Soul Heist - The Missing Mentor

Chapter 26 - Fish Tank

Midway through their second round of rainbow-coloured drinks, Naoto squinted towards the aquarium. Danian turned around and, for the very first time in his life, he saw a living mermaid. She swam up and down in circles; her long hair followed her fishtailed body with a slight delay whenever she changed direction or paused to wave at guests.

Danian was mesmerised. By the time he snapped awake from his pseudo meditative state, his two friends were surrounded by no less than five beautiful girls. Two of them were waist down emerged in transparent water-filled cylinders, slowly moving their tail fins back and forth. Jake introduced them as Shelley and Sandra, her friends as Marion, Lucy, and Amber.

Confused, Danian leaned into Jake. "Are they? Are they real?"

"Yeah, real," Jake beamed, "real...ly sexy. Fake fishtails, of course. But I promise what's in that suit is just as delicious."

Amber, who had dark brown hair, elaborately braided on one side and falling long down over her exposed shoulder on the other, lay a hand on Danian's forearm. She smiled at him and did her best to get some small talk going.

But Danian kept staring at Shelley and Sandra in their tanks, so Amber challenged him. "Thirsty? I bet I can beat you in tequila shots."

A slightly intoxicated and very smug version of Danian looked at the petit girl next to him. He slammed his flat hand on the table. "Game on."

It didn't take long for Danian's head to start spinning. His thoughts felt slow and repetitive, like a mellow surf. He even contemplated taking a giant sip out of Shelley's tank to sober up.

Eventually, Amber probably felt pity for Danian and shoved a large glass of ice-cold water under his nose. A short brain freeze helped to shake him up.

Time to get his act together! They were here on a mission, after all.

Danian started screening the bar, and a lady in red high heels who radiated authority near-instantly checked if they'd everything they needed. Danian cheekily passed her the card with Naomi's name on it under the table.

She shook her head ever so slightly. Damn. They'd come so far for nothing but a horrible hangover?

Lazily his glance followed her red shoes as they stepped around the central aquarium. On the other side, the lady briefly stopped, looked squarely at Danian through the tank, then cast a minute glance at the cubicle to her left.

A gush of cold air whirled past Danian's neck as if someone had just switched the aircon on to full power. He could make out a man whose stylish shirt and branded sneakers couldn't quite disguise his advanced age. His thinning grey hair disappeared into a booth where a brunette extended her arms to greet him. Even though Danian had merely caught a fleeting glance, he was sure he'd met the man before. The stranger had worn a monk's cape back then, and if the Japanese-noodle-theory held true, it was him who'd rented out Maya's room under the name Morfitt.

Danian slapped Naoto on the shoulder. One hand around Lucy's waist, his friend showed off some hilarious, nerdy videos on his smartphone.

"He's here. Morfitt is here," Danian hissed.

"The girl next to him must be Naomi then. What do we do now?"

Danian hesitated.

"We chat him up," Danian said, emboldened by alcohol. "We're three to one." He checked on Jake, whose glassy eyes were apnoea-diving into Marion's cleavage. "Two to one."

Naoto looked uneasy. Had he become too fond of Lucy in the end?

The beat of the loud club music got briefly interspersed by a high-pitched, distressed voice from another cubicle. Danian could see a small Japanese guy, round face, rimmed glasses, receding hairline, violently groping a petit, fake-blond girl.

Where was the Aquaman guy from the entrance?

Danian saw Morfitt raise his head through the giant fish tank, making a pointy motion towards the groper. A woman in a full-body black latex suit with four bright red metal clasps on the front emerged seemingly out of nowhere. Her hair was bright red and glowed like a poisonous Amazonian dart frog. She strode over to the cubicle where the commotion came from and jumped on the table with the lightness and elegance of a feline predator. The stocky guy was clearly stunned. More so when she suddenly jumped onto his shoulders. His head between her thighs, she drew a red circle in the air with her hair, twisting his head into an unnatural degree. He collapsed under her, as far as Danian could tell, since another giant groper, this time a fish, swam through his line of sight inside the aquarium.

"Jeez! You've just seen that?" Danian sputtered.

Instead of answering, Naoto downed his previously untouched drink, shock written on his face. "Maybe Morfitt can wait?"

Naoto was right. Morfitt's bodyguard was lethal. Danian slumped back into the cushions. The girls pretended they hadn't noticed anything, and Jake was totally oblivious of what was happening outside their cubicle. The next time Danian peeked over, he saw Morfitt leaving, shadowed by the black-clad woman.

"That's our chance!"

Danian detangled himself from Amber's clutch and stumbled past the aquarium. He nearly collided with the girl who sauntered from Morfitt's cubicle towards the bar.

"Naomi? Care for a drink?" Danian asked with as sober a voice as he could muster.

She brushed a dark strain out of her face and smiled at him with dark-brown cat-like eyes.

"Why not."

To Danian's surprise, she wasn't only gorgeous but also funny and damn smart. Sitting at the bar, they were quickly exchanging hilarious anecdotes about their student lives; Naomi had studied aerospace engineering in Saigon.

"Why're you working here?" Danian bit his lip, fearing it sounded condescending.

Instead of an answer, Naomi showed him the photo of a toddler in full Transformers on her phone. She opened her clutch to retrieve tissues. "After my husband died, his brother made certain advancements which I rebuked."

"Of course." Danian hoped that was the right thing to say.

"He's an important politician, high up in the party." Naomi sobbed. "I had to flee Vietnam. My son's still there."

The dam broke, and Naomi's tissues quickly turned into sad, soggy balls. Danian felt terrible. Utterly, terrible.

But he remembered his mission.

Leaning over the counter, he grabbed a stack of paper serviettes and buried Naomi's phone under them. She gladly took the top napkin and dabbed the narrow corners of her eyes.

The rest was spy-movie style: Naoto popped his head between them and asked Danian to keep an eye on their other friend. Jake played the role of hammered mate close to losing it altogether unknowing and equally convincing. Naoto snatched Naomi's phone, left for the bathroom, re-appeared after a few minutes, and managed to sneak it back under the now much smaller stack of napkins. All without Naomi noticing.

Half an hour later and with great difficulty, they dragged Jake out of the club into his car.