After a late lunch, the Agency officer, Liam, pulled Jake aside at the edge of the river, where long-tail boats cruised past on the choppy waves. A light rain started to fall.
“I think I should continue with you to Wat Arun,” Liam said. “I know the area. I know the language.”
Jake glanced over at Alexandra, who was still sitting under an umbrella at the restaurant where they had just ate. She had about half of her beer to finish, her eyes concentrating on her phone.
Considering Liam’s request, Jake said, “I don’t know. You guys have been looking for the man for a month. Someone in your office has been less than vigilant in that pursuit.”
“What are you saying?”
Now Jake looked directly into the eyes of the young man and said pointedly, “Someone is undermining your search. And I don’t want anyone there knowing about my meet with Remington.” Which might have been an even better reason to keep Liam close.
“I can’t believe that to be true,” Liam said, a sudden concern on his freckled face.
Jake thought for a long minute, his eyes again on Alexandra. Something was really interesting her. Finally, he said, “All right. What are your orders concerning Remington?”
He shrugged. “Simple. Bring the man in. Langley will interrogate.”
Right. There was no way the CIA wanted field officers to know the true nature of Remington’s indiscretion and crimes. Rumors were often better than reality and the truth. And the Agency was filled with officers who gossiped more than high school girls on social media.
“Okay,” Jake said. “But you sure as hell better not tell your office the location of the meeting.”
“You didn’t tell me the location until our lunch,” Liam reminded Jake.
“Right. Let’s keep it that way.” He glanced out at the river. “Hire us one of those fast boats.”
“The long-tail boats?” Liam asked.
“Yes.” Jake found some cash in his front pocket and handed it to Liam. “Make sure the boat pilot stays with us.”
Liam checked out the U.S. cash and said, “For that much money you could buy his boat.”
“Pay him what’s right and hang onto the rest,” Jake said.
The Agency officer nodded and headed toward the river dock in front of the hotel.
Jake wandered back to Alexandra. “What’s going on?”
Alexandra shook her head and put her phone into her front pocket. “They’re sending me texts and e-mails.”
Jake sat next to her. “Who?”
“First, the BND. Then a couple of my relatives. With all the blood I left behind, they must think I was either kidnapped or killed.”
“That was the plan, right?”
“Yes, of course. But I didn’t expect the service to contact any of my relatives. That’s not protocol.”
Jake shrugged. “Perhaps they thought you would go to relatives if you were injured.”
“I understand that,” she said, “but it seems like they told them I was injured. That’s not normal.”
No, that was definitely not standard procedure in any covert organization. “I hate to say this, Alexandra, but your service has some major issues.”
She let out a deep breath. “I know. Why do think I’m retiring?”
The Agency officer came back and said, “Are you ready? It will take us some time to go up river.”
As they got to the long-tail boat, Jake checked his watch. The sun had almost set already, but the clouds swirling overhead brought darkness much sooner than normal.
The long-tail boat was like a longer, wider Venice gondola with a big engine on a pivot, with the drive shaft angling down into the water and acting as the rudder. With the tuk tuk and the long-tail boat, Jake thought the Thais had an interesting way of modifying the normal into the strange. The three of them piled in and the warm rain started to fall harder almost immediately.
The boat pulled away and the pilot shoved the throttle, launching the boat out into the busy river. Soon they were cutting through waves that seemed more appropriate for an ocean bay than a Southeast Asian river.
As they got closer to the major temples of Bangkok that dotted this region of the river, the lights shone up onto pyramid-like structures, giving them an ethereal appearance.
Jake nudged Liam. “Does the pilot speak English?”
“Some. Why?”
“Tell him to drop us off at Wat Arun and wait for us to return.”
Liam turned to the pilot and spoke to him in Thai. When he was done, the Agency man said to Jake, “He can do that, but they won’t let him hold at the dock. There’s too much traffic there with the ferries bringing tourists across the river to the other temples. But he said he’d hang out in the river and we can just wave for him to pick us up.”
Jake shook his head. “You stay with the boat.”
“No, sir. I’m the active officer here. I need to bring Remington in.”
“Have you ever been shot at?” Jake asked.
Liam shook his head.
Alexandra laughed. “How could he have, Jake? He’s only been with you for less than a day.”
The pilot pulled the boat toward the dock. Jake and Alexandra jumped off and then the bow of the boat turned out into the heavy stream and the long-tail powered out into the wide river in a plume of smoke.
Jake walked past a number of food kiosks with Alexandra at his side, the smells of barbequed meat sending pangs to his rumbling gut. Before they left the crowd of tourists, he stopped and said, “I’m going in alone.”
She smiled at him. “I’m not some red-headed step child you can dismiss.”
“I’m not doing that,” he assured her. “I need you to cover my ass from that other side of the main structure.”
“You’ve been here before?”
“Yes.” He nodded his head toward the high, white structure. “Most people go up this side and come down the other. He’ll have some security types with him.”
She gave him a concerned, confused look. “I don’t understand why he’s doing this.”
“Because he’s an arrogant bastard. He knows I won’t give up until I bring him in.”
“And that’s the plan?” she wanted to know.
He shrugged. “What else could it be?”
“I don’t know, Jake. Maybe you’re really here to kill the man.”
“This is a public sacred shrine, Alexandra.”
“That’s not exactly a no.”
“You know me. I’m not an assassin.”
“True. But people do end up dead around you.”
My God, is that what she really thought about him? Maybe she was right, though. All too often ops had gone south. He would be hard-pressed to count all those who had died at his hand or because of their association with him. How does a man forget the number of bad guys he’s killed? He didn’t forget, but he did block them from his normal cognition.
“Let’s go,” Jake said.
They split up. Jake took the direct approach on Wat Arun, while Alexandra wandered off through a group of kiosks selling everything from hats and T-shirts to statuettes of elephants and Buddha.
Rain pelted down on him as he walked toward the tall structure. He could feel the Glock against the small of his back and he realized it wasn’t in the ideal location for a quick draw. But he had no other choice.