"Gin and bitters, if you have it"
"Sure. I'll be right back."
Harrison seated himself in a club chair and looked about. The burly man just didn't fit in these surroundings. But in this business one had to expect the unexpected.
The burly man came back with two drinks and handed Harrison one. He sat down and seemed to study the AXE agent "You say you were followed?" the man said.
Harrison nodded. He sipped his drink.
"Just doesn't seem possible."
"By the way," Harrison said, "you do have a name, I hope?"
"Carpenter. Rudy Carpenter."
"Tulip didn't tell me much. Just gave me your number to call. He said you would set things up for me."
"Yes." Carpenter looked amused. "I get you information for you to pass on to your people."
Harrison drank a third of his gin and bitters. "You seem to think that's funny."
"I suppose you're armed?"
Harrison's eyes narrowed. There was something definitely wrong here, and he was finding it hard to think. There was a dull ache in the back of his skull.
Rudy Carpenter got to his feet. "I added something to your drink, Mr. Harrison. You can try for your gun but you'll never make it Yes, you were followed from the airport. By my men. But you managed to shake them, didn't you? It doesn't matter. I knew you would call me." He walked to the club chair where Harrison was slumped. He wondered if the dead man had heard his last sentences. He lifted his head and bellowed, "Shigeta."
A sharp-featured Japanese walked in, carrying a cloth sack. He was dressed in a business suit.
"Remove all identification," Carpenter ordered. "You know what else to do." The burly man walked out.
Shigeta took everything out of the dead man's pockets and then tore the label from inside the jacket He removed a gold watch and a signet ring from the late Mark Harrison.
Then Shigeta made a phone call.
He smoked three cigarettes while waiting. It was dark when he heard a car stop outside. There were footsteps, and Shigeta peered out the window. He opened the door and another Japanese walked in. Shigeta spoke rapidly to the man and then walked into another room and returned with lead weights.
They put the body and the weights into the cloth sack. A heavy cord tied around the mouth of the sack made the body secure.
They opened the door, made sure the street was deserted, and carried the body out to the car. Shigeta stayed in back with the body while his companion drove to the dock where the body was put in a small sampan. A grinning middle-aged woman rowed them out to where the water was deep.
The two Japanese tossed the body overboard and watched it sink in the Chao Phraya River.
The woman rowed them back to the dock. Shigeta gave her 200 baht. The woman put her money away, bowed, smiled, said, "Sawaddee."
Shigeta and his companion made their way to the car and drove off.
Chapter 2
Kris Bancroft had a Swedish mother and an English father. Her Nordic features were inherited from her mother, who was still a beautiful woman. Kris poised at the edge of the diving board; then, with the grace of a swan, sailed through the air and cut the water sharply. Her head, encased in a Latex swimming cap, bobbed to the surface of the water. She swam to the lip of the pool, shifted her body out of the water, and lay back on the concrete deck.
Kris was thirty-one, a widow, with the firm body of a twenty-year-old girl. Her teeth were white and even, her lips full and red. She had a perfect body with firm, rounded promontories that poked out the upper half of her two-piece swimsuit. Her thighs were rounded and deeply tanned.
Kris sat up when she saw the tall, bronzed giant approaching with two Stingers. She took off her cap and ran her ringers through her blonde tresses. She studied the man in the quilted robe, and her thoughts went back to last night when she had spent those heavenly hours in his arms. She had never before been so thrilled by a man's lovemaking.
The man sank down onto his haunches and gave her one of the Stingers. "I saw you dive. I'm impressed."
"I'm glad I impress you," she said, putting extra warmth in her voice. "You did a very good job of impressing me — last night."
"It took me two solid days to talk you into bed," he reminded her with a crooked grin on his tanned face.
"I'm sorry now I waited so long»
The bantering went on for a while till a bellboy interrupted them. "There's a call for you, Mr. Carter. You can take it in the bar."
Nick excused himself, followed the boy into the bar, and picked up the receiver.
"How's the vacation coming along?"
Nick Carter recognized Hawk's familiar voice. "Something tells me this vacation is coming to an abrupt end."
"Can't be helped. Try to be back by this evening. I'll be staying late."
"Will do." Nick hung up and walked back to the swimming-pool area. Kris had moved to a beach chair, her long legs stretched out, twin columns of perfection.
"You've got beautiful legs," Nick said. "I wish I could stay and admire them forever but I'll be leaving soon."
Kris reached out to touch his arm. "Isn't there anything that will induce you to stay?"
Nick shook his head gently. "I'm may be back."
"And I may not be here."
Nick hated goodbyes. He always felt awkward. He proposed they have a last drink together, and Kris agreed.
She watched him walk away to the tap room. She knew it would be a long time before she found someone like him — if ever.
Hawk looked tired, more tired than usual. He motioned Nick to the chair in front of his desk and the tall, broad-shouldered man sat down. Hawk got right to the point. "About a month ago I sent out three agents for the express purpose of filtering information back about ChiCom movements in the Far East Norwich in Singapore, Bennet in Hanoi, and Harrison in Bangkok. This morning Harold Rustoff of CIA paid me a visit with some startling news. All the info I got, and which I passed on to Rustoff, has been false."
Nick's face and voice were emotionless. "You think they were caught?"
Hawk shrugged. "I don't think they even got started."
"Then they were sold out," Nick said.
"And enemy agents took their places." Hawk toyed with a yellow pencil. "Has to be. No other explanation. They didn't sell out and go over to the other side. Not all three at the same time. Perhaps one, maybe, but all three? Nope." Hawk looked at Nick with grim eyes. "They went through the Hong Kong contact."
"Tulip." Nick lit a gold-tipped cigarette. "I can't see Tulip selling out, either."
"You and Tulip are rather close."
Nick didn't answer.
"All right," Hawk said. "It's your baby. Go to Bangkok and find out what you can. If Tulip turned double…" Hawk left it unsaid.
"What about Singapore and Hanoi?"
"You just worry about Bangkok. I'm more interested in the traitor. I'll give odds it's Tulip."
Nick got to his feet. Hawk had to be right about Tulip. Everything pointed to Tulip. Three AXE agents, and Tulip had thrown them to the wolves. But Nick wanted to be sure. He liked Tulip. He and Tulip were friends.
"I want to give Tulip every chance," Nick said.
Hawk nodded his head. "I understand. That's why I'm sending you to Bangkok first."
The Thai people originated in Southeast China, where they founded the independent Kingdom of Nanchao in 650 a.d. In 1243 they were driven out by the armies of Kublai Khan and moved south to what is known today as Thailand.
Nick's plane landed at Don Muang Airport late in the afternoon. He showed his passport, his visa, and his International Certificate of Health, and passed through.