World of Trouble (9786167611136)

by Needham, Jake

“Think about it, Jack. Something very strange is going on here and you’re walking right into the middle of it.”

  “I don’t think Kate—”

  “Pull your head out of your ass, man. Just because she’s a good-looking woman doesn’t mean she won’t have somebody waiting there to take you down. You know too much.”

  Shepherd did know a lot. That much was true. But he still couldn’t work out what any of it actually meant.

  He figured he had only two choices left. He could run away. Or he could trust somebody. He was going to trust Kate. It was just that simple. If he was wrong, he would pay whatever the price for being wrong turned out to be.

  “No,” he said, shaking his head again, “I’m going alone.”

  Keur shrugged. “I’ll bet that’s just what Adnan said.”

  “I’m going alone,” Shepherd repeated.

  “Okay. I guess it’s your funeral.”

  That was just an expression, of course. It was a cliché, not a prediction.

  At least Shepherd hoped it was.

  ***

  HE HAD MORE trouble finding the apartment than he thought he would. He located the rundown hotel just north of Sathorn Road easily enough, but when he got out of the cab and looked around, all of the apartment buildings near it looked alike to him.

  He walked a short way in one direction and then back in the other, but nothing looked familiar and nothing stood out. Bangkok was a hodgepodge of nondescript architecture, a mass of cheaply built, cookie-cutter, look-alike apartment buildings, and he had never hated them more than he did right at that moment.

  Just as he was wondering if he was going to have to walk into the lobby of every building within half a mile and announce “I’m Carry Grant” to anyone who happened to be standing there, two pairs of headlights appeared at the top of the narrow lane he had just crossed. Shepherd watched the little convoy from the shadows until it turned into the parking area in front of a building about fifty yards in front of him. When it did, he saw a blue BMW trailed by a black SUV. The blue BMW looked familiar. At least it looked familiar enough.

  By the time he got to the building, both vehicles were parked and empty, but he had no doubt by then that he was in the right place. Just inside the lobby door were two hard-cases who couldn’t have been anything else but muscle. They were both wearing identical dark-grey safari suits and pointy-toe black shoes, but that was where the resemblance ended. One of them was short and wiry and quivered with nervous energy like a whippet held at heel. The other one looked half asleep, but he was the biggest Thai Shepherd had ever seen in his life. The guy made Jello look like a midget.

  Shepherd opened the lobby door. He spoke quickly, not wanting either of these guys to have a chance to get jumpy.

  “I’m Cary Grant,” he said.

  If Keur was right, if this was really a trap, then this was when it would be sprung. And if it was sprung, he guessed he was toast. The bruiser looked like he could take out the entire offensive line of the New York Giants all by himself, and the little guy seemed the sort who could give martial arts lessons to Bruce Lee.

  The bruiser looked him over with hooded eyes while the whippet just stood there and quivered. After what felt like a week to Shepherd, but was probably more like a few seconds, the bruiser pointed to the elevator.

  Shepherd got in. The bruiser followed. There was barely enough room for both of them.

  FIFTY

  THE BODYGUARD KNOCKED twice on the apartment door and then opened it without waiting for a response. He waved Shepherd inside and closed the door behind him. Kate was sitting on the couch smoking a cigarette. She was alone.

  “I don’t know whether to be happy to see you or not,” she said with a weary smile. “I can’t remember the last time you brought me good news.”

  “I’m sorry to say this isn’t going to be one of those times either.”

  “I’ve only been prime minister for two days, and already I’m wondering how I got myself into this.”

  “Thailand is lucky to have you. You’re more than it deserves. Why did you take the damn job?”

  Kate looked at Shepherd like she had never actually thought about that before.

  “I have no idea,” she said after a few moments, and laughed.

  Shepherd walked over to an old leather chair opposite the couch and sat down.

  “That’s all the security you’ve got?” Shepherd tilted his head to indicate where he assumed the bodyguards were waiting outside. “One big guy and one little guy?”

  “Mutt and Jeff are the best. Don’t underestimate them.”

  “I don’t care how good they are. A hit squad armed with automatic weapons came after the last person who had your job. And they got him. Don’t you think that calls for having more than just a couple of guys around you?”

  “If somebody wants to kill me, they will. But I don’t think anybody really wants to.”

  “You don’t know that. Don’t be so damned Zen about all this.”

  “Mutt and Jeff will do me fine, Jack,” Kate said, closing the subject with the finality she put into her voice. “What have you got to tell me?”

  What indeed? A bunch of suspicions, mixed with a few observations, seasoned with several bad feelings? Not much. Maybe not anything.

  But Shepherd wanted Kate to pay close attention. So he laid out his very best card first.

  “Do you know where Tommy is?” he asked.

  “I hope he’s home getting some sleep for a change. Why do you ask?”

  “Tommy was the source for a story that CNN is running right now. He told Liz Corbin that the Thai government is searching for me. They intend to arrest me because they think I’m in the country to help Charlie start a civil war.”

  “Are you?”

  “No.”

  “Then why would Tommy put out a story like that?”

  “I think he’s trying to drive me to ground. Not because I’m trying to start a civil war. But because he knows I’m trying to stop one.”

  “You’re not making any sense, Jack.”

  Then he told Kate about seeing Tommy in Dubai getting off Harvey alongside Robert Darling.

  “In Dubai? You must be mistaken. Tommy hasn’t been in Dubai.”

  “I was there, Kate. I saw him.”

  “And this is the same Robert Darling who is—”

  “Charlie’s partner in Blossom Trading.”

  Kate thought about that for a few moments while Shepherd waited in silence.

  “I’ve known Tommy for twenty years, Jack. You can’t expect me to believe that he’s really working with General Kitnarok.”

  “I don’t know that he is.”

  Then Shepherd told Kate about the building at the Dubai airport where he had seen Tommy and Darling disembarking from Harvey.

  “It’s an Agency facility,” he said, “just like the one you showed me here in Bangkok. Tommy wouldn’t have been at an Agency facility on an Agency-operated aircraft unless he has some connection with the CIA. Maybe it’s recent, maybe it’s not. But you have to at least consider the possibility that perhaps Tommy’s been an Agency asset all along.”

  Kate stabbed out her cigarette and immediately lit another one.

  “Why is the CIA involved in all this, Jack? What do they want?”

  “They want Charlie back in charge in Thailand. He’s military and he’s reliable. They think he would be an effective counterweight to what they see as spreading Chinese influence.”

  “And they think that I’m… what? A Chinese stooge?”

  “A lot of your supporters do think China would be a better ally for Thailand than the United States. You know that’s true.”

  “So it’s necessary for Thailand to sign up for one team or the other, is it?”

  “Some people think so.”

  “Such as the CIA?”

  Shepherd said nothing.

  “Do you think General Kitnarok had Somchai killed?”

  “No,” Shepherd said, “Charlie m
ight do a lot of things, but I don’t think he would organize an assassination.”

  “Somebody gave the order to kill Somchai, Jack. If it wasn’t General Kitnarok, then who was it?”

  Shepherd saw where Kate was going with this, of course, so he kept his mouth shut.

  “Do you think the CIA killed Somchai, hoping the government would collapse and General Kitnarok would return to power?”

  “I don’t know. It’s possible. I just don’t know.”

  “They’re never going to learn, are they?” Kate shook her head.

  Suddenly she stood up and walked to the window, although as far as Shepherd knew there wasn’t much outside to see.

  “I think they’re getting ready to arm the red shirts,” he said quietly.

  Kate nodded. She didn’t seem surprised.

  “That could tip us over the edge. If the street mobs get guns…” Kate left the thought unfinished.

  “You’ve got a little time if I’m right that they’re using Harvey to bring in the shipment. I managed to get the plane impounded for a few days.”

  Kate turned from the window and looked at him with a quizzical expression. “You did what?”

  He explained, briefly, the ploy with the impound order he had managed to get filed in Dubai.

  Kate smiled, the first genuine smile Shepherd had seen from her since he had come into the apartment. He had forgotten how that smile grabbed him. It was really something.

  “How long will that work for?” she asked.

  “Not long,” he said.

  He felt a twinge as he watched Kate’s smile fade.

  “They’ll get the order lifted by tomorrow. If Harvey is loaded and ready to go, it will be here by tomorrow night.”

  Kate turned away from the window and sat back down on the couch.

  “When did you last speak to General Kitnarok?” she asked.

  “A few days ago. He asked me to come back to Dubai. But when I got there he was gone.”

  “Gone where?”

  “I don’t know. His compound was empty. I phoned around, but no one seemed to know anything.”

  “Do you think General Kitnarok is here in Thailand now?” Kate asked.

  “My first thought was that he had just gone into hiding after Somchai was shot. And that’s what Keur seemed to think, but—”

  “Keur? Who’s Keur?”

  “An FBI agent who’s trying to nail Robert Darling for illegal arms dealing. I sort of got hooked up with him. It’s a long story. Nothing to do with Thailand, except maybe…”

  Shepherd trailed off. Keur hadn’t exactly told him to keep the information confidential, but his lawyer instincts were shouting at him to shut up. He told his instincts to pipe down.

  “Keur says his investigation is being stonewalled. He thinks the Agency is protecting Darling. That would tally with the Agency protecting Blossom Trading’s activities here in Thailand, too. Harvey in Dubai. Tommy on the plane with Darling. It all fits.”

  “Do you believe this man Keur?”

  “Not all together. But I want him where I can keep an eye on him.”

  Kate shook another cigarette out of her pack and lit it.

  “Too many of those things can kill you,” Shepherd said.

  “Being Prime Minister of Thailand can kill me.”

  Kate was right, of course. He didn’t mention the cigarettes again.

  “If General Kitnarok is determined to arm the red shirts,” Kate said, “I don’t know that I can stop him.”

  “I don’t think Charlie’s your real problem any more. I think it’s the Agency.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “It’s got to be the Agency behind the arms shipment. Charlie wouldn’t be arming street gangs. I know him. He’s my friend.”

  Kate looked at Shepherd, smiled slightly, and tilted her head to one side.

  “I thought I was your friend,” she said.

  “You are.”

  “Then, my friend Jack, you are in one hell of a lousy position here.”

  Shepherd couldn’t argue with that.

  Abruptly, Kate stood up and headed for the kitchen. “I hope to hell there’s something to drink around here someplace.”

  While Kate was in the kitchen, Shepherd walked over to the window where she had been standing and looked out. Sure enough, the view was pretty prosaic. But there was still something about it that held him.

  Everything seemed so peaceful out there, and yet in here he and Kate were talking about weapons to arm street mobs and the assassination of prime ministers. Within a couple of days, if he were standing in this very place again, he wondered if he would be hearing gunfire and watching smoke rise over the city. Shepherd thought back to the riot he had been caught up in a few days ago on Silom Road. He remembered the fierceness and the rage he had seen then in people’s faces. If Bangkok were flooded with weapons, it would be a slaughter. There would be no going back.

  “The whiskey is probably fake,” Kate said from behind him. “The NIA would never spring for decent booze.”

  Shepherd glanced over his shoulder and watched Kate put a half-full bottle of Black Label on the coffee table along with two glasses.

  “I’ll take my chances.”

  Kate poured two generous measures. She handed one to him and took the other one. They tipped their glasses toward each other.

  “To your health,” she said.

  “No, Madam Prime Minister,” Shepherd said, “to yours.”

  They sat and drank quietly in silence. It was a companionable silence and the warmth of it did a great deal to ease Shepherd’s growing sense of dread.

  “Can you find General Kitnarok?” Kate asked after few minutes.

  “I’m certainly going to try. At least I will if you’ll make sure nobody arrests me while I’m at it.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of Tommy.”

  Shepherd just nodded. Although he did wonder for a moment exactly what Kate meant by that.

  “If General Kitnarok really is being used by the Agency,” Kate said, “he could help me stop this thing.”

  “I think he could.”

  “But you’ve got to find him first.”

  “I’ll do my best. Keep that Nokia I gave you handy. We don’t want to talk about this on any of your usual telephone numbers.”

  “Do you really think—”

  “This is the CIA we’re going up against, Kate. Occasionally, they do get something right.”

  Kate nodded and looked away, thinking.

  “I have some people in Dubai,” she said. “I’ll get them to watch the facility where Harvey is. They’ll let me know when it leaves.”

  “Can you get the flight plan?”

  “It won’t mean anything. They’ll file for some neutral destination and then divert at the last moment to wherever they’re really going.”

  “But you’ll see the plane on radar. You’ll know where it is.”

  “It’s not as easy as you make it sound. If they change their flight plan at the last moment and alter their transponder code at the same time, it will take a while to figure it out. We’ll find them, of course, but by then they could be on the ground somewhere and offloading their cargo.”

  “So how do we stop the plane?”

  Kate smiled at that. “What do you mean we, white man?”

  “That’s a very old joke,” Shepherd said. “You probably stole it from me. I hold the copyright on all very old jokes.”

  Kate didn’t laugh and she didn’t say anything else for quite a while. She just sat there smoking quietly. When she was done with her cigarette, she stubbed it out, folded her arms, and looked at Shepherd.

  “I’m not going to let them win, Jack.”

  Shepherd just nodded.

  He knew she wouldn’t.

  But he also knew they might win anyway.

  FIFTY-ONE

  WHEN SHEPHERD GOT back to the apartment, Keur was sitting on one of the sofas in the living r
oom with a glass in his hand. The glass was half full of something clear. It could have been water, but Shepherd doubted it.

  “You didn’t have to wait up for me, Mother.”

  “Sure I did. If they cut off your head, I wanted to be the first to say ‘I told you so’.”

  Shepherd didn’t think that was very funny so he said nothing.

  “Did you see her?” Keur asked.

  Shepherd nodded.

  “And?”

  “I’m not the object of any manhunt after all. Tommy gave Liz a phony story.”

  “Figures. He’s trying to take you off the board.”

  “Yeah, but he has to know that won’t work for very long. I was bound to find out what he was up to in a day or two and get somebody to fix it.”

  “So what? You knew that impound order on their airplane wouldn’t work for more than a day or two either, but you did it anyway.”

  That was a good point, Shepherd knew. He had gone after the impound order because buying a little time was better than buying none at all. And with a little luck, a little time would sometimes solve your problem. He wondered if Tommy was thinking the same way. If he was, that meant that whatever Tommy wanted him out of the way for was going to happen soon.

  “Kate didn’t know Charlie was in the wind either,” Shepherd said. “She thinks he may be here.”

  “Here? You mean in Bangkok?”

  “Not necessarily, but somewhere in Thailand.”

  “Kitnarok would only be in Thailand now if he was sure the red shirts were going to win.”

  “Maybe he is sure they’re going to win. If Harvey is bringing in a load of weapons, the reds will sure as hell have the yellows outgunned.”

  “So what are you going to do now?” Keur asked.

  It was a hell of a good question.

  “Kate’s got somebody watching Harvey, so she’ll know when it takes off,” Shepherd said after a moment. “Until it does, there’s no way to guess when it’s going to land.”

  “And there may not ever be a way to guess where.”

  “Maybe not, but I don’t know what else we can do. Not unless the US government wants to call in a missile strike.”

  “Unfortunately, Dick Cheney is no longer in the loop.”