Remington shook his head. “I know how they would normally act. But with this current government, your guess would be as good as mine. Tell me this: What is the intent of the Chinese government? They sure as hell don’t want war.”
General Wu Gang leaned back into the plush leather, his face revealing a slight smirk. “Not likely. But they do want respect. And as Mao said, ‘Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.’”
Remington smiled and took a drink of Scotch. “He also said that ‘Communism is a hammer that we use to crush the enemy.’”
The general laughed. “China is about as communist as America is capitalist.”
“Good point. Now, what concerns you?”
“That’s why I like you, Bill. You get right to the point.” General Wu Gang hesitated. “As you know, my military days are in the past. Although a war would be good for business, I don’t want one in my back yard.”
Remington knew that the man was using his considerable wealth to buy up companies around the world, and most of those dealt with the business of war. He also suspected that the general set up the entire conflict with Taiwan for economic reasons. “I understand. But I have no power to do anything about it. I’m considered a traitor there now.”
The general shook his head. “No, I don’t believe that. Neither side wants an escalation. You need to tell your former employer that my government will not attack Taiwan.”
“Haven’t they already done that?”
“That was a rogue general in our missile force,” General Wu Gang explained. “He has been…removed from his former job.”
Lined up and shot, Remington guessed. “What’s in it for me?”
General Wu Gang rose up and straightened his pants over his boots. “It would be a favor to me. If you are no longer of use to me, please let me know. I will have to find another man for the job.”
Remington gulped as he took down a long swig of his Scotch. He knew exactly what the general meant by that. The man would have him killed without blinking. He knew too much about this man’s business anyway. But there was no way in hell that he was going to tell the Agency anything directly. “I understand.”
“I hope you do,” the general said. “Can you help me?”
“I’ll do my best. But I’ll have to do it through back channels. Some of my former officers will help me with that.”
“Perfect.” The general started for the door, but he stopped before leaving. “Oh, one more thing. I understand the CIA has sent a man to bring you in. A former officer. A man who once stopped us from acquiring your laser technology. Is this correct?”
“Afraid so, general.”
“Is this man Jake Adams?”
Remington was dumbfounded by the level of this man’s knowledge. “Yes, it is. But I can handle him.”
The general smiled and said, “You mean like in Taiwan and Singapore?”
Taking another swallow of Scotch, Remington said, “Good help is hard to find.”
“Not anymore. From now on, you have all of my resources. My security officer will leave details on how to use my network of agents.” He pointed toward the windows. “Instability is the perfect cover to take care of problems. What’s one more American tourist dying after sticking his nose into business he knows nothing about? Have a good evening.” With that the general left.
Remington gazed at his drink and then swallowed the rest of the liquid, the warmth of more than twenty years in oak bringing some pleasure to his night.
Less than an hour later, and Remington’s chief of security let his favorite female agent into his room. Despite her travels from Singapore, she looked refreshed and delightful in her tight black outfit from top to bottom. He made the two of them drinks and sat next to her on the leather sofa. Remington got tingly like a high school boy whenever he was around her. She reminded him of his first wife.
“How was your trip?” he asked her.
She sipped her drink, a whiskey seven, and then said, “I failed you.”
Remington liked this about her. She didn’t make excuses for her actions, unlike some of those he had worked with in the Agency, who always seemed to be looking for someone else to blame for their own incompetence.
“No,” Remington said. “Jake Adams is…was one of our best officers. That’s why I sent you with three other agents.” The two of them always spoke with a combination of Thai and English. She wanted to improve her English skills and he wanted to keep what he already knew of Thai.
“But we lost one man with our first encounter at the river,” she said. “He was a former Thai army soldier.”
“What about the Agency officer?”
“I heard he lived,” she said. “A trauma doctor happened to be eating at a restaurant nearby.”
Remington nodded acknowledgment. That was good to hear. “Have you heard from your other men?” he asked.
“Yes. They were able to track the American on the train.” She checked her watch. “They made it to Kuala Lumpur with an hour to spare. Should be getting on the train any minute now.”
“And they know not to kill them on the train?” he confirmed.
“Yes. But I don’t understand. You wanted him dead in Taiwan and Singapore. Why not in Malaysia?”
Remington wondered that himself. Maybe he wanted to see Jake Adams die for himself. The man was like a damn cockroach. “I would like to talk with the man. If we just kill him, the Agency will send someone else.”
She nodded understanding and took down a long swig of her drink. “You want to bribe the man to say he killed you.”
Remington laughed. “That might work with normal men. But Jake Adams isn’t normal. The man has this inordinate desire to always do the honorable thing.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“I know. He’s incorruptible.” But this gave him a good idea. “Perhaps I can convince him that I was doing this on purpose to ingratiate myself with the Chinese.”
“That would be a brilliant plan,” she agreed. “Is it true?”
Remington had never really worked with this woman, but she had come highly recommended by a respected operative. Because of this, he still only trusted her so far.
“Truth is a fluid concept,” he said. “Adams will only believe me if my story is viable and potentially verifiable.” He would have to make sure to make it so.
“So,” she started, “what do we do next?”
He thought for a long minute while he gazed into his glass of Scotch. “We need to lure him to Wat Arun. If there’s one thing I know about Jake Adams, he respects religious locations. He won’t shoot at us there unless he’s simply defending himself. We’ll need to order all of our people to not engage him.”
She smiled. “Speaking of engaging. I could use a shower and then…well, you know what I like.”
Thankfully, he knew exactly what she liked, and he was getting stiff now thinking about her wonderful body. He watched her strut off toward the bathroom and couldn’t take his eyes away as she slowly left a trail of clothes behind her.
14
When they reached the capital city of Malaysia, Jake had gone toward the back of the train in the third-class section with tattered seats. Since it was nearly midnight, those who did not plan to get off in Kuala Lumpur were sound asleep. The dark compartment smelled like body odor and mold. As the train slowed to a halt at the main train station, Jake sat down and pulled his hat down low. It was a crummy time of night to pick up a train, Jake thought.
There were not a whole lot of people waiting to come aboard, so Jake had no problem seeing the two men who had run into him at the Singapore casino. They were not standing together, but they kept on looking at each other. Also, one of the men was checking his phone, no doubt verifying the GPS tracker in Jake’s pocket was still functioning. But there was no sign of the hot young Asian woman. She obviously had more skill and was waiting for the right time to board. It was possible she put those two men out there to distract Jake, while she jumped on the train at another location.