by Easton, Don
By Monday morning Lee had not yet appeared, and Jack advised the hotel that something had come up and they were checking out. He and Laura took their own suitcases and trudged along the beach for about twenty minutes to another hotel they had located called Bill Resort. It was much less fancy than the Pavilion, but Jack and Laura had discovered that they had great food, a beautiful pool, and more importantly, had the atmosphere of a family-run operation with loyal staff.
Jack called Sammy as soon as they checked in and said, “Well?”
“Yeah, you picked up a tail walking down the beach,” said Sammy. “Stocky fellow and taller than most Thai people. He purposely kept out of sight, but was definitely watching the two of you. Wearing navy-blue long pants and a yellow T-shirt.”
“A lot of them wear yellow T-shirts,” said Jack. “It has something to do with symbolizing their love for their king.”
“He also had on a cheap-looking watch with an oversized silver strap.”
“Good, we’ll keep our eyes open. No sign of Lee yet. He is supposed to arrive today or tomorrow. I left a message at the Pavilion for him to phone my cell.”
“We’ll keep our distance. Let us know if you want us to move in closer.”
Monday night found Jack and Laura back at The Outback. Music was blasting and the place was filling up. They found a seat and each ordered a Thai beer, Chang for Jack and Singha for Laura.
Jack could hear Bart’s thick accent as he sat drinking beer with several grey-haired Australian expatriates at a table directly behind him. One of the older men swore and Jack heard Bart say, “Watch it, mate. There’s a lady behind you.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know,” he whispered to Bart.
“Well then, turn around and apologize. Better sound like you mean it, or I’ll bar you,” ordered Bart.
The man turned and apologized to Laura, who claimed that she hadn’t heard him.
Jack grinned as he looked around the bar. It was very rustic, but had lots of character. In a glance, he saw an obese Swedish man with eyeglasses that were thick enough to qualify him for being legally blind, stumbling around the pool table with two prostitutes who were trying to teach him how to play. Nearby, a ladyboy was drinking with a young man who Jack suspected would be in for a real surprise later.
Across the room, he spotted a man and a woman who had moved their table aside to jive dance. They were staggering and swaying as they held each other up, while laughing and encouraging each other on in French. Not unusual, except the man was missing a foot and dancing lopsided. His prosthetic foot was sitting on the bar and he saw Tukta smile at them as she moved the foot aside to pour more drinks. All this and Bart makes a guy apologize for uttering the word fuck? Bart, you’re a gentleman. Rough around the edges perhaps, but a real gentleman.
“I like this place,” said Jack, smiling.
“You would,” replied Laura, shaking her head.
“No, I’m serious. I’ve been in a lot of bars. This is one of the best. The most fun.”
“I know you’re serious,” replied Laura with a laugh. She leaned over like she was kissing Jack in his ear and said, “Don’t look now, but across the street we have a guy in a yellow T-shirt and a gaudy silver watchband loitering about in front of another bar.”
“Love you, too,” said Jack, when Laura leaned back.
Later, after Bart got up to leave, he stopped by at their table. “Everyone treating you all right mate?” he asked Jack.
“Couldn’t be better,” replied Jack.
“A bit of a Canadian invasion we have tonight,” said Bart.
“Oh?” replied Jack, glancing around the bar while wondering if some of Sammy’s team had entered.
“The French couple,” said Bart. “Both soldiers from Quebec. Left his real foot in Afghanistan. A bloody shame, that is. The one they gave him to replace it hurts his stump. Last night he forgot it, so Tukta kept it behind the bar until he popped back in at noon to claim it. Tonight when he took it off, we put it up there as a reminder. Mind you, right now I bet he could wear it. Don’t reckon much would hurt either of them at this point.”
Jack glanced at the couple as a waitress brought them another round. The waitress tried to pour a handful of change into the soldier’s hand, but he said, “Keep the shrapnel. I have an aversion to the stuff.”
“Do me a favour, Bart,” said Jack. “Send them over another round and put it on my tab. Make it anonymous, will you?”
“Sure thing, mate. Aren’t you going to say hello to ’em? Fellow Canadians and all. Their English is good. Well, sort of. Seem like a decent lot, although a certain wanker I saw earlier today would disagree.”
“A certain wanker?” asked Jack.
Bart smiled and said, “I saw them browsing in a shop down the street this afternoon. They spotted some big ape of a wanker trying to buy a young kid. Bet she wasn’t ten years old. The soldier kicked him in the ass with his store-bought foot and put up his dukes. The big wanker backed right off and beat it down the street. The lady soldier followed him for about two blocks, cussin’ him out in French and English. Bet he thinks twice before goin’ after the next kid.”
“Forget buying them one round,” said Jack. “Make it four.”
“I’ll tell you what, mate,” said Bart. “I’ll split it with you. You going to join them?”
“Maybe later. They look like they’re having too much fun right now.”
The truth was, Jack had no intention of talking with them. He hated having to lie about who he really was to decent people.
It was a couple of hours later and not yet midnight when Jack and Laura decided to leave. The town was really coming alive and it was obvious that most of the inhabitants were nocturnal, but jet lag had taken its toll. They decided to do the twenty-minute walk back to Bill Resort and call it a night. Jack noticed that as soon as they stood and paid their tab, the man in the yellow shirt reappeared from the bar across the street and used his cellphone.
Jack and Laura had earlier discovered a shortcut back to their resort. A lane from the main street led between two tall buildings and out across an open field to the beach. From the beach, it was only a ten-minute walk to their hotel.
They purposely walked slow, occasionally stopping to look at various souvenir shops. The man in the yellow T-shirt followed on the opposite side of the street. Jack casually glanced back as they entered the darkened alley, wondering if the he would follow them there.
“Jack!” screamed Laura.
Jack felt a blow to the side of his head and stumbled, but did not fall. In the darkness, he saw two large men, each holding Laura by an arm and pinning her against a wall. A third man delivered a punch to her stomach as she tried to scream again, leaving her gasping for air.
“Hey!” yelled Jack. “You sons of —” He stopped when a fourth man appeared in front of him. Jack raised his fists, but the man delivered a side kick to Jack’s ribcage. The blow wasn’t hard enough to cause any serious injury, but the man stood between him and the others, beckoning with his hands for Jack to come forward.
“And you, Jack? Have you had any training in hand-to-hand combat?” Lee’s words echoed in Jack’s brain. These guys haven’t demanded money … no weapons … three of them on Laura and only one on me. Son of a bitch! I’m being tested and this is going to hurt!
Jack stepped forward in anger, which was genuine. His clenched fist swinging in a round arc from the side of his body toward the man’s head was not genuine. He left himself wide open and paid for it with a jab to his chest. The man was much smaller than Jack, but by the way he moved and positioned his fists, there was little doubt that he had taken boxing.
Jack purposely eyed the man’s groin, announcing his intention before trying to kick. His opponent nimbly stepped aside and did another side kick, landing a blow to Jack’s temple. Jack’s guess at what his opponent had been trained in changed. Make that Thai kick-boxing. He felt dazed from the kick and stumbled.
“Tabernac! No way to
treat a lady!” yelled a man in a thick French accent.
Jack turned to see a man use the stump of his leg to kick the man in the groin who had been standing near Laura, while swinging his prosthetic foot and clobbering one of the other men in the face. This man let go of Laura’s arm and she took advantage of it to punch her other captor in the throat. A second woman, also swearing in French, joined the melee.
The scene also distracted Jack’s opponent enough that Jack landed a blow to his nose, spraying blood across his face and making his eyes fill with tears.
Seconds later, the four assailants beat a hasty retreat across the open field and up the beach. Jack and Laura both made a pretense of chasing them for a couple of minutes before returning to thank their rescuers. When they arrived back, the French couple were disappearing down the street in the back of a taxi. Neither Jack nor Laura ever saw them again or found out who they were.
It was mid-afternoon on Tuesday and Jack and Laura were relaxing around the pool at Bill Resort when Lee arrived, with a scowl on his face, about thirty minutes after he had called.
“Why are you here?” he asked, sitting on the end of a wooden lounge chair beside them. “Why did you change hotels?”
“Quite simple,” said Jack. “I’m afraid we have some bad news. We have to cancel the deal. It’s not safe.”
“What? What are you talking about? The side of your face is bruised. Did something happen?”
“Oh, that,” replied Jack. “No, that is nothing. Some guys tried to rob us last night. A minor scuffle. We weren’t really hurt.”
“Another mugging,” replied Lee, faking surprise. “That is too bad, but if not that, then what is it then? Why did you change hotels? Why isn’t it safe?”
“We didn’t like the Pavilion,” said Laura. “We definitely prefer Bill Resort.”
“But this place is not as luxurious,” said Lee. “I don’t understand.”
“Well,” said Jack. “See the man over there talking to the head waiter? His name is Moo. A very astute fellow who usually works up at reception. Speaks good English and has worked here for years. The head waiter, he is Captain Sak. Nice fellow, also has worked here for years. The cook in the kitchen is named Noy and her husband is the sous-chef. His name is also Moo. The gardener over there with the ponytail is called Mong. The maid you see walking past prefers to be called Gee, although her colleagues have nicknamed her Rat, as that is the first three letters of her surname. They have all worked here for years. It is like one big family.”
“I don’t understand,” said Lee, “why do you know all their names? These people are merely servants. Not worthy of knowing. What is it about? Why do you think you have to cancel our deal?”
“In our business, I believe it is important to know people,” replied Jack. “It is necessary for survival. For instance, the man sitting at the bar over there drinking Heineken is a police detective from Frankfurt, Germany, by the name of Otto Reichartinger.”
“He is?” replied Lee, his head snapping around to look.
“No need to worry about him,” continued Jack. “I am told he is a regular tourist at Bill Resort. However, did you know that at the Pavilion, there is a staff member who is so new that the others do not know his name. Makes me wonder if it is a staff member or a police officer. There is also something else that is unusual. If you walk through the restaurant behind you and gaze out at the beach, you will see a man loitering about wearing a yellow T-shirt and navy-blue pants.”
“The same man who was loitering around us at the Pavilion,” said Laura.
“I’m sure he is also a policeman,” said Jack. “But, unlike Otto, a policeman who is very interested in Laura and I. Which is why I think everything should be called off. Maybe wait six months or so.”
“Six months!” Lee took a deep breath and sighed. “Okay, the man on the beach is a policeman. I should have told you.”
“What? You knew we had heat,” said Jack angrily. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“No, it isn’t what you think. He works for us. We, uh, told him to keep an eye on you to make sure you were okay.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” replied Laura. “Too bad he wasn’t around last night when we got mugged.”
“Uh, yes, later I will talk to him about that.”
“So,” said Jack, smiling. “Like me, you also have friends who are policemen?”
Lee nodded and said, “But not yet in Canada. Which is why it is good for us to join forces. Agreed? Everything is okay now?”
“Agreed,” said Jack. “But I hate wasting time. I was hoping your boss would be with you.”
“He has consented to meeting you,” said Lee, “but not for a few days.”
Jack tried not to let his excitement show. “Why the delay?”
“As we spoke about before, there are certain security measures to be taken.”
“You still don’t trust me?” said Jack. “Afraid I’ll hit you over the head with a bottle of Guinness and steal the dope?”
“My boss is a careful man. Getting close to him is like peeling an onion. The security is more intense the closer you get to the core.”
“I’ve always preferred garlic, myself,” replied Jack. “Tell you what, have him come and witness whatever it is you need to do to assure yourselves that I am being totally honest. He will see the truth for himself. Let’s do it and get it over with.”
“Actually,” said Lee, “that is something he might do.”
Later that afternoon, Lee used the Internet to update The Shaman and told him of Jack’s impatience.
The reply sounded innocent, but wasn’t:
Tomorrow take them to Burma and enlighten them with a sampling of our product and hospitality. A welcoming team has been arranged. If any friends of theirs decide to come, then arrange for them to stay in Burma, as well. Should that venture go well, two days later I will send Mister Sato and Da Khlot to see you. If Mister Sato decides that we should not do business with them, then Da Khlot and his associates will.
Deciphering the message for Lee was easy. He knew that Mister Sato was a polygraph operator. Tomorrow Lee would take Jack and Laura to Burma. If anyone followed them, Jack and Laura were to be killed. If none followed, then in two days Da Khlot would accompany the polygraph operator to meet with Jack. If the polygraph operator decided that Jack wasn’t truthful, Da Khlot would kill them.
Lee reflected on the upcoming course of events. Other tests would follow, including the successful transfer of funds to a bank owned by The Shaman. Naturally, any problem with such funding would see a quick end to Jack and Laura.
Lee shrugged it off. There was really no need to worry about Jack and Laura. Briefly, an uncomfortable thought entered his mind. If something goes amiss at this stage, Da Khlot will kill me, too. Maybe from Thailand I could escape — no, I would be trading my life for the lives of my family. I am foolish to even consider the possibility that anything could go that wrong. Jack will most certainly pass the lie detector. Then there is the last remaining test after the lie detector … but Jack has no doubt murdered before …
33
Lee joined Jack and Laura for supper at Bill Resort. The restaurant was built partially over the beach and gave a panoramic view of the Gulf of Thailand. Sunset comes early to countries close to the equator, and the crashing of the white foamy waves added a pleasant backdrop to the restaurant lights shining across the sand and palm trees. In the distance, bright lights shone like stars from bobbing boats as the fishermen used the lights to attract and catch squid.
Lee watched as Laura ate her green curried chicken in traditional Thai style, using a fork to push her food onto a spoon before putting the spoon in her mouth. “Some day you must learn to master the chopsticks,” he said.
“Why should I?” she replied, sounding upset. “We’re in Thailand. It is their culture to use a fork and spoon.”
“Ah, yes, that reminds me,” said Lee. “You both need to get to bed early tonight. Tomorrow morning
at four-thirty I have hired a van to pick us up. We’re going to spend the day going to Burma and back.”
“Burma?” said Jack, eyeing Laura curiously. “I told you before, there is no reason for us to go there. That part of your operation is not our concern.”
“The Shaman insists,” replied Lee. “He wants you to see a small sampling of what we can do. Tomorrow you will be shown a hundred kilos arriving into Thailand. Our presence in Burma will be less than two hours. It has been arranged. The Shaman would take it as a personal insult if you were not to attend. He would think that you do not have faith in his abilities.”
“I see,” replied Jack. Let the games begin …
Jack managed to get the pertinent details involving their travel, but Lee would not tell them how the heroin was arriving. “You’ll have to wait and see,” he said.
After dinner, Jack and Laura excused themselves on the pretext of a romantic walk down the beach before calling it a night.
“Well, this is a fine mess, isn’t it?” stated Laura. “What are we going to do? Rose would skin us alive if she thought we were going into Burma.”
“It’s only for a couple of hours. We can say we thought we were being taken to the border. If we happen to stray into Burmese territory for a couple of hours, we’ll say we had no choice. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
“I can see it being a problem for Sammy and the others,” said Laura abruptly, while gazing out to sea.
“We have to catch a ferry in the morning to leave Koh Samui. Sammy showing up with a surveillance team on the boat would be a dead giveaway. And I mean, dead. Then there’s what, a six-hour ride in a van to the other side where we clear Thai Immigration before taking a boat across a river to Burma. Tough for any cover team to follow.”
“Exactly,” replied Laura. “There is no way I want any Canadians around me, unless it’s our two unknown friends from Quebec. Wish we could find out who they were. I’d like to thank them.”
