“Which one you like, tee rak?”
“Both of them.”
Nok went back inside and a few moments later she came back out holding up a pair of men’s jeans and waving Danny to go inside the shop. He dropped his cigarette, squeezed it into the pavement with his foot and followed her into the shop. The changing cubicle curtains were drawn and the lady in the shop ushered them straight through the shop and out of the back door. Danny handed her the secure phone that he had been given at the Embassy. She took it and wai’d to him, thrilled with her unexpected gift. They turned right and ran along the alleyway, continuing towards the river. It was several minutes running before they got to the river port. Nok bought two tickets and they jumped on the express river boat just about to leave. It followed the river round to the north and back in the direction of their hotel.
The following agents had hung back from the shop for a couple of minutes before one of the females went inside. Silver Control confirmed that they were still inside by the red dot showing up on their screen. It was soon clear that they were not. The changing rooms were empty. The lady behind the counter was playing with the new mobile that Danny had given to her. It was quickly recovered. The team reported back to Silver Control that they had a total loss. Danny had been risk assessed as a ‘soft target’ and was not considered to be surveillance conscious, despite his previous work as an undercover cop. The assessment was clearly wrong. It would be discussed later during the debriefing.
Danny sat on one of the seats so he could see the port they had just left. There was no sign of the British agents. He breathed a sigh and relaxed, but not much.
“Nok, give me your phone.”
“OK, tee rak. Why you give your phone to lady in shop?”
“Because it will have been bugged.”
“Jing jing?” (really?)
Nok handed Danny her mobile and he dropped it over the side into the Chao Phraya River.
“Tee rak, what you do?”
They have your number Nok. I don’t want them to be able to ping our position. Trust me.”
“Yes, tee rak. I trust you.”
“Nok, we have a problem.”
“What problem, tee rak?”
“We can’t go back to the hotel. I paid for it with my bank card. They will already have a team waiting there and they will have traced the Mazda to me as well. I need the gun and my notebook out of the Mazda. I don’t know how we are going to get them without picking up another tail.”
“I have idea, tee rak. We go to Khaosan Road and I can get things from car. No problem.”
Chapter 39: Khaosan Road
The afternoon had turned into evening by the time they got into Khaosan Road and the place was just starting to gear up for another night. Already hordes of tourists and the back packers, who found cheap accommodation along the road, were wandering the street enjoying the food stalls, market stalls, bars and clubs. Bar girls were starting to arrive at the bars for another night’s work. Danny and Nok had walked from the river. Danny stopped at the ATM at the dock and got out as much money as he could, before the machine would give him no more and kept the card.
“Why you do this, tee rak?”
“Because they will be able to trace my card use and we can’t use it again, so I’m getting as much as I can now. Come on, let’s go.”
They walked the rest of the way to Khaosan Road and sat at a small bar halfway along the road. The road itself was actually only about 5 or 10 minutes’ walk from their hotel.
Danny ordered two beers and lit up a cigarette. It was busy enough now for them to just mingle in with the crowd, but Danny kept an alert eye up and down the road in case any of the British agents turned up searching.
“Tee rak, how you know we be follow? I did not see any person.”
“OK. Well, a lot happened at the Embassy. I trained Nails Lovatt and years ago we had a code. It wasn’t written in any text book, but when we were working undercover, if we had any kind of problem, we would drop into the conversation that we had a ‘cold’. If it was a bigger problem, it was ‘flu.’ It could mean anything. It could mean that the cover had been blown, or that we had been compromised in some way, but, whatever it was, it was a problem. So, when Chris Lovatt said he was ‘flu’d’ up, it means that there is a big problem. Then, his old friend……”
“The handsome man, Khun Mike” smiled Nok.
“Yes, Mike Hands. When we shook hands he passed me some folded up paper.”
“What did it say, tee rak?”
“I haven’t looked at it yet. I’ll wait until we are safe in a room somewhere before I look at it. Anyway, when we were walking towards the river there was a team of eight people following us. Do you know when we went into the noodle bar to eat?”
“Yes, tee rak.”
“The couple who came in and sat on the next table and pretended to look at the map, well they were two of them.”
“Wow! Tee rak, this exciting. Why do your friends follow you?”
“They are not my friends and I don’t know yet why they are following me, but we need to get the gun and the notebook from the pickup.”
“How do you know that they already find hotel and pickup?”
“I told you, because I used my bank card to get it. They will have another team plotted up around the hotel and the vehicle. They have probably already put a lump on the vehicle.”
“What’s a lump?”
“A tracking device. They plant it underneath the vehicle.”
“Tee rak, I can get the gun and notebook from the vehicle and make sure nobody follow me here,” Nok was beaming her usual huge wide smile, which told Danny that she had an idea and was proud of it.
“How will you do it?”
“I get disguise, tee rak.”
“Nok, you need more than a disguise because, it doesn’t matter what you look like, as soon as you get in that vehicle they will have you marked as a target and follow you. Now that they know we are not soft targets, they will up their game and it will not be so easy to shake them off next time.”
Nok got up and walked across the road to one of the street stalls and Danny watched her buying pink sparkly wigs. She went into the Seven Eleven shop a few yards further along the road and came out with a pile of Seven Eleven carrier bags. She waved at Danny, still happily smiling. Danny shook his head and smiled back. She crossed the road again and walked into one of the bars, where the girls were just arriving for work and getting the bar ready. Some were dressed in short tartan mini-skirts, white blouses and red school ties. He watched Nok handing out baht notes to the girls and, as more arrived, they got changed along with Nok into the schoolgirl uniform. A few minutes later a smiling Nok and twelve other Thai girls walked past Danny, all wearing sparkling pink wigs and carrying Seven Eleven carrier bags with various items of clothing inside.
Danny smiled and nodded as Nok walked past him.
“Be careful and, when you come back, go straight to that bar and sit there and wait for me. I will check that nobody is following you,” called Danny.
The Americans that were plotted up inside and around the hotel had also identified the Mazda pickup as being the target vehicle. Danny was correct. They had already ‘tagged’ the vehicle with a tracking device clamped under one of the wheel arches. They didn’t know if the targets would return. It was probably unlikely, now that they had blown out the British agents. The Americans had been told of the ‘total loss’ and they had also been supplied with the photo of Danny and Nok entering the British Embassy. If the targets did show then they would be ready. They were confident that they wouldn’t mess it up like the British did.
When Nok came walking down the soi towards the hotel, one of the CIA men called it to make everyone aware, but this was normal surveillance technique and everyone entering the
target zone was given the announcement.
Agent Blue called it when Nok turned into the street and walked past his vehicle.
“Asian female, pretty, slight build, wearing pink wig, schoolgirl uniform, tartan mini skirt, white blouse, red tie, bar girl carrying a Seven Eleven carrier bag, walking towards target zone. Blue over.”
“Green has the eyeball. Asian female past target building and going past target vehicle now. Wait. Wait. Wait. Agent Green to all agents. Asian female is into the vehicle. Repeat, female target is into the vehicle.”
“Agent White to everyone. Keep your eyes open guys. Anyone see the male target? He will be around somewhere.”
Calls of ‘Negative’ came back from the agents.
“Green to team. The female target is out of vehicle and heading back towards you Blue.”
“Blue and Yellow, we got her. She is past our position making a right, right, right at the top of the street. We’re out of the vehicle and behind her. Make catch up team.”
The two agents dashed the short distance to the top of the street and made the right turn.
“Blue to team, we have a problem. There are a dozen or more female targets walking along the street towards the canal. All in the schoolgirl uniform in pink wigs. They all look the same. I don’t know which one is the target”
“White to Blue, which one has the carrier bag?”
“They all do White. OK team, they have just star burst. We have been made. Who do you want us to follow White? There are only six of us. There are at least twelve of them.”
“White to team, go solo. Each pick a target and stay with her. We might get lucky.”
The girls had split up and each walked off at a leisurely pace, walking around the streets, sometimes passing each other and swapping carrier bags. Nok had headed back towards Khaosan Road. She had the gun and the notebook in her carrier bag. She stopped several times to check but, as far as she knew, she had not been followed. She walked past the bar where Danny was still sitting and went straight to the bar where she had recruited the girls. Danny could see that she had no ‘tail’ and he followed her into the bar. She was getting changed into her own clothes. Danny took the gun and the notebook from her and, once she was dressed, they walked off along Khaosan Road. Nok’s heart was pounding in her breast.
“White to team, stay with it guys. I’ll take the vehicle. We might as well see what else they have left inside.”
Agent White walked towards the Mazda pickup truck. He saw a huge flash in the split second before he was blown to pieces. The windows in the surrounding buildings shattered. Bits of the Mazda and agent White rained down hundreds of yards away along the street. Some people inside the hotel were injured by flying glass, but agent White was the only fatality. The explosion had rocked the street and everyone in Khaosan Road saw the flash light up the night sky and heard the huge blast.
“Jesus!” said Danny. “Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter 40: As clear as mud
The hotel where they paid for a room was a grubby little place called The Dtoi Hotel. It was a few sois down from Khaosan Road. It was used by the bar girls as a short time hotel; a place where they could take the customers from the bars for sex. They did not require a passport or any registration card from Nok to have the room for the night. The little old Thai man, wearing a dirty stained vest at the reception, was busy sucking on a hand rolled cigarette, the slimmest one Danny had ever seen anyone smoke. He muttered something in Thai to Nok without even looking up at her. Nok put 200 baht on the reception desk in front of him. He scooped it up with thin bony fingers and stuffed it into his pocket before he picked up one of the several keys that were on the counter and slid it across the top to Nok. She thanked him and Danny followed her up the stairs. There was just a one tube strip light at the top of the stairway and it flickered constantly. Danny guessed that it had been flickering for a long time. The place smelt old and damp. Nok opened the door to their room. It was clean but tired looking, but at least it had a shower and a bed and nobody would find them here. Danny dropped the supplies they had just bought from the Family Mart 24 hour shop next door onto the bed. He took the Jack Daniels from the bag and drank it from the bottle. Nok was looking scared. She was in a slight state of shock. They both knew that the huge explosion was something to do with them, but they did not know what or why. Nok turned on the TV that sat on top of the dresser. Both the TV and the dresser were probably older than Nok. She was searching for news of the explosion, but there was nothing.
Danny took the folded paper that Michael Hands had slipped to him at the Embassy from his pocket. There were three pieces of paper folded together. On the first Mike Hands had written ‘Hi Danny. Nails thought that you might need these. Get rid of the mobile that they gave you. It is a tracking device and don’t make any calls on it. It automatically records everything you say and sends all the data of the phone you called to a control room. If you don’t know by now you have a tail. There is more I have to tell you. Ring me when you can 08776545291. Mike.’
The two other papers were computer print outs. The first one was showing a photo and criminal record of Jack Morgan, a petty criminal from Birmingham. The second showed a photo of Charlie Brown and his police service record in the West Midlands Police, working out of Birmingham.
“Jesus!” Danny put the papers flat on the bed next to his gun and the notebook. “I didn’t do the basics, Nok.”
Nok stepped towards the bed and stood behind Danny. She put her head on his shoulder.
“Tee rak, they are photo of the two men from Captain Morgan’s Bar. Jack Morgan and Charlie Brown.”
“Yes Nok. But look again.” Danny took out the photo he had of the two men standing with their arms around each other standing behind the bar at Captain Morgan’s, and put it on the bed next to the print outs.
“Tee rak, they mix up names.”
“No, they haven’t mixed up the names. Jack Morgan has mixed up the names. The man who told us that he is Charlie Brown is the real Jack Morgan and Jack Morgan is a crook and not a policeman. I am guessing that the person who was chopped up and fed to the crocodiles was really Charlie Brown, who was the real policeman.”
“I don’t understand what is happening, tee rak.”
“I don’t either Nok, but Mike Hands has given me a number to ring him. I’ll call him tomorrow and see what he can tell me.”
A news flash came on the TV in Thai.
“Tee rak, they say a Mazda pickup truck have explosion near Khaosan Road in Bangkok. It say one unidentified farang was killed in the blast. They say it not terrorist attack. They think accidental explosion from gas cylinder on back of truck…………..Tee rak, we not have gas cylinder on back of truck.”
Danny flicked the channels until he got the BBC world news. They too were now reporting that they had just received news of a vehicle explosion in the heart of Bangkok and one tourist being killed by the blast. The BBC was not ruling out a terrorist attack and reported on the Muslim extremists in the most southern provinces of Thailand, which included the years of terror attacks and killings that had been committed there. They also said that Thai police were now saying that they believed it to be an accidental explosion, but the BBC presenter also told how the BBC had received reports of a lone Asian female running from the scene just prior to the explosion.
“Tee rak, all this news is wrong. I very scare now.”
“Yes Nok. I know you are.”
Nok lifted her short skirt up and pulled down her thong until she could step out of it. She pushed Danny back on the bed. He did not resist. She undid his belt and jeans until she could slide them down to his knees. Danny was lying back on the bed with his legs over the side and feet still on the floor. He swigged gulps of Jack Daniels from the bottle and looked at the brown water stains on the ceiling. He felt Nok kissing his thighs. He
looked at the ceiling fan and saw the useless electric wire hanging from it. The room was hot and he was sweating. He felt Nok sucking on his erection and he drank more Jack Daniels. She pulled her top off and settled down astride him, riding his erection until they both climaxed. She fell onto the bed next to him and she sobbed gently as she snuggled into him.
“Don’t be scared Nok. I’ll take care of everything.”
Danny’s hand searched around on the bed until his fingers touched the gun. He took the grip in his hand and rested the gun on his chest. Nok kissed his cheek and was soon asleep. Danny finished drinking from the bottle until it had all gone and then he too fell asleep.
Chapter 41: Special agents
Nok was already showered and dressed before she managed to wake Danny.
“Come on, tee rak. Time you wake up now. We go breakfast.”
Danny swung his legs off the bed and sat up.
“Jesus! I’m going to have to stop drinking.”
He looked around the room. It was dark and gloomy and it was hot. Danny clicked his tongue around his mouth trying to get some feeling into it.
“What a feckin dump. Nok, we cannot go out for breakfast together. There might be agents and police all over the place looking for us. I have to speak to this Mike Hands and see what he can tell me about what is going on. I can’t stay another night in this place Nok. We need to split up for a few hours today, but we need to stay in contact. Can you go out and buy two mobile phones, nothing fancy. Just simple ‘pay as you go’ things and don’t register them. Bring them back here and I’ll be showered and dressed by the time you come back. There is less chance we’ll be picked up if we are separate.”
“Then what we do, tee rak?”
“Well, then you can go and get breakfast and find us a better hotel, but one where you don’t have to book in with your registration card. I don’t want to stay in the Dtoi Hotel for another night.”
The Kiss of the Dragon Page 18
