AWACS - An American With A Chinese System
Copyright© 2025 by PT Brainum
Chapter 57
I ramped up the cooking skill and made a pot of coffee with the drip coffee maker in the hotel room. The five minute brew only took a little over half a million points. But the result was the best cup of coffee I’d ever had. I could imagine the smell wafting under the door into the hallway and waking up everyone on my floor. It was so good.
I spent half an hour just sipping it slowly and savoring the first cup. 50x cooking power was probably overkill for something like coffee. But I was definitely going to do this again. This was magic peach quality coffee.
I finished the pot just after 8 am. It was much later than I wanted it to be. I just hadn’t been able to stop drinking it until it was gone. I had a skill that prevented intoxication, I guess it did nothing for infatuation. I went to take a quick shower, and not being able to remember when I last reset the clothing skill, I turned it off. A quick frictionless dry, and I put on some new clothes.
I reset the clothing skill, and was soon dressed in nice pants and a long sleeve button up shirt. I was wearing a nice leather bomber jacket to go with it. I checked with navigation, and there were no FBI employees when I asked for directions to any such people at the Jazz Bar, or within a mile of it. I set it to give me directions to anyone that was coming to the Jazz Bar to find me. It produced no results, but I did discover that I could leave the navigation active so it would alert me if that changed.
I had to drop the navigation request, as I focused on arriving at an empty men’s room stall at the Jazz Bar. Navigation only allowed one destination at a time. When the swirling tunnel opened, I turned on my phone’s camera and pointed it at the tunnel. It couldn’t see it. I guessed that this meant that only I could see it. The navigation changed a couple times as the stall became occupied during the 12 minute flight thru the tunnel.
I paused at the exit of the tunnel, looking out to see if there was anyone in the bathroom. It seemed empty, so I stepped into the stall, and closed the door. A quick check that I had everything I needed, and that my clothes still looked good, I opened the door and went to the sink to wash my hands. Just in case.
I stepped out into a hallway. This hallway ran behind the bar area near the front entrance. I stepped out of the hallway and into the line for the bar. From here I could see her. I’d heard her voice the moment I stepped into the building. I couldn’t help it and took a big breath and smiled. Her voice was magic.
She had the full band behind her, five guys playing as she sang. I didn’t recognize the song, something about honeysuckle rose. I got nudged by the guy behind me when it was my turn at the bar, I was too entranced to notice.
I gave my order to a guy I didn’t recognize, and paid. I shuffled to the side to wait for it to be made, with the other waiting patrons. No one was talking, no one was doing anything but staring and listening. I was happy to see that I wasn’t the only one entranced, but oddly jealous of the attention she was getting.
The song came to a sweet end to cheers and applause. She took a bow and moved off stage, a few band members went, and the rest continued to play. That was at least one set for her. I turned to the bar, finding the pink haired barista giving me an accusing eye.
“Hi. How many sets does she sing tonight?”
“Three, until closing.”
“What time is that?”
“3 am.”
“Thank you,” I said, sticking a fifty in the tip jar.
She gave me a big smile, “You’re welcome peaches, glad the fuzz didn’t chase you off.”
I smiled back, and tried to find a seat. I eventually found a spot against the wall with a tiny shared table for the other patrons who also were there against the wall. The place was packed compared to the other crowds I’d experienced on weekdays.
It had a terrible view, I had to keep my feet tucked in so I wouldn’t trip anybody walking by, and there wasn’t much shoulder room with the way the chairs were placed close together. It didn’t matter. I didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.
The pink haired barista dropped a note on the table and winked at me. I pulled it open, excited to read what it said.
Come back to the chill out room
I slipped the note into a pocket, and stood, mocha in one hand, painted obsidian rose in the other. I started moving to the hallway.
It took a few minutes, the crowd was moving some, placing orders with the waitstaff, or getting up to get drinks themselves. The band was working on a bouncy instrumental number that just put me in a good mood, so I didn’t mind the delay Conner and Bill were part of the group playing, but I didn’t wave.
The hallway was as I remembered it. Rear exit at the end, Paul’s office at the left, the chill out room to the right. A room marked storage just past Paul’s office. The door was shut, I gave a brief knock, and stuck my head in to find a very crowded room.
“Come in Koby, don’t be shy,” she invited.
I smiled, and stepped towards her, she stood from the couch where we had sat before, and I reached out to give her the rose.
“Thank you Koby, it’s beautiful.”
“I’m not sure what a honeysuckle rose is,” I said, feeling lame the moment I said it.
“Well come have a seat next to me,” she invited, grabbing my arm, pulling me towards her, as she sat back down on the couch.
I slid in next to her, a person I didn’t know sat on the opposite of me, with her in the middle of the couch. I looked around the room. Paul wasn’t here, probably in his office. The couchmate was another woman, striking in a sharp faced way, but with an easy wide smile. She smiled at me as I leaned forward to look over everyone.
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