prisoners from Saigon jails, bad guys, will do anything to stay out of pokey. They dress like Wietcong, blow up willage. America and South Wietnam troops go in to protect peasant. Maybe move them to ‘strategic hamlet,’ just houses in mud, like prison camp. Then watch to see who needs to get out most, because they probably Wietcong, have to talk to boss.” He touches his fingertip to the bottom of his glass and licks it. “Shake paper,” he says.

“So,” Rafferty says, “it would make sense to you if Murphy were going down to Yala from time to time.”

Vladimir’s eyes float to a spot in the air, which he studies with the concentration of a man trying to count money in a strange currency. Ming Li slurps her Coke. After a moment he says, without looking up, “You are saying he goes there?”

“I was asking.”

“Mmm-hmmm.” He picks up the glass and puts it to his lips, but it’s empty.

“If you’re thinking about selling this,” Rafferty says, “it would be a very good idea to reconsider.”

“I tell you, I am honest mercenary.”

“Let’s say you are. Let’s say I didn’t ask you about Yala. Let’s say I asked you about Kuala Lumpur.”

“He is flying around? Maybe this is why you not dead yet. Give me.” Vladimir waggles his fingers at the five hundred, and when Rafferty gives it to him, he drinks. Then he brings the glass down on the table with a bang. “This is how good Vladimir is,” he says. “You pay attention, Baby Spy, maybe you get better role model. In Kuala Lumpur is one wery famous American, Eddie Bland.”

Rafferty says, “And Eddie Bland is-”

Vladimir holds up three fingers, a benediction. “After I tell you this, you trust me forewer.”

“We’ll see.”

“When they blow up willage? When Murphy’s guys blow up willage?”

“I remember.”

“Eddie Bland was sergeant in Wietnam. Sergeant for Murphy. Is the guy who makes things go boom. Almost he kill me once.” He points at the glass and says to Ming Li, “Hurry, hurry.”

“Don’t get used to this,” Ming Li says, but she pours.

“So,” Rafferty says, “Murphy, Yala, Kuala Lumpur, Eddie Bland, provocation. Adds up to what, from your perspective?”

Vladimir raises his glass to Ming Li and drains it in one toss. “Same as for you. Maybe soon something go boom in Yala.”