An Autumn Hunting

by Tom Callaghan

  My watch said six thirty so I made myself a cup of vile coffee, grabbed a shower, found clean clothes in the wardrobe and put on my suit, which now smelt of spilt beer, cigarette smoke and sweat.

  I wondered where Saltanat was, if I’d get to see her before I left Thailand. Maybe she simply wanted to make sure I left on my own two feet and not in a box, before getting to work on the job she’d been sent to do. I was stranded in the dark myself, without a clue or a plan. And although that was nothing new, I wondered if my luck was wearing very thin.

  The air outside was hot and humid, wrapping itself around my face like an old wet blanket, but my mind felt as if I was walking on a frozen lake, each foot wondering if this was going to be the step that plunged me forward through the ice. The driver was waiting for me, his usual silent self, without even a grunt as greeting. I clambered into the back of the car, sat back, closed my eyes.

  I loosened my tie, undid the top button of my shirt, then felt something in my jacket pocket. Slowly, so as not to arouse the driver’s attention, I checked the shape, and realised I’d forgotten to hide the burner. I knew there was no way I could allow it to be found when I was searched before seeing Quang. It would set off all his alarm bells, and any deal we might have made would immediately be cancelled, along with my breath.

  The regular Bangkok morning traffic meant we were crawling down Sukhumvit at glacier speed, and I waited until I could see an opportunity to get out of the car. I hammered at the glass partition separating me from the driver, until he turned round. Hand over my mouth, I made the universal sign for ‘I’m about to hurl my stomach all over your nice clean car’, then pointed at a particularly shabby-looking soi, one of the alleyways off the main road.

  The driver must have been thinking of having to clean vomit off the leather seats, because he pulled over and opened the door. I staggered out, rushed into the bar opposite, one hand on my belly, the other over my mouth.

  I lumbered into the toilet and bolted the door behind me. Once inside, I could imagine vomiting for real. The hole-in-the-ground pedestal was cracked and chipped, and from the look of it had recently been used by someone who’d also decorated the walls. The place stank, not just of shit and vomit but mud, blood and God knew what else.

  I only had a minute or so before the driver came to find me. I slipped the burner’s SIM card into my shoe and dropped the phone into the murky depths. Anyone who wanted to fish for it was welcome to keep it. On the way out, I poured myself a glass of water from a jug on the bar, sluiced it around my mouth, and, when I was outside and the driver could see me, spat it out into the gutter.

  I raised my hands in apology, climbed back into the car.

  ‘Foreign food,’ I said, as if that explained everything. The driver gave another of his customary grunts and we moved away from the pavement back into traffic. I was pretty sure I’d be searched again, but thought I wouldn’t have to take my shoes off. Keeping the SIM card meant I could buy another pay-as-you-go phone and contact Saltanat when the opportunity arose.

  I remembered enough of the buildings we passed to guess we were returning to Quang’s villa. This time, I intended to miss out on the hospitality, especially the massage and the food. All I wanted was a quick discussion, an agreement of terms and a provisional start date, a handshake and then a trip to the airport. I was planning to go back to Tashkent; I had no idea what I would do there, or how long I would stay. Saltanat’s news had put everything into confusion. I knew I’d have to cross the border to talk to Aliyev, but after that? A lifetime dodging cops and bullets, I imagined.

  We made good time, and the driver pulled up outside Quang’s gates just before eight thirty. I went through the same procedure as before, the driver paying particular attention to the contents of my pockets. Dumping the burner had been my smartest move since I arrived in Thailand. Finally he was satisfied I wasn’t armed, and the gates swung open to admit us.

  A servant led me to a small conference room at the back of the villa, spartan and furnished only with a small desk and two chairs. Coffee and water arrived, and then Quang himself.

  ‘Mr Borubaev, I trust your dinner at the Landmark was satisfactory?’

  I wondered if Quang had someone in the restaurant report to him; after all, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t afford to pay off a waiter or two. I decided to play it safe.

  ‘Actually, no. I got there, felt ill, spent the next hour in the bathroom, I’m afraid. Kyrgyz cooking is very plain and simple, so my stomach isn’t acclimatised yet. I just had a drink at the bar, and then your driver very kindly took me back to the hotel.’

  Quang nodded, as if that tied in with his intelligence reports.

  ‘You’re feeling recovered now?’

  I smiled, nodded perhaps too vigorously, felt my early morning headache planning a return.

  ‘Quite. One hundred per cent. I’m hoping we can finalise the arrangement we discussed yesterday, so I can send word to Mr Aliyev before the end of the day.’

  Quang steepled his fingers, stared at me with unblinking black eyes. Finally, after an uncomfortable moment, he nodded.

  ‘Very well, we shall begin. I share your hopes as well.’

  For the next six hours, we danced a complicated series of steps, each offered or rejected with exquisite politeness. Quang was obviously well aware of the financial implications any government legalisation of yaa baa would cause to his business, while I was all too aware of Aliyev’s punishment if I failed to hammer out a deal.

  The major stumbling block was on agreeing the size of the discount we would give when selling the spice. I suggested five per cent was a very generous amount, given he would have no start-up costs, no additional bribes to pay, no import problems. Quang was initially adamant he would only consider the loss of the Russian heroin market for a ten per cent discount of the spice. He insisted that quality had to be guaranteed, along with a set volume each month, to be increased as the market grew. I felt as if I was watching capitalism at its most naked, wondered if communism had been such a bad thing after all.

  Finally, we agreed on an eight per cent discount, which was only one point more than Aliyev had instructed me to offer. We shook hands, toasted the arrangement, Quang with lapsang souchong while I sipped strong black coffee.

  ‘What are your plans, Mr Borubaev?’ Quang asked. ‘I imagine you’ve no particular desire to go back to your home country. I suspect Minister Tynaliev is not a man who forgives quickly or lightly.’

  ‘He’s not a man who forgives at all,’ I said, ‘so I think I’m going to have to find somewhere a long way away from his reach.’

  ‘As I said before, would you consider staying here in Thailand? I’m certain there will be some teething problems with our new arrangement, and someone who speaks Russian, who understands his home market would be very valuable.’

  ‘Are you offering me a job, Khun Quang?’ I said. At that moment, staying in Bangkok seemed a better option than Bishkek, if only because I wasn’t dead.

  ‘Early days,’ Quang said, allowing something approaching a smile to move his mouth. ‘As I’m sure you know, there’s a fine line between rushing in too hastily and missing out on an opportunity. I never do either.’

  He drained his cup, placed it on the table.

  ‘Our cuisine and the way we live may be a little spicy for your palate at first, but you’d come to love it.’

  ‘I’m not sure I could cope with living in Bangkok; somewhere a little more rural perhaps, maybe by the sea. As you know, the closest we Kyrgyz get are the beaches at Lake Issyk-Kul.’

  Quang seemed set to embark on his newfound role as tourist operator when the driver entered, whispered something to Quang, who looked puzzled, then annoyed. He stood up and stared at me. His face remained expressionless but I sensed anger, perhaps even fear.

  ‘Mr Borubaev, you haven’t been entirely open and honest with me.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ I said, genuinely bewildered. He couldn’t have known about my me
eting with Saltanat, or I wouldn’t have made it this far. I’d be floating in a muddy water khlong while longboats crammed with tourists stared at me and took selfies.

  ‘I go to great lengths to protect my personal security,’ Quang said. ‘You may consider them excessive, even paranoid. But did you honestly think a simple pat-down of your clothes would be enough?’

  ‘I’m not carrying any weapons, if that’s what you mean,’ I said. ‘I’ve no way of harming you.’

  ‘There are many ways to harm someone,’ Quang said, ‘and they don’t all involve a physical threat. That’s why I have special highly sensitive scanners built into the doorframes of every room.’

  He paused, looked over at the driver, who stood awaiting his orders.

  ‘Please remove Mr Borubaev’s shoes.’

  The driver stepped forward, but I held up my hand to stop him and took my shoes off myself. The driver took the SIM card between finger and thumb, held it out towards Quang for inspection.

  ‘And who were you intending to call?’ Quang asked, the veneer of politeness gone, steel in his voice. I looked around for a weapon, saw nothing.

  ‘I use it to contact Aliyev,’ I said. ‘Not here, obviously, and I buy a disposable phone each time I text him. How else would I keep in touch with him?’

  ‘Why would you need to?’ Quang asked. ‘Either you have the authority to make a deal, or you don’t. If you do, there’s no need to contact him until you return. If you don’t, he should be here himself. And you would be . . . surplus?’

  Quang was a man who believed there are no such things as secrets, and the fewer people with access to information, the better he liked it. In fact, the only way he liked it.

  Behind Quang, a door opened and the masseuse Achura walked in, this time not wearing traditional robes but a sweatshirt and jeans. Dressed like that, she looked much more masculine, a great deal more dangerous.

  ‘You remember Achura, of course,’ Quang said. ‘A person of remarkable qualities. You may think having a kathoey as a bodyguard sounds eccentric, their ability to fight merely a spectacle like watching two women wrestling in Nana Plaza. But you obviously never saw Achura fight Muay Thai, our traditional martial art, the Art of Eight Limbs.’

  Quang gave a patronising smile at my confusion.

  ‘Muay Thai involves eight points of contact: punches with the fists, kicks with the feet, knee and elbow strikes. Deadly when practised by someone as skilled as Achura.’

  I looked as Achura bowed her head in acknowledgement, then folded her arms. I’d never hit a woman before, and I suspected I wasn’t going to get an opportunity this time. Achura would have me disabled and dead within a minute.

  ‘Achura, would you escort Mr Borubaev outside?’

  As Achura moved towards me, I felt rather than saw the driver move behind me, to block any attempt to move away.

  ‘You’ll understand I have many precious works of art in this room. You’ll agree it would be a tragedy if any of them were damaged.’

  The driver seized my arms and forced them behind my back, pushing me towards the door. Achura gave a smile of anticipation and led the way outside. I didn’t think a relaxing massage was on the agenda.

  Chapter 41

  I’d faced guns, knives, the occasional broken bottle, but never the possibility I might be kicked to death. Tynaliev would weep with laughter, once he’d got over his anger at not being able to kill me himself. Dead may be dead, but who wants to be a laughing stock into the bargain?

  ‘Don’t worry, Mr Borubaev, I don’t want you dead. Yet. But it will amuse me to watch Achura show you that being a kathoey isn’t all lipgloss, implants and mascara. You have to know how to survive as well, and theirs can be a cruel world.’

  ‘We shook hands, agreed the deal. Why would you jeopardise that?’ I asked, wondering how I could talk my way out of a beating.

  ‘Oh, don’t worry about that. I fully intend to keep my word, work with Mr Aliyev. I’m just not sure whether or not our little venture requires your future presence.’

  I listened, but all my attention was on Achura as she advanced towards me. I jerked a thumb in the direction of the driver who stood near the gate.

  ‘Put him in a dress and size twelve heels, he’d still look more like a woman than you,’ I said, hoping to anger Achura into a mistake, something to allow me a second to take advantage. But the insult passed her by, her stance that of a feral animal waiting to pounce. Suddenly she pivoted on one foot, swung through three hundred and sixty degrees and aimed a kick at my head. I pulled back, felt air move in front of my face.

  ‘She’s merely playing with you, Borubaev,’ Quang said. ‘Much more fun for her and me if the fight doesn’t end straight away.’

  I moved backwards, feeling my way with my feet, not taking my eyes off Achura. I was learning a new lesson; when you fight someone with Muay Thai skills, you don’t just watch their hands. Achura launched an elbow at my face, a knee at my groin, then dragged me forward.

  I could smell tobacco on Achura’s breath, but the habit hadn’t slowed her down at all. Even if smoking didn’t kill me, it looked like a smoker would. Every blow was pulled at the last second, leaving me staggering, confused, but so far unhurt. It felt like dancing with a mad person, one whose every move was unpredictable, a choreography from hell.

  ‘Time for the red paint, I think,’ Quang called out. A strange way to describe blood, I thought, but stood still, panting, sweat dribbling down my back in the humid air, as Achura stepped back, walked with indescribable grace to the veranda and smeared red chalk upon her fists.

  Even as I was puzzling out the significance of the chalk, Achura hit me over and over again, each blow nothing more than a tap but leaving me dazed and confused all the same. I was used to fist-fights in Bishkek bars, watching two men square off, drunkenly telegraph each blow which took an eternity to land. This was like being enveloped in a swarm of bees, impossible to swat away.

  After less than a minute, Achura stepped back, made a wai of respect and walked away around the side of the villa. I hadn’t landed a single blow, and felt as if I’d endured fifty.

  ‘Just in case you were wondering about my thoughts on leniency,’ Quang said, mockery and scorn clear in his voice, ‘each of the red marks on your clothes and face is a memento of where Achura could have landed a fatal blow, while you were still wondering whether to put your fists up.’

  ‘So loyalty pays off,’ I said, hearing the tremor in my voice, hating myself for it.

  ‘And disloyalty pays the price,’ Quang said. ‘In your case, humiliation, rather than pain or death. This time.’

  I nodded. There didn’t seem to be anything I could say.

  ‘Please, go into the guesthouse and clean yourself up. There should be clothes there that will fit you.’

  As I walked past him, Quang pulled a theatrical face of disgust.

  ‘And shower, Mr Borubaev,’ he said. ‘You stink.’

  Chapter 42

  I spent as little time as possible getting clean under a hot shower, wondering how to get revenge on Achura, dismissed my thoughts as grudge fantasy. The clothes I found hanging in a wardrobe were a size too large, so the mirror showed me a burly man who’d recently undergone a serious illness. At least I was still wearing a suit, so I looked roughly respectable.

  My face was still on fire with humiliation as I rejoined Quang in the conference room.

  ‘Anyone who works for me offers total loyalty,’ he said, his voice calm, dispassionate. ‘In return, I offer immense wealth, complete immunity from the forces of law, and the opportunity to live as you’ve always wanted.’

  I sat down, feeling shrunken and insignificant in the too-large suit. I suspected that was deliberate, and it didn’t make me feel any better.

  Being beaten in a fight by a woman drove any self-esteem I might have once had into the ground. I knew losing to a martial arts expert was only to be expected, no one could have done any better, but I also knew people woul
d snicker behind their hands once my back was turned.

  Perhaps Quang sensed something of that. He leant forward so his face was close to mine, and I could smell the sweet tea on his breath.

  ‘Achura is a phenomenon, a one-off. Growing up with five older brothers, she learnt how to defend herself, studied Thai boxing. If you’re from a poor family, success in the ring can feed your entire family. So she turned professional, around the same time she decided the world had to take her on her own terms. As a fighter, she was undefeated in over a hundred bouts. No one survived more than a few moments in the ring. If I had ordered her to, she would have killed you in less than a minute. There is no shame in being beaten by someone supremely gifted at their skill.’

  I nodded, as if accepting the wisdom of his words, but deep down, I knew how I felt.

  I once found the body of a homeless man, frozen in a graveyard set back from the north shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. The rats had emerged from deep in their nests, sensing fresh meat. They stripped away his face, the flesh on his arms and legs, feasting until nothing remotely human remained, then burrowed deep into his belly for the last pockets of warmth. My defeat would eat piecemeal at me in the same way, working its way deeper and deeper into my thoughts, relentlessly chewing away at me until the only solution was to eat my gun.

  I knew I had to go along with Quang’s demand for subservience, so I nodded.

  ‘Forgive my stupidity, Khun,’ I said. ‘Obviously I’m used to Kyrgyz ways, and we don’t assume loyalty as a given. For us, it’s every man for himself and every man has his price, for which he’d betray his own mother.’ Not true, but there was no reason to let Quang know we were proud and independent, not bowed and broken.

  Quang picked up the SIM card which still lay on the table, held it up.

  ‘I had this examined,’ he said. ‘I’m sure you’d expected me to do nothing less. It appears there is only one number in the memory, a Bangkok number. And when we tried to call it, the other phone remained switched off. Perhaps you’d care to explain?’