[ wp ] In the height of the cold war a tense skirmish takes place in Singapore between two street food vendors . One a CIA agent and the other a Soviet informer .

I know that shit is going down as soon as I see the commotion at my rival's stand across the street. Most of his regulars are fairly relaxed people, but today there's a haggard man wearing a bulky backpack and having an animated argument with my rival. The apparent topic is that the vendor shortchanged him, but I've worked out some of their code phrases - they're discussing a major event at the US Embassy. 
 
 Sure enough, my own contact dashes up, and with a rather complicated stir-fry order, he delivers his own coded message: *Embassy compromised, codes stolen, Soviet agent in possession. Retrieve. * 
 
 I fry up his lunch, hand it to him in a to-go box, and he sprints off. With such a major breach, he's probably got a few more agents to contact. 
 
 Across the way, Lee finishes his argument and storms off, and I catch a glimpse of a slim brown envelope vanishing behind my rival's portable stove. There's the target. 
 
 A nicely dressed man in a suit steps up to my rival's stall. Another contact. I ca n't afford to let him make a handoff. I grip my wok tightly and casually saunter over to him. 
 
 `` You're working pretty hard there.'' 
 
 `` Not now, John. Ca n't you see I'm busy?'' He waves a hand at the line in front of the stall. 
 
 `` Believe me, this is more important. You're causing serious problems for me. I'll have to serve my next customer peppers, onions, and *extra garlic. *'' 
 
 His eyes go wide at that. `` Ah, I figured you'd recognize that phrase. You do n't want things to go down that road.'' 
 
 `` You pig. You think you can bully me? If you try that, I'll offer Mr. Park my newest combo platter. What do you think of that?'' 
 
 Yikes. I had n't realized how badly they wanted those codes. If he thought he could call in that many agents... `` It's a bold business move, but if you're already this panicked then you ca n't win. I have n't even tried out my new Sriracha recipe.'' 
 
 I'm bluffing my ass off, here. `` Sriracha sauce'' is part of the code phrase for calling in a heavy assault, and there's no way they'd send a SEAL team to knock over a stir-fry vendor in downtown Singapore. 
 
 He gives me an appraising look. `` It's bad for business when nobody sticks to the normal recipe. You need a light touch with the seasonings.'' 
 
 `` True. But sometimes you have to do what the customer wants.'' 
 
 `` You put fast service above proper cooking, as usual. Are you trying to get me to serve up a double order of shrimp?'' 
 
 I paused. `` I do n't know that one.'' 
 
 `` Good. Then you do n't know what you'd be dealing with. Rest assured that your innovations in hot sauce will not save your business.'' 
 
 Damn. I might have to do this the hard way. It'll ruin my cover, but if I ca n't bluff him into cooperation, it's my only option. I shift my grip on the wok, and notice my enemy reach for a pair of sharpened chopsticks in response. He'll be ready for me. I back off a bit, try to relax my grip. 
 
 `` Here. What if I told you I was serving a new combo platter? Egg rolls, beef and chicken, with extra soy sauce?'' 
 
 He pauses for a moment to decode it. `` What does seduction have to do with...'' 
 
 *Clonk! * I seize the momentary distraction and smash my wok into his face, then snatch up the envelope and start running. His contact makes a grab for me, but I duck aside, vault the counter, and I'm off running through the streets of Singapore. The chase is on. 
 
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 A/N: I know very little about Singapore, so I apologize for making the scenery sort of generically Asian.
