Rising Tiger

by Trevor Scott

  The escort, who seemed to be English challenged, waved his hands for them to sit, but Jake simply stood. It was hard to pull a gun from the small of his back when he was damn near sitting on the Glock.

  Alexandra backed up and stood in a corner, her best badass look on her face, and her hand inside her small purse coddling her gun.

  Jake expected to see an old man who had been in the business since the Vietnam War come out to greet him, but instead the owner was a man in his mid-thirties, who was Asian, but might have had some other ethnic blend as well. On a good day the top of the man’s head would have hit Jake’s chin.

  “How may I help you?” the owner asked. His English was perfect, and he went by the name Neville.

  A man appeared from the back with a black leather jacket and he placed it in front of Jake. He felt the texture and had to admit it felt great. After that encounter in Taiwan he did need a new coat. But first he needed answers.

  “I’m looking for a friend of yours,” Jake said, cutting right to the bone.

  The owner looked disappointed.

  “All right. I’ll buy a leather jacket. But first you tell me how to find Bill Remington.”

  “Who?”

  Jake took a step toward Neville and said, “He’s been a customer of yours for years.”

  The owner smiled and reached inside his jacket.

  Alexandra pulled her gun and aimed it right at the man’s head.

  Neville looked like he might soil his custom-made wool pinstriped pants. “It’s only a note,” the owner explained. He handed Jake a piece of paper.

  Alexandra lowered her gun, but she kept it at the side of her right leg.

  Jake opened it and saw a hand-scribbled note that said ‘Wat Arun 1800.’ It could have been Remington’s own handwriting, but for some reason the script looked more feminine. He thought back on what had happened on the train, how the two men could have come for him, but had unexpectedly backed off and simply kept an eye on him. Either this was an elaborate trap, or Remington wanted to talk for some reason. If Jake had to guess, the former Agency man was going to make him an offer of some kind. Remington knew that Jake was like a pitbull—once he locked his teeth onto someone, he wouldn’t let go until the man was either dead or heading to jail.

  “Remington gave this to you,” Jake said.

  “An associate of his,” Neville explained.

  “Let me guess. A hot but deadly woman.”

  “You’ve met.” The tailor smiled.

  Jake shook his head. He had been to Wat Arun years ago. It was the most visited religious site in Bangkok. And by six p.m. the sun would have set at this time of year. Remington knew he would be safe there, since Jake would not likely start a gun battle at a religious location. But Remington only knew about some of Jake’s past missions. The man didn’t know that Jake would accomplish his task at almost any cost. If he had to step on a few religious mores, Jake might just do so.

  When Jake was about to leave, the tailor stopped him. “What about that leather jacket?”

  Jake looked at Alexandra and then shrugged. “Why not.”

  The man measured Jake and showed him various styles in a book, along with the highest quality leather and the best silk linings. Jake picked his normal black with a red paisley silk lining. Then he had the man measure Alexandra as well. She went with a more natural brown with the same silk lining.

  “How long will it take?” Jake asked.

  Without hesitation, Neville said, “I can have both by tonight.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes. You can pick them up here or I can have my man drop them off at your hotel.”

  Jake scribbled an address on a piece of paper. “Send them here,” Jake said. Then he pulled out his wallet and paid the man in cash for both jackets. They would eventually show up at a postal address in Innsbruck, Austria that Jake kept under another name.

  Alexandra led the way out, but Jake stopped before heading downstairs and turned to the tailor. “Oh, by the way, we know about your frequent money deliveries from Singapore. You’ll no longer be able to provide that service for Remington.”

  The Tailor half-smiled and seemed to deflate somewhat after just selling two leather jackets.

  Jake and Alexandra went out to the waiting car.

  The Agency officer said, “Did you order leather jackets?”

  “Yes, we did,” Jake said.

  “Nice stuff, right? Where to next?”

  Thinking for a moment, Jake wondered why this young officer didn’t ask about Remington. Maybe he didn’t really want to know anything.

  Checking his watch, Jake said, “I could use some lunch. And I’m guessing you know a good place.” Turning to Alexandra, he asked, “Do you like Thai?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve only had German Thai, and that burned both ways.”

  “Sounds about right,” the driver said. “I know a great place pretty close, but the protesters are probably blocking it right now. So we’ll have to go to my number two favorite place down by the river.”

  Jake gave him a thumbs up and they were off.

  ●

  Leaning back in the shadows of a covered tuk tuk, Shangwei cast his eyes upon the American, Jake Adams, along with the other man and the woman. She was a hot one, no doubt. He hoped the general would let him take care of that one personally.

  As the red headed man started to pull out down the narrow road leading to the tailor, Shangwei tapped the tuk tuk driver on the shoulder and told him to keep up with the KIA. The driver simply started his motorcycle and pulled away.

  Remington’s people had been correct. Adams had made a direct approach on the tailor after getting off the train. But now the tracking device they had given to Adams in Singapore was no longer working. It must have either been the small battery, or Adams had discovered the device and destroyed it. Now they would have to work the old way, with perfectly established surveillance techniques.

  Shangwei pulled out his cell phone and texted his men that they were on the move.

  ●

  The Asian woman had been correct with her assessment that Jake Adams would show up at the tailor. Bill Remington had been skeptical, but she was beginning to understand this former Agency officer, despite the cryptic information she had gotten from Remington on the man. It was still not clear who was paying Adams. She had to assume the worst. So she had delivered the note and then sat back and waited, her two men in another car a few blocks away.

  She ordered her new driver to follow the KIA, but to stay back quite a ways. Especially after she caught a glimpse of that Chinese agent who worked for the general pull out in the back of the tuk tuk. She had been briefed on the man with the tattoos, and knew he was dangerous. To be working somewhat in concert with the man went against her better judgment, but in this case she had no choice. Still, she would make sure to hang back and not let the other agent know of their presence.

  Now she called her people and told them to follow the KIA and the tuk tuk following the KIA. They would eventually switch positions a number of times to remain undetected. Then she put her phone into her pocket and gazed at her silenced handgun in her lap. She knew she must do everything in her power to remain in control and not get caught up in Remington’s life. It would be easy to get lost, she knew. Discipline would overcome temptation.

  ●

  Jake tried his best to only look back at their tail a few times, knowing it would be better to not let them know that he knew. In fact, he didn’t even tell the Agency driver they were being followed. He wanted to see if the young Agency officer would catch the tail.

  The driver eventually checked his rearview mirror with some concern. “Jake, I think we picked up a tail,” Liam said.

  “Keep your eyes forward,” Jake said. “We want them there for now.”

  Liam glanced at Jake. “You already caught them?”

  Jake smiled. “Tuk tuk two cars back with an Asian man in the back.” He didn’t want to
mention it was the same man he had observed since Taiwan. The man with the neck tattoos. “Anyone else?”

  “Are you testing the young man?” Alexandra said from the back seat.

  “Just a little game,” Jake admitted.

  The driver glanced at his side mirror and said, “The dark Toyota that pulled out two blocks back.”

  “Good. Anything else? Don’t look. Use your memory.”

  Liam shook his head.

  Jake let out a breath of air. “Asian woman in the passenger side of the black Toyota two cars back from the tuk tuk has followed us since the tailor’s street.”

  “The woman from Singapore?” Alexandra asked, leaning forward toward Jake.

  “Yeah. I didn’t recognize the driver, though. Must be another of Remington’s men. The two other men are in the green Toyota.”

  “They keep switching positions,” Liam said. “Decent tactics.”

  That’s what Jake was thinking also. Remington had hired former or current intelligence assets.

  “What do we do?” the driver asked.

  “Nothing,” Jake said. “Just drive and make sure they don’t lose you. They no longer have the tracking device to follow us.”

  The note from the tailor, the increased activity with the tail from multiple sources, all led Jake to believe one thing for certain. Bill Remington was in Bangkok.

  16

  As it turned out, the restaurant was on the first floor of a hotel on the Chao Phraya River, the main waterway that split Bangkok down the middle. Before lunch Jake and Alexandra decided to check in to the hotel and get a shower before heading down to eat. They had a nice balcony view of the river. Jake considered not letting the Agency man know where he was staying, but for some reason he liked the lanky redhead. The worst part was that Remington’s people also knew where he was staying. But Jake guessed the guy really wanted to talk with him or he would have sent his men to kill him on the train, or at the tailor. Sometimes it was better to know where the bad guys were. In this case, Jake was doing everything in his power to not let Remington’s people know that he knew they were there. And that was tough.

  After a late lunch, the Agency officer, Liam, pulled Jake aside at the edge of the river, where long-tail boats cruised past on the choppy waves. A light rain started to fall.

  “I think I should continue with you to Wat Arun,” Liam said. “I know the area. I know the language.”

  Jake glanced over at Alexandra, who was still sitting under an umbrella at the restaurant where they had just ate. She had about half of her beer to finish, her eyes concentrating on her phone.

  Considering Liam’s request, Jake said, “I don’t know. You guys have been looking for the man for a month. Someone in your office has been less than vigilant in that pursuit.”

  “What are you saying?”

  Now Jake looked directly into the eyes of the young man and said pointedly, “Someone is undermining your search. And I don’t want anyone there knowing about my meet with Remington.” Which might have been an even better reason to keep Liam close.

  “I can’t believe that to be true,” Liam said, a sudden concern on his freckled face.

  Jake thought for a long minute, his eyes again on Alexandra. Something was really interesting her. Finally, he said, “All right. What are your orders concerning Remington?”

  He shrugged. “Simple. Bring the man in. Langley will interrogate.”

  Right. There was no way the CIA wanted field officers to know the true nature of Remington’s indiscretion and crimes. Rumors were often better than reality and the truth. And the Agency was filled with officers who gossiped more than high school girls on social media.

  “Okay,” Jake said. “But you sure as hell better not tell your office the location of the meeting.”

  “You didn’t tell me the location until our lunch,” Liam reminded Jake.

  “Right. Let’s keep it that way.” He glanced out at the river. “Hire us one of those fast boats.”

  “The long-tail boats?” Liam asked.

  “Yes.” Jake found some cash in his front pocket and handed it to Liam. “Make sure the boat pilot stays with us.”

  Liam checked out the U.S. cash and said, “For that much money you could buy his boat.”

  “Pay him what’s right and hang onto the rest,” Jake said.

  The Agency officer nodded and headed toward the river dock in front of the hotel.

  Jake wandered back to Alexandra. “What’s going on?”

  Alexandra shook her head and put her phone into her front pocket. “They’re sending me texts and e-mails.”

  Jake sat next to her. “Who?”

  “First, the BND. Then a couple of my relatives. With all the blood I left behind, they must think I was either kidnapped or killed.”

  “That was the plan, right?”

  “Yes, of course. But I didn’t expect the service to contact any of my relatives. That’s not protocol.”

  Jake shrugged. “Perhaps they thought you would go to relatives if you were injured.”

  “I understand that,” she said, “but it seems like they told them I was injured. That’s not normal.”

  No, that was definitely not standard procedure in any covert organization. “I hate to say this, Alexandra, but your service has some major issues.”

  She let out a deep breath. “I know. Why do think I’m retiring?”

  The Agency officer came back and said, “Are you ready? It will take us some time to go up river.”

  As they got to the long-tail boat, Jake checked his watch. The sun had almost set already, but the clouds swirling overhead brought darkness much sooner than normal.

  The long-tail boat was like a longer, wider Venice gondola with a big engine on a pivot, with the drive shaft angling down into the water and acting as the rudder. With the tuk tuk and the long-tail boat, Jake thought the Thais had an interesting way of modifying the normal into the strange. The three of them piled in and the warm rain started to fall harder almost immediately.

  The boat pulled away and the pilot shoved the throttle, launching the boat out into the busy river. Soon they were cutting through waves that seemed more appropriate for an ocean bay than a Southeast Asian river.

  As they got closer to the major temples of Bangkok that dotted this region of the river, the lights shone up onto pyramid-like structures, giving them an ethereal appearance.

  Jake nudged Liam. “Does the pilot speak English?”

  “Some. Why?”

  “Tell him to drop us off at Wat Arun and wait for us to return.”

  Liam turned to the pilot and spoke to him in Thai. When he was done, the Agency man said to Jake, “He can do that, but they won’t let him hold at the dock. There’s too much traffic there with the ferries bringing tourists across the river to the other temples. But he said he’d hang out in the river and we can just wave for him to pick us up.”

  Jake shook his head. “You stay with the boat.”

  “No, sir. I’m the active officer here. I need to bring Remington in.”

  “Have you ever been shot at?” Jake asked.

  Liam shook his head.

  Alexandra laughed. “How could he have, Jake? He’s only been with you for less than a day.”

  The pilot pulled the boat toward the dock. Jake and Alexandra jumped off and then the bow of the boat turned out into the heavy stream and the long-tail powered out into the wide river in a plume of smoke.

  Jake walked past a number of food kiosks with Alexandra at his side, the smells of barbequed meat sending pangs to his rumbling gut. Before they left the crowd of tourists, he stopped and said, “I’m going in alone.”

  She smiled at him. “I’m not some red-headed step child you can dismiss.”

  “I’m not doing that,” he assured her. “I need you to cover my ass from that other side of the main structure.”

  “You’ve been here before?”

  “Yes.” He nodded his head toward the high, white structure. �
��Most people go up this side and come down the other. He’ll have some security types with him.”

  She gave him a concerned, confused look. “I don’t understand why he’s doing this.”

  “Because he’s an arrogant bastard. He knows I won’t give up until I bring him in.”

  “And that’s the plan?” she wanted to know.

  He shrugged. “What else could it be?”

  “I don’t know, Jake. Maybe you’re really here to kill the man.”

  “This is a public sacred shrine, Alexandra.”

  “That’s not exactly a no.”

  “You know me. I’m not an assassin.”

  “True. But people do end up dead around you.”

  My God, is that what she really thought about him? Maybe she was right, though. All too often ops had gone south. He would be hard-pressed to count all those who had died at his hand or because of their association with him. How does a man forget the number of bad guys he’s killed? He didn’t forget, but he did block them from his normal cognition.

  “Let’s go,” Jake said.

  They split up. Jake took the direct approach on Wat Arun, while Alexandra wandered off through a group of kiosks selling everything from hats and T-shirts to statuettes of elephants and Buddha.

  Rain pelted down on him as he walked toward the tall structure. He could feel the Glock against the small of his back and he realized it wasn’t in the ideal location for a quick draw. But he had no other choice.

  Most of the tourists remained at the bottom of the massive structure. With steps that rose up almost like a ladder, he guessed the stones would be very slippery with the rain. He remembered them being quite slick just from the humidity the last time he was here.

  He grabbed onto the rail on the left side and started climbing. About halfway up his left knee, the synthetic one, nearly gave out on him and he almost fell.