"Get going" - Chapter 56

Suki thoughtfully turned the large scroll in his hands. The red, fine cords were dusty and the paper had long since yellowed. Sand trickled gently onto her lap with every turn, forming a small dune. Rieko across from her had crossed his arms behind his head and stared tiredly at the ceiling, where the smoke from the cigarettes was gathering and making blue circles. Around them they happily chatted, drank and ate, the inn was booming.
"What the hell is going to be so great about this fucking sutra? It's almost falling apart."
Suki sullenly put it back in her coat pocket and stared over the table with the now empty bowls and plates at her friend. "Pay!", She called to the waiter hurrying by, who nodded briefly and then disappeared again.
"What do I know."
Both fell silent again and waited.
"That makes 34, 50, please." The waiter bowed politely and handed the bill to Suki.Sullenly, she rummaged in her pockets and pulled out some discolored coins.
"There."
“Thank you ladies!” He bowed again and hurried to win land. The two women, wrapped in long, dark and at the moment very sandy coats, remained seated and glared at each other.
"What are you looking at so stupidly?", Rieko shouted after a while and both involuntarily burst out laughing.
"Let's go.", Suki suggested and stood up, her hand protecting her coat pocket. They threw their hoods on and stepped out into the pleasantly cool night air.
"If Ko doesn't show up soon and pay us a decent price for this piece of paper, we'll still starve! We're absolutely bare!" Suki whispered to Rieko as both gently melted into the darkness and walked like shadows through the empty streets.
"What do you mean ?!", Rieko hissed angrily, "Yesterday you said we would still make ends meet!"
"Yes, we made ends meet well.Til today. And now we're broke, damn it. "
"Great. Typical you."
"Do you want to fight again ???", Suki grumbled and pushed her companion roughly against a stack of fruit crates that a trader had left standing.
"Ouch !! Another thing and it bangs!"
"Uhhh!", Suki scoffed and let himself fall into the sand, "I'm so scared."
"Oh man.", Rieko grumbled, turned around and kept walking without listening to Suki's protests. A few minutes passed before either of them spoke again. By now they had left the city and were trudging through the cool sands of the desert that stretched before them. The moon had emerged from behind some clouds and bathed the scene in cold, white light.
"Let's stay here." Suki sat tiredly on the dune they had just climbed, "We have to do something.", She remarked quietly. The answer was a discouraged grunt.
"I've thought about something. Be careful, the plan is foolproof.""Well, let's hope so, otherwise I'll have to go out on my own again."
"Shut up and listen. Tomorrow morning we're going back to town. Nobody knows us there yet and we have a free hand. There is a rich doctor there. He has many patients, he can't possibly take care of all of them at the same time ..." , and a malicious grin crept across her face.
"You don't really want to ... ?!"
"Oh yes, yes. We'll sneak in there tomorrow as nurses and clear out the booth for him. Money, gold and who knows what else is in there, that's going to be a pretty big coup. What do you say?"
“Oh man.” Silence. A roaring car engine could be heard in the distance, then there was absolute silence again.
"You can throw the car away tomorrow. Sand is the death of these old Z 3 engines. Idiots." Rieko dropped back and looked up at the cloudy sky. "All right. This is a totally stupid plan and it will never work, but we have no choice.""Correct."
"Oh man."

The next morning dawned as cloudy as the previous evening had ended. Rieko and Suki, who had been fighting Mah Jongg that night, crept unobtrusively towards the back of the target object. "We must be totally crazy.", Rieko mumbled and stalked after Suki, who was just pressing herself tight against the wall of the house and skillfully lifting the window off its hinges. Both retreated quickly with one elegant movement inside the house. While Suki put the window back to its original state, Rieko looked around the cupboards in the room.
"How about those here?", She asked with a grin and held out one of the white smocks to Suki.

Minutes later, two nurses in long white coats emerged from the back room of the treatment room. The one, smaller, tossed back her long brown hair, straightened her neckline, glared at the other with steel-blue eyes, and then stepped off into the left corridor.The other, larger, untied the headband from her bright green hair, ruffled her locks professionally once, and walked off in the opposite direction.

Suki took a deep breath and vigorously opened the first door that came up. She entered the room with a friendly smile and found that she had ended up in a hospital room, not the doctor's private room. What the heck, she thought, there are also rich patients.
"Good morning, how are we today?" She asked and turned to the hospital bed, beaming. To her surprise, the camp was shattered but deserted. She turned back and saw a pair of blood-red eyes twinkling with amusement. Long, red hair fell casually into his face.
“Good morning.” He grinned mischievously, drew on his cigarette and blew the smoke through his nostrils. Suki switched quickly.
"Really!" She said as indignantly as possible to buy some time. How the hell did a nurse behave in such a situation ?!She looked at him from top to bottom, trying not to get caught on his stomach muscles, and put both hands on her side.
"So.", she snapped at him, "This is a hospital room and not a hotel!"
She snatched the cigarette from his hand in a flash, sank it into one of the half-full glasses of water on the table and grabbed his arm tightly.
"Sick people belong in bed, we don't treat you here for hours, so that the next day you will fumble around with the butt in your mouth! Make sure you get to bed!"
The young man looked at her with a mixture of anger and shock.
"DO YOU HAVE WHAT ON YOUR EARS, YOU PENNER ?!"
"Uhhhh ..."
Now she had made it. A nurse would never, really never have reacted like this. She decided to turn the volume down again, shut her mouth in piquancy, straightened up to full height and pushed him firmly towards the bed. "You're heading in the right direction, honey.", Gojo noted with a grin and made a clear gesture. Suki glared at him indignantly, then thought quickly that she could interpret his preferences to her advantage and changed her stunned expression to a charming smile.
"We'll do that later ... First you will be treated!", She said and roughly pushed him on.
"Don't do that!" He grumbled at her and pressed against it. In this test of strength they stayed there for a few seconds, until he had to give up, as his wounds began to stir again.
"You can!", She grinned and pulled paper and pen from the bedside table to her.
"So, we have a broken arm? Well, my dear Sha then let's go."
"What…?!"
"I think you haven't taken your medicine today, have you?" She whistled, letting the smock fall from her shoulders and sitting next to him on the bed, her short skirt showing an amazing amount of skin.
"Let's see ...", she mumbled, leaned forward and put her hand on his forehead, as if she wanted to measure a fever, where Gojo got a good look at her top."Yeah, I really don't feel that good yet."
He grinned and pulled her closer to him.
"First the medicine, then the pleasure!", She whispered in his ear and handed him a glass with a milky content. He drank it up in one gulp and leaned back in bed.
"You're a demon too, aren't you? Where's your magic controller?" She asked as she leaned closer to him.
"Where's yours?" He countered with a smug grin.
"I'll show you right away.", She purred and pushed his hand further up her leg. Gojo blinked in confusion. Actually, that should have woken him up now, but on the contrary: His eyelids were getting heavier, his head sank on his chest and before he could do anything but croak hoarsely he fell into a deep, artificial sleep. Suki held his breath. Who was just pretending, or was the anesthetic really already working? She carefully pulled his feelers and, when there was no response, jumped up and began to search his belongings.She found cigarettes, change and a heavy morning star. She packed the odds and ends in her pockets and quickly put her smock back on when the door was thrown open behind her. With an accurate leap, she disappeared onto the tall cupboard next to the door, but came down quickly when she saw who the visitor was. Rieko stood breathless in the doorway.
"Suki?" She whispered.
“Yep!” She landed noiselessly on the floor in front of her accomplice, “Found what you were looking for?” She beamed.
"There is a Sanzo priest over there, he is badly wounded and ..." and she took a deep breath, "he has two sutras with him !!"
Suki stared at her. "I hope you were smart enough to let them go ???"
"No, I wanted to hear your opinion first."
"Well, my opinion is: get your ass moving and get us those things !!"
"Okay.", Rieko nodded resolutely, "I'll go get her, you organize an escape route for us. You have five minutes. Come on!"
Both nodded briefly and disappeared again in different directions.Rieko sprinted quietly down the corridor. It wouldn't be long before the real carers noticed that something was wrong here and the Sanzo wouldn't sleep forever. She grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it open softly. The room was unchanged. On the left the cupboard, straight ahead the window and in front of it the warehouse. The sanzo hadn't moved. She took a deep breath and opened the door a little wider. She was sure that as soon as she touched the sutras he would wake up; she had to be damn fast and damn lucky. She left the door open, because once she was on the run, there was no more time, not even