Excerpt: Panic in Patpong

(An excerpt from Panic in Patpong)

“I don’t know who those men are, but I think they have guns. You must take your friend out the back door and go away for a while.”
Frangi and Cody starred at her with surprise, especially when they heard about the guns. The mamasan glared at them to move. “Now! Go!”
Frangi grabbed another dancer’s wrap-around dress and quickly put it on before grabbing Cody’s wrist and running out the back door.
Prayut had watched the mamasan go into the back room. He mentioned it to Chayaphon and they quickly followed her. No sooner had Frangi and Cody run out than the two men came through the curtain and saw the back door closing. They pushed the mamasan against the wall, rushed past her, and headed out in pursuit.
Frangi pulled Cody to the left, running down Patpong Soi 2. At that time of the evening the street was full of passersby looking for places to eat and deciding where they would go for an evening’s entertainment. Frangi wove through the throng, while a sense of panic creeped up from Cody’s stomach to his throat. The thought of two men with guns trying to track him down was way out of his comfort zone.
Frangi unexpectedly pulled him to the right into the Foodland Supermarket. Toward the left side of the store, she led him into an elevator and closed the doors. They went up one floor and then she pulled him out and began to cross a sky bridge passageway over the street. It was lined with two high glass walls that overlooked both directions of Patpong 2. She paused and looked down to see the two men stop and look around, wondering where Frangi and Cody had gone. Prayut happened to look up and spotted them on the sky bridge. He pointed up to show Chayaphon, and both men dashed into the market.
Cody was shocked again when Frangi pulled him back toward the market, and then made him run up the next flight of stairs to the carpark on the floor above. She held on to Cody tightly and ran between the parked cars to the far end. Then she pulled him down to squat and wait between two cars. She put her finger to her mouth so he wouldn’t speak. They heard the running footsteps of the two men go across the sky bridge.
When their footfalls receded, Frangi finally spoke. “Okay, they go on bridge.”
“Who are those men? Why are they after me?”
“I not know, Mister Cody, but they have guns. It something you do?”
Cody went pale. Could there have been a video camera somewhere else in the back room of the jewelry store that caught him downloading on to a flash drive or taking pictures? What if they were to catch him before he was able to leave the country? Then what? He was so confused. If they were still after his phone, then who took it? His reservation and the confirmation number for his flight were on his phone. Without it, he would have to get back to the hotel and have them print out his reservation from his laptop. He wouldn’t be able to check-in without it.
When Cody did not see or hear either man enter the garage, he thought he and Frangi were safe. But Frangi knew that as soon as they got to the other side where it entered into another club, they would ask about a bar girl and an American man. While they were crouching there safe for the moment, Frangi got an idea where they could hide that was much safer. She took his hand and led him along the back wall of the parking lot where large trash bins were lined up.
“Mister Cody, help me move.”
Cody was confused. Did she want to hide behind a smelly trash bin? But when he saw a short door in the wall, he was even more surprised. She turned the handle, but the door stuck. Knowing that two large men with guns were after them, Cody took over and put his strength into it. The door finally opened. A dark gaping hole appeared.