by Jake Needham
Tay turned the car around and drove away from the canal until he came to an entrance to the park. He pulled the wheels of the car up on the sidewalk and got out.
He followed a brick walkway through a break in the iron fence and into a stand of gum trees that sheltered a tiny playground. Two red-painted slides, a yellow swing set, and a green teeter-totter were arranged in the shade of the trees and all of them were empty. When he walked through the trees, he found himself looking straight at the end wall of Linda’s house no more than a hundred feet in front of him.
The wall was completely exposed to Singapore’s blistering sun so the white paint was washed out and yellowed. It looked more like a bad case of jaundice than a coat of paint. There were only two windows, one on the bottom floor and one on the top, and they were both small and covered with drapes or shades.
There wasn’t much open space in Singapore and Tay couldn’t imagine why a house right next to a park wouldn’t have big windows through which the view could be enjoyed, but he was glad this one didn’t. At least now he had found an inconspicuous way to approach the house. He just didn’t have a clue what he was going to do when he got there.
Tay stepped back into the trees, went over to the yellow swing set, and sat down in one of the swings. It hung very low and he had to hold his feet straight out in front of him to keep them from dragging on the ground. Without thinking, he began to push with his heels and he drifted back and forth in the swing while he considered what to do.
If he simply knocked on the front door and went inside, Suparman would surely shoot him and then shoot Linda. That made no sense at all. Linda would still be dead and then he would be dead as well. What would that accomplish? On the other hand, staging some kind of an assault on the house made just as little sense as walking up and knocking on the door. Suparman would no doubt shoot Linda then, too.
Tay glanced around him to make certain he was still alone, and then he lifted his shirt and slid his Smith & Wesson .38 into his lap. He opened the cylinder, made sure it was fully loaded, and snapped it shut again. He had five rounds. He wasn’t going do much assaulting with that, was he? As lousy a shot as he was, he wasn’t going to do much of anything with five rounds. He pushed his old .38 back into its holster and smoothed his shirt down over it.
Tay sat swinging gently back and forth and turning the problem over in his mind. He was missing something here. He could feel it. He just couldn’t figure out what it was.
What was Suparman trying to accomplish?
The answer appeared obvious. Suparman wanted to keep his sweet deal with ISD intact and he wanted to be free to keep operating like he was now. Tay and Linda could blow all that up. As long as either one of them was alive to talk about what happened at the Fortuna Hotel, Suparman had a problem. That was why he wanted them both dead. It was the only outcome that guaranteed the continuation of his collusion with ISD.
And that was when Tay realized what he was missing.
Suparman might want them dead, but he certainly didn’t want himself dead. He had a way out of this.
He didn’t know Tay and he couldn’t be certain what Tay would do when he saw that picture. Maybe Tay would show up just as he asked, but maybe Tay would be willing to sacrifice Linda to take Suparman down. Maybe Tay would have just called in a Special Tactics and Rescue team and let them hit the house.
Suparman had to have a way out if Tay did something like that. Anything else would amount to suicide.
But what was his way out?
Tay was still pondering that when he felt rather than saw someone walk up from behind him and sit in the other swing facing the opposite direction.
When he glanced over, Claire smiled at him.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Sam?”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
“YOU TOLD ME you weren’t watching me when I was at work,” Tay said.
Claire gave a little push with her feet and began swinging in a slow counterpoint to Tay.
“I lied. So sue me.”
Tay said nothing.
“I figured you might try some kind of crazy shit,” Claire went on. “I didn’t know what, but I thought keeping an eye on you at the Cantonment Complex would be worth doing.”
She spread both her arms to encompass the playground and the rest of the park beyond.
“So here we sit, gliding back and forth together on a children’s swing set in one of the dreariest parks I’ve ever seen, and I’ve got no idea at all what’s going on. Are you going to tell me, Sam, or do I need to torture you a little first?”
“That sounds like it might be fun.”
Claire didn’t smile. “It wouldn’t be. Trust me on that, pal, it wouldn’t be.”
Tay looked at his watch. He had less than half an hour to meet Suparman’s deadline. Not nearly enough time to get rid of Claire and still somehow pull off a miracle. It looked like Claire was part of this now whether he wanted her to be or not.
Tay took out his telephone, opened the message app, and showed Claire the picture of Linda duct-taped to a chair.
“Who’s that?”
“It’s Sergeant Lee. She was with me at the Fortuna Hotel when Robbie was shot.”
Tay beckoned to Claire. He pushed himself out of the swing, walked to the edge of the grove of gum trees, and pointed across the park to the house at the end of Joo Chiat Avenue.
“That’s her house. I thought she was in Malaysia, but she must have come home without telling me. Suparman has her. They’re in there. Suparman sent me that picture and some text messages. He said if I’m not there a half hour from now, he’ll kill her.”
Claire looked from Tay to the house and then back to Tay again.
“And if you are there a half hour from now, he’ll kill both of you. That doesn’t do anybody any good, Sam.”
Tay nodded, but he didn’t say anything.
“John warned me you were a loner, but it doesn’t make any sense for you to take this on by yourself.”
“Sure it does.”
“Look, Sam, no matter how much—”
“I’m not going to leave her in there. I’m not going to let Suparman kill her. I’m already responsible for one sergeant being killed and I’m not going to lose another one.”
“That’s ridiculous, Sam. You’re not responsible for—”
“Look, could we debate this some other time? I’ve got things to do right now.”
“Who else knows about this?” Claire asked.
“Nobody.”
“You could have called me.”
“I could have. But I didn’t. Anyway, you’re here now. How many of your people are with you?”
“None.”
“Seriously? None?”
“Yeah, it’s just me.”
Tay turned around and walked back into the grove of gum trees. He stopped at the swing set, but he didn’t sit down. Instead, he folded his arms, leaned back against the frame, and focused his eyes somewhere off in the distance.
Claire stood patiently next to him for a while, but eventually she broke the silence.
“If you’d called me, I could have brought out half a dozen guys and—”
“Do what? Surround the house? Kick in both doors? And what do you think would happen then?”
“I understand. He’d kill her. But, Sam, Suparman is going to kill her anyway. At least then we’d have him, too.”
“I don’t think so.”
Claire cocked her head, looked at Tay, and waited.
“When Suparman set all this up, he had no idea what I would do. He doesn’t know anything about me. He would have to believe there was at least a pretty good chance I’d just call out Special Tactics and Rescue. Then he would have looked outside and found fifty heavily armed men surrounding the house.”
Claire nodded and waited some more.
“He’s not suicidal, Claire. Killing Linda or me or both of us serves no purpose if he gets killed at the same time.”
“Unless he wants
to go out in a wave of what he considers glory.”
“Yes…” Tay thought about that for a moment. “Unless that.”
“Even if you’re right, Sam, how does that help us?”
“Because now we know he’s got a way out. If we attack the house, he kills Linda, and he’s got a way out.”
Claire looked in the direction of the house, although it wasn’t visible from where they were.
“All I saw was a front door and a back door. What did I miss?”
Tay shrugged.
“So what’s his way out, Sam?”
“I have no idea. But he has one. We attack the house, he kills Linda, and he’s gone. You can make book on it.”
Tay fished his cigarettes out of the front pocket of his shirt and automatically held the pack out to Claire. When she shook her head, Tay lit one for himself and pushed the pack back in his pocket. He stood smoking quietly and saying nothing. Claire sat back down in one of the swings.
“Linda only has one chance of walking out of there,” Tay said without looking at Claire. “I have to go in and get her.”
“That’s crazy, Sam. He’ll shoot you the second you walk through the door. Then he’ll shoot her, too. What does that accomplish?”
“It’s the only way, Claire. I’m responsible for Linda being in there, and I’m responsible for getting her out. Besides, we know that woman at the hotel shot Suparman at least once. Maybe it wasn’t serious, but he can’t be a hundred percent now. That’s something.”
“No, Sam, it’s nothing. Remember who you’re up against here.”
“You’re wasting your breath arguing with me. I’m going in. The only question open for discussion is exactly how I’m going in.”
Tay finished his cigarette. He dropped the butt on the ground and mashed it out with the toe of his shoe.
“Take a little stroll with me,” he said and walked off toward where he had left the fast response car.
Tay went around behind the car and opened the trunk. He leaned in and pulled a black metal chest toward him. It was about the size of a footlocker.
“This is the equipment box,” he said with a glance at Claire. “Our cars carry around a lot of good stuff.”
Tay unsnapped the catches and opened the lid.
“We switched to concealable vests last year,” he said reaching inside the chest and taking one out.
Tay unbuttoned his shirt and took it off. Then he slipped the vest on over his T-shirt and cinched up the straps. He was a little embarrassed in front of Claire to discover how tightly it fit him. He was going to have to lose some weight. He really was.
Tay pulled his shirt back on and buttoned it. Fortunately, the shirt was big for him and it covered the body armor without any telltale bulges.
“You’re going to let him shoot you,” Claire said. “That’s your plan?”
“Well, when you put it like that, you make it sound stupid.”
“That’s because it is stupid.”
Tay shrugged, but he didn’t say anything.
“Do you know what Suparman is armed with?” Claire asked.
“He shot both Robbie and the hotel clerk with a nine, not to mention that guy we fished out of the Singapore River. Since he used a nine on all three of them, my bet is he’s got a nine aimed at Linda, too.”
“Is that thing rated for a nine?”
“Yeah, it’s a level III vest. It’ll stop a nine.”
Claire tapped him on the chest with her index finger. “What if he’s got something bigger? Say something loaded with .44 Magnum hollow points?”
Tay shrugged. “In that case, I’ll lose my bet.”
He reached under his shirt and pulled the paddle holster off his belt. He slipped out his old .38 and laid the holster and the gun down separately in the trunk.
“Is that little popgun all you’ve got?”
Tay reached into the chest with his free hand and lifted up a Mossberg tactical shotgun.
“What do you think? Maybe I could shove it down one pants leg? That might make it a little hard for me to walk, but I’ll bet Suparman would never notice it.”
Claire didn’t bother to answer.
Tay put the shotgun back in the trunk and took a role of duct tape out of the chest. Propping his right foot up on the car’s bumper, he used his teeth to tear two strips off the roll. He pulled up his pants leg, held the .38 tightly against his ankle, and secured it with the two strips of duct tape. He stood up and shook down his pants leg. It covered the .38 perfectly.
Tay bent back into the trunk and took an H&K semi-automatic pistol out of the chest. It had a longer barrel than his .38 and was a little thicker, but he was able to get it into his paddle holster by giving it a hard shove. He lifted his shirt and snapped the paddle back over his belt.
“You didn’t even check the magazine,” Claire said. “How do you know what it’s loaded with?”
“I don’t. And I don’t really care since I’m not going to shoot it. I just need something to give to Suparman when he tells me to take off my gun. Maybe he’ll overlook my .38 if I give him this one.”
“I don’t see much chance of that.”
“It’s my best idea,” Tay shrugged. "If you’ve got a better one, I’m listening."
“You’re damn right I’ve got a better idea, and my better idea is for you to get out of the way and let me take care of this.”
“This is my city—”
“I’m not going to stand around and let you go in there alone, Sam, no matter what you say. I’m just not.”
“This is my city, Claire,” Tay repeated patiently. “I’m doing this my way.”
“Sam, don’t be foolish. I kill people for a living and I’m good at it. Certainly better than you are.”
“I’m not going in there to kill Suparman. That’s not what this is about. I’m going in there to get Linda out.”
“But you’ll have to kill him to do that.”
“No, what I have to do is make him run.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The only way this plays out well is if I get Suparman separated from Linda. Then if I can make him feel threatened enough, maybe he’ll throw in the towel without killing her and take whatever exit route he’s mapped out.”
“That sounds more like a hope than a plan.”
“Maybe, but it’s all I’ve got.”
“And you think you’re going to make Suparman feel threatened enough to run just with that little popgun you’ve got taped to your ankle?”
“Well, now that you’re here and apparently have nothing better to do, I’ve got an idea. You want to hear it?”
Claire nodded.
“Here’s what I’m thinking. You take up a position close to the front door when I go in. As soon as you hear a shot, no matter who fired it, I want you to start shooting and making as much noise as you can. You need to sound like all fifty of those armed men I didn’t bring with me are storming the house.”
Claire pursed her lips, but she didn’t say anything.
“If I’ve managed to get Suparman far enough away from Linda by then,” Tay continued, “maybe he won’t take the time to go back and kill her and just follow his escape plan, whatever it is. I guess that depends on how persuasive your noise is.”
Claire took a deep breath and let it out again, but she still didn’t say anything.
“So what do you think?” Tay asked. “You willing to do that?”
“I still think we’ve got a good chance to take him right up front if we both go in.”
“And I think that would get Linda killed. I’ve already told you why. Do this the way I’ve asked you to do it or leave. Your choice.”
“I thought you might say something like that.”
“So why did you waste time asking? What’s it going to be, Claire?”
“You got a box of shells for that shotgun?”
Tay took the Mossberg out of the trunk and handed it to Claire, and then he rummaged around in the chest un
til he found a box of twelve gauge shells. She checked the shotgun’s action and began methodically snapping shells into the magazine. When it was full, she scooped the rest of the shells out of the box and pushed them into her pockets. She jacked a shell into the chamber and propped the shotgun on her shoulder.
“All set,” she said.
“You want one of these?” Tay asked her, pulling another ballistic vest out of the chest.
Claire shook her head. “A man’s vest doesn’t fit me very well.”
Tay started to ask what she meant by that, but then the reason suddenly came to him and he swallowed the question just in time to avoid embarrassing himself. He slammed the car trunk and looked at his watch.
“Time to go,” he said.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
THEY REACHED THE edge of trees on the other side of the playground and stood quietly looking at Linda’s house. The sky was ice blue and broken only by a few wads of puffy white clouds that appeared to have been swept up into piles by a giant broom.
Tay and Claire could take an angle across the park that would keep them out of sight of both the front and back windows in the house, but there was nothing they could do to avoid the two little windows on the side. Suparman couldn’t be watching out of all the windows at once, Tay told himself, and he wouldn’t be expecting anyone to approach from across the park. The front and back of the house were the points of entry. That’s where Suparman would focus his attention. At least Tay hoped that’s where Suparman would focus his attention. To pull this off, they needed a little good luck, and this was where that good luck needed to start.
By the time they had crossed the open ground of the park and taken refuge in a sliver of shade at the end of the house, Tay had sweated through the T-shirt underneath his vest. He felt the rivulets of moisture streaming down his back and accumulating in the waistband of his shorts. If this were the day he died, he would die in sweaty underpants. It felt unseemly, but there it was. There wasn’t anything he could do about it.