The Kiss of the Dragon

by Lilburne, Guy

  Danny and Nok had been greeted warmly at the Embassy and shown into the room. A man, who had introduced himself as Duncan when they arrived, stayed with them. When the phone on the heavy oak desk rang he nodded to Danny and Danny picked it up.

  “Hello.”

  “Danny, it’s Nails.”

  “I thought you didn’t call yourself Nails anymore?”

  “It must be speaking to you mate. It’s just like the old days” laughed Chris.

  “Did you get anything on Jack Morgan for me?”

  “No mate, there is no trace. Jack Morgan was never a policeman here, or in any other police force.”

  “Jesus! Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. Why did you think he was police?”

  Danny didn’t answer. He was thinking, recapping everything he had been told and by who.

  “Danny, how did you get onto Jack Morgan?”

  “Hang on a minute, let me think.”

  “Danny, who did you say you were working for?”

  “I didn’t. Nails, check your records. Did you have a policeman called Charlie Brown? Maybe mid to late fifties. Retired within the last five or six years. Now living in Thailand?”

  Nick Walker was typing into his laptop and within seconds had accessed the West Midlands Police Personal records.

  “Got him. Retired four years ago. Not paying tax on his pension because not resident in UK…….OK, got it. Pension being drawn in Thailand. No next of kin listed……..”

  “Check his arrest records, complaints, associates” whispered Mike Jones.

  Within seconds Nick was punching the air.

  “Got it boss. Jack Morgan. Born Birmingham 1955. Convictions for burglary, theft, shoplifting and TWOC. (stealing cars) Arrested several times by PC Charlie Brown over a number of years. I think we know who Jack Morgan is.”

  “Print it” said Mike, giving Nick the thumbs up before he turned back to Chris Lovatt.

  “Ask him what the connection is between these two and how does he know that?”

  “Danny what’s …….?” Chris started to cough and splutter.

  “Sorry mate, I’m a bit flu’d up. What’s the connection between Jack Morgan and Charlie Brown?”

  “Was Charlie Brown a policeman then?” asked Danny again.

  Chris looked up at Mike Jones who shook his head.

  “No mate, there is no trace on Charlie Brown.”

  There was a long pause and Mike Jones waved a hand for Chris to continue.

  “Danny, what can you tell me about these two and I’ll try and turn something up for you?”

  “Nothing mate. I’m still trying to find out myself. I was hoping that you could tell me. Nails I have to get going. I’ll call you again if I need anything.”

  “Danny, where are you going to now?”

  “Why?”

  “Just interested mate.”

  “I’ll let you know when I get there.” Danny was already on his guard, but careful not to alert Chris.

  “OK mate. Danny, I have arranged for somebody called Duncan to give you a secure phone. Keep it with you and you can ring me direct on that phone anytime. It’s secure and encrypted. If you get in any trouble, then ring me mate.”

  Duncan was already handing Danny the mobile phone.

  “Danny, I can arrange transport for you from the Embassy if you want it.”

  “No thanks. You’re grand. We’ll walk.”

  “OK. Bye mate.”

  The phone clicked off.

  Mike Jones spoke on the phone to the people next to the surveillance room.

  “He is about to leave. Have you got a team in place?”

  “Yes sir. We’ve already down loaded their photos to the PDA’s. We are ready to go. What’s the action?”

  “Let them run and see where they take us. We have got leads here now to track Jack Morgan, but stay with them until we can give you a positive feed.”

  “OK sir. We’ll stay with the targets. Have they got a status?”

  “Yes, expendable.”

  “Is that both of them. The Thai girl as well?”

  “Yes.” Mike Jones closed the line and looked at the shock on the Deputy Chief Constable’s face and the disgust on Chris’s.

  “Gentlemen, I am sure I don’t need to remind you that everyone in this room has signed the official secrets act. We are all on the same side.”

  “If that is everything, you will have to excuse me. I feel sick” said Chris Lovatt.

  Chris got up and left the room. Once outside the conference room he dashed to another office and opened up the computer as he rang his friend Michael Hands at the British Embassy in Bangkok.

  Danny received some instruction from Duncan about the use of the secure mobile and was reminded about how important it was to look after it. Duncan stressed several times that it was official government property and that it had to be looked after and returned at some future date. It was another ten minutes before he eventually escorted them from the premises. As they were leaving the main building a cheery voice called out.

  “Hello. Danny O’Brien, hello.”

  Danny turned around to be greeted by a smiling face that matched the voice.

  “Hi, I’m Michael Hands. I’m a friend of Chris Lovatt. He told me the other day that you’d be calling in to see me, but nobody told me that you were here. I just saw you and guessed it was you.” He offered his hand and they shook. Danny liked Mike Hands. He was friendly and genuine, had the good looks of a movie star and he smiled easily.

  “Have you been looked after?”

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “When Chris rang me the other day he said that I was to help you in any way I can. So, if there is anything I can do for you, then please don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “It’s OK. Thank you agent Hands. Mr. O’Brien has been taken care of and everything has been sorted out now. Thank you, and now if you will excuse us” interrupted Duncan.

  “Thanks Mike. I’ll let you know” said Danny, and the two men smiled at each other.

  Duncan showed them out of the official gate onto Wireless Road. They turned right and headed south, towards the Chao Phraya river.

  Chapter 38: The hunter becomes the hunted

  Nok put her arm though Danny’s as they walked along Wireless Road. She was happy and still excited about her visit to the Embassy.

  Eight agents were already dispersed in the immediate location around the Embassy. The click from their ear pieces told them that the operation was going live, even before ‘Silver control’ announced it and checked with each of them that they were ‘ready’ and communications were ‘up’.

  “Tee rak, I never been to Embassy before. Now, I famous same same you. They nice people to give you new phone, I think.”

  “Nok, I think we have a problem.”

  “What problem?”

  “Just a problem, but I don’t know how big yet. Do you think you can get us to the river?”

  “Yes, tee rak. I think we walk straight on this way and come to river, but big walk.”

  “That’s OK. We’ll stop and get something to eat on the way.”

  “OK. What problem, tee rak?”

  “Well, don’t look around and do not do anything unless I tell you to, but I think we have probably picked up a tail.”

  “What is mean?”

  “I mean I think the nice people from the Embassy, who gave us the phone, are not so nice and I think that they have put a team on us to follow us.”

  “Why they do that, tee rak? I think they on your side.”

  “A lot went on at the Embassy. I’ll tell you later, but for now, let’s just have a leisurely walk towards the river and take a boat trip.”

/>   “Yes. You know we are heading the wrong way for our hotel? We can take boat back to hotel.”

  “Maybe, we’ll see. I want to try to find out how big a problem we have.”

  “How you can do, tee rak?”

  “Well first, I want to see if we are being followed.”

  “How will you know this?”

  “Nok, I used to do it for a living, remember. I just want you to stay calm and act as if nothing is wrong. Do not worry.”

  “I not worry. I excited. I never been followed by spy before.”

  Danny looked at her and her face was happy and smiling. Danny could see that she really was having a great day. He smiled back at her.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Yes, little bit.”

  Silver control watched the screen in front of him. The mobile that had been given to Danny was now showing his position as a red dot on the screen. The eight following agents were showing as yellow dots.

  They walked past many restaurants and cafés, but Danny was looking for just the right place. It had to be somewhere with people in, but not too many so that there were still plenty of seats and tables to sit at. He also needed somewhere with plenty of mirrors, or at least surfaces with clear reflection, so he could see who, if anyone, would follow him in, and how many of the team he could spot deploying around the place in readiness for his take off again. He knew that at least one of the team would follow him into where ever they went, to maintain the ‘eyeball’ (visual contact). He also knew that, contrary to popular belief, a surveillance team did not watch from a distance. They moved in up close and personal. They would be very comfortable sitting at the very next table to them, if not at the same table. Targets never expected close surveillance and, even when they are surveillance conscious, they always look in the far distance for the followers. The other thing that Danny was very aware of is that targets always speed up when they think they are being followed. A speeding target is always easier to follow than a slow moving one, at least when the surveillance team is trying to maintain its cover. They were over half way to the river before Danny found the perfect place; a little hole in the wall type of noodle bar. It was open fronted out onto the street with a big stainless steel counter at the far end. There were twelve tables in two rows of six, and each seating four people. Only the first three tables down one side were occupied. Danny pulled Nok inside and sat at the far end on the clear row of tables. He had his back to the open entrance but had a clear view of the reflection in the stainless steel serving counter. If they were being followed he knew that at least one of the team would follow them in and sit directly behind them, or at the table next to them, within earshot, so they could listen in to the target’s conversation. He also knew that another one or two of the team would pass the café along the street to get in advance of their position, so that when they left, the team could drop in behind them, no matter what direction they took.

  They ordered spicy pork noodles and two bottles of Cola as they sat.

  “Nok, it is very important that you do not speak again until we leave the café. OK?”

  Nok nodded. She still did not really know what was going on or why, but she had confidence in Danny and he seemed to know what he was doing.

  Two of the team arrived at the same time as the spicy pork noodles. Danny was hoping to ID (Identify) as many of the team as possible without them knowing. It is always easier to spot a tail when you can recognize the faces of who is following you.

  Two of the team came into the noodle bar. Danny watched them in the reflection of the serving counter. They did not look at Danny or Nok, but sat on the table right next to them. It was a man and a woman, casually dressed and obviously English by the sound of their accents. They did not have any ear pieces on, but then again Danny knew that they would remove them before they came into the place for close quarter surveillance. They sat down and ordered two cokes, then unfolded a little tourist map on the table and pointed out places to each other on the map They made up little conversations about what they wanted to see today. Nok took no notice and, on the face of it, Danny hadn’t even noticed them come in and sit there. But he was studying all the detail he could about these two people and committing it to memory. He also clocked another two of the team walking past the front of the noodle bar. Two men, mid 30’s, white tee shirts and blue jeans. One had blonde hair, one was bald with glasses. That was four of the team identified. Danny guessed that there was another four back up the road in the direction they had just walked. He was happy that he had spotted half the team already, with just making one stop. He didn’t think that it would be too difficult to pick out the others. He knew that the two who had followed him into the noodle bar would automatically take up the rear end of the tail because, even though he had appeared not to notice them in his peripheral vision, they wouldn’t want to take a chance of him noticing them again anytime soon.

  They finished their noodles in no great hurry and Nok had kept silent throughout. They continued down the road in the direction of the river and, a little further on, they passed the two agents who had walked past the noodle bar. Now they were standing together on the pavement holding up a street map and pointing to imaginary places on it.

  Danny stopped when he got to them.

  “I see you have a map there. You know where the Grand Palace is, do yer?”

  The two men hesitated for a moment. They both knew of course, but they were role playing as tourists and the question stumped them for a moment or two.

  “You can have a look on the map” said the man with the blonde hair.

  Danny saw that they both had ear pieces in. They had not expected this contact.

  “Oh, you’re a good man.”

  Danny stood alongside the men running his finger over the map and looking back from the direction they had walked. Another female agent, early 20’s, long dark hair, wearing sunglasses and a yellow dress, suddenly stopped and looked in shop windows as Danny was looking up the road and pointing out general directions from the map to the Grand Palace. Even further up the road he saw what he thought must be the team back up vehicles. Two shiny black Land Cruisers on Thai plates.

  “Thanks. I think I have my bearings now” said a smiling Danny.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Danny and Nok walked further along towards the river and, on the left hand side along one of the smaller sois, (streets) Danny saw a market. This was exactly what he was looking for.

  “Come on, I’ll buy you something from the market. What do you want? Clothes, shoes, jewellery?”

  “Jing jing?” (Really)

  “Yes, knock yourself out.”

  Nok stood up on her tip toes and kissed Danny on the cheek.

  “Khob khun ka” (Thank you) she said, with her usual happy smile.

  Danny and Nok wandered around the market. Nok had forgotten all about Danny telling her that they were being followed and she was busy trying on shoes and jewellery at different stalls around the market. With the mirrors at the jewellery stalls and walking around in circles while Nok visited and re-visited different stalls around the market, Danny had soon picked up the other three members of the team. All were males, apparently on their own looking for nothing particular in a market in Bangkok. It wasn’t easy for white English agents to become invisible in a sea of Asian faces. Danny had the full team now, six males and two females, and whoever was in the two black Land cruisers with the blacked out windows.

  After Nok had finally chosen a pair of shoes and a gold necklace, they left the market, walked back up the soi to the main drag and continued towards the Chao Phraya River.

  “Nok, we need to buy ourselves a little bit of time and distance.”

  “What do you mean, tee rak?”

  “The next shop that we go into I want to go straight out of their back door. So, as
soon as we walk in, you tell the person in the shop that we are being followed and need to escape out of the back of the shop and give them this money.” Danny handed her 1000 baht. (£20)

  “You still think we be follow, tee rak? I not see any person.”

  “Yes. We are being followed.”

  “OK, but I have better idea if you want to buy more time.”

  “What is a better idea?”

  “We go in this clothes shop, but you wait outside. I go in by myself and then I can tell lady inside what we do. Then I come to door with clothes for you, so people follow us see you come in and think we go inside changing room, but we escape and they keep waiting for you to come out changing room. This buy us more time. What you think, tee rak?”

  “I think it’s a great idea. Nok. You are getting really good at this” Danny smiled.

  They walked the few yards to the clothes shop and Nok made a half-hearted attempt to drag Danny inside, before going in on her own. Danny stood outside and leaned up against the glass window. He lit up a cigarette and casually looked up and down the road while he waited. He saw his tails, but they were still hanging back and were a long way up the road. Nok came out holding two dresses. She held them up.