Chet wondered for a second if he should try to lunge forward and disarm her. Then, he saw that the trigger guard was missing from the gun. Leaving just the semi-circular wedge of plastic that served as the trigger, itself. Allowing her glove-covered right index finger to squeeze it without difficulty, if the need arose.
He decided to stall for time by co-operating.
"OK! This is me, not moving. What now?"
"Now, we will slowly--but simultaneously--get to our feet. And, you will walk beside me, to my left, as we proceed backstage."
Which is exactly what they did, Chet's right arm interlinked with her left, as if they were lovers. While the H&K remained level with his right kneecap.
As soon as they got backstage, a Chinese busboy bowed and showed them to a metal door. A smaller door at the top of it opened up, and the busboy (speaking Mandarin) told the pair of eyes that looked out:
"Chou sent me."
The larger door opened up, and the pseudo-couple walked through, still escorted by the busboy. And, as they proceeded, Chet saw and heard something he had only experienced once before. During a collegiate spring break weekend in Las Vegas.
The hub-bub of a casino in action.
That he had not heard anything prior to the door opening up meant this entire section of the night club had to have been sound-proofed. Indicating an illegal casino in operation!
Still, the trio kept going, until they went through another door. This time, a wooden one. Chet translated the Mandarin ideograms on it as reading:
"Rehearsal Hall"
The first thing he saw through that door was eight of the Flapperettes, still wearing their stage costumes: silver sequined skull caps; matching mini-dresses (covered with green fringe); and green open-toed tap shoes.
They were, in fact, the same eight girls who had dragged Buck and Throckmorton out to center stage for the Charlston contest! Only this time, they were surrounding a large square piece of wood; two at the top of it, and three on each side. The bottom of the square was blocked by a tall Oriental whom Chet quickly identified as a Korean man (possibly in his early forties) wearing a white shirt and black slacks.
This Korean was operating a closed-circuit TV camera on a tripod. Next to the camera, on a small wooden table, was a closed-circuit monitor with a rainbow-colored test pattern. And, next to the monitor was a blue Panasonic audiotape player.
Urging him forward with her gun, Dolores ordered Chet to look at the center of the large wooden square. He did so, yet all he could discern there was a small doll crafted to look like a formally dressed man with white hair. Then, he did a double-take. After which, he looked at Dolores.
"It can't be...!"
"But, it is! Park?"
The Korean activated the camera, and the test pattern on the TV immediately disappeared. In its place was the image of a very frightened septugenarian named Percival Throckmorton.
And, he was frightened because he had somehow been reduced to less than six inches tall!
tbc
Giantess World
