Herman shoved his huge body in front of me.
'What the hell does the note say?'
I ignored Herman and scanned the dark skyline. Two-or three-story buildings. A few yoguans, Korean inns, hotbed operations for GIs and the girls they picked up. Most were apartments. Housing business girls and the families of those Koreans who did legitimate-or semilegitimate- work here in Itaewon.
Beyond the buildings, between drifting rain clouds, the tristudded belt of Orion glimmered with a faint glow, no match for the glare of the Itaewon neon. Still, the pale stars seemed somehow heroic. I swiveled slowly in a 360-degree turn, scanning high and low. The three-quarter moon was rising. No sign of observers. But they were there. We were being watched. I was sure we were.
Because I had stopped moving forward, the business girls pressed in on me, breathing their hot breath on my arms, clutching my elbows. I shrugged them off and unwrapped the note.
'What's it say?' Herman demanded.
I showed it to him.
'That's Chinese.' Herman looked back and forth between me and the note. 'I can't read it.'
So many business girls had their arms laced around Ernie that he looked like a man towing an acrobatic troupe. 'You couldn't read it anyway,' Ernie told Herman, 'even if it was in English.'
The business girls giggled.
Herman just stared at Ernie. Amazed. Not by what Ernie had said but by the stunning fact that we wouldn't be able to read the note. Herman could only work on one problem at a time. Ernie's sarcasm couldn't break through.
'I can read the note,' I said.
'You can?' Herman leaned over the paper, blocking my light.
'Yes.' I pointed to the three characters at the top. 'These are simple. The name of the district we're in: Itaewon.'
Herman peered at the paper. So did Ernie.
'And this is the character for temple.'
'Temple?' Herman said. 'There's no temple in Itaewon.'
'Then we'd better shit one,' Ernie said.
Sooki stepped forward again. 'Yeah. There's a temple in Itaewon. GI never go there. GI babo.' Stupid. 'GI don't know.'
Herman grabbed her soft arms. 'Where is it?'
Sooki leaned as far back as she could. 'Sooki show you. But cost ten dollars.'
The surrounding business girls cackled in glee. Herman backed off as if Sooki had suddenly become radioactive.
'There's one more thing that has me worried,' I said.
'What?' Herman asked.
'The three characters down here on the bottom of the note.'
'What do they say?'
'Oh bun hu.'
'What the hell does that mean?'
'It means they've given us five minutes to get to the temple.'
Herman let out a whoof of air. 'We've already used three.'
'Maybe four. We don't have time to be dicking around,' I told Herman. 'Pay her the ten dollars.'
'I'm broke.'
I couldn't believe it. Herman's daughter had just been kidnapped and the asshole was still trying to stiff me for a measly ten dollars. I reached in my pocket, dug out a wrinkled Military Payment Certificate, and slapped it in Sooki's hand. 'Here. Let's go. Bali bali!' Quickly.
Sooki smiled, slipped the money in the top of her bra, then trotted off into one of the alleys that led off from the top of Hooker Hill.
Ernie flapped his arms like a flamingo preparing for flight. About three business girls fell back. They pouted and straightened their skirts.
Without hesitation, Herman rolled forward after Sooki. This time I kept score. He bowled over nine business girls. But didn't have time to try for the spare.
During the weekdays, when all of the GIS are on compound, the Korean business girls have a life of their own. They gossip and play huatu, Korean flower cards; they visit the public bathhouses with their friends; they smoke cigarettes and eat chop. The fact that there was a temple in Itaewon shouldn't have surprised me. A place to worship Buddha would fit right into the business girls' routine.
But what surprised me most was that I didn't know about it. Maybe none of them wanted to tell a GI about their secret temple. I didn't blame them. We Americans have a habit of ruining everything that's good.
Sooki wound through the alleys like an expert. I wasn't sure if we could trust her, but with only a minute or two until our rendezvous, I had no choice but to take a chance on her. I didn't have to explain this to Ernie. He was alert. Watching for a trap.
Up here above Itaewon the lanes became even narrower and darker. Even the clangs of rock and roll from the main drag faded into silence. All I heard was heavy breathing and our footsteps sloshing through the mud.
Finally, Sooki stopped and crouched at the corner of a tall stone wall. I squatted down next to her and she pointed, whispering. 'The Dream Buddha,' she said. 'That's His temple.'
'The Dream Buddha?'
'Yes. We call him Maitreya.'
I'd read about Maitreya. The Buddha of the Vision of the Coming Age. A Buddha who has not even been born yet in his human form but who still manages to help mortals in the here and now. It makes sense when you think about it. All Buddhas are eternal. Neither the future nor the past is a barrier to their will.
Ernie and Herman crouched next to us, breathing heavily. I peered around the wall.
It was a small pagodalike temple. Made of wood, painted blue, with red and gold filigree along the tile of the layered roofs. A few candles shone inside, illuminating a gold-plated Buddha. His enigmatic smile beamed out at the world. The odor of incense wafted through the gentle rain.
'Nobody's there,' Ernie told me.
'They're here,' I answered. 'Somewhere.'
Herman motioned for us to keep quiet. 'Listen,' he said.
We heard creaking in the pagoda. Up high. Through the mist I saw another stone wall, looming behind the pagoda, almost as high as the highest roof.
'Somebody's up there,' Herman said.
'Sounds like it,' I answered. 'Okay. They want us in the temple, so we go in the temple. Me and Herman. Ernie, do you think you could work your way around behind?'
Ernie chomped on his ginseng gum. 'Can do easy.'
'Good. That'll give us an extra measure of safety if they try anything.'
A high-pitched moan sliced through the rain.
We all froze, looking toward the top of the temple. Sooki shivered, rubbing her bare arms. She stood. 'Sooki go now.'
Herman grabbed her elbow and yanked her back down. 'If you mess us up,' he told her, 'I'll come looking for you. You alia?' You understand?
Sooki swallowed and slowly nodded her head.
'Good.' Herman released his grip and Sooki rose and trotted down the dark lane.
Ernie waited until her footsteps faded. 'Scared the shit out of her, Herm baby.' There was admiration in his voice.
Herman grunted.
'Come on,' I said. 'Let's get this show on the road.'
'Right.' Ernie scurried off through one of the side alleys, happy as a drunkard in a saki factory. There was nothing like the prospect of violence to brighten up his outlook on life.
