by Andrew Grant
“Just borrowed,” I replied, “and it’s good to see you, Mavis.”
Simone chuckled at that. “Perhaps I’ll see you later. Mr Somsak is expecting you.”
K was waiting at the door to the inner office. He opened it and I went through. Sami was sitting at the desk. The huge model of the island was gone. Sami stood and came to embrace me, clapping me on the back as he did so.
“Thank you again, my friend. It’s all there.” He indicated the tiny digital recorder sitting on the desk. “We have Lu pleading with Stanley to sell. He talks of his partners. He’s truly terrified of the Mendez brothers. When Stanley point-blank refuses to sell, the pleas turn to bribes and finally threats.”
Sami went back to his seat behind the desk while I took a guest chair.
“Do you want to hear it?”
I shook my head. I didn’t need to hear it. As long as it was what Sami needed to bring Thomas Lu down, that was fine by me. “What comes next? By the way, the office looks bare.” I nodded at the space where the model had been.
“It’s gone on public display to whet the appetite of the good people of Singapore. There is going to be a tremendous investment opportunity for everybody when the basic structure is completed.” Sami chuckled. “We want to encourage them to dig deep. As to what comes next, there is an investor’s meeting scheduled for Friday night. Everyone but Thomas Lu has responded that they will attend.”
“Are you holding it here?”
Sami shook his head. “The consortium has a registered office at the Quillian Tower. That’s the big one beside Marina Bay. Their meetings are always held there. I will be making a grand entrance.”
“So they don’t know you’re involved yet?”
“I doubt it. I’m the mysterious brother.”
“Lu must be shitting bricks!”
“I certainly hope so,” Sami replied grimly, “I most assuredly hope so.”
“What’s the news on last night’s events?”
“Gun battle at Fort Siloso is the headline. Suggestions are that rival gangs met at the fort and a shootout ensued over drugs. Three found dead, one seriously injured in the original skirmish and three shot dead and several others injured and arrested by police.” Sami gave me a grin. “Am I right in assuming the first three were yours.”
“And a guy with a busted head. It was a hectic night. The OK Corral had nothing on it.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Absolutely exhausted. I think I’ll go back to the hotel and sleep for a week.”
“Your clothes are in the bathroom along with your pack. There’s a shower in there if you want to use it.”
I did want to use all of the facilities in the late Stanley Loh’s bathroom. Showered and dressed, I collected my bits and pieces from the pack, then bundled the one-piece suit and put it back into the sack. I carried the rubber sack back into the office and dropped it onto a chair.
“I think you had better make that all go away. I dumped the gun in bits on my swim. There’ll be images of me on CCTV somewhere, but hopefully with the hood, the greasepaint and a bunch of stuff hanging off my face they won’t get much to go on.”
“I think the cops are convinced it was a gang scrap. I don’t think they’re looking for the Lone Ranger,” Sami replied. “By the way, I do have an idea on how to make that grand entrance for the meeting. I want you at my side when I do.”
“Sure.”
“Marina Bay MRT at 20:00 Friday. Look dangerous, something which comes naturally to you, of course.”
“Oh shucks,” I said, doing my best to sound like James Stewart. “You’re just trying to butter me up.”
Sami chuckled. “Yeah. We’ll be armed. I have no reason on earth to trust Lu to either be there or be there without a bunch of thugs in tow.”
“Watch your back between now and then,” I warned. “If he’s got people in the know, he might have already found out you’re the new partner and he might try and take you out as well.”
“Jo’s flying in this evening and I’ve got my back well covered.” Sami nodded to K, who was standing by the door. The former Thai Special Forces man nodded back. “You know me, Daniel.”
“That’s debatable,” I said as I stood, grinning to show I was joking—not!
“K will have Edward take you back to your hotel. Sleep well, my friend.”
As before, K led me out of the office. Simone smiled up at me. She really was a most attractive woman.
“Going so soon, Mr Davidson?”
“Indeed, Mavis.” I signalled to her the thumb and little finger telephone symbol, screening it from K with my body. Simone gave an almost imperceptible nod. “Take care,” I added as I followed K into the elevator.
Edward was waiting by the car.
Twenty minutes later, I was stretched out on the bed in my room. As is often the case when you’re totally exhausted, trying to catch sleep is like trying to catch a handful of smoke. I turned on the television. Local news was playing the gun battle at Fort Siloso to death. I went to sleep.
18
“Thomas, my friend, it is so good to see you again.”
“And you, Raymond,” Lu lied. He was good at lying, but for the past day he had been lying to the Mendez family and that was not a good thing.
The pair of them were meeting in the magnificent foyer of The Fullerton. Raymond Mendez had wanted the Presidential Suite, but it was occupied. Reluctantly, he had had to settle for a lesser one. So far he had managed to control his temper, barely, but inside he was seething and Thomas Lu could sense it.
“The cargo has landed,” Mendez said. “It will be delivered to the warehouse you specified in the morning. Now I think we should go and have dinner and experience a little of Singapore’s night life.”
Thomas Lu did not want to spend another second in the company of Raymond Mendez, but there was nothing he could do but agree with the man. To refuse could trigger the psychopath into a bloody rage. Lu had reservations at The Club, the newest and supposedly best restaurant in the city, one that Lu had not yet experienced himself. According to the considerable publicity the Cross Street establishment had garnered in the weeks it had been open, the imported chef had cooked with Ramsay and earned several Michelin stars of his own. It had taken considerable coercion and several thousand dollars to secure a private dining room at such short notice.
Lu’s chauffeur was waiting beside the gold Bentley when the pair emerged from the hotel. Mendez nodded appreciatively at the car.
“Very nice, Thomas. I have been meaning to get one myself.”
Thomas Lu grunted noncommittally in response as the men seated themselves in the vehicle’s spacious rear. Despite his fear of the younger Mendez brother, Lu was even more scared of Sami Somsak. The Thai was a legend to many in the region, a larger-than-life character reputed to be a guerrilla fighter, bandit, drug lord, pirate, cold-blooded killer or a combination of all, according to whomever was telling the story. Lu had never met the man, but he knew people who had, and people who had incurred his wrath lived to regret it. Again, according to local legend, many others had incurred Somsak’s displeasure and had not lived to regret it.
“Will there be girls at dinner?”
Thomas Lu nodded. He knew that in addition to his sadistic traits, Mendez was sexually insatiable. The Mendez brothers had entertained Lu several times while he was in Bogota, and on more than one of those occasions he had witnessed Raymond’s appetite for sex first hand. The man’s sadistic side had been evident there as well. He was notoriously rough with those women who were unfortunate enough to end up in his clutches.
The “girls” Lu had engaged for the evening were escorts. He had warned the madam who was supplying them about Raymond Mendez’s tastes and she had promised to send girls with a masochistic bent, girls who would do virtually anything if the money were right. Thomas Lu was prepared to pay the fee. He needed to keep Mendez out of trouble and maintain as low a profile as possible. It was a big task; however,
the last thing he wanted was for Mendez to brutalise a woman and end up in court.
Lu knew there was no way that he could discuss this with the man without Mendez reacting the only way he knew how.
There is no reasoning with a maniac, Thomas Lu thought as they glided onto Fullerton Road.
I awoke late in the afternoon and when I went to use the bathroom, I found that every bone and every tiny muscle in my body was screaming at me. I filled the bathtub with water as hot as I could bear and climbed in, a hefty glass of bourbon in hand. I turned the spa jets on full and lay in the tub absolutely cooking. Now I replayed the events of the night. I ran the mental spool through from beginning to end, analysing it with the eye of the professional I had once been.
I concluded that I had been hellishly lucky to get away with things. Lu’s thugs had outgunned me and the cops had come so close to catching me. Running along the train line had been a brainwave but the jump from the bridge into the water had almost got me, and the swim, combined with the madness in the container farm, should have taken me out of the game, given my level of non-fitness.
“Here’s to a very lucky lad,” I muttered, raising my glass in a toast to myself.
Later I got even luckier. Simone arrived. We dined in the hotel and afterwards she gave me a massage. Before the massage segued into a lovemaking session, she dealt expertly with my remaining aches and pains. It appeared she had trained as a massage therapist in her younger days. She hadn’t forgotten her technique.
Because she had a sleep-in sitter minding her children, Simone spent the night. She had brought a change of clothes for work. We had a room-service breakfast and then I kissed her farewell as she left. Standing at the door watching her go, I couldn’t help think this was almost a classic scene of domesticity. I stood at my door and watched her until she entered the lift.
“Damn,” I muttered. Was I in danger of taking this thing to another level?
It was only 08:35 and I was already at a loose end. Killing time comes hard for me. I don’t play golf or tennis. I don’t do bus tours or shopping. Recreational sex is, of course, a great way to pass time, but I’d had my share of that for the moment. A pub-crawl was out because I had my date with Sami that evening and sobriety was most probably a prerequisite. I thought about another session on Ubin. I’d enjoyed getting back into the bush, and walking was one thing I did do well.
Whatever I was planning never got beyond that because my cellphone rang.
“Dan, Sami’s in hospital.” The voice at the other end was speaking Thai.
“Jo?”
“Yeah, Dan.” Jo reverted to English. “I got in last night. Sami was coming out to meet me. He’s okay, shaken and stirred and a broken arm. They’re running tests.”
“How?”
“Truck hit his car on the East Coast Parkway. Edward, his driver, was killed. The truck driver ran. The truck was stolen.”
“Lu?”
“Sami thinks so. He told me to tell you that tonight is off. He’s rescheduling the meeting for Monday.”
“Okay. I’ll come and see him.”
“Negative. He wants you to stay off the radar. Lu’s people will be watching the hospital, the offices and, no doubt, the apartment.”
“How did Lu find out Sami was the new partner?” I voiced the thought aloud. Jo picked it up.
“I don’t know exactly, but Sami used Stanley’s offices and his car and the apartment.”
“I thought Sami owned the apartment?”
“He does, but he’s never even stayed there until now. He used to stay at Stanley’s home. Stanley used the apartment as a getaway, a sometime love nest. He wasn’t an angel, Dan.”
“Naughty Stanley,” I muttered.
“Whatever, Dan, either Lu had the Intel or he had people watching and put two and three together. No matter now, but Sami had a close shave.”
“Mr Lu had better watch his arse.”
“Oh yes.” Jo’s voice was flat with promise. “I’ll be in touch if anything changes, my friend.” With that, he was gone. I dropped the phone onto the bed. With Jo at his side, Sami was safe. I had total faith in Jo Ankar. He was probably the best Special Ops guy I had ever worked with. To get through him, Lu was going to have to use a very big tank.
Thomas Lu was in a foul mood. The attempt on Sami Somsak’s life had failed. He knew that the Thai must be in possession of the cursed voice recorder, and that he would no doubt be planning to produce it at the scheduled meeting of the consortium. By killing Somsak, he could have prevented that happening. Now he had to stall the meeting and attempt once again to have the man removed. This time however, Sami Somsak would be well and truly alerted. He had no illusions that Somsak didn’t know who was behind the attempt on his life.
Lu used his cellphone. It was answered in seconds.
“Your information was correct, but as you know, the attempt on his life failed. Please keep me informed as to his movements. Call me any time. Thank you.” Thomas Lu closed the phone. Somsak wasn’t his only concern at the moment.
Raymond Mendez had badly hurt one of the pair of escorts he had selected for his entertainment. The girl had lost several teeth and suffered other injuries. The second girl had fled Mendez’s suite intact but naked and terrified, and she had raised the alarm. The cost of dental surgery aside, the settlement to keep the police out of the picture amounted to fifty thousand dollars.
Mendez had been evicted from his hotel suite and had moved to the Shangri La. Now Lu was on his way from his Nassim Hill penthouse to pick the man up. They were going to the warehouse in Jurong to await the container from Buenaventura.
Lu knew that the failed attempt on Somsak had put his own life in a danger as great, if not greater, than that threatened by the Mendez brothers.
“What can I do?” Lu whispered. The partition between the driver’s compartment and the rear of the limousine was closed. The words were directed at his faint reflection in the bullet-proof glass.
The question went unanswered for the five minutes it took to drive to Orange Grove Road. Raymond Mendez was waiting as the Bentley pulled up at the grand entrance. The Sikh doorman came forward to open the limousine’s rear door but Mendez brushed past the man, opened the door himself and threw himself into the car. He was scowling.
“Let’s go,” he ordered brusquely.
As scared of Mendez as he was, Lu bristled. This was his car. This was his town. He was about to reprimand his unwelcome guest when he had an idea. It was a moment of epiphany. The answer to all his problems. He smiled. Raymond Mendez turned to stare at him, his scowl turning into an expression of confusion.
“What’s so fucking funny?”
“I have just had an idea,” Lu replied.
“About what?”
“Just the solution to a personal problem. Drive on!” Lu said into the intercom and the Bentley purred away from the front of the hotel.
“I am going to sue The Fullerton. The pigs! I was a guest and they treated me like shit!”
“You did hurt the girl badly.”
“She was a whore. Whores are there to be hurt. I was a guest. I’m going to make them pay.”
“As you wish. In the meantime, let us go and collect this most valuable cargo,” Lu said. Now that the idea had fully germinated, he was desperately trying not to giggle. The solution was so simple and it would be so very, very effective.
19
I had Friday and the whole weekend in front of me, and I had an idea. I rang Simone and explained what I’d planned, asking if she could join me. She agreed. She also eventually agreed, when I pressed her, to let me pay for her children’s sitter to spend the entire weekend with the children. I would add enough to the fee to ensure that the sitter could take the kids wherever they wanted to go on the island and do whatever they wanted.
Simone left the office early and cabbed home to organise her kids, clothes and the sitter. One thing about being a tourist is that you can get away with acting like a total jerk. Yo
u’re in a strange country, no one knows you, you can be totally obnoxious, and as long as no one gets pissed off enough to shoot you, you’ll live to travel on.
As a result of my ten minutes on the telephone, at precisely 17:35 the Bell Jet Ranger hauled us off the ground heading towards Bintan. Simone was as excited as a kid. She had never flown in a helicopter before and in fact had only ever flown a couple of times in her life. To me, helicopters are like motorbikes: great for getting you places and that’s about it. I’ve just done too many hours in them, generally in marginal conditions and often with people shooting at me. Whatever, it was the perfect way to get from Singapore to Bintan in a hurry.
We landed on the golf course at the Banyan Tree Resort. There was a golf cart and a driver waiting. The formalities consisted of registering and filling out an Indonesian visa form. They were over in a matter of minutes and we were shown to our villa.
“This is absolutely perfect!” Simone said as she stood gazing down to the ocean below, and it was perfect. There was a spa set in the deck outside the bedroom and as the sun went down we climbed in. Simone put aside her wowser persona and joined me in demolishing a bottle of Tattinger. It was beautiful, sitting there in the flickering candlelight sipping champagne with a stunning woman beside me.
The wait for the container was agonising from Thomas Lu’s viewpoint. His attempts to placate or even converse with Raymond Mendez were futile. The psychopath’s brain was operating in a way that Lu could not comprehend. Mendez was going to find the whore and kill her for complaining. He was going to sue The Fullerton. He was going to do this! He was going to do that! Mendez was raving. He stalked the floor of the deserted warehouse like a caged cat while Lu sat on a packing case and watched.
Thomas Lu had ordered his chauffeur to return to the city. The driver was on a mission. Lu lit a cigarette and waited. Mendez had his cellphone out and was shouting into it. It appeared he was speaking to his elder brother, Carlos. Lu smiled through the cigarette smoke. The solution to all his problems was almost to hand.
An air horn sounded outside. Mendez, who was nearest the pedestrian door, hurried to open it and step outside. Thomas Lu followed. The Isuzu side loader idling in front of the vehicle entrance held a single shipping container on its flatbed trailer.