"I thought you wanted to join the European Union, how come you didn't ask for their help?"
Even though China preferred to stay away from those substances after the opium crisis at his house in the 19th century, I supposed he took a drag from my hookah to plase me or something like that. It would do him good, I thought. Always so stressed out. Always so efficient. It had to be exhausting.
"You know what they say. You have to bet on the sure winner. And...more than asking for help, I am offering you my collaboration. Tit for tat. You cast a long shadow, have lots of toys. But you have no strong links in the Near East. I've known you for many, many, many years. I can move the strings in your favor.
China laid down a bit.
"That is true. I'm going to tell you a little secret, Turkey: we caught three members of the movement while they tried to leave my country. But they acted as bait to allow the others to escape. The real big shots. They have to be here, somewhere. I heard about the attacks."
"Egypt got a good beating and they almost burnt Morocco's house while she slept. But it's all under control" I took a drag myself as well and expelled the vapor, making a circle with my lips. "It wouldn't be a bad idea to bring war back to Europe. I mean, if I was one of those sons of bitches. A juicy treat, really. A good start for an empire..."
I stared at him with great interest.
"Your fellow Russia won't be very happy you're stealing his job."
China didn't reply to me. He seemed drowsy, but what the hookah contained wasn't that strong.
"What about the Yankee? He finished off the movement in America. Off to Guantanamo to be interrogated and that's the end. Now what? I don't think he'd miss the chance to intervene where there is trouble."
He simply was pensive. Or maybe he didn't want to answer.
"Two days ago a lot of diplomacy was needed so you didn't kill pull each other's hair out. Now, suddenly, are the best friends. Tough times really makes people forget personal quarrels...Or..."
"I don't know what you're thinking, Turkey, but..."
"I have been following your progress these last years, my friend. What a boom! You're everywhere. Everyone wants to do business with you. Hell, there are CEOs who would pull down their pants and let you sodomize them if that would get them a contract with your people. That scares a lot of people. Including those you fight the movement with. That makes me ask myself...If they are right when they say..."
"What do they say?" China stared at me.
"You know. When this is over, your power won't limit itself to the markets."
China smiled.
"It is not the first time they fear me because I am strong. I can live with it."
"I'm just saying each of you have your own motivations. America loves that saving the world thing and his continent is too small for him. Russia has always wanted to rule Europe and he's not letting it go, nor Africa. And you...You want to find those revolutionaries whatever it takes. I don't know how you're going to manage."
"Thanks for your concern, Turkey, but it's all well thought. You and I will limit ourselves to the East, as we agreed, and Europe..."
"Will you really let them escape to Europe or Africa?"
China tilted his head and moved his hair aside.
"That's why I trust you. You're the bridge between two worlds."
"Alright, but before everything tell me...Do you still make that fabulous silk?"
China laughed again.
"So do we have a deal?"
"Hell, we do. I'll go get raki. This deserves a drink."
"I'd prefer to go back home on my own."
"Once in a while can't hurt you, man!"
The tip of my fingers was caressing the doorknob when I heard a shot. Two. China got up almost with a jump.
Someone opened the door, almost knocking me over.
It was a group formed by three men, armed with rifles, their faces hidden with masks. They pointed at us with their guns.
"Down!" they welled in an imperfect English.
I doubted, glanced at China. I saw him swinging to see over them, what was in the corridor. I looked too and I saw there was someone on the floor. I saw red staining the walls.
The assaulter repeated his demand in Chinese. As I suspected. Even though they were masked, it could be seen that their eyes were almond-shaped. Chinese. Once again, China faced one of his children.
And that made him mad.
Before I could process what he was doing and ask him to stop, China, with a very quick movement, grabbed the hookah and hit the one who talked with it in the stomach, then the crown. The other two fired. They got him, of course they did. Some bullets went through China's body and ruined my sofa and the table. But he didn't stop. Of course he didn't. His brother Japan wounded him severely during the war. In fact, he fought against his brothers and sisters. His own rulers tried to kill him. He went through civil wars. Weapons couldn't hurt him. Using my precious hookah as a weapon, he burst the face of one of them and broke the jaw of the other one.
He dropped it on the floor and grabbed one of them, wrapping his arms around his neck. He peeked out, dragging him to the corridor. I also looked outside to see what happened. The staff of the palace yelled something at us. Our ambassadors were on the floor. Mine, El Mahmood, panted, with a very ugly wound in the stomach. China's, general I don't know, didn't move. Neither did the Chinese interpreter who was with them, comprehensively, because her brains splattered the wall. I ran to mine, the only one who could be saved. I could see from there how China's face shifted from tense to the most absolute wrath.
"Do you see, Turkey? Do you see?! They say I am a monster! If it wasn't for scum like this, we would all live in peace! When you find a rabid dog, you kill it!"
Before our security staff could even approach, China had already dealt with the problem. The man he was holding...He finished him off with his own hands.
At that moment I started thinking. I don't believe the change of regime he went through had much to do with his aggressiveness. I think it was tiredness. The feeling of threat. The tension. Being betrayed by those one loves the most. You can't understand because you are not a nation, but those things affect the head. China's not like that. He has never been. What I had in front of me was a dragon determined to eliminate that threat. Because it was the only way he could rest.
How could I not join him? The contrary would have been suicidal. Like what those Scandinavians tried to do. And see how good it was for them to go against them!
