I swear, if Arthur makes one more quip about me tripping over my bags and face-planting in the middle of the airport he'll be eating my fist. How the hell was I supposed to know the pills wouldn't wear off until two hours after we landed? Those things are great when you're flying, but trying to walk or drive... Everything spun, damn taxi driver was hitting all the bumps, just to watch me suffer.
The pills are a real pain-in-the-ass afterwards, but it's worth it. I hardly remember any of the plane trip, especially the landing.
Though I do wish I could have remembered Arthur's face once he got back from customs check. There was something about him being flustered over what the officers did...
After my third cup of coffee I manage to stand for more than a few seconds without swaying about like some drunkard at 10 o'clock in the morning. Arthur's busy checking into our hotel, a five star Hilton, best thing I've stayed in since the government fired me. Best part of it all is that Cobol's paying for everything. I'm going to order room service for every meal, serve the little fuckers right.
It's the little things that count in life.
I swig down my fourth cup and prove to Arthur that I can walk across the room and I can load a gun in case I get mugged. He finally gives me the room key and directions to the car rental.
I go alone. Cobb's probably safe in Venezuela but it's no good taking chances. One person recognizes him and there she blows.
Speaking of blowing, those were some hot chicks shaking their asses as they washed some old man's car. I pick out the dirtiest car, an SUV as it happens, and drive over to their car wash before the ink is dry on my rental papers. A woman rolls her hips and I ask if the goods are clean, she smiles with teeth yellowed from smoke and nods, murmuring unintelligently in Spanish.
"What name?" She frowns in English as I don't respond to her babbling.
Oh well, good for a laugh. "Arthur".
The passenger seat is covered in glitter from her top and fake fur from her skirt as she sensuously exits the car, eliciting wolf-whistles from a few men selling fruit at a make-shift stand. Can't wait to see what the Arthur will do once he sees it. Go all OCD on me, probably.
The sex is unmemorable, for me and most likely for her as well. I don't really give a damn about what she thinks of me, a whore with make-up that slithers down her cheeks in rivers as she rises up and down above me. Her moans are loud and obnoxious, her mouth twisting into an unattractive grimace as she reaches her "climax", coincidently at the same time as I do. I push her off once I'm finished, none too gently, and rise to pick up the clothes I'd thrown to the corner of the room.
What? Think I'd fold them first? No, that's just Arthur.
Her eyes are hard now, the only thing about her that is. Every inch of her is soft and shapeless, no lines or defining features. Just a sack of painted flesh. I hand her the money with a sneer as she rubs herself beneath her faux skirt.
She can go fuck herself for pleasure, I'm not paying to make her feel good.
The fur has congealed in the Venezuelan sun, glue encrusting the passenger seat with tufts of pink and purple. I waste another twenty minutes, longer than it took to pick up and fuck the whore, to grab some paper towels and clean it up
Cobb is furious at my missing our meeting time, but he would have bitched if I'd left the mess on his seat, and we still have a half an hour before Saito's fuck-toy, Sonia, arrives with her husband. He's a government official, she's the daughter of a stock broker. Heard her father went through some bad times when the stock market fell a few months back, wouldn't be surprised if she wanted Tall, Dark, and Uniformed for the money.
Okay, Sonia must definitely have married him for cash, that was one frigid hug she gave to her dear old hubbie. I am definitely more interested in the opposite sex but I know a handsome mug when I see one. He must be a real bastard behind closed doors to get her to leave him for another.
Arthur's off researching her schedule or something like that, it's only me and Cobb and I'm so glad that I packed my allergy pills because damn is there a lot of dust in this warehouse. Cobb offers me the binoculars and I accept them wordlessly.
Motherfu-
That's a lot of guards.
Why would she have so many guards? Fuck.
'You want my advice?' Of course you don't, Cobb. 'We go to Saito and blackmail him.' Hardly your style. More efficient, but the sense of morality is nil. 'Tell him he pays us double what Cobol's paying us or else we spill the beans on the affair.' Assuming he doesn't try to kill us. And Cobol would be pissed, too, 'That'll be helluva lot easier than getting to her.'
But, fuck it, all jobs have risks.