Devil's Due: A Thomas Caine Thriller (The Thomas Caine Series Book 0) (17 page)

"This isn't hell, Kang," Caine gasped, "but I'll see you there someday."

Caine charged forward and ran out the door of the shack.
 
He raced through the camp, running as fast as he could towards the river.
 
As he ran, he pulled the cellphone out of his pocket.

He had already pressed the send button, and triggered the detonator, just after Kang’s attack. He had meant what he had said to Kang: he would not go to hell alone.

The screen of the phone showed a small countdown clock.
 
There were ten seconds left.

Ten seconds to make it to safety.

Searing pain shot through his legs as he ran through the jungle camp.
 
Leaves and branches smacked at his face.
 
The air he sucked into his lungs felt like molten lead being poured over his raw, damaged throat.

Up ahead, he saw the black surface of the river.
 
He pushed himself harder.
 
Faster dammit
, he screamed at himself.
 
Run faster!

He felt the cold water strike his legs, and the pain from his wounds flared white hot.
 
He dove forward into the river’s dark embrace.
 
Behind him, the world erupted in thunder and fire.
 
The shockwave was deafening.
 
Even underwater, he felt as if a giant had slammed his fists into both his ears.
 
He tumbled beneath the surface, sinking deeper into the currents.

Above him, the rippling black water lit up bright orange.
 
Even with his eyes closed, he could see the glow of the explosion.
 
The hot jungle air ignited into a massive cloud of fire.

And then it was over.
 
The glow receded into the darkness, and the thunder echoed into a distant murmur.
 
Then, the only sound was the rush of water around him and the tiny bits of debris that pelted the river's surface.

Caine rose up from the murky depths and gasped for air.
 
His legs buckled as he stepped onto the opposite riverbank.
 
He paused for breath.
 
He felt exhausted, as though even just one more step was beyond the feeble reserves of energy he had left.

Then he saw Naiyana.
 
She rushed down the hill towards him.
 
He forced himself to trudge forward, one step after another, until at last he was standing on dry land.

Naiyana embraced him.
 
As he felt her warm arms wrap around his body, he collapsed.

"Oh my god, you're hurt!" she said.
 
She ran her hand over his abdomen, leaving streaks of warm blood across his flesh.

"I'm fine," he gasped.
 
"I just need a minute."

He sank to the ground.
 
Naiyana cradled his head in her lap as he rested.

He was at peace.

It was just past dawn when the soldiers from Kang's camp returned, leading the other girls at gunpoint.
 
There were six men, armed with a collection of pistols, machetes, and one AK-47.
 
The girls looked exhausted, their bodies streaked with dirt and mud from their flight through the jungle.

As the group neared the riverbank, the men began to chatter amongst themselves in their strange mix of Chinese and Burmese.
 
The rising sun cast its light on the remains of the camp.
 
Blackened trees and smoldering timber were all that remained.
 
A few plumes of smoke floated up into the purple and orange sky.
 
The girls stared at the destruction with numb, half-opened eyes.

As the men debated what to do, Caine stepped out from behind a grove of trees.
 
He wielded an AK-47, and he took aim on the man in the rear of the group.
 
He pulled the trigger, firing a short burst of gunfire.

Red holes exploded across his target's back, and the man fell.
 
The other men spun around and found themselves facing down the barrel of Caine's rifle.
 
The girls screamed and dropped to the ground.

"Kang is dead.
 
Your camp is gone," Caine shouted.
 
"Drop your weapons.
 
Leave now, and you live."

The men muttered to each other in quiet, nervous tones.
 
Then they lowered their weapons to the ground and retreated, dispersing into the jungle.
 
A few minutes later, they were out of sight.
 
The only signs they had ever been there were the small pile of weapons and the single corpse that lay on the ground.

Naiyana stepped out from behind the trees.
 
She ran over to the group, and they embraced, chatting to each other in rapid-fire Thai.
 
Caine couldn't understand what they were saying, but after the ordeal they had been through, he was glad the girls seemed to be in good spirits.

Something nagged at the back of his mind.
 
He thought about the operation, the Red Wa, the Russian mafia connection, Alexi Rudov.

He realized there was still one last task to complete, to ensure the girls' safety, as well as his own.
 
He took a deep breath and walked back to the river.
 
When Naiyana saw him heading towards the smoking ruins of the camp, she put a hand on his shoulder.

"Where you go?
 
We get out of here now, yes?"

Caine picked up a pistol from the ground, and handed it to her.
 
"There's just one more thing I have to do.
 
I promise, it won't take long.
 
I doubt those men will come back, but just in case, take this.
 
Keep an eye out."

Naiyana looked uncertain, but she nodded.
 
Caine stepped into the water.
 

"Hey, wait!" she called after him.
 
He glanced back at her.
 
Her eyes were warm and alive, and her smile felt like sunshine on his face.
 
"The other girls, they want to say thank you."

Caine nodded.
 
"Tell them they should thank Satra.
 
He was the man in the shack, the one... The one who died.
 
Tell them he's the one who saved them."

"He good man.
 
You good man, too," she said in a quiet voice.

Caine was quiet for a moment.
 
"I'll be right back," he said.
 
Then, once again, he strode into the water and crossed over into the blackened, dead camp.

A couple weeks later, Caine made his way across the outdoor patio of the Glass House restaurant.
 
The rainy season seemed a distant memory, and the sun blazed high overhead in the azure sky.
 
Its warm beams were refracted into a thousand pinpoints of light by the glass gazebo in the center of the grounds.

Caine spotted the table he was looking for, and walked over.
 
Anna was seated beneath an enormous white umbrella.
 
Next to her, sitting in its own white chair, was her doll.
 
Her luk thep
, Caine corrected himself,
Tia
.
 
A platter of food was set down in front of the doll.
 
Caine estimated that the cost of the food on the doll's plate could feed the average Thai family for a week.

He sat down opposite Anna.
 
He was dressed in khaki shorts and a white linen shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
 
The wrinkled, leathery old woman cast a disapproving eye over his battered and bruised arms and legs.

"You look like shit.
 
Took a beating, I see."

"I gave as good as I got."

Anna nodded.
 
"So I heard.
 
No more Pisac.
 
No more Thai Angels website.
 
And no more Alexi Rudov, apparently."

Caine stared back at her and said nothing.

Anna took a sip of water from a crystal glass and leaned back in her chair.
 
"Well, I hope it was worth it.
 
How is your pretty bar girl?
 
She make all your fantasies come true?"

Caine looked out over the water.
 
The rolling waves reflected the sun's brilliance like a sea of liquid gold.

He turned back to Anna.
 
"She's gone now.
 
Moved back to her village, to be with her family."

Anna peered at him from under the shadow of her umbrella.
 
"Why don't you go visit her?"

Caine shook his head.
 
"No, I think she's better off now.
 
It's for the best.
 
I appreciated her friendship, but my situation is ... complicated. She's safer this way."

Anna nodded.
 
"Ah, too bad.
 
But, as you say, maybe for the best.
 
Well, all that remains is my payment.
 
You owe me a favor.
 
Would you like a drink?"

"No, thank you.
 
I won't be staying."

Anna looked over Caine's shoulder.
 
"Here he comes now.
 
He's not much, but he's loyal to me.
 
More loyal than my own children.
 
I think, with the right partner, he could go far."

Caine followed her gaze and saw Lau shuffling towards them across the patio.
 
The pudgy man was dressed in a loud Hawaiian shirt and designer sunglasses.

"What's he doing here?" Caine asked.

"That's my favor," Anna said.
 
"Your smuggling operation is small time, but you have skills, relationships, and you've already paid off the police.
 
Lau here has connections to suppliers, factories in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand.
 
Working together, you two can increase your profits considerably.
 
The chao pho will take a percentage, of course.”

Lau sat down next to Caine, beaming.

"I work alone," Caine snapped.

Anna stared at him with cold, dark eyes.
 
"Not anymore.
 
You will work with Lau, or you won't work at all.
 
That is my price."

Caine leaned back in his chair.
 
He knew the old woman could make his life difficult if she chose to.
 
And, after recent events, the last thing he needed was another enemy.

He sighed.
 
"Fine.
 
But I smuggle liquor, cigarettes, counterfeit jeans, fake purses...."
 
He leaned forward and stared at Anna.
 
He did not blink.
 
"No drugs.
 
No guns.
 
No people."

Anna laughed.
 
"We start small then.
 
Keep you on the side of the angels for a little while longer, Mr. Waters."

Caine stood up.
 
"I don't believe in angels, or devils.
 
I'm neither of those.
 
Do you have a word for that?"

"Oh yes, of course.
 
I call them phi ka taihong."

"Yeah?
 
What does that mean?"

Anna stroked the hair of her luk thep doll.
 
"It is a spirit ... a person who is dead, but does not realize it."
 
She looked up at him.
 
"A lost soul."

Caine nodded.
 
"Well, I don't believe in ghosts either."
 
He turned to leave.
 
Lau stood and grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey, wait.
 
I contact you tomorrow about shipment.
 
Good stuff.
 
We make lots of money!
 
But one problem.
 
The Russian you kill, Alexi ... what if Russian mafia trace back to us?"

Caine stared at his new partner.
 
Lau's tiny, pig-like eyes were covered by the mirrored blank stare of his sunglasses.
 
The man's face was hungry, eager, and his lips were curled up in a nervous smile.

"Don't worry about it," Caine said.
 
"I took care of things."

He slipped Lau's hand off his shoulder and walked away.
 
Caine had worked with men like Lau before. Men whose hunger for money, or power, or whatever vice they craved, consumed them.
 
It was a slippery slope.
 
The more you worked with people like that, the more they rubbed off on you.
 
They could infect you, like a parasite that consumed from within.

Caine wondered if he, too, would descend down that treacherous slope.
 
How long would it be, how far would he have to fall, until one day he would wake up and not recognize his own reflection?

As he left Anna and Lau behind, Kang's words echoed in his mind.

It only takes a short time.

Not much time at all...

The limousine cruised to a stop and idled in front of the dark warehouse.
 
The night sky was still and cloudless.
 
The moon bathed the metal walls and chain link fence that surrounded them in cold, harsh light.
 
Smoke rose from the limo's exhaust as the engine rumbled in the cold air.
 
The windows of the vehicle were fogged, and the front wipers swept back and forth, clearing away the ice crystals that formed on the windshield.

The rear door opened, and a tall, powerfully built man stepped out.
 
His expensive suit and heavy cashmere overcoat shielded him from the harsh temperature.
 
The coldest month in St. Petersburg, Russia might be February
, the man thought,
but a November night was no picnic either.