Текст книги "Jack Taggart Mysteries 7 - Book Bundle"

Автор книги: Don Easton

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Текущая страница: 76 (всего у книги 141 страниц)

32

Lee was all smiles as he met Jack and Laura in the departure level of the Vancouver International Airport. Their conversation was light as they boarded the plane. The first leg of the journey would take over fourteen hours to Hong Kong. There, they were to change planes before continuing on to Bangkok, arriving six hours after that.

Jack and Laura appreciated the comfort they felt as they sat in first class. The role they were playing demanded that they at least appear to be rich, when in fact, every penny spent had to be accounted for. Lee took the comforts of first class for granted.

Sammy, along with three of his colleagues, took the same flight the day before. Jack grinned to himself when he recalled Sammy’s tongue-in-cheek demand that he should fly first class with Jack and Laura as part of the cover team. Rose suggested that, based on her experience with the narcs she knew, they were nothing but a bunch of dirty dogs. She told Sammy he was lucky they didn’t cage him and put him in the baggage compartment.

Three hours into their flight, Lee placed his glass of Grand Marnier down and said, “I have some unfortunate news I forgot to mention. Some unexpected business arose on an unrelated matter and I have to stay in Hong Kong for a couple of days while you continue on.”

“That’s too bad,” said Laura.

“Only for a couple of days,” replied Lee. “I’ll arrive either Monday or Tuesday. Besides,” he winked, “it is very romantic where you are going. I’m sure I won’t be missed that much.”

“Did you hear that, honey?” asked Laura, sounding excited. “A romantic getaway.”

“I heard,” replied Jack. I’m sure Natasha will be excited to hear about it, as well …

“I think you will enjoy Samui,” continued Lee. “Thai people are nice. Buddism is prevalent, and overall they are a gentle race. Not the type of people you would encounter, say, on the street a block or two from Goldie Locks. Okay, Laura?”

“You heard about my mugging incident?” asked Laura.

Lee smiled and said, “Actually I saw it. I was on my way to meet Goldie and an associate at the time. I was impressed. Where did you learn karate?”

“Just as a kid growing up. I had three older brothers and needed something to give me an advantage,” Laura added with a smile.

“And you, Jack? Have you received any training in hand-to-hand combat?”

“Lots,” replied Jack.

“Really? The both of you happen to be trained in martial arts?” asked Lee suspiciously.

“Oh, none of that leaping around and chopping boards or bricks for me,” replied Jack. “My training was hands-on experience. Not officially recognized as schools. More like barrooms and back alleys. I prefer a baseball bat, broken bottle, or a gun. Trying to chop at somebody with the edge of my hand isn’t my style.”

“I see,” replied Lee. “Perhaps not as impressive to watch as Laura, but the desired outcome is still … brutally attained.”

Later, when Lee left to use the washroom, Laura asked, “So what do you think? Why are we being sent on alone?”

“Could be the truth,” replied Jack, looking up from his Thai phrase book, “but more likely they want us to think we are alone.”

“That’s what I’m thinking, as well. They’re going to want to be confident that we’re who we say we are before showing us the goods.”

“So we frolic and play for a couple of days. Act like we don’t have a care in the world.”

“And hope Lee does show up,” said Laura. “Otherwise the bean counters might be a little upset.”

Lee said goodbye to them at the Hong Kong International Airport and assured them that he would see them soon. Jack and Laura continued on to Bangkok, arriving shortly before midnight on Friday night. The following morning found them on a one-hour flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui, where a van from the hotel met them and a forty-five-minute drive brought them to the Pavilion Samui Boutique Resort.

Jack went to the reception desk and said, “Jack O’Donnell. I believe you were expecting us?”

The receptionist was friendly and obliging when Jack requested a room with twin beds.

“He’s a kicker,” said Laura, with a smile as she wrapped her arm around Jack’s waist.

“A kicker?” asked the receptionist.

“When he sleeps, he kicks,” said Laura.

On their way to their room, Jack whispered, “Connie would be so disappointed if she knew.”

Jack and Laura set out to explore their surroundings. They discovered the hotel was in a small town called Lamai and it was set on the ocean. The long, sandy beach was lined with palm trees and several other hotels, but not so many as to make it overcrowded. Local industry appeared to be either fishing, or catering to the tourists with numerous tailor shops, bars, and souvenir shops.

It was evident that many of the bars catered to prostitution, but with Laura present, Jack was seldom propositioned or annoyed. Jack called Sammy and learned he was booked into the hotel next door to theirs. For now, they would keep their distance.

Jet lag and exhaustion took its toll and on their first night they decided to go to bed early. But not so early that Jack didn’t stand and rattle the headboard against the wall. Laura rolled her eyes and said, “I’ve got a headache. Don’t … stop! Jack? Don’t … stop.” Soon her plea picked up in pace to, “Don’t stop! Don’t stop! Don’t stop!” as Jack increased the rhythm of banging the headboard against the wall. They did not know if the room was bugged, but by the knowing smiles they received from an elderly couple in the adjoining room the following morning, they knew someone had heard.

Over the next two days, Jack and Laura found the Thai people exceptionally friendly. Some were timid at first, but they did enjoy a good laugh, and a little humour went a long way. As did a basic knowledge of their language when it came to the simple niceties.

The Pavilion Hotel catered to the more wealthy tourists, and although the staff were polite, Jack and Laura preferred to frequent the restaurants or locations that the Thai people did. They discovered a bar on the main street in Lamai called The Outback. It was owned by an Australian by the name of Bart and his partner, an attractive Thai woman by the name of Tukta, who acted as bartender. Soon Jack and Laura were on a first-name basis with everyone who worked there.

The bar, like most others, was built with an open front facing the main street. People from all over the world passed by on the sidewalk and in and out through the bar. Short, squat-looking tribal women from various mountain regions of Thailand and dressed in traditional costumes strolled the sidewalk selling handcrafted souvenirs. Transvestites, or what the Thais referred to as “ladyboys,” occasionally entered the bar along with other prostitutes. It was a spot where humanity seemed to set their differences aside and accept each other for who they were. It was a great place to people-watch – or be watched.

In the evening, The Outback had a Thai band perform most of the hits from the seventies to the eighties. Jack thought they were exceptionally good, until Laura clued him in that they were lip-synching. After Jack impersonated them, the band had a tough time trying to lip-synch without laughing.

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 …