Music blared, lights flashed, neon signs that depicted dancing men and various alcoholic beverages alternately turned off and on. George stood outside of the night club, jaw slackened awestruck.

"Dear God, what had I gotten myself into? I stood outside of the nightclub, not sure whether I should go in, or throw up first. After the few minutes it took to compose myself, I decided I had a job to do and despite this little uncomforting feeling, I had to go in."

As George opened the door, the muffled music blasted his ears, sending a sharp pain down his spine. Once the pain subsided, George walked into the nightclub. Inside, men dressed in all types of leather chaps and tight fitting mesh t-shirts danced and sat around the bar. As George walked up to the bar, he was goosed by one of the men walking behind him, who only winked when confronted.

"I needed to get out as soon as possible. This club was almost as dangerous to my health as the construction site…maybe worse. I was looking for the owner of the club, but he could have been any one of these men, so I went to the only place I could think of to ask questions: The Bartender."

George leaned on the bar, but slid down as a man sat next to him. He looked behind the bar for the bartender, but no one was there.

"You lookin' for someone honey?" The man next to him asked as he slid closer to George.

"Uh….uh….The bartender." George said shakily.

"Oh, well you're lookin' in the wrong place then." The man slid his butch arm closer to George. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"No! I mean, no thank you, I'm fine."

"Well, if you ever need someone after you find the bartender, look me up. The name's Yoko Suzuki."

"Wait…but that's a-" The man, woman, thing, was already pestering another customer before George could finish saying anything. As George looked back, the bartender was standing inches from his face.

"Oh! Dear God, you almost gave me a heart attack." George put his hand to his heart.

"This was already going badly. I was in unfamiliar territory and I just wanted to get out."

The bartender's unhappy expression showed just the slightest hint of annoyance at George's reaction. "So, I heard you were looking for me. What do you want?"

"I was just looking for the owner of the club. I just need to ask him a few questions."

"Well, just look on the stage." The bartender said as he pointed to the stage, where a man stood singing poorly to some Tina Turner song. He danced around the stage in a hot pink, flamingo dress. Accompanying the dress, was a bright blue boa that twirled with him as he spun around while singing. As the song finished there were excited whistles and cat calls. The man thanked the crowd in a gruffy, nearly drunk voice.

"Well, this wasn't going to be too difficult I suppose. Although, I couldn't see how he was at all related to my case. It was my duty to find out as many leads as possible and get back that dame's heirloom."

George walked up to the stage and looked at the man, who was thanking some people and giving kisses. "You, uh….Kevin Ryman?"

"Yeah, what do you need sexy?" Kevin walked up to George and pulled off his wig, revealing perfectly maintained hair that fell vicariously across his face, down to his shoulders. Flipping the stray strands out of his face, Kevin smiled at George. Kevin placed he hand on George's trench coat and rubbed it up and down, feeling the fabric. "Oh, come on, you call this fashionable? What kind of a man are you?"

"Well…I…uh, well." George couldn't find the words to defend his choice of cloths. George shook his head, coming to his senses. "Wait, I need to ask you some questions, about a missing heirloom."

Kevin raised one eyebrow in faux confusion. "What would make you think I would know anything about that?"

"Cut the crap, Ryman. I know you deal in this kind of thing, so I want to know just what the hell is going on." George flashed his gun to reinforce the idea of how necessary it was for Kevin to talk.

"My, my no need for that you strong," Kevin felt George's arm, "Strong, man."

Kevin flipped the boa over his shoulder and led George into a back room. As Kevin walked, he thanked some men who complimented his performance. In the back was a room separated by a beaded divider, which opened up into another room that had a sound proof door.

"I do all of my private things back here." Kevin said as he opened the door and pushed George inside.

The room smelled sweet, almost enchanting, the smell was intoxicating George. Kevin chuckled, as he saw the expression on George's face. "Like it? It's lavender."

"I couldn't place my finger on it, but something wasn't right about this. It was almost too easy to get him to be willing to talk. I would have to be careful."

"Now, look-"

"You want something to drink?" Kevin interrupted as he popped open one of the glass bottles sitting on his desk. George shook his head no and tried to continue.

"Look, I want to know-"

"Business, business; is that all you think about?" Kevin walked slowly over to George, sipping a glass of a strong smelling liquor. George suddenly felt odd, almost like he was a little dizzy. "Why don't you just try to relax for once?"

He shook his head, figuring it was the lack of sleep. Feeling a little better, he answered, "I'd rather not, I just need to find this woman's t–"

"Hey, hey, calm down. I'll tell you where it is."

"So you know."

"Maybe."

"I wasn't getting anywhere with him. He was toying with me and I could tell, but I didn't know what he was after. I would have to try and get the info out of him, but with this little show, I didn't think he was going to submit to force."

Kevin pulled out a chair and offered it to George. George, relieved to be off of his feet, sat down and looked around the room as Kevin walked behind the desk and sat down in his own chair.

"So, you want to know where this…..this 'object' is then?" Kevin took another sip and put down his glass. He sat forward and leaned on the desk. "Okay, I think I might know what you're looking for."

"Good, then you can tell me where it is."

"Oh, of course not." Kevin stood up quickly. "What good would that do me?"

"Well, I wouldn't have to kill you."

"Kill me?" Kevin burst out laughing. "That's funny, because you can't do that. Not in here at least."

"What're you talking about?" A sudden flash of fear over took George.

"I had no idea what he could mean. Why couldn't I get to him in here? What was so different about this place? I needed to find out the answers, but I didn't think I had time on my side. If he was going to do something it was going to be soon."

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough." Kevin crossed the room and looked at a painting on the wall. "You know it's pretty sad that not enough people can just enjoy art these days. They just don't understand it's value." Kevin took the painting off of the wall. "See? Isn't this just beautiful?"

George couldn't think, questions were racing through his mind. Even without the cloudy, odd feeling it was difficult, but with it comprehending everything was impossible. His head ached with the strain.

"Are you feeling okay? You don't look so good." Kevin sounded honestly worried. "Here, you need some water?"

Kevin poured a glass before George could answer, handing it to him. George couldn't muster the strength to refuse, so he just pushed away Kevin's hand. Gnawing pain stabbed at his stomach and heart.

"Now, now if you don't drink the poison will kill you."

George's heart skipped a beat; he fell out of the chair and twisted in agony on the ground. Poison? When had he been poisoned?

"I let my guard down and I got burnt for it. It was my own damned fault. I shouldn't of trusted him as much as I did."

George sipped the water slowly. Kevin mumbled words of praise and good will as George slowly downed the whole glass. After the glass was drained, Kevin placed it on the desk and stood over George's prone body.

"Did you honestly believe that I would just let you waltz in here and demand to know my dealings with other people?" Kevin paused and moved his hand as he continued, "So, you liked the lavender? My own brew. It's a paralytic usually, clouding your mind and giving you a small head ache at first, then comes the pain and the inability to move and if you don't dilute it soon the next step is death."

"I was in a situation I had no idea how to get out of, and things didn't look good. I had no idea what he was going to do to me, and I couldn't stop it if I tried. I was powerless to do anything to stop him."

Kevin walked to the door and called something out to his guards. George wasn't paying much attention, the room was spinning and he was just trying his hardest to not throw up. Soon the lights seemed to dim down, and eventually everything just went black.