----o-֎-o----
Kai Qiang and Houzhi Chang were having breakfast together, as they usually did before every race -- except this time they were sharing their table with Dinggu Wang, Mendok Sherpa, and two bodyguards. Qiang noticed that Tenzing was eating weisswurst at another table. He wanted to ask the bodyguards what kind of magic Tenzing used and how powerful he was, but there was no way to do that without pointing him out to Chang, Wang, and Mendok. (He was sure that Tenzing was a magician of some kind, but had not thought to ask what kind when they crossed paths the first time.)
Houzhi Chang was talking about tires and the timing of pit stops and that sort of thing, and Qiang had to turn his attention away from Tenzing to listen to his crew chief. When he looked at the other table again, Tenzing was gone. Qiang's bodyguard scowled at him, apparently displeased that Qiang had noticed Tenzing's coming and going. It was very awkward that they couldn't talk about it with other people at the table. Qiang excused himself to use the restroom. His bodyguard said, "I better go too," and followed him to the men's room.
As he walked into the men's room, Qiang overheard Tenzing talking on his phone saying, "He picked me out in, like, five seconds. It was like he knew I would be there, and he knew I had a fake passport too. Oh, hang on, I think someone's coming in the bathroom."
"Hi, Tenzing," said Qiang. "I actually had a question about you, but since you're here, maybe you can tell me yourself."
Tenzing threw open the door of the stall and burst out with his phone in his hand, his eyes wide with surprise, and his face red with anger. "What are YOU doing in here???" he demanded.
Qiang gestured at his bodyguard. "I was looking for somewhere I could talk to him in private."
"Okay, you're getting WAY too nosy!" the bodyguard said. He grabbed Qiang roughly and shoved him against the wall. "Did you know Tenzing was in here?"
"No, I was just looking for somewhere I could talk to you in private," Qiang said, cowering in the bodyguard's shadow. "I swear."
"I told you not to talk to him," said the bodyguard, "and here you are following him into the men's room and asking him questions."
"I was just curious what kind of magic he uses," Qiang explained nervously. "And I didn't know he was in here."
"If I tell you about my magic, will you answer my questions?" said Tenzing.
"Yeah, sure," said Qiang. He had no idea how the situation had spiraled out of control so badly that he was now being threatened by his own bodyguard.
"How did you know I was government agent?" Tenzing asked.
"You're a Sherpa," said Qiang. "We're not in the Sherpa Empire, and Sherpas don't watch NSSCRA."
"How could you be so sure I was a Sherpa when I was wearing Western clothes?" Tenzing asked. "I'm sure there are other ethnicities I could be mistaken for."
"I guessed the government would send a magician for back-up, and you were the only person around that looked like they might be Sherpa, so I figured it must be you."
"And how did you know I was using a fake passport?" Tenzing asked.
"Because that's what the government does," said Qiang. "They issue passports that have fake names like Tenzing Norgay or Shen Nong or Yang Guifei."
"I wouldn't expect a high school drop out from the back end of nowhere to know that sort of thing," Tenzing said.
"Just because I don't have a diploma doesn't mean I'm stupid or that I don't know what's going on in the world," said Qiang. "I dropped out because my father died."
"Sorry to hear that," said Tenzing. "Your mother doesn't work?"
"Dead people usually don't work."
Tenzing nodded. "Yes, I hear there's a lot of workplace discrimination against the dead. I said I would tell you about my magic if you answered my questions. I have blood magic, but I'm not very powerful, so I mostly rely on talismans. And my name really is Tenzing, just not Tenzing Norgay." He tapped the bodyguard on the arm. "You can let him go."
"You sure?" the bodyguard asked.
"Yeah. He needs to get ready for the race."
The bodyguard still looked doubtful, but he released his grip. Qiang straightened his shirt and went back out to his table. He was sure his name was being put on some kind of watchlist, but he didn't have time to worry about that now. Tenzing was right: he needed to get ready for the race.
In the men's room, Tenzing returned to his phone call. "Did you hear all that?"
"Yeah," said the voice on the other end of the line.
"It's fishy as hell," said Tenzing. "Start a file on him as a suspected Chinese separatist and possible Northern spy."
When he arrived at the track, Qiang was still trying to make sense of how a bit of idle curiosity and a simple trip to the men's room had been enough to land him on a government watchlist. His luck was amazingly bad sometimes. He wished he had never spotted Tenzing.
Sometimes, Qiang thought intelligence and talent were curses more than blessings. The less attentive drivers, who hadn't noticed Tenzing or any other government magicians that might be tailing them, were probably not on any watchlists. People who never had Qiang's success never had to deal with the jealousy, the haters, and the scrutiny that he had to deal with. He didn't miss the back-breaking labor from his old life as a farmer, but he did miss being able to open his mouth without catching the government's attention, and without being humiliated on national television like he had been earlier in the season. The fad for obscene images and violent fanfics about him had died down, but the incident in the men's room had brought it to mind again. Being slammed against the wall by his own bodyguard had reminded him just how helpless he was if people ever decided to act out their violent fantasies.
The crowds and commotion at the track did nothing to improve his state of mind. Being surrounded by crowds of kerbals made him feel very small, even more than usual.
He hoped his bad luck would not carry over to the race. Having that kind of luck on the track was a good way to land in the ER, and Qiang did not want to end up like Jeremiah Brooke. But he knew he still had to keep his cool and focus on the race. He was at the bottom of the Chase standings, and he only had two races to turn things around. Being a nervous wreck would have to wait till later.
He got off to a good start, staying near the front through the first half of the race, but coming out of the pits after a caution for a Lourdina Westgrens wreck, one of his wheels was loose, and he was forced to return to the pit so the tire changers could correct their mistake. In the last laps of the race, he ran well and fought his way back into the top 5, but just barely. It was enough to move him up from 8th to 7th in the Chase ranks, but it would still be an uphill battle to qualify for the championship round, and he only had one more race to dig himself out of the hole.
Liangmei Li and Dinggu Wang finished one after the other in 7th and 8th. Wang was annoyed that he hadn't managed to catch Li, even though she seemed to be struggling the last few laps of the race. He wasn't sure if she was having some kind of trouble with her car or if she was just getting tired. Wang didn't quite get people like Li and Qiang that were skinny as toothpicks, but still expected to be able to force thousands of kilos of metal to go where they wanted.
As a matter of fact, Li had drank too much coffee before the race, and that could be a problem when you were cooped up in a car for a couple of hours. As soon as she got out of her car, she made a bee-line for the bathroom.
----o-֎-o----
Qiang's bodyguard was staying in the room next to his, which meant he could overhear all the noise when Mendok came in for the night. He couldn't put on headphones to block it out because it was part of his job to listen for any sound of trouble. It was going to be a long night... Mendok started up with her silly chatter, talking needlessly loud and giggling at God-only-knew-what. Qiang spoke more softly, except for occasional protests or cries of surprise. The bodyguard could hear them moving things around. Conversation gave way to wordless noises.
There was a loud crash and Mendok screamed. "Oh, shit!" said Qiang. There was some muffled conversation that the bodyguard couldn't hear through the wall.
"Is everything okay over there?" he asked.
No answer.
He knocked on the wall to get their attention. "Is everything okay?"
Still no answer, though he could hear indistinct voices and the clatter of small items being rattled around.
"No!" Mendok cried out, though the bodyguard wasn't sure if she was answering him or reacting to something in the other room. She said something else that he couldn't hear through the wall.
There was a muffled scream like, "Mmmmmrf!!!" and the scrape of something heavy being dragged across the floor.
The bodyguard knew it was normal for Qiang and Mendok to be noisy, but this didn't seem like their usual noise. He texted Tenzing, then went to investigate. The door was locked, but he had a copy of the key. He unlocked the door and opened it slowly.
Mendok screamed and stumbled toward the bed, snatching up a blanket to cover herself. "Don't you KNOCK???" Nobody was in the room except her and Qiang, though the room was a mess and there was a lamp smashed on the floor.
The bodyguard stumbled back and almost tripped over his own feet. "Y-you didn't answer when I asked if everything was okay," he stammered.
"I didn't HEAR you!!!"
Qiang couldn't move because he was tied to a luggage rack, but he looked angry enough to kill someone. "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM, YOU FAT FUCK!!!"
"Okay! Jeez!" The bodyguard went back out in the hall and slammed the door behind him. "They don't pay me enough to see shit like this!"
He went back to his own room and picked up the magazine that he had been reading, but a couple of minutes later he was interrupted by a knock on his door. As he walked over to answer it, he heard voices in the hall. "Is everything okay?" Tenzing asked.
"No!" Kai Qiang answered. "This idiot just barged into my room for no reason!"
The bodyguard threw the door open and fired back, "I heard something crashing and they didn't answer when I asked if everything was okay!"
"I haven't heard a peep from the people you're supposed to be protecting me from, but this is the second time today that I've had a problem with you!" said Qiang. He was wearing a silky dark blue bathrobe. Tenzing was leaning against the wall behind him, dressed in jeans and a black Space Ogres T-shirt, studying Qiang a little more intently than was entirely normal. (He wasn't actually a Space Ogres fan; he just wore foreign T-shirts to make his nationality and ethnic background less obvious.)
"You've got red marks on your wrists," said Tenzing. "Someone tied you up?"
"Mendok did that, and it's none of your business!"
Tenzing smiled and said, "Oh, I think it's my business if you're stealing our women."
"You wouldn't know what to do with a woman even if you had one!" said Qiang. "I see the way you're looking at me!"
Tenzing patted him on the shoulder. "Just testing to see if you'd notice. I'm trying to figure out if you were honest with me this morning, so I wanted to see if you're as quick to pick up other things as you were guessing what my job is."
Qiang brushed his hand away. "Yeah, and Tenzing is a fake name."
"I told you, my name really is Tenzing."
"And you really are gay!"
"I could have kept it to myself if I didn't want to test you."
"You should have kept it to yourself!"
Tenzing was still smiling. "I know you don't swing that way."
"You guys are seriously unprofessional, both of you! And you both need to keep your hands off me and stay the hell out of my room!"
The big burly bodyguard looked confused. He turned to Tenzing and said, "Wait... You're gay?"
"Ha! I told you I can keep it to myself when I want to."
"But..."
"Don't worry; I'm not attracted to you."
----o-֎-o----
Qiang and his crew stocked up on chocolate spice cookies so they'd have something better than airline food to snack on during their flight, and then it was off to Vangaziland.
Meeting Eva Kerman's grandma explained a lot about the stuff Eva wrote in the Sportler. The old lady was a hoot. Houzhi Chang liked her a lot. Qiang could see she meant well, but he got a little tired of the winking and nudging about his relationship with Mendok.
Mendok was not there with them because she was taking a later flight. She and Dinggu Wang went to get dorfration pretzels before they headed to the airport -- but then she finished hers before they even got to the airport, so she had no snacks to bring on the plane, and she spent most of the flight complaining that the airlines didn't give you enough food. Wang was impressed. He couldn't finish his dorfration. But then he wasn't eating for two...
----o-֎-o----
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