Lumpini Park (Abby Kane FBI Thriller - Chasing Chinatown Trilogy Book 2)

by Ty Hutchinson

  Once Tip had disappeared from view, it didn’t take us long to get the cart ready. We had everything we needed, even the noodles, which Artie claimed he could make. Transporting the cart to our location was the only concern I had.

  “Wait, you were serious when you said you were driving this thing.”

  “Yes. Why not?”

  “So should I find a taxi and meet you there?”

  Artie gave me a strange look. “What are you talking about? We’ll go on this.”

  That’s when I put two and two together. “No way. I’m not riding on that death trap.”

  “Come on, Abby. It’s safe. Everyone rides on motorbikes.”

  I wasn’t arguing that. In the last few days, I’d seen men, women, sometimes even a family of four packed on to one bike as they weaved their way through traffic.

  “You’re lucky. You have jeans on—no need to sit sideways.”

  “I’ve seen those women sitting sidesaddle on the back of the motortaxis. I have no idea how they don’t fall off.”

  Artie’s mouth widened and his eyes disappeared into dark slits as he laughed. “It’s called balance.”

  I watched him climb on board the rickety bike and give it a powerful jumpstart. The engine coughed to life before emitting a loud roar. A few throttle revs and he motioned for me to climb aboard. “You have nothing to worry about.”

  The only thought I could take solace in was that if we wrecked and I ended up in a hospital, I had on a pair of new underwear. I hopped on board, hung on tight and prayed we didn’t end up playing bumper cars with a bus.

  For the next twenty-five minutes, I got my fill of car exhaust while the wind whipped my hair into a crazy tangle. Artie eventually brought the bike to a complete stop near the curb, about fifty yards away from our location. He checked his watch. “Almost six-thirty. We will have missed most of the dinner rush, which is a good thing. I can control the scene for the setup. You should get off and wait for me here.”

  “Why?”

  “It’ll look suspicious if you’re with me while I set up.”

  Artie explained that, even though I looked Asian, I wasn’t Thai and I would still stand out. I didn’t have a problem with that. I got off, and he continued on. While I waited, I put a call in to Kang.

  “I’m really sorry about the situation,” he said. “I wish I could be there helping.”

  “There’s not much to do. This crime scene is very low-tech compared to what we orchestrated back in San Francisco. We’ll wait an hour, and then Artie’s men will arrive and conduct a quick investigation. The whole ordeal will probably take two hours, tops.”

  “Still, I feel bad.”

  “That’s what you get for eating everything in sight,” I said, laughing.

  “I know. And you warned me about that last vendor. Sheesh.”

  “What’s the plan after you wrap up?”

  “Not sure but I’ll keep you posted.”

  “Okay. Great. Gotta go.”

  I hung up with Kang but not before hearing some questionable sounds coming from his end. I waited another fifteen to twenty minutes before Artie returned.

  “Everything is in place, and I already snapped a few pictures” He showed me his phone. “Will this work?”

  The eyeballs looked real. “Yes, this will do. Good call with the fish guts.” I gave him my email address. “Send them to me.”

  <><><>

  Artie was spot on with the timing. From the moment we arrived until his men wrapped up their investigation and hauled away the noodle cart away, two hours had passed. He had impressed me, and I was starting to feel better about working the case with him. It was shortly after those thoughts that he turned to me with a smile and asked if I wanted to have dinner.

  “I know a place where they serve great Isaan food.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Spicy.”

  Chapter 22

  A maid at the small hotel discovered Gai’s body later that same afternoon. It didn’t take long for word of his demise to reach Somchai, thanks to a tip from a police officer who was friendly with Somchai’s people. With the right amount of payoff, the body and the investigation had disappeared as quickly as the police were called to the hotel.

  Somchai knew right away that the Creeper had gone off on his own again. That twisted farang had abandoned the game and was now running loose in his beloved Bangkok. Why did that matter? It endangered the game play, and it was Somchai’s job to keep the game up and running. A participant wreaking havoc brought unnecessary attention, so the cover-up of Gai’s body had needed to be quick and complete.

  Somchai had no idea whether the Creeper would speak of the game, should the authorities catch him doing what he did best. Too much money and too many people were at risk, including Somchai himself. He would be the one to take the blame if he couldn’t contain the situation. He had heard of what had happened to Jing Woo, the man charged with managing the game in San Francisco. It had been a convincing deterrent.

  The first order Somchai gave to his men was to hunt down the Creeper. “You must find him before he commits another unauthorized kill.”

  Protocol required Somchai to report the altercation between Gai and the Creeper through the proper channels to the mastermind himself, whom he had never met. But Somchai believed it was better to present a problem with a solution in place rather than simply presenting the problem. If he could dispose of the Creeper first and then report the farang’s inability to follow the rules of the game and his resulting elimination, that would keep Somchai’s pride intact. And hopefully avoid a repeat of what had happened with Jing Woo.

  From that point forward, Somchai repeatedly called his men every hour on the hour. The news remained the same: they were still searching for the Creeper.

  It was midnight, and Somchai had grown restless with the situation. It shouldn’t have taken long to track the man. He had a noticeable limp and moved slowly. How hard can this be? he thought while he paced the small office.

  By his count, he had probably two days, perhaps three at the most, before the absent game play would trigger the application to send a message to him and those he reported to. Somchai couldn’t prevent that from happening. The mastermind would be notified for a second time regarding Team Creeper’s erratic game play.

  However, Somchai was counting on his men to find the farang before that notice was generated. What he wasn’t counting on was an unexpected call from the mastermind himself.

  Chapter 23

  I looked at my watch. It was a little after one in the morning. Where had the time gone? It had been almost five hours since we’d left our crime scene.

  We’d started the night at a sidewalk restaurant on soi eighteen. There we dined on tom yum hed, a spicy sour mushroom soup, ate grilled pork neck, ravished som tam with raw crab, and devoured tom yum talay, a deliciously spicy mix of seafood and veggies. We had plenty of the local favorite, Leo beer, to wash it all down with.

  I figured dinner had soaked up a solid hour and a half. We continued our drinking near my hotel at a bar that had outdoor seating with live music.

  It turned out that Artie and I had a lot in common, both in terms of work and in terms of our outlook on life. He believed in the good, always striving to make his decisions and actions reflect that. So he said.

  “I think that’s why I love being a detective:” he went on, “It allows me the opportunity to help others.”

  Just then, our server placed a raised metal platter on our table. A large carp sat in an inch of bubbling soup thanks to a small can of chafing fuel below the pan. I watched Artie use his spoon and fork to deftly separate the white meat of the grilled fish from its tiny bones. I, on the other hand, needed my fingers and multiple stacks of napkins to get at the same meat. Even though we had eaten a full meal a few hours ago, like most Thais, Artie loved to eat, especially when drinking. My stomach didn’t mind.

  “How come you never married?” I switched to Jameson now that we ha
d access to a fully stocked bar. The Irish whiskey loosened my mouth. I had no filter.

  He shrugged. “I guess I haven’t come across a woman who I’ve felt real love with. There were plenty I cared about, but I never felt that real love, love that allows you to accept the good, the bad, the rich, even the poor in others. You share those times together because you love that person.”

  Boy, did I know what he was talking about. I can honestly say I felt that way with Peng, my late husband. We were a team, living life together. And then life screwed me.

  Artie threw the same question right back at me, and I found myself opening up about something I rarely discussed with others. But I felt like the conversation we had been having all night had been pretty revealing, so it was fitting. It was uplifting in a way. I didn’t feel the need to keep up my guard. I could be real.

  “I spent almost a year hunting the person who had murdered my husband but came up empty. I believe that’s what caused me to burn out on the job.”

  “But you’re still in law enforcement?”

  “Yeah,” I said, laughing. “Go figure.”

  “The job has a way of screwing us, yet we still love it.”

  I raised my glass. “That’s the truth.”

  We both yawned simultaneously, a clear signal that the evening had come to an end. I had enjoyed a great time blowing off steam with Artie. I’m sure Kang would have enjoyed the night out too, but part of me was glad that he had remained at the hotel, resting on the toilet. It was selfish, but I liked having Artie to myself. Had Kang been here, the conversation would have been different. Not in a boring way, but different, less intimate.

  Weirdly, Artie had momentarily filled a gap in my life that had been empty—the part that made me feel lonely, the part that only a man could fill. Yes, I had my family, and they brought me much happiness, but I missed having someone for me. Talking to Artie made those feelings of want disappear for a little while.

  Artie offered to walk me back to my hotel. It was only a few sois away, not enough to merit a taxi. And I had all but sworn off riding on a motortaxi, especially with my balancing abilities in question.

  “So you and Tip were an item,” I said as we strolled along.

  “Yes.”

  “I knew it the moment she walked into the warehouse.”

  “Really?” Artie stopped. “How?”

  “I could tell by the way she looked at you. She still likes you.”

  “I know, but we’re not right for each other. When we’re together, it’s either hot or it’s cold. It’s tiring, if you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, great for make-up sex, but other than that…”

  “A soap opera.”

  “So what’s it like between you two now?”

  “Our jobs keep us in contact, and occasionally we’ll have lunch or dinner together, but sometimes…”

  “Let me guess: you both have one too many beers and wake up the next morning in the same bed.”

  “It doesn’t help. She’s beautiful, fun, and not right for me,” he said with a smile. “And the men in your life?”

  “Rotten luck. I suck at choosing them.”

  Artie let out a burst of laughter, nearly losing his balance.

  “I’m serious,” I said adding my howls to his. “I can’t catch a break.”

  “Maybe you’re trying too hard.”

  I punched his arm playfully. “Or maybe not hard enough.”

  Artie threw his arm around me and pulled me in for a friendly hug while we walked. It was unexpected but felt nice. He wasn’t the typical man I found myself attracted to, but I liked him. Sure he was interesting, and I felt comfortable around him but was I sexually attracted to him? Not at the beginning of the night. But with my emotions heightened, his ability to temporarily cure my loneliness, and a whole bunch of alcohol running rampant through my system, I was open to the idea of whatever.

  And not much later, that whatever came in the form of a kiss.

  I’m not sure how we went from our playful conversation to a heavy make-out session outside the door of my hotel room, but it happened. I felt like a teenage girl coming back from a date except I didn’t have to worry about my overprotective Irish father opening the door and pummeling my date for ravishing his daughter.

  For every second our lip-lock continued, it pushed our working relationship into a dangerous territory. Artie was a great kisser, and I was slowly losing control of my ability to put a stop to what was happening. I knew if what we were doing moved to the other side of the door, we’d be waking up in the same bed the next morning. Not a good idea.

  I had already made that mistake with a previous partner, and he’d ended up dead. Not because of me, but still…

  I mustered up all the willpower I could and pulled away. And trust me when I say that, because it had been awhile since I’d had anyone fine-tune my engine.

  Artie understood and didn’t make a big deal about it. “You’re right. We had a fun time, and things got a little out of control.”

  “Maybe more than a little.”

  He laughed at my joke. “Let’s not let what happened tonight affect our work, okay?”

  “I can do that,” I said.

  I gave him a hug goodbye and closed the door to my hotel room. A few minutes later I fell asleep midway through pleasuring myself. That’s how Abby Kane rolls.

  Chapter 24

  Somchai had no idea why the mastermind had called him. He had never personally spoken to this person before. Any communication always came through a strict chain of command. Somchai initially thought Gai’s death had been leaked and the mastermind had called for an answer. But that wasn’t the case. The reason was for an entirely different matter: one involving the FBI agent and the SFPD detective.

  “The two individuals pretending to be Team Carlson, have they solved the first Attraction?”

  Somchai had been so concerned with fixing his Gai problem that he hadn’t monitored the progress of Team Carlson. He quickly went to his laptop and saw that the team had uploaded a photo for approval.

  “Yes, they have made an upload. I’m very sorry for my delay in forwarding the pictures on to you.”

  It was Somchai’s responsibility to ensure that any submitted photos or video evidence met the game’s guidelines. If that requirement were met, he would then forwarded the contents to the mastermind for approval. With that said, Somchai couldn’t help but wonder how the mastermind had discovered that Team Carlson had made an upload. Somchai hadn’t even known about it. He decided not to question but to only provide answers.

  He promptly forwarded the pictures of the noodle cart containing the human eyeballs and waited on the phone. A few seconds passed before the voice on the other end spoke.

  “The som tam from Team Creeper was better. How are Team Creeper’s efforts coming along on the second Attraction?”

  Is this a trick question? Does the mastermind know? Am I being tested? A flurry of thoughts raced through Somchai’s head before he answered. “Team Creeper has been slow to start the second Attraction. Perhaps he wants to make another favorable impression.”

  “Good. That’s helpful.”

  “If I might be so bold as to ask, how is that helpful?”

  “I’m changing the second Attraction.”

  Somchai lowered the phone a bit as he took a moment to digest what he had just heard. “Will this change be for all teams playing through Bangkok?”

  “No. It will only apply to Team Creeper. I’m excited to see what he delivers. He has become my favorite player. I will be waiting patiently. Ensure that there are no delays this time.”

  “Very well. I will familiarize my team with the new Attraction and make any necessary changes to the game play. We will not disappoint.” Somchai waited for an answer but heard nothing, not even the slight wheeze he had heard earlier. The line had gone dead.

  Somchai tapped away on his laptop, eager to see the new Attraction. What he saw made his stomach drop.

&n
bsp; Chapter 25

  I woke the next morning with a slight headache, nothing too terrible that a large glass of water and couple of aspirin couldn’t tackle. After a quick shower, I changed into fresh clothing and put a call into Kang.

  “Hi, Abby. I was just about to call you.”

  “How are you feeling?” I asked.

  “Better. My stomach’s no longer doing somersaults, and I don’t think I need an adult diaper to leave my room.”

  “Too much information, but I’m glad you’ve regained control of your body.”

  Kang chuckled. I told him to meet me downstairs for breakfast, and I would bring him up to speed. I had already spoken to Artie that morning. The conversation wasn’t awkward. He had a new witness for his human som tam case and wanted to track that person down. It was fine with me. I told him Kang and I would continue with the game play and that we could update each other when the time comes.

  Twenty-five minutes later, Kang had a cup of coffee pressed to his lips, and I had my tea steeping in a mug. We both picked at a plate of fresh lychee and sliced dragon fruit.

  “Everything went as planned last night, no hiccups.” I showed Kang the pictures Artie had taken.

  “That looks real,” Kang said as he plucked a lychee from the plate and peeled off the reddish-pink rind.

  “Fish guts. I uploaded a few photos after we finished rigging the crime scene and am now awaiting approval. Speaking of…” I reached into my bag and removed my laptop. I hadn’t yet checked for an answer. “Let’s see if we completed the task.”

  I fired up the game. A few seconds later, Kang and I were treated to a firework display congratulating us on our success. We gave each other a high five, and I then clicked on the second Attraction. We were hopeful that we might have caught up with the other team, since there had been no reports of another murder in the city yet.

  We watched as the animated scroll unraveled, revealing our riddle.