Stealing Asia (14 page)

‘What makes you
think that?’

‘They are
clearly just small time pirates. They pick up unsuspecting girls travelling
alone and sell them on, most likely into the sex trade. If they figure out who
the girl is, they may try and go for one big payoff to retire on. It is
possible that they will try to play you off against whoever hired them in a
bidding war.’

The line went
quiet whilst he thought over what I had told him. Whether it was enough to
convince him to give me a second chance, I did not know.

‘What course of
action do you recommend?’ he finally asked.

‘If those idiots
decide to go it alone and offer a ransom, you should pay it. I cannot foresee
any difficulty in setting a trap for them and arresting them at the drop,
whilst also securing the safe release of your daughter. If you fail to
co-operate they may panic and the consequences could be dire.’

‘Very well, I
will consider what you have said, but my decision to pull you out still stands.
You are to return to shore immediately. When you dock, report to the nearest
police station and await further instruction.’

Manu knocked at
the cabin door as I ended the call.

‘Come in,’ I
said.

‘I heard your
voice and wondered if you had any news,’ said the Frenchman.

‘My orders are
to stand down. He wants me to find the nearest police station when I get to
shore. Whoever is advising him; I don’t like it.’

‘Shall I turn
the boat around?’

‘No, stick to
our current heading, but ease off the throttle a little. We don’t want to spook
our prey. I have never turned my back on a mission and I do not intend to start
with this one.’

Chapter 4

When I first saw
Ben, he had blindly risked his life to help a girl he did not even know. He
would most definitely have been killed if I had not been there to intervene.
His actions were rash, careless and extremely noble. That is why when I
discovered that he was headed for the island, I made it my duty to meet him.

Following my
brief to the letter demanded that I kept male attention away from the girl, but
I had begun to wonder what would happen if I did the opposite and allowed a
relationship to blossom. The senator hired me only to ensure that his daughter
was kept safe. If I could guarantee her safety without the need for me to oversee
her every move then surely that would be a favourable conclusion for all.

I left the girl
on the beach in Hat Rin. By then she had the two couples with her and at the
time I thought they posed no threat. I was confident she would not be going
anywhere before the party and I also suspected she knew that her male companion
from Penang was on his way. He had the locket with him and was approaching
Donsak to board the ferry when I made an overnight journey of my own to meet
him at the pier on Samui. When the crowd of backpackers dispersed into taxis he
was the last man standing. It seemed that he was unsure as to whether he could
trust the drivers. I knew at once that I could use his indecisiveness to my
advantage.

‘If you fear
being ripped off, it is best to do as the locals do,’ I said to him.

‘Excuse me?’ he
replied.

I gestured
across to a stand where a few, more clued-up, travellers were boarding a
waiting transport.

‘The open back
jeeps are the best way to get around the island. Locals call them sawngthaews.
They are the closest thing they have to a public bus service.’

He thanked me
and we boarded the vehicle together. It did not take long to realise that he
was besotted with the girl. She was the only thing he talked about. The whole
time I had watched her, she had not let one man come near her and the fact she
had made this exception suggested to me that her feelings matched his. Going
completely against my mandate, I decided I would use Ben to gain an
introduction with her. Her father may have believed he was acting in her best
interests, but I was not so sure. It was time for me to find out what
she
wanted.

To board the Pha
Ngan ferry we had to cross the most neglected pier I had ever seen. Thankfully,
the damage was mostly cosmetic. The important load bearing struts were well
enforced, but I knew that Ben would not be able to tell this. I played upon his
insecurity and when he was at the edge of the pier, I did something I was not
proud of. I kicked the platform out from under his feet and then grabbed a hold
of his backpack to make him believe that I had saved his life. Whilst this was
certainly true, he could not have imagined that the real rescue had been
several days earlier in a different country.

We stayed
together for the rest of the day and shared a few beers at the full moon party.
I spotted the girl early, long before he did, but could not say for risk of
giving the game away. Instead, I just slowly pushed him in the right direction
until they finally found one another. Shortly after, we were separated, but
with both of my tracking devices back in play, this did not pose a problem.

I waited twenty
four hours before following them to the beach. This gave me time to check out
the Americans who had latched onto Asia. I ran their names through the usual
channels and apart from a few minor misdemeanours they both came up clean. It
never occurred to me that their files might have been tampered with. Then on
the second morning following the party, I arrived at a small village named Al
Chakolum.

There were no
tourist boats available to take me to the beach where Asia was staying, but I
managed to hitch a ride with some local fishermen instead. The fishing party
dropped me off a short swim away from the beach. Ben was on the shore with the
two American men. He seemed surprised, but genuinely pleased to see me. The
Americans, on the other hand, acted like real jerks. Over the following days
their negative attitude only got worse and on the morning of the dive, tensions
were starting to come to a head.

Asia was
sunbathing on the beach with Ben and the girls, whilst the American’s were
fishing on the rocks at the far end of the bay. I was sat at the bar reading
and after an hour they came over with their pathetic catch and tried to
intimidate me. The big one shoved a fish that he had caught, face down into my
half full glass. Ordinarily, I would never tolerate such insolent behaviour,
but the job had to come first. I clenched my fist and it took every ounce of
restraint to keep me from ramming it into his face.

‘Is there a
problem?’ I asked.

The big one
tried to stare me down. It was his more diplomatic, yet no less loathe-able
friend who responded to my question.

‘Things were
comfortable here before you came,’ he said. ‘In case you haven’t noticed, we
all make up couples. The girls are being polite, but nobody really has time for
an outsider in the group. We think it may be better if you were to move on.’

I stood up to
face him directly.

‘The way I see
it, this resort is open to anybody. I am certainly not the only solo traveller
to pass through here and if you have a problem, then you are free to leave.
Personally, I like it here and I have no intention of going just yet.’

‘We’ll see,’ he
replied.

The pair of them
left. I knew I was missing something, but I could not figure out what. I was
careful not to provoke them during the dive trip, but once I learned of Ben’s
run in with the shark, I instantly suspected that they had something to do with
it. I invited Manu for a drink after the dive and shared with him my concern.
To gain his trust, I had to tell him a little of my assignment. I did not let
on who the girl was, just that she was from a wealthy family and that her
safety was of great concern. Together, we retrieved the sabotaged air tank and
it did not take long to find the shark magnet.

I knew at once
that it was I who they had targeted, not Ben. This could only mean that they
were after the girl and wanted me out of their way. I intended to follow them
on their camping excursion. At the first opportunity, I would have separated
them from their hostages. Unfortunately, I had not predicted Ben’s betrayal. I
did not blame him; only cursed my stupidity at falling for the spiked drink
trick. I had made a mistake, but it was a mistake I was fully intent on rectifying.

Chapter 5

‘Why this girl?’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Why this girl?’
repeated Manu. ‘What made you take a personal interest?’

‘What makes you
think this is personal?’

He kept his
distance, whilst I waited for his response. A wise man would not antagonise me
and Manu was no fool. He took time to think over his reply.

‘Technically,
the mission is over. You even said yourself; the senator ordered you to back
down. There is no reason for us to still be out here. You can walk away from
all of this and take your money. Whatever reason you have for staying, it has
nothing to do with your assignment.’

‘You’re right,’
I told him. ‘It has nothing to do with
this
assignment.’

He opened up a
compartment that was built into the side of the seats and pulled out a bottle
of bourbon, which he placed on the table in front of me along with two glasses.

‘Care to talk
about it?’ he asked.

I took hold of
the bottle and poured two double measures.

‘I was working
undercover. The mission was to infiltrate one of the major drugs cartels. It
was a disaster from the start. The politicians were calling the shots and
Senator Cole had the loudest voice. We were supposed to be in it for the long
haul. The plan was to ingratiate ourselves with the low-level dealers on the
street and gradually work our way up the food chain. With such deep cover,
whoever did the job would be forced to break a few laws, which was why they
chose not to use official Government personnel. If things went wrong, they did not
want anything to be traced back to Washington.’

‘And things did
go wrong, I take it?’

He knocked back
his drink and then liberally poured himself another. I kept my glass in my
hands, but refrained from drinking any of it.

‘That all
depends on your point of view,’ I replied. ‘The senator got exactly what he
wanted, which was a sizeable chunk of publicity without any of the risk. He
sent in the cavalry about three years too soon. A few dozen arrests were made;
all low-level street dealers, most of them forced into that business in
exchange for their lives. At best, maybe two or three hundred kilos of cocaine
was seized. It was enough to feed the story to the tabloids as a success even
though the only damage done to the cartel in real terms was the loss of about a
day’s profit.

‘When the
shooting began, I was supposed to keep my head down. I was with some street kid
when the SWAT team burst in. His name was Eduardo and he was only sixteen. His
brother had owed money to the gang and after they took his brother’s life the
debt was passed on to the family. His mother was sick and could not leave the
house. She would have starved without him and so there was nowhere to run. He
had to work for the gang until the debt was repaid. He was not a bad kid and
certainly no criminal, but that life had somehow found him.’

This time I did
take a swig of the drink.

‘I take it
Eduardo never made it out of the warehouse,’ said Manu.

‘They shot him
in the back whilst he was trying to flee. He died in my arms. I think back to
all of the opportunities that I had to save him; all of the times I could have
blown my cover, but didn’t. I should have helped him. The worst thing is that
he died for nothing; the entire operation had been a waste of time.’

‘You still
haven’t answered my question,’ said Manu. ‘Why this girl; why now?’

I poured a
second for me and gave Manu his third.

‘I guess I’m
just looking for a way out. I’ve had enough. The senator wants me to watch his
daughter, but to what end? If she’s run away from him she must have her
reasons. Maybe it’s better to see what she wants and go with that.’

‘You want to
help her disappear, don’t you?’

I shrugged. If I
was being truthful, I did not know what I wanted. For whatever reason the girl
had been taken, it had something to do with her father. It was for her that I
now fought, not him. I finished my drink, but declined a further top-up. I had
already said more than I should have.

I went back to
my cabin after my talk with Manu. Now that the senator had cut me loose, it was
now a foregone conclusion that the military or the CIA would soon be involved.
If I was to have any hope of bringing Asia back, I would need to act fast. Time
had already run out. I had no choice but to make my move the following night.

Chapter 6

All of the
equipment was primed and ready to go. I planned to launch my assault at
midnight. At eleven o’clock Manu called me into his cabin. Something was
troubling him. He said there was a story on the radio that I needed to hear.
Breaking news just in: Senator Cole was about to make an announcement regarding
his daughter. Manu turned up the volume and we both waited with bated breath as
the senator’s words began to reverberate around the small cabin.

It is with a
heavy heart, I announce that my only child, Katherine, has been taken hostage
by a terrorist group working in conjunction with local criminals in Thailand.
Earlier today, we received a communication from the terrorists. We do not know
how many are involved, but we have so far identified one of them as a South
American drug lord named Esteban Cruz. The suspect was part of a drugs cartel,
which was successfully infiltrated and shut down by American agents earlier
this year. It is believed that the kidnapping is an act of revenge and these
criminals want only to cause pain to me and my beloved family.

A hiss came over
the transmission and the quality of the broadcast decreased significantly as an
extract from a taped message, supposedly from the hostage takers, was played. I
put my fist through the wall of the cabin as I heard my voice. Naturally, the
words had been twisted and the poor quality implemented to hide the liberal
editing that had been undertaken.

I have your daughter. All I ask is that I am given one million
dollars, if you want to secure the safe release of your daughter. If you fail
to co-operate, the consequences will be dire.

Every word was a
lie, yet there was no denying that it was my voice. If I gave up on Asia or
failed to bring her home, my life would be over. The news anchor stated that
only parts of the tape could be released as the rest was still being analysed
by the agents working on the case and was yet to be declassified. He then went
on to say that the authorities were hopeful that they could secure the girl’s
release and apprehend the suspects soon. Manu looked at me more with concern
than suspicion.

‘Are you sure
that you’ve told me the whole story about why you are after this girl?’ he
asked. ‘Only last night, you said that you had no love for the senator and now
this.’

‘This is news to
me as much as it is to you. At least now I know why he wanted me to go to the
nearest police station. The old fool thought that he could trick me into
unwittingly turning myself in.’

‘So what now?’

‘Nothing has
changed. If anything, this has strengthened my resolve to bring back the girl.
Only she can clear my name now. The senator is covering his back. If he does
not get his daughter back alive, he will need a scapegoat to salvage any sort
of positive publicity. He made me responsible for her life and now he will hold
me accountable for her death.’

My phone started
to buzz from inside my pocket.

‘Another call?’
asked Manu.

I checked the
display.

‘No,’ I replied.
‘It’s the tracking device. The signal has changed; it’s started oscillating.’

‘What does that
mean?’

‘If my hunch is
correct; it’s in the water. We have to move right now.’

Manu returned to
the helm and increased our speed to catch up with the rapidly diminishing
signal. If we did not make it in time and Asia was in the water, she would
surely drown. I took hold of my gun as I was not sure what we would be facing.

‘Have you got
one of those for me?’ asked Manu.

I took one of
the pistols that I had stolen from the guards during the raid on my cabin and
passed it to the Frenchman. He stuffed it under his belt and then returned to
the controls. I checked the readout again; we were within one hundred metres
and closing fast. The lights from the pirate vessel were distant and they must
have sped away soon after jettisoning their passenger.

‘Can you see
anything yet?’ called Manu.

I scanned the
black water for any sign of life.

‘Not yet,’ I
stopped, as something caught my eye. It was a rubber ring and somebody was
inside. ‘Wait, I’ve found something.’

Manu shut off
the engine and we allowed the flotation device to bring its passenger to us by
the tide.

‘Is it the
girl?’ asked Manu.

‘No,’ I replied,
‘but it is one of the hostages. Help me bring him aboard.’

I reached down
and offered my hand to the freezing, half-drowned figure that was clinging onto
the buoyancy device for his life. Once I got him aboard, I quickly checked him
for any injuries. If he had remained in the water for just a short while longer
he would have caught pneumonia, but otherwise he was fine. The locket was in
his back pocket.

‘A-A-Asia,’ he
stammered.

‘Save your
strength,’ I told him. ‘Before this night is through, we will have her back.’

I helped him
onto his feet and had started to lead him to a cabin when something thudded
against the hull of the boat. I turned to see what had caused the noise and saw
that Manu was already checking it out.

‘There’s more,’
he shouted.

‘More of what?’
I asked, as I left our guest in order to see what Manu had found.

‘More friends of
yours?’ he asked.

I came alongside
of him and looked down to see two more figures in the water.

‘No,’ I replied.
‘These are definitely not friendly.’

We hauled the
pair of them onto the deck. Both were exhausted and too weak from the struggle
of staying afloat and treading water to put up a fight. This was a shame,
because I was most definitely ready for a confrontation. We tied them up before
placing the pair of them in Manu’s cabin.

‘You should see
to your friend,’ said Manu. ‘I will watch these two for you.’

‘There isn’t
time,’ I told him. ‘I have to interrogate them now. The longer we leave this,
the less chance that we have of getting the girl back alive.’

He placed his
hand on my shoulder.

‘I understand,’
he said, ‘but right now you are not thinking straight. You are letting your
emotions rule you. Tend to your friend and then come back. Besides, as a former
hostage, your friend will have valuable information too. Question him first and
then come back for these.’

He was right. I
left him to watch over our unwelcome guests whilst I went to find out how Ben
had managed to escape. He was cold and shaken, but appeared in good health.

‘Is she alive?’
I asked.

‘Yes, she’s
okay,’ he replied. ‘I did not want to leave her. We planned to escape together
and not just Asia and I; all of us. I wasn’t strong enough though. In the end I
did not escape at all; I was pushed.’

He blamed
himself for leaving her, but I could see that it was not his fault. I asked him
to tell me everything that he could about the layout of the pirate vessel and
its crew. When there was no more for him to tell, I picked up my gun and headed
back to Manu’s cabin. The door was ajar. I sensed instantly that something was
wrong. When I entered, I found just one of the prisoners inside. Manu and the
other captive were nowhere to be seen.

‘Start talking,’
I said to the remaining prisoner, but before he could answer a shadow was cast
on the wall behind him.

The silhouette
was of an armed man. I slowly turned around.

‘There has been
a slight change to the plan,’ said Manu.

In his hand was
the same gun I had given him just a short while earlier. He had it pointed
directly at me. Asia’s fate was no longer in my hands.