by David Archer
“Yes,” Noah said. “We’ve got the basics, and we each know our back story. I’m Ross Duncan, and if I’m checked out you’ll find I live in Taos, New Mexico, and make my living as an investment analyst.”
“Well, good, that saves me a little bit of a headache, at least. We’ll run through customs; there’s a special desk we use for private flights, so it’ll only take a few minutes. I’ll put you up at the Hyatt, here at the airport. That’ll cover everything. It has restaurants inside, a casino…Everything will be charged to your room, and we’ll pick up the tab.”
She stopped at a small building that sat outside the terminal and took them into it. This was the customs inspection desk for private aircraft passengers, and she was right; it took only a few minutes to get them legally into the country.
When they got back into the car, she fumbled in a pocket for a moment and passed Noah a business card. “That’s my office number. If you need anything else, call me there with a landline. If you need to call in again, call that number and say, ‘hot relay.’ Whoever is on the switchboard will transfer you to my secure line, and the operator there will ask for the number you want to call. Do not use a cell phone for anything that might be even remotely sensitive. If you run into any kind of problems, make sure you call me first. I know the lawyers, the cops, even the judges around here. I’ll get you a plane arranged tomorrow to take you to Thailand, so don’t get too comfortable here. You’re not staying that long.”
It seemed to take only a few minutes to get to the hotel, and Anna walked inside with them. She spoke briefly with the desk clerk, who seemed to speak perfect English, and then Noah, Neil and Marco produced their identification. Within minutes they were booked into separate rooms that were side-by-side on the fourth floor. Anna said she’d check with them the following day, and all three of them headed for the elevator.
Noah called in immediately, using the “hot relay” through Anna’s switchboard, but only left a message with the hotel and room number. As soon as that was finished, he stripped out of his clothes and took a long, hot shower. One of the best luxuries to be found in a luxury hotel, he decided, was a nearly endless supply of hot water.
When he came out of the shower, Noah opened the duffel and spread its contents on the bed. The clothes he had been provided were all dark, suitable for a mission that might have to be carried out stealthily. He stepped into a pair of briefs and sat down to put on his socks, then chose a pair of gray slacks and a matching polo. Once he was dressed, he stepped out into the hallway and tapped lightly on Neil’s door across the hall.
Neil had obviously showered as well, and Marco’s hair was also wet when he responded to the knock. “Time to eat,” Noah said.
Neil scoffed. “It’s been time to eat for the last twelve hours. I’m ready.”
They went to the West Tower, where a buffet was available twenty-four hours a day. All three of them loaded their plates with steak, vegetables and fruits, and all three went back twice for more. The food was delicious and hot, and went a long way toward restoring them.
“So what are we doing, boss?” Marco asked.
“Well, we know that the CIA has a mole,” Noah said. “For some reason, they didn’t bother to let the Dragon lady know that little fact, nor did they mention that the Chinese are trying to track down a particular agent of the government who is known as Camelot. It seems the mole has been doing a lot of business with China, feeding them information for money. Those people we just rescued were doing a job for Uncle Sam that the Chinese have interest in, and it appears that they were arrested for the purpose of handing them over to China. Our hostess back there, Soo Mi, handed them and me over to the DPRK State Security on his orders, so that got me to thinking; the mole would undoubtedly be aware of China’s interest in Camelot, and the CIA helped set up the Bangkok prison rescue, but instead of sending their own people in to find Miss Ingersoll, a request came in to have E & E do it. My gut feeling is that the mole got wind of the fact the job was handed to us, and would have known that the girl who got sent into the prison to make contact was one of us. One quick message relayed through Randy Mitchell, and China sets up an operation to have her snatched and handed over.”
Neil was still eating, but he was listening intently. Marco looked at Noah for a moment and then nodded.
“Shame about Randy,” Marco said. “If the mole was really threatening his family, you think there’s any hope for him to come out of this?”
“That’ll be up to Allison,” Noah said. “I’m sure he’ll never be trusted on a team again, and it’s possible she’ll even order him executed. I just don’t know.”
“Okay. Then what’s our next move? Sarah’s been in somebody’s hands for close to a week now. She’s a tough little gal, but that’s a long time to be under interrogation.”
“I agree. Allison is going to try to find out what she can from CIA, and call in every other favor she has coming to her, from NSA, Homeland Security, whoever. The idea is to try to find out where they’d be most likely to take Sarah, and if she gets any leads at all, she’ll let me know. Meanwhile, we’re leaving sometime tomorrow for Thailand again. We’re going back to Pattaya; Randy’s contact was a guy named Lom who works for Pak, the promoter. We’re going to start with him, and find out who he passed her off to. Sooner or later, we’ll find out where she was taken.”
Neil chased the last few peas around his plate with a fork and shoved them into his mouth. “Noah,” he said, “do you really think there’s any hope we’ll find her? That we’ll get her back?”
“If we can get to her in the next forty-eight hours, I think we have a chance. She would have been in transit for the first couple of days, so she’s probably only been under interrogation for the last three. Most interrogators don’t go straight to torture unless something is time sensitive; I’m hoping she hasn’t been hurt too badly, but I figure it won’t be more than two more days before her captors will do whatever it takes to break her. She’ll fight, she’ll try her best not to tell them anything they can use against us, but nobody can hold out against some of the things they will do.”
“Then why are we sitting on our asses? We’re in South Korea, it’s not that far back to Thailand. Let’s go see that asshole now, tonight, and just beat it out of him, find out where she is.”
Marco glanced at Neil, then cut his eyes back to Noah. “I get the feeling the kid is pretty worried,” he said. “Thing is, he’s actually got himself a point. Pak or his boy could maybe tell us where he sent her, and that might save a lot of time in getting to whoever’s got her now.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Noah said, “and that’s going to be the next move, but we’re not going until tomorrow morning.”
“Morning might be too late,” Neil said. “We should be on the way now!”
“Not one of us has had more than a few hours sleep out of the last forty-eight,” Noah shot back. “We’re going to go back upstairs to our rooms and rest for tonight. I’ll check in with Allison in the morning, and shortly after that, we’ll be getting on a plane and headed back to Pattaya. We need to rest, Neil, or we won’t be in any shape to help her when we get there.”
Neil slammed his fork down onto his plate, and it bounced off the table and onto the floor. “I know, I know, you’re right,” he said. “I just can’t stand the thought of what she might be going through over there. Scares the hell out of me, you know?”
Marco leaned close to him. “Let you in on a secret,” he said softly. “Scares the hell out of me, too.”
“You barely even know her,” Neil said, the anger evident in his voice and face. “If Moose was here…”
“Moose is gone,” Noah said. “Marco is part of the team, now, Neil. I’m sure he can imagine what she’s going through, just as well as you can. None of us want her to suffer, so we’re going to do everything we can to get her back. Understood?”
Neil glared at him for a second, but then he lowered his eyes and nodded. “Understood,”
he said. “Sorry, Marco.”
“Ain’t nothin’,” Marco said. “We good.”
FIFTEEN
Noah was already awake when the phone in his room rang at just after six AM. “Hello?”
“It’s Allison,” he heard. “I’ve been on this all day, and I’m making a little bit of headway. I got through to Alex Kuiper, he’s my top liaison with CIA, and I reamed him a new asshole over this. He confirmed that they do have a security leak, and that there is an ongoing internal investigation. He swears up and down he hadn’t heard about any Chinese interest in you before this, but after listening to me scream at him for half an hour, he managed to find it. It looks like somebody high up in Langley was trying to keep it under wraps until they could get more information, but it’s been confirmed. China has been trying to track you down for over a year, so you’re right, that would have made Sarah an attractive opportunity for the mole.”
“Of course,” Noah said. “Do they have anything on her? Where she would’ve been taken, anything?”
“Nothing definite, I’m afraid. However, I turned him loose on the whole situation that went down in Pattaya, and it turns out your friend Mr. Pak has some pretty deep connections with the Chinese. The Nay Thas are really just an arm of the Chinese black societies, organized crime groups who run a lot of the Asian sex trade, so it’s a pretty safe bet that China pulls his strings. He doesn’t make contact with them himself, though, he’s got a man working for him who handles his dealings with China. That man is called Lom, and everything I’ve been able to learn says he is ruthless and dangerous. He’s a former Muay Thai street champion, and unsubstantiated rumors claim that he has killed more than a dozen people without ever picking up a weapon.”
“That’s the guy Randy was told to contact. I get the impression he’s the one who handles Pak’s dealings with China,” Noah said, “so he’s probably the one who arranged to hand Sarah over to them. If anyone would know where she is, it would probably be him. Permission to go back to Pattaya and question him?”
“Permission, hell, those are your orders! Your cover identities are still intact, just have our liaison there make the arrangements. Our station chief in Pattaya will provide everything you need on that end. Go get her, Camelot, and bring her back safe.”
“What about Randy? Any idea yet what you’re going to do with him?”
“We haven’t even had the chance to question him, yet. Do you have a suggestion in mind?”
Noah actually hesitated for a moment. “If he was telling the truth, the threat against his sisters was probably more coercion than he could resist. Jenny would cut his throat in a heartbeat; she killed the Korean girl who sold out the CIA people without even finding out what sort of leverage the mole had on her. I doubt he could ever be trusted in the field again, but if his story turns out true, it’s possible he could be useful somewhere else. That isn’t so much a suggestion as an observation.”
“Understood,” Allison said. “I’ll take it under advisement.”
The line went dead as it always did when Allison was done talking. Noah picked up Anna’s business card from where he had laid it beside the phone the night before and started to dial the number, but then remembered that it was still early. He pulled on his slacks and stepped out the door, knocked loudly on Neil’s and then Marco’s, and left his door open as he went back into his own room. He was dressed and ready when they came into his room ten minutes later, and he filled them in quickly.
“I talked with Allison this morning,” he said, “and her liaison and CIA agree that it was most likely the mole at Langley that burned Sarah, using Randy as his messenger boy. The problem is that we don’t have any clue where she’s being held, but it looks like Pak is tightly connected to the Chinese. He has this guy Lom who probably handles all his dealings with them, so we’re leaving ASAP for Pattaya. Mr. Lom and I are going to talk, and I intend to find out whatever he knows.”
“It’s about damn time,” Neil said. “At least we’re doing something.”
They went down to breakfast and ate quickly, then returned to Noah’s room. He called Anna’s office and found that she was already in.
“I’ve already gotten the call from your boss,” she said when she came on the line. “We’re putting together your flight right now, but, frankly, she says this is top priority and could lead anywhere, so I’m setting you up with a private charter jet. A car will pick you up in front of your hotel in twenty minutes, and you’ll be going to the same hangar we left last night. There is a Gulfstream 4 being fueled and ready for you, with a double flight crew so you can be ready to go at a moment’s notice, but here’s a heads up: the flight crews are not, I repeat not, field agents. They’ll fly you wherever you want to go, but they are not cleared for classified information. You’ll take off in about an hour, and land in Pattaya two hours later. Someone from your outfit will meet your plane, so then you’re out of my hair.”
“I appreciate it,” Noah said. “And I apologize if we’ve created any headaches for you.”
“Hey, I’m just being grumpy. I really do appreciate you bringing those folks home safe. I hope you have a great trip, and get what you’re going after.”
The car arrived on schedule and everything seemed to go smoothly. The airplane was smaller than the one that had brought them from San Francisco, but the flight crew welcomed them aboard and the plane was in the air fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. A flight attendant gave them each a large cup of coffee and passed around a box of donuts, keeping Neil happy all the way.
The plane landed, and Noah saw Maggie Lightner, the E & E station chief for Pattaya, standing on the tarmac when the aircraft came to a stop. The flight attendant opened the door and the three men walked down the short steps and straight to Maggie and the car she was standing beside. She had the trunk open so they tossed their bags inside it.
“Good to see you again,” Maggie said with a smile. “I was a little surprised when I got the call this morning that you were coming back. I’m supposed to see to it you get anything you want while you’re here, so just name it.” They climbed into the car, with Neil having to twist sideways because of a lack of legroom in the backseat.
“Weapons, for one thing,” Noah said. “I’m going after someone who may know what happened to Sarah, where she was taken. How are you fixed for backup if I need it?”
Maggie glanced at him, and her eyes were wide. “You mean armed? Honey, I’ve got three other girls and one guy in my office, basically just overpaid secretaries, but we all went through training at Neverland. You say the word, we’ll gun up and do our best.”
Noah looked at her for a moment, then turned his eyes back to the road in front of them. “It’s just a thought, at the moment. If everything goes according to plan, I won’t need it.” He looked back over at her again. “I need a car, too.”
“Okay, first things first. As far as weapons go, my little office here has a nice selection of handguns, as long as all you want is a nine-millimeter Beretta or a Colt forty-five. I got one rifle, an old M-16, and zero automatic weapons. If you need anything other than those, I’ll need to call Bangkok and get somebody on the way down here.”
“Marco and I can handle the .45’s, and let’s give Neil a Beretta. What about a vehicle?”
“Okay, now you have some choices. You can take this Civic, or I’ve got a Toyota Camry. Your call.”
“I think this will do. How long till we get to your office?”
“About fifteen more minutes. Do you need somewhere to stay while you’re in the city?”
“I don’t know yet,” Noah said. “If everything goes well, we may be heading out for China later today.”
“Okay,” Maggie replied. “Let me know, though, so I can make any necessary arrangements for you. Any idea where in China?”
“Not yet,” Noah said, and Neil piped up with, “That’s what we’re here to find out.”
Maggie stopped the car at the terminal, and took them inside to go through c
ustoms. Because of her diplomatic credentials—she was officially assigned as a researcher for the US State Department—she was able to get them through in a matter of minutes. The passports stamped, they got back into the car and Maggie drove out of the airport complex.
She pointed out a few interesting landmarks as they rode, finally pulling into an alleyway and tucking the car in behind the building that housed her office. All three of the men followed her in, and Marco blushed slightly when Julie, the girl who had joined them on the yacht a week before, looked up and gave him a finger wave and a wink.
Maggie called out to another woman toward the back of the room. “Trudy, I need two of the .45’s and one of the nines. Give me three magazines for each, loaded, and a box of extra bullets for each one.”
“You got it, babe,” Trudy yelled back. She got up and disappeared into another room, but was back only five minutes later with a box in her hands. She set it on a table beside Noah, then reached in and handed each of the men a gun. She instinctively gave the Beretta to Neil, then passed out the extra magazines and boxes of cartridges.
Noah handed the boxes back. “If we run into a situation that requires more than three magazines, we’re probably not going to be in any position to reload, anyway. That would just be extra weight to carry, so you might as well keep it here.”
Maggie nodded to Noah with a smile. “Like I said before,” she said, “if there’s anything in the world more that we can do…”
Noah nodded back once and shook her hand. “I appreciate it, Maggie,” he said. “But we’ve got to get going.” He turned around immediately and walked back out the door. They climbed into the Honda, with Marco letting Neil take the front seat so that he could slide it back, and they were off again.
Noah punched Champions’ Arena, the name of the gym that Pak owned and operated, into his GPS and followed the directions it gave him. According to the app, they were only twenty minutes away. Noah managed to cut it down to seventeen.