Free Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

crowd, shouting at some, pushing others out of the way.

    Henry and Keiko both looked for Sheldon, who'd been lost in the jumbled shuffle of agents and members of the jazz orchestra, who were quietly and carefully putting their instruments away, protecting the valuables with which they earned a living.

    Patrons grabbed their coats and hats if they were nearby; others left them behind, heading for the exits.

    Henry and Keiko looked on as Oscar Holden himself stood at the edge of the stage, microphone in hand, imploring everyone to stay calm. He lost his cool when an FBI agent tried to shout him down at gunpoint. Oscar kept on hollering, "They just listening to music. Why you taking them away?" The old man in his white, sweat-stained shirt hoisted his suspenders, casting a long shadow across the dance floor from the halcyon lights behind him, like God yelling down from the mountain. In his shadow lay the Japanese patrons, both men and women--facedown on the dance floor, guns pointed to their heads.

    Henry looked at Keiko, who was frozen--staring at a Japanese man sprawled on the floor. "Mr. Toyama?" Henry whispered.

    Keiko nodded, slowly.

    Oscar kept shouting until Sheldon broke through the crowd and peeled him away from the FBI agent who stood just below. Sax still in hand, he did his best to try to calm the bandleader, and the agent who had just chambered a shell in his shotgun.

    The club seemed hollow without music, replaced by the barking of federal agents and the occasional clicking of handcuffs. The dimly lit dance hall still sparkled now and then as the candles on empty tables flickered light on half-empty martini glasses.

    The six Japanese patrons were handcuffed and taken to the door, the women sniffling, the men asking "Why?" in English. Henry heard "I'm an American" being shouted as the last one was arrested and taken outside.

    "What the heck are we supposed to do with these two?" the agent next to them shouted to a portly man in a dark brown suit. He looked older than the rest.

    "What ... do we have here?" The brown-suited man holstered his pistol and removed his hat, rubbing his balding forehead. "A little young for spies, I'd say."

    Henry slowly opened his coat, showing his button. "I am Chinese."

    "Jeezus, Ray, you collared a couple of Chinks by mistake. They were probably just working the kitchen. Nice job. Good thing you didn't have to rough 'em up, they might have got the best of you."

    "You leave them kids alone, they work for me!" Oscar slipped past Sheldon and barged through the remaining crowd, heading for the agents nearest Henry. "I didn't leave the South to come all the way up here and see people treated like that!"

    Everyone darted out of his way. All but two younger agents, who hol-stered their guns, freeing both hands to restrain the larger man; a third agent wrestled his way in with a set of handcuffs. Oscar shook his arms free and pitched his shoulder into one of the agents, almost knocking him over a table--sending martini glasses to the ground, where they shattered with soft pinging sounds, dotting the floor with broken glass that crunched under their feet.

    Sheldon did his best to keep things from getting even more out of hand. He managed to wedge himself between the agents and Oscar-- saving Oscar from the agents or the agents from the angry black man, Henry wasn't sure which. Sheldon backed his bandleader up once again as the agents shouted warnings but let them go. They'd already collared the Japanese they came for. There seemed to be little interest in busting up a gin joint, or its proprietor.

    "Why are you taking those people?" Henry heard Keiko ask softly amid the fracas. The door that Mr. Toyama had been taken out of slammed shut, cutting off the remaining light from the outside world.

    The brown-suited man put his hat back on, as if his job was finished and he was ready to go, "Collaborators, kid. Secretary of the Navy says there were Jap scouts working in Hawaii--all of