by Mike Ryan
After having lunch, Heather went back to the apartment, while Cain went to the Center to talk to Sanders and get the rest of the mission from Lawson. He was directed to go to Sanders’ office first. Sanders got off the phone a minute after Cain walked in.
“I’m gonna keep this brief,” Sanders said. “First, good job in Honduras, good work.”
“Thanks.”
“I just wanna make sure we’re clear about Indonesia. You’re there to get information.”
“Yeah.”
“By any means necessary,” he told him. “I don’t care how you get the information we need. Just get it.”
“I understand,” Cain replied.
“Good. Do what you have to do. Shelly’s waiting for you in her office.”
Cain went straight to Lawson’s office, who’d been waiting for him. He sat down in the chair in front of her desk as she got out the paperwork.
“Here’s your itinerary,” she told him.
“Such a long flight,” Cain exclaimed.
“Well, that’s why you’re gonna have company.”
“What?”
“You’re getting a partner for this mission.”
“Why? It’s a pretty simple objective,” he said.
“Well, just in case there are any unexpected surprises.”
“Who is it?”
“They’ll meet you at the airport.”
Lawson talked about the culture of Indonesia, letting Cain know what to expect. The country consists of over 17,000 islands and is the largest archipelago in the world. They also have the fourth largest population in the world, with over 85% of it’s inhabitants Muslim, also the largest in the world. They’d be flying into Jakarta, the capital and largest city. Robbery, theft, and pick pocketing are common there, though most crime is non-violent and guns are rare. Indonesia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world as officials often ask for bribes to supplement their salaries. Though they have a corrupt legal system, they do deal with drug usage harshly. There’s “Death To Drug Traffickers” signs at airports, and the death penalty is mandatory for those convicted of trafficking, manufacturing, importing, or exporting, and a person can be charged with such if drugs are found in their possession even if they aren’t aware of it. Even though the penalties are harsh, drugs are common, especially cocaine, ecstasy, and crystal methamphetamine.
“So where do I look for Gutawa?” Cain wondered.
“Here,” Lawson replied, handing him a paper with an address on it.
“What’s this?”
“His address.”
“You got his address?”
“Took some doing, and talking to a few people, but I tracked him down.”
“Wow. You are good,” Cain gushed.
“I know,” she replied, smiling.
Cain went back to his apartment to pack his bags once they finished going over their business in the office. Heather was on the computer looking up more jobs.
“Still going at it?” Cain asked.
“Well, just in case those other two don’t pan out, I figured I should keep applying for other jobs.”
“Good idea.”
“So how was your meeting?” Heather asked.
“Fine.”
“When’s your flight?”
“Early. I’ll be gone by the time you wake up,” he told her.
“Oh. Don’t know when you’ll be back?”
“Shouldn’t be long. Can’t say exactly though. Takes a day just to fly there. So it’ll be two days just being in the air.”
JFK airport—Cain was sitting in the terminal, waiting for his partner to arrive, though he didn’t know how he’d know the guy since they didn’t tell him who was going with him. About half an hour before they needed to board Cain looked around and noticed Lawson walked toward him. He noticed she was carrying a bag with her.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey. Going somewhere?”
“I did say someone was going with you.”
“I assumed it was another agent,” Cain responded.
“I thought you might have a problem if I told you it was me.”
“Does Sanders know about this?”
“I told him. He was fine with it.”
“Why am I even going?” Cain wondered.
“I’m an information girl. I know how to get it once I know what I’m looking for. I’m not trained in combat. In case something goes down, you’re the muscle,” she kidded.
“Reassuring.”
Chapter 7
Jakarta, Indonesia—Once Cain and Lawson touched down, they traveled using an AC minibus. It was night time and was the most effective and easiest way of traveling. Renting a car was dangerous in Indonesia, as they usually had very bad driving habits. They’d often drive on the shoulder of the road, making lane changes and passing other cars very dangerous. They also often ignored traffic lights. Using the minibus was more expensive but it was the safest way of driving. They immediately went to the address they had for Gutawa. He had a pretty nice looking two story house that indicated he had some wealth. There was often a very stark contrast in Indonesia as you could see those who were very wealthy standing right next to those who were in extreme poverty. Lawson knocked on the door but there was no answer. There were no lights on so it appeared Gutawa was out.
“Come back later?” Lawson asked.
“You can. I ain’t coming back later though,” Cain told her, as he picked the lock of the door.
“I’m not sure this is wise.”
“Listen, I’d like to get out of this country as soon as possible. This isn’t my idea of a vacation so the sooner we get this over with the better. Besides, how do you know when we come back he’ll be here anyway? We’ll wait.”
While they were waiting, they looked around for a computer. They weren’t positive Gutawa had one but they searched anyway. They looked through the living room, and kitchen, before finally finding a laptop in a table drawer in his bedroom next to his bed. Lawson turned it on and searched through some files to see if there was anything of interest on there but she didn’t notice much of anything important. She then installed tracking software on the machine that would pick up any e-mails that he received and immediately send a copy of them to her without being traced. Gutawa could find the bug they installed if he was looking for it but it was likely he wouldn’t discover it for quite some time. Their wait didn’t last long, about an hour. Gutawa walked in the door and turned a light on, immediately seeing Lawson sitting on his couch.
“What you doing here?” Gutawa asked. Most Indonesians spoke English very capably.
“I want to talk to you. Come sit down,” Lawson told him.
“Get out of my house.”
“I think you best sit down,” Cain said from behind him.
Gutawa complied with their wishes, figuring they had other things on their minds if he did not.
“We’re not here to hurt you,” Lawson said. “We just want information.”
“About what?”
“Eric Raines.”
“What about him?”
“We know you were one of his contacts,” she said.
“He died over six months ago.”
“No, he did not.”
Gutawa didn’t reply to her suggestion, looking at both of his visitors, not seeming very surprised by the allegation.
“Judging by the look on your face, you already knew that,” Cain said.
“I know nothing.”
“Well, we think you do,” Cain added, taking his Glock out of his belt, making sure Gutawa saw it.
“No. We don’t need that,” Lawson said. “Listen, we know he’s alive. We’ve seen him. You don’t have to hide it anymore.”
“Why you want to know where he is?”
“Because we need to know what he plans on doing. Whether he’s in trouble and needs our help, or whether he’s intending to do bad things. Either way, we need to find him.”
Gutawa kept looking at Cain,
who clenched the grip of his gun in front of his body. Gutawa seemed quite sure the man would use the gun on him if he chose not to give them the information they were seeking.
“What you want to know?” he asked.
“What happened to him?” Lawson asked.
“He came to me one year ago asking for my help. He say he was in trouble with some people and he needed to disappear.”
“Trouble from who?”
“He say the people he works for were getting close to him and were going to kill him soon.”
“What? That’s crazy,” Lawson responded. “Nothing like that was true.”
“He come to me and asked if I could help him to become dead man. I say I cannot help in that matter but I know someone who can.”
“Who’d you send him to?” Cain asked.
“His name is Guntur. You can find him at Ragunan Zoo. He works there sometimes.”
Gutawa gave the pair Guntur’s physical description so they could find him. The three of them continued talking about Raines, trying to get an idea of what he was working on.
“Have you heard from Raines in the last six months?” Cain asked.
“I have not,” Gutawa answered.
“Do you know what his plans are?”
“No.”
Lawson and Cain talked with Gutawa for another hour, trying to extract more information out of him, but they got to the point where he had nothing else to tell them. He seemed to be forthright with them and didn’t appear to be holding anything back. He seemed rightfully afraid of the duo that broke into his house and knew they weren’t playing games.
“Here’s my info,” Cain said, writing his number on a piece of paper, and handing it to Gutawa. “You hear from him, you call me.”
“I will.”
“If I find out he contacts you and you don’t let me know, I’ll come back and kill you,” Cain bluntly stated.
“I understand.”
The pair left Gutawa’s home and went back to their hotel for the night. They were pleased with what they got out of Gutawa. Not only did he divulge the name of the man who helped Raines, they were sure they’d wind up getting something useful from his computer.
“Do you think he’ll contact Raines?” Lawson asked.
“I think it’s likely he will at some point.”
“Why?”
“If he feels loyal enough to him to help him disappear then it’s logical to assume he’s likely to contact him at some point to tell him people know he’s not dead and that they’re looking for him,” Cain responded.
“How long do you think it’ll take?”
“Few days, maybe a week, maybe more. He’ll probably wait until he’s reasonably sure we’ve gone in a different direction.”
The Ragunan Zoo didn’t open until 8am the following morning so they had some time to wait. The zoo was a world class facility and housed over 500 species of plants and animals from around the world, including the Sumatran tiger and Komodo dragon. Once they got into their room they discovered they had a bit of a situation.
“There’s only one bed,” Cain stated.
“What?”
“You said it.”
“That can’t be. I booked…” Lawson started before realizing what happened.
“Yes?”
“When I made the reservations it was just you going. Once I changed the plans I forgot to change the hotel reservations,” she grimaced.
“Fantastic,” Cain sarcastically added.
“Wait, it’s fine. I’ll just call down to the desk and get another room.”
Lawson called down to the desk and requested another room. As she was speaking, her facial expressions indicated to Cain that she wasn’t having much luck. She hung up the phone with an almost painful expression.
“Well? How’d that turn out?” Cain asked, already knowing the answer.
“Umm, not well. It seems they’re all booked up for the night.”
“Well,” Cain sighed. “I guess you take the bed and I’ll take the floor.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“It’s OK. I’ve been meaning to sleep on the floor lately. It’s a good chance to get my back used to it again.”
They both sat down and went on their computers for a little bit, Lawson to do some work on hers, Cain just surfing the internet. After an hour, Lawson put hers away and went to take a shower. After she finished, she came out in just a towel, barely covering her essentials. Cain tried not to pay attention but couldn’t help but take a few glances in her direction as she sauntered across the room. She went to her bag on the bed and pulled out a brush, noticing that Cain was periodically glancing over at her. She hadn’t been intimate with anyone since Raines broke up with her. It was nice to have someone still looking at her in a lusty manner. Cain, in an effort to get his mind off her, went in to take a shower as well. While he was showering Lawson had thoughts of surprising him in there, but she thought better of it, since it really wouldn’t be professional or appropriate at that time. She was attracted to him but she had second thoughts since she got burned the last time she had a relationship with one of her agents. She sat down on the bed and brushed her hair, getting thoughts of him out of her mind. He came out fifteen minutes later, just a towel covering his waist, and meandered over to the bed. His bag was next to Lawson’s. She got up to give Cain some room, brushing up against him, accidentally knocking his towel off him. They looked at each other, both unsure that they should go any further.
“Oh, what the Hell,” Lawson said, leaning in to kiss him.
Cain returned her kiss and unwrapped Lawson from her towel. He picked her up and laid her on the bed. Though they both knew they shouldn’t be doing it, neither was interested in stopping.
The following morning the two of them got dressed and immediately headed to the zoo. Although neither was ashamed or embarrassed by what happened the night before, it was a bit uncomfortable between them.
“About last night,” Lawson stated. “It was great.”
“But?”
“But we probably should leave it at that. It’s not a good idea for either one of us to get involved.”
“I agree,” Cain replied.
“Especially after what’s happened with Raines, I just don’t know if I can go through all that again.”
“It’s OK. Really. There’s nothing wrong with leaving things as they are. We had a fun night. I’m OK with that.”
“But it was great, wasn’t it?” Lawson asked, smiling.
“Yeah.”
They arrived at the zoo and went their separate ways, walking around trying to spot Guntur. If either of them spotted him they’d call the other to their location. They spent about five hours between walking and sitting, waiting to line Guntur up in their sights, before they finally got an eye on him. Cain was sitting by the Komodo dragon exhibit when he spotted him walking around, picking up litter, emptying trash cans. He called Lawson to let her know.
“I’ve got him,” Cain said.
“Where?”
“Come to the Komodo dragon exhibit.”
“On my way.”
To prevent him from leaving the area before Lawson got there, Cain started to approach their target.
“Guntur,” Cain said.
Guntur looked a little worried that the American knew his name. That could only mean bad news. He looked around like he was about to run.
“Let’s sit down for a minute,” Cain told him, opening his jacket to show his gun.
Cain hoped that letting Guntur see his weapon would make him think twice about taking off.
“Now, about sitting down,” Cain said once more.
Guntur shook his head, agreeing to Cain’s request. Cain grabbed hold of his arm to make sure he didn’t take off on him. They sat down on the bench as they waited for Lawson to appear.
“First thing is I’m not gonna hurt you,” Cain stated. “All I want is information. You take off on me or feed me a bunch of crap and I’m gonna change
my mind. Understood?”
“Yes.”
Lawson quickly arrived, almost out of breath from scurrying over.
“How you know me?” Guntur asked.
“Doesn’t matter. We only want you to piece some things together for us,” Cain said.
“What can I tell you?” Guntur asked the pair.
“Eric Raines, what happened to him?”
“He died six months ago.”
“What’d I tell you?” Cain replied, shoving the gun in his side.
“What about him?” Guntur relented.
“We know you helped him fake his death,” Lawson stated. “How?”
Guntur seemed surprised his companions were asking about Raines, or even knew about him faking his death. Cain could see Guntur still had reservations about talking so he pushed the gun further into his side, causing the slightest bit of pain.
“I’m not telling you again,” Cain sternly told him.
“He was sent to me about faking his death.”
“I already know that.”
Guntur heavily sighed and resigned himself to telling the pair the information they were seeking. “We came up with blowing up a warehouse with him inside.”
