Mo Tong Lai Cha 無糖奶茶

Thank you, Brenda for a wonderful picture of the variety of street food. I can recall the smells and the atmosphere. It is a lovely photo-prompt posted by Rochelle to challenge our writing for Friday-Fictioneers. More stories are ready to be read HERE.

PHOTO PROMPT © Brenda Cox

Mo Tong Lai Cha 無糖奶茶
(Tea, Milk No Sugar)

My shirt clung to my skin as I weaved down Yau San Street, and I knocked against a basket of squirming snakes. The warm aroma of peanut oil drifted among whiffs of cooking chicken; salivating, I ignored my hungry protests.
First the deal.

I saw her. Mai Ling sucking noodles, and she nodded.
‘Lai cha mo tong.’ She ordered for me. ‘Milk in tea, so British.’

I covertly slipped the passports into her bag, as a loose noodle struck her nose. 

I twitched towards the observers.
‘My bankers,’ she said. ‘Drink your tea.’

A smile, a gold tooth. Money transferred.

Who Kidnapped Mai Ling?

This week’s picture gives us a flavour of the Far East and memories of Kowloon street markets in Hong Kong, thanks to Roger Bultot.

The variety of stories from the Friday Fictioneer group in response to this Photo Prompt can be read here.

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

Who Kidnapped Mai Ling?

Mai Ling was waiting at Lantau airport, and she insisted we eat.
She hustled me through a labyrinth of street markets where we ate sweet and sour pork with shrimp dumplings.

The atmosphere was bustling, and in the humidity a wafting of jasmine from her hair interspersed with pungent cooking odours.
We were being observed! I recognised the Chia Tong henchmen. 

In the hotel, she hit me with a pillow and told me to go shower.

When I returned from the bathroom, the door was open.
Her handbag and contents were on the bed and her shoes in the corridor.