We slid the door shut and turned off the light. The rain had stopped and the clouds were beginning to disperse. Beams of moonlight drifted through an open curtain. Instead of appearing beautiful, the light from the almost full moon filled me with dread. Dread for what would happen to Mi-ja if we didn't reach Seoul soon.
Lady Ahn sensed my discomfort. She undressed me and wiped my cold skin with a warm towel. I forgot all worries and did the same for her.
I knelt in front of her. Ministering to royalty. Ministering to beauty.
The next morning Ernie wasn't exactly morose, but he wasn't happy either. Usually, he's the one who makes it with the chicks. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because he doesn't try. He just does whatever crazy thing comes into his demented mind and women find it exciting. Unpredictable.
Personally, I could live without the unpredictable part.
We ordered breakfast in the room: jiggei peikpan, white rice with kimchi and bean curd soup. After we ate, we stuffed the AK-47 into my overnight bag and stepped out into the already bustling city of Taejon. Our clothes were still damp.
We waved down a cab, clambered in, and Lady Ahn gave directions. The Rising Phoenix Antique Shop in the district of Chungku.
When we pushed into the shop, the familiar bell tinkled above us. The same young clerk Ernie and I had frightened last time stepped out from behind the still-splintered glass counter. Wide-eyed, she bowed at the waist.
'Kang oddiso?' Lady Ahn asked. Where's Kang?
The clerk stood upright and raised her fingertips to her lips. Tears welled up in her eyes.
'Mullasso, onni?' You don't know, older sister?
'What?' Lady Ahn asked. 'What is it I don't know?'
'The Widow Kang was found in her apartment.' The young clerk turned her face, tears streaming easily down the soft skin of her cheeks. 'She had been tortured. And cut many times.'
'Cut? Is she still alive?'
'No, older sister. They cut her throat.' The young woman clutched at her thin neck convulsively. 'Cut it so deep the policeman said they carved into the bone.'
I translated for Ernie but somehow he'd already figured out what was going on. 'It's Fifi, right?' I nodded. 'I think we'd better get out of here,' he said. 'Now.'
Lady Ann's face was blank from shock. I grabbed her and the three of us slipped out the back door and down the alleyway.
No one followed. At least I don't think they did.
We pushed down the sidewalk, past children in black uniforms carrying heavy book bags over their shoulders. In the street, men in loose pantaloons wheeled carts piled high with giant cabbages.
'They'll be watching the trains,' I said.
Ernie nodded. 'And the bus station.'
Lady Ahn's voice was hoarse but her words were strong and clear. 'We must hire a car,' she said.
'That'll cost money.'
'Not much. I know a place.'
We walked rapidly, none of us talking, chewing up the kilometers. Red-striped municipal buses roared past us, spewing out diesel fumes. Korean army convoys honked their horns and rolled haltingly past seas of pedestrians and bell-chiming bicycles. We were nearing the downtown area.
At a big circular intersection, we stopped under the awning of an open-front store.
'People who need gas money for a long trip congregate here,' Lady Ahn told us. 'You wait. I will search for someone traveling to Seoul.'
'I'll come with you.'
'No. If they see an American face, the price goes up. And they might not even want to travel with you.'
'Okay,' I agreed. 'But stay out on the sidewalk where I can see you.'
For the first time since we'd learned of the Widow Kang's murder, Lady Ahn smiled. 'I will.'
After she left, Ernie sauntered into the store and bought two packs of ginseng gum and three small tins of guava juice. I thanked him when he handed me one, popped open the top, and drank it down quickly. I was more thirsty than I thought.
'Maybe those dudes are watching this area, too,' Ernie said.
'Maybe. But I doubt it. They're foreigners like us. They won't know about this place. An unofficial rendezvous for people seeking transportation.'
'I hope not.' Ernie glugged down his guava. 'I heard you last night.'
'Heard what?'
'I heard you and I heard her.'
'You know Korean custom. You're supposed to pretend that you didn't hear.'
'Hey, I'm still a Miguk. Or almost, anyway.'
'American, maybe. But you're getting as bad as Strange.'
Strange was one of our information contacts back in Seoul. Although a pervert in his personal life, he was the noncommissioned officer in charge of all the Top Secret documents at Eighth Army Headquarters. Appropriate, when you thought about it.
'I'm just looking out for your welfare, pal,' Ernie told me. 'There's something weird about this Lady Ahn. She hasn't told us everything.'
'Maybe not,' I snapped. 'But she's told us enough.'
'Okay,' Ernie said. 'Just commenting.'
I filled Ernie in on what Lady Ahn told me last night while we lay together in the Westgate yoguan. The first thing I asked about was her reaction to the jade amulet the little nun had given Ernie.
'It frightened me,' she explained. 'Because it proved that many people are now looking for the jade skull.'
'How so?'
'Maitreya is the most important saint for the largest Buddhist sect in Korea. On the amulet, he is fighting Mahakala, the god of the Mongols. The Mongols practice a different kind of Buddhism. Some of them are very good. But some of them like to fight.'
'And you think that both Buddhist sects, the ones who control Korea and the ones who control Mongolia, are now after the jade skull?'
'Yes. That is why the little nun was in Itaewon. Her temple must've heard rumors about me. And about Herman. The nun was a spy, trying to learn what she could about the jade skull.'
'And someone attacked her because of it?'
'Of course.'
'Will the Buddhists who rule Korea send men after us also?'
'No. They are much too powerful for that. They will try to steal the jade skull, but they won't kill us. Not out in the open anyway.'
Okay. It made sense. But I had one more question.
'If these two important groups of Buddhists are after the jade skull, why did the monks on Bian-do let us go free?'
'Because the monks of Bian-do have lived alone for many centuries. They belong to neither sect, and they are true Buddhists. Not concerned with money.'
'And if you retake the throne of the Sung dynasty…'
'Yes,' she said. 'I will honor the monks of Bian-do and give them the chance to spread their faith amongst millions of people.'
While we stood in the little shop, I explained all this to Ernie.
'These religious guys are just as greedy as all the other bastards,' he said.
'I don't know,' I said. 'Maybe they think they have a right to the jade skull.'
Before I could explain further, Lady Ahn trotted back into the store. Ernie polished off his guava juice and
