“Remington gave this to you,” Jake said.
“An associate of his,” Neville explained.
“Let me guess. A hot but deadly woman.”
“You’ve met.” The tailor smiled.
Jake shook his head. He had been to Wat Arun years ago. It was the most visited religious site in Bangkok. And by six p.m. the sun would have set at this time of year. Remington knew he would be safe there, since Jake would not likely start a gun battle at a religious location. But Remington only knew about some of Jake’s past missions. The man didn’t know that Jake would accomplish his task at almost any cost. If he had to step on a few religious mores, Jake might just do so.
When Jake was about to leave, the tailor stopped him. “What about that leather jacket?”
Jake looked at Alexandra and then shrugged. “Why not.”
The man measured Jake and showed him various styles in a book, along with the highest quality leather and the best silk linings. Jake picked his normal black with a red paisley silk lining. Then he had the man measure Alexandra as well. She went with a more natural brown with the same silk lining.
“How long will it take?” Jake asked.
Without hesitation, Neville said, “I can have both by tonight.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. You can pick them up here or I can have my man drop them off at your hotel.”
Jake scribbled an address on a piece of paper. “Send them here,” Jake said. Then he pulled out his wallet and paid the man in cash for both jackets. They would eventually show up at a postal address in Innsbruck, Austria that Jake kept under another name.
Alexandra led the way out, but Jake stopped before heading downstairs and turned to the tailor. “Oh, by the way, we know about your frequent money deliveries from Singapore. You’ll no longer be able to provide that service for Remington.”
The Tailor half-smiled and seemed to deflate somewhat after just selling two leather jackets.
Jake and Alexandra went out to the waiting car.
The Agency officer said, “Did you order leather jackets?”
“Yes, we did,” Jake said.
“Nice stuff, right? Where to next?”
Thinking for a moment, Jake wondered why this young officer didn’t ask about Remington. Maybe he didn’t really want to know anything.
Checking his watch, Jake said, “I could use some lunch. And I’m guessing you know a good place.” Turning to Alexandra, he asked, “Do you like Thai?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve only had German Thai, and that burned both ways.”
“Sounds about right,” the driver said. “I know a great place pretty close, but the protesters are probably blocking it right now. So we’ll have to go to my number two favorite place down by the river.”
Jake gave him a thumbs up and they were off.
Leaning back in the shadows of a covered tuk tuk, Shangwei cast his eyes upon the American, Jake Adams, along with the other man and the woman. She was a hot one, no doubt. He hoped the general would let him take care of that one personally.
As the red headed man started to pull out down the narrow road leading to the tailor, Shangwei tapped the tuk tuk driver on the shoulder and told him to keep up with the KIA. The driver simply started his motorcycle and pulled away.
Remington’s people had been correct. Adams had made a direct approach on the tailor after getting off the train. But now the tracking device they had given to Adams in Singapore was no longer working. It must have either been the small battery, or Adams had discovered the device and destroyed it. Now they would have to work the old way, with perfectly established surveillance techniques.
Shangwei pulled out his cell phone and texted his men that they were on the move.
The Asian woman had been correct with her assessment that Jake Adams would show up at the tailor. Bill Remington had been skeptical, but she was beginning to understand this former Agency officer, despite the cryptic information she had gotten from Remington on the man. It was still not clear who was paying Adams. She had to assume the worst. So she had delivered the note and then sat back and waited, her two men in another car a few blocks away.
She ordered her new driver to follow the KIA, but to stay back quite a ways. Especially after she caught a glimpse of that Chinese agent who worked for the general pull out in the back of the tuk tuk. She had been briefed on the man with the tattoos, and knew he was dangerous. To be working somewhat in concert with the man went against her better judgment, but in this case she had no choice. Still, she would make sure to hang back and not let the other agent know of their presence.
Now she called her people and told them to follow the KIA and the tuk tuk following the KIA. They would eventually switch positions a number of times to remain undetected. Then she put her phone into her pocket and gazed at her silenced handgun in her lap. She knew she must do everything in her power to remain in control and not get caught up in Remington’s life. It would be easy to get lost, she knew. Discipline would overcome temptation.
Jake tried his best to only look back at their tail a few times, knowing it would be better to not let them know that he knew. In fact, he didn’t even tell the Agency driver they were being followed. He wanted to see if the young Agency officer would catch the tail.
The driver eventually checked his rearview mirror with some concern. “Jake, I think we picked up a tail,” Liam said.
“Keep your eyes forward,” Jake said. “We want them there for now.”
Liam glanced at Jake. “You already caught them?”
Jake smiled. “Tuk tuk two cars back with an Asian man in the back.” He didn’t want to mention it was the same man he had observed since Taiwan. The man with the neck tattoos. “Anyone else?”
“Are you testing the young man?” Alexandra said from the back seat.
“Just a little game,” Jake admitted.
The driver glanced at his side mirror and said, “The dark Toyota that pulled out two blocks back.”
“Good. Anything else? Don’t look. Use your memory.”
Liam shook his head.
Jake let out a breath of air. “Asian woman in the passenger side of the black Toyota two cars back from the tuk tuk has followed us since the tailor’s street.”
“The woman from Singapore?” Alexandra asked, leaning forward toward Jake.
“Yeah. I didn’t recognize the driver, though. Must be another of Remington’s men. The two other men are in the green Toyota.”
“They keep switching positions,” Liam said. “Decent tactics.”
That’s what Jake was thinking also. Remington had hired former or current intelligence assets.
“What do we do?” the driver asked.
“Nothing,” Jake said. “Just drive and make sure they don’t lose you. They no longer have the tracking device to follow us.”
The note from the tailor, the increased activity with the tail from multiple sources, all led Jake to believe one thing for certain. Bill Remington was in Bangkok.
16
As it turned out, the restaurant was on the first floor of a hotel on the Chao Phraya River, the main waterway that split Bangkok down the middle. Before lunch Jake and Alexandra decided to check in to the hotel and get a shower before heading down to eat. They had a nice balcony view of the river. Jake considered not letting the Agency man know where he was staying, but for some reason he liked the lanky redhead. The worst part was that Remington’s people also knew where he was staying. But Jake guessed the guy really wanted to talk with him or he would have sent his men to kill him on the train, or at the tailor. Sometimes it was better to know where the bad guys were. In this case, Jake was doing everything in his power to not let Remington’s people know that he knew they were there. And that was tough.