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It is a warm day in Katmandu. The Disco Inferno and the Big Bossman are saying farewell, as their paths are to diverge for awhile. One will go on to glory in the WWF, and the other will head to Tibet, to meet up with his good friend Jerry Flynn. The Disco Inferno�s flight is to Moscow, which will take him on to Greenwich, Ct. to meet with Vince McMahon. The men shake hands and nod simply.
Two hours later, the Bossman boards the Air China flight to Lasha. It is a clear day and the flight affords great views of the Himalayas. They ascend up to the Plain of Tibet and four hours later they arrive in the capital of Tibet, the city of Lasha.
The Bossman takes a taxi to Jerry Flynn�s suburban apartment and knocks on the door. There is no answer. He tries the door and it is unlocked. When he walks in, he finds the place ransacked. Alarmed, he takes out his nightstick and prepares for possible battle. He sets down his gym bag and ignores the clink of vodka bottles against each other. This could be a life or death situation.
He steps into the apartment and looks around. It is a very small studio apartment with a shared bathroom down the hall. He checks the kitchenette and the burner is still warm, having been used in the past half an hour. The room is empty of people and he begins to search the room.
Suddenly, he senses someone approaching from down the hall. He hides behind the door and jumps the intruder as he enters the room.
�Ow! Shit! Get off me! What are you doing? the unknown person says. It is Kurt Angle!
�What the hell are you doing here, boy?� the Bossman yells.
�I came here to study with Chun Hua, but he disappeared.�
�Disappeared? Where�s Flynn?�
�I don�t know. He�s gone, too. I just got here yesterday and they were both missing.�
�What do you know about this?�
�The apartment was turned upside down. I searched it and found this strange coin,� he says and hands the Bossman the coin.
�What about it? It�s just another one yuan coin. The streets are filled with them.�
�Ah, but look,� Angle says. �It�s from Xinjiang, the northwest province of China.� He points to a small minting mark on the coin. It has a small �U� on it, denoting that it was coined in Umruqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang.�
�So what do we do now,� the Bossman asks.
�I�m going to Xinjiang. To find him. There is a Shaolin Temple near Kashgar. I think it s the best place to start.�
The next day, the men depart for Kashgar. They take a flight to Umruqi, but flights on to Kashgar are temporarily canceled due to local unrest. The men take a taxi from the airport to the dilapidated Hangshan Hotel, where they get accommodations for the night. The Bossman goes into his room, pulls out a bottle of vodka and a jar of olives.
�Join me?� he says to Angle.
�Sure,� Angle replies. �Should we push on to Kashgar?�
�I don�t know. What do you think?�
�I think so. Chun Hua is a very respected figure in these parts.� He turns on the TV. �Xinjiang, although being a part of China, is a Muslim state, and there has been a big push for independence in recent years, which the Chinese government hasn�t been too happy about. I think that the answer to our problem lies there.�
Since all commercial planes and busses to Kashgar are canceled, the men take a taxi to the edge of town, to a truck stop.
Angle approaches one of the truckers and says, �Kashgar khujo ast?�
The trucker is startled and replies, �Tajik meydonet!�
�Owa,� Angle replies. �Naghzmi shumo?�
�Mannaghz! Kashgar khujo!� the trucker says and climbs into his truck.
�Hop in,� Angle tells the Bossman.
�I didn�t know you spoke Chinese.�
�I don�t. That was Tajik. Before I came here, I spent a little time in Tajikstan, studying with one of the Muslim masters.�
�You never cease to amaze me, boy,� the Bossman says as he climbs into the truck.
The drive takes three days, and they stay one night in Aksu and two in Korla, where the driver makes some �business deals�. Finally, they arrive in Kashgar.
Kashgar is an ancient city. For millennia, traders have traveled the Silk Road from Xi�an to the Roman Empire and Europe. And little has changed over these millennia. The people living there still speak the old languages, practice Islam and travel and trade by oxen and manual labor. The driver, Rudaki, drops them in the center of town, hugs the men and shouts, �assalom u aleykum!� as he drives away.
It is nearing dusk and the men need to find a place for the night. Kurt Angle takes out a map of Kashgar he procured in Lasha and determines the quickest route to the Renmin Hotel, where they plan to stay for the night.
This takes them through the bazaar. The men don�t have time to shop, but they buy two meals of mutton shashlyk to take with them. As they are gobbling up their meals, the Bossman sees a group of men following them out of the corner of his eye. With hardly a move or a sound, he alerts Angle of the impending danger. The men are ready.
Four men rush Angle and the Bossman, and are met with baton strikes, punches and kicks. One has a knife, which the Bossman responds to immediately by smashing his arm with his baton, giving the man a compound fracture. He falls on the ground and reels in agony. Angle takes out a second attacker with an Olympic Slam, and a third falls to the Side Suplex. The fourth trips over one of his fallen comrades while trying to run away and hits his head on the ground, rendering him unconscious.
Suddenly, two men in suits appear and point guns at Angle and the Bossman.
�Welcome to Turkestan,� one says.
To be continued.
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