“So where were they hiding?” asked Taksin sounding concerned.
“I don’t think they were hiding Khun Taksin. There were other things that don’t add up but we need to leave here as soon as possible.”
“Hmm,” said Taksin, “We will have to figure it out when you get back. Are you at the airfield?”
“Yes,” said Pon and smiled when he saw the buses headlights coming towards him.
“The Royal Jet-Stream stayed in a hanger at Gilgit Airport to wait for you, so I will call the pilot. Gilgit is a small airport so I see no problem with them getting a clear window to fly out tonight. I will call you back and let you know what’s happening Pon.”
Pon sounded sullen and said. “Thank you Khun Taksin. Please tell the pilot we have two dead Warriors.”
Taksin sighed, “I will my friend.”
The bus drove into the hanger and the Tinju and Chokdet got off and looked down at their comrades knelt chanting around two body bags.
While Dave and Manhut spoke with Pon, they took their equipment off the bus. Kamal helped them unload and looked nervous.
Once unloaded, the monks sat and chanted alongside their brother monks and Kamal went over to the three. “I’ve finished here so I am going home… have you seen General Mahatmacote?”
Pon nodded. “He left a short while ago,”
The three then wai-ed him and Pon said. “Thanks for your help Kamal.”
Kamal smiled, got back into the bus, and drove away.
Pon told Dave and Manhut what had happened and they looked aghast. Pon pointed at Chuck and Sedgly’s backpacks and said. “We have them, and the stuff they brought with them from their Sanctuary was still at the residence. Maybe we can find clues in there and with Taksin’s help we can find Sedgly before it’s too late.”
Dave and Manhut nodded as Pon’s phone rang.
“Pon, the jet has been cleared for take-off in ninety minutes. It should reach you fifteen minutes later. The pilot will call me once you are airborne and give me your E.T.A.”
“Thank you Khun Taksin. I will see you when we get home.”
Pon finished the call and the three sat and chanted with the Warriors.
⸺ Chapter Twenty ⸺
The Royal jet taxied to its secured gate at Suvarnabhumi airport early the following morning where Taksin waited.
The Palace Guards took the Tinju, Chokdet, and their dead back to the Imperial Palace in covered army trucks, while Pon, Dave, and Manhut went with Taksin in the back of the Palace limousine.
Pon explained in more detail about how Fahed was killed and said. “I am concerned about Master Sedgly Khun Taksin. Did you find out anything?”
Taksin shook his head. “No, when I tried to call his and Chuck’s number both were unobtainable and neither had a GPS tracker. I found nothing about their Sanctuary and the Sherriff at the nearest town had never heard of them.”
“Hmm,” said Pon. “That’s strange, Chuck received a phone call several days ago from a Sherriff Weiner, who told him that the FBI was investigating the deaths at his Sanctuary.”
Taksin nodded and sighed. “That explained how the FBI found out, but when I called them, they wouldn’t tell me anything. I will call this Sherriff Weiner and ask him. Did Chuck tell you where he was?”
Pon shook his head, “All he said was that the Sherriff had investigated after getting reports from people hearing gunfire and he had called the FBI.”
Taksin, remembering the satellite images of the bleak, remote Sanctuary and surrounding area, furrowed his brow. “I will try to trace Sherriff Weiner.”
Pon then frowned and said, “I saw proof of CIA involvement and they’d planted an agent called Mick at the Warlords Sanctuary. Sedgly showed me the evidence connecting Mick to the CIA.”
Pon frowned. “But by killing Fahed in a fit of rage before he told us anything, Sedgly made matters worse and that rage could have cost him his life.”
Dave, sounding sullen said, “Because he did, we failed in our mission to tell Fahed the truth about his father and call off his Amanussa’s.”
Taksin rubbed his chin and said. “Yes, but nothing you told me on the phone made sense? How did the Americans know Fahed’s location?”
Pon sighed. “The soldier I recognised getting on the helicopter was the American I saw earlier at Fahed’s. I believe he and the other two were Amanussa’s, that’s why I couldn’t find any of them when I looked,” he frowned. “Perhaps they made the call.”
“I wonder why they waited until Sedgly killed Fahed before calling the American soldiers?” said Dave rubbing his face, “none of this made sense.”
“But at least with Fahed dead this could be over.”
“I hope so Manhut,” said Taksin who sat back and furrowed his brow, “but I have a strange feeling that this was only the beginning.”
Pon looked concerned but knowing there was nothing they could do until they found out more, said. “We met one of Abdullah’s chiefs. From what he told us, it appeared Fahed duped them. We need to arrange for Abdullah to go home.”
Taksin nodded. “I will get him on the first available flight to Pakistan and arrange transport for him back to the mountains.”
Pon nodded and sighed. “I need to send our fallen Warriors on their journey. They all performed their duties with great courage. I called Lee and Prime Master Samouern. Lee will come here to collect the Chokdet and our dead Warriors will start their journey to Nirvana at the Temple of the Sacred Light.”
Taksin nodded. “I will make preparations Pon.”
Pon smiled and rubbed his face. “Thank you Khun Taksin.”
“How are Sid and Lek?”
Taksin smiled and said, “They are fine Manhut,” he chuckled, “just ask Spock.”
Dave and Manhut looked confused as Taksin smirked.
“Your wife missed you Pon. She looked elated when I told her you were coming home, and Stu and Spock looked forward to your return.” He looked at Manhut and Dave and chuckled. “Spock especially.”
Taksin handed Pon a paper bag and smirked. “Kim asked me to give you this.”
Pon looked inside the bag and smiled. “Thank you Khun Taksin.”
They arrived at the palace and the limo stopped at the monks quarters while Pon checked on his Warriors.
He told them of the plans for their dead brother’s ceremony and the Warriors would pray over their fallen brother’s bodies in the Temple of the Sacred Light until the ceremony.
Spock sounded relieved when Taksin, Manhut, Pon, and Dave came into the lounge. “Welcome home lad’s.”
Sid and Lek rushed over and hugged their Gopetu’s while Kim and Samnan went over to Pon and hugged him.
“Khun Taksin told us about Chuck, but where’s Sedgly?”
“I don’t know Stu. That’s what we are trying to find out,” said Pon and nodded at Taksin.
Pon pecked Kim on the cheek and he and Taksin went to Chuck and Sedgly’s room to check their belongings.
“They all looked knackered. We can quiz them later about what happened. It doesn’t look like it was fun for any of them,” said Stu as he saw Spock smirking while he looked at the kids with their Protectors and said. “Oh well, at least they are safe now.”
“Yep,” said Spock, “and so am I.” He furrowed his brow and looked intrigued. “What do you think Pon had in that bag?”
Stu shrugged. “Dunno, but it must be important, he took it with him.”
Pon and Taksin came back into the lounge several minutes later and Pon shook his head. “Chuck and Sedgly must have taken what little they brought with them.”
“I will see if I can find out anything further,” said Taksin, and wai-ed them all and left.
“We will cook breakfast,” said Moo and smiled, “I imagine you are hungry.”
“Too right,” said Spock and smirked, “Woken up at silly o’clock in the morning to see a Yorkie come back from his holiday.”
“I wasn’t talking to you stupid.” said
Moo glaring at Spock.
“Thanks Moo,” said Dave, “I will put my bags in our room and take a shower.”
The kids and Protectors left the lounge and Spock smirked. “Good, with Dave back, the Yorkie Damien will leave me alone.”
Pon’s phone then rang. He looked at the number and smiled.
Stu looked at his watch. “With getting up early I can crack on with my book.” He smiled at Dao who smiled back and raised her eyebrows up and down. “Or then again… maybe not.”
Spock nodded, but he wasn’t listening, he was deciding whether to have toast or fried bread with his full English.
Pon finished his conversation, smiled at Kim, and told them all.
“Lee will be here later on today with Prime Master Samouern to take the Chokdet back to Cambodia after the ceremony tomorrow.”
Kim smiled and looked down at her son. “Isn’t that good news Samnan, your great uncle Lee is coming back to see us,” she smirked, looked at the paper bag Pon carried, and whispered to Moo who nodded and told Dao.
The two girls took Samnan’s hands and Moo said. “Come and help us cook breakfast, Samnan.”
Moo smiled at Kim, and the girls took Samnan to the kitchen.
Spock and Stu looked confused as Pon and Kim smiled at each other. Pon held up the paper bag and shook it.
Kim nodded, grabbed his hand, and they hurried out of the lounge.
Spock furrowed his brow. “Where are those two going in such a hurry?”
Stu chuckled. “I bet he had his mullet in that bag.”
⸺ Chapter Twenty-One ⸺
Taksin yawned while gazing out of his window watching Palace workers setting out items on the lawns for the next day’s ceremony.
Forklifts drove around with slabs of marble and positioned them into an altar.
Taksin felt perplexed having spent most of the morning on the phone again getting nowhere with the FBI. He had also been unable to find a US Sherriff named Weiner, although he had a few US departments sniggering at him when he mentioned the name.
Disheartened by his failed attempts to find Master Sedgly, he feared for the American monk’s life. Taksin looked at his watch, pierced his lips, and called his contact in the CIA.
Taksin felt angry as his CIA contact denied any knowledge of covert operations being carried out in Pakistan.
As Taksin gazed out of the window wondering what to do next, his phone rang. His P.A. told him it was Special Agent Pendle of the FBI and Taksin told her to put the call through.
“Is that Taksin Chinthetwat?” asked the agent sounding abrupt.
“Yes, said Taksin I am Chief of the…”
“I know who you are,” said Pendle interrupting, “You called the FBI regarding a Buddhist Monastery in the US.”
Taksin heard the wind howling in the background and said, “Yes, I was trying to trace two monks from there, one was killed, and the other’s missing.” Taksin frowned, “but I got no help because the FBI said it was an ongoi…”
“I am faxing you photographs,” said the agent, “see if you recognise your monks and I will call you back.”
Pendle then hung up.
Taksin looked taken aback and then several faxes came through to his old fax machine.
‘Huh, the FBI must live in the dark ages, why not scan and send them? these are blurry,’ he thought as he looked at the photographs of the faces of dead Buddhist monks and gasped. His eyes widened as he looked at the individual pictures, with several corpses showing bullet holes in their heads and faces.
Taksin’s phone rang and when he answered, the abrupt agent said. “I only sent you the ones still recognisable, but were your monks on there?”
“No,” said Taksin, “I was looking for the Warlords of Peace Monastery, but I know the monks there were kill…”
“They are the Warlords of Peace,” said Pendle again interrupting. “Look at the other faxes,” said Pendle.
“What other faxes? Oh,” said Taksin as the fax machine beeped and more faxes came through.
Taksin looked at the faxes and gasped. It looked like an excavation site but instead of dug soil, it was snow. Taksin saw dead monks lying face down in blood stained snow, which looked like a white slaughterhouse. ‘Hmm,’ thought Taksin, ‘that explained the red dots on the satellite image.’
“They were the Warlords of Peace and that is their Monastery in Montana Mr Chinthetwat. We don’t know what happened, but what we do know was they were all killed with automatic weapons,” said Pendle.
Taksin furrowed his brow and looked perturbed. ‘Pon said Chuck told him the FBI was investigating several days ago, so why does this agent sound confused.’ thought Taksin rubbing his chin.
“So what happened?” asked Taksin sounding perplexed and wanting to know the facts.
“Are your monks on the faxes Mr Chinthetwat?” asked Pendle sounding irritated.
Taksin pondered until he heard the agent’s heavy breathing down the phone and knew he was impatient.
Taksin, suspicious of the agent, said. “No, Special Agent Pendle, they were not there at the time of the attack, they were here.”
“So, where are they now?”
“I don’t know, that is what I am trying to find out. Did you find any evid…” Pendle again cut short his sentence. “Huh,” he said and hung up.
Taksin looked at the phone and furrowed his brow.
He pulled over his desktop keyboard and logged into the FBI website looking enraged.
Lee arrived several hours later and walked into the kitchen, along with an elderly monk.
“Hello you two, are Pon and Kim here?” asked Lee.
“Yes matey, they are in the lounge,” said Spock looking scared.
“Uncle Lee,” said Kim smiling as she came into the kitchen and hugged her uncle.
Pon followed her in, smiled and wai-ed Lee and Prime Master Samouern. The four spoke Cambodian and looked at Spock and Stu who appeared bemused, so they went into the lounge.
“The old man must be the green dressed monk’s boss,” said Stu.
Spock nodded and his eyes widened when Lek and Sid walked into the kitchen grinning. Spock made a hasty retreat to his room.
Stu chuckled and carried on writing his book while the kids went to search for Spock.
Several minutes later, Stu heard Sid shouting from upstairs. “Moo! Spock made Lek cry.”
Pon and Samouern left and went over to the Temple of the Sacred Light. Pon returned to the kitchen an hour later and said. “Master Samouern is spending the night with the warriors in the temple. The ceremony begins at first light, so we will all need an early night,” he said and seeing Spock’s eyes, smirked and asked, “Have you been crying Spock?”
He and Stu sniggered and then Pon went into the lounge.
Thirty minutes later, Pon came back into the kitchen looking perplexed.
“Come into the lounge,” he said. “Taksin just called. He received a call from the chief of Thai Channel 7, who told him to watch CNN at 9 pm and he is on his way over.”
Spock looked at his watch as Taksin walked in.
They went into the lounge and turned to CNN news.
Pon, Spock, Stu, Dave, Manhut, and Taksin waited a few minutes and at 9 pm, a breaking news feature came on and the bottom of the screen read.
TERRORISTS ATTACK BUDDIST TEMPLE.
“What it is Khun Taksin?” asked Stu as Taksin went pale and pointed to the video footage on the screen.
“I saw still photos of that earlier,” he said as the reporter told viewers that he was at the scene of a massacre of Buddhist monks at a Monastery in Montana.”
The camera panned around showing FBI agents recovering dead monks from the bloodstained snow and putting them into helicopters.
The next shot was inside a large white domed tent where another reporter interviewed a man dressed in a thermal suit with FBI on the back.
Taksin pointed. “That’s Special Agent Pendle,” he said after finding information and Pend
le’s photograph on the FBI website.
The reporter introduced Pendle and asked. “When did this happen Special Agent Pendle?”
Pendle shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said, “the bodies were under snow, and with them well preserved in the cold, we have not yet been able to calculate how long they had been dead. Our boffins may be able to work out the timescale based on snowfall, but that would not be 100% accurate. It could have been several days or a week or more.”
“So if they had been buried in snow, how did you find them?”
Pendle sounded evasive. “We received information in our Washington HQ several days ago but we had to wait for clear weather before our choppers could reach here.”
The CNN reporter smirked and thought. ‘We received the same information, and that’s why our helicopter followed yours.’
“Do you know what happened?” asked the reporter.
Pendle shook his head, “All I know was they were all shot, but by whom we don’t know. All we found were two shell casings near one body, it seemed whoever it cleaned the area must have overlooked them, as we found nothing else.”
“What weapons were the casings from?” asked the reporter.
Pendle nodded, frowned, and looked unsure about disclosing the information.
“Special Agent Pendle,” said the reporter after getting no response.
“They were 7.62 calibre rounds,” said Pendle sounding anxious.
“7.62 calibre, Isn’t that what Ak47’s use?”
Pendle nodded and smiled. “Yes, but many weapons use that calibre.”
“Ak47’s, aren’t they what the terrorists use?”
Pendle nodded, “Yes, but not only terrorists, they are the most po…”
“But terrorists are well known for using them,” said the reporter interrupting the agent.
“Yes they do, but…”
The CNN anchor-man, not wanting facts to get in the way of his story, cut off Pendle’s sentence, stared at the camera, and sounded dismal said. “It appeared Islamic terrorists have also recently attacked other Buddhist temples as CNN have received similar reports from around the world. We are following up on leads and will bring you more news when it becomes available.”
Protector--The Final Adventure Page 21
