“I take it you have what we need,” Jake said.
Chantrea got up and straightened her sequined dress over her narrow hips. She nodded for them to follow her, and then she wandered toward the restrooms, her hips swaying like a hooker trying to entice a client. Eventually they got to the far back, where two larger men stood watch over a door. Now Jake saw exactly what he wanted; bulges where normal security types kept their guns. This Chantrea had something worth protecting. And it was likely not just heroin.
Inside the office, Chantrea wandered to the desk and sat against the front, her skirt lifting almost high enough to let them try to look for a dick and two balls tucked between the legs. She pointed for each of them to take a seat in fine leather chairs.
Jake and Alexandra sat, giving them an even better view of the crotch area. Yeah, he was packing something. Nothing too serious, though.
“Now, I know the two of you didn’t come here for heroin,” Chantrea said.
“Why’s that?” Jake wanted to know.
She laughed. “Because, honey, you’re not strung out enough.”
“We all have to start somewhere,” Jake said. “Consider this the before picture. We’ll worry about the after picture later.”
“Vibol said you were a funny man,” Chantrea said. “I see why he liked you.” Then he turned to Alexandra. “And you. He said you might have said two words all day.”
“How do you know Vibol?” Jake asked.
Chantrea shrugged. “He’s my cousin.”
“Seriously?”
“We’re all related in this town. Nothing happens without our knowledge.”
Time to come clean. At least a little. “Okay, then tell me about General Wu Gang.”
Chantrea looked shocked and amazed that Jake had just spoken that name. “Don’t even speak that Chinese bastard’s name in my establishment.”
“You own this place?”
“I own this whole block, from the tattoo parlor on one end to the foot fish shop on the other end, including both massage parlors and the chicken shack.”
“And the heroin business.”
“Hell no. I might deal some out to special clients, but my uncle runs that business in town.”
Jake stared into the business owner’s eyes. Something told him to trust this person. “I don’t really need heroin,” he admitted.
“No kidding.”
“I need a couple of guns.”
Chantrea laughed. “Honey, that’s a totally different drink. Why didn’t you say that from the beginning?”
“You don’t want to know why I need the guns?” he asked.
“Only if you think you can rob me.”
“Is that the major crime in Cambodia?”
“Yes, sir. Robbery murder. They’ll rob you for your damn Vespa around here. But the weapon of choice is the knife or the machete. Not guns.”
“What about General Wu Gang?” Alexandra finally said.
“She can speak,” Chantrea said. “By the way, I love your attempt at a German accent.”
“She’s Austrian,” Jake assured her.
“Same same.”
“But different.” Jake smiled.
“Different in a different way.” Chantrea considered Jake more seriously now. “What’s your fascination with the Chinese general?”
How much should Jake say? Only as much as needed to reach his goal. “The general murdered a friend of mine.” It was a close enough lie to be credible.
“And the two of you want guns so you can go kill him?” Chantrea gave Jake a curious smirk. “You look like you could kill that general with your bare hands.”
“Only if I can get close enough,” Jake agreed. “And sometimes that requires guns. Besides, I just want to talk with the man.”
“The gun laws in Cambodia are not favorable to foreigners. If you get caught with them, you might as well start learning the language soon. Because you will never get out of our jails. Plus, the food sucks. There’s no air con. Huge rats. And they will want to have their way with you. Your girlfriend will be raped multiple times before she even gets her prison clothes issued.”
Jake waved his hand. “That’s no concern of yours. Can you get me a couple of guns? Preferably Glock nines with extra magazines.”
“Not the forty cal versions?”
“No. I’ll go for the extra rounds and make each shot count. Besides, like I said, it’s only for insurance.”
She reached over on her desk and then stood up and fixed her dress down her hips again.
When the door opened, the two men entered and closed the door behind them.
“What if I told you my uncle works for the general?” Chantrea asked.
Jake and Alexandra got to their feet. He shifted his head toward the men at the door. “That would mean you also work for the general.”
“You should have sold us the guns,” Alexandra said to Chantrea.
“Why is that?” Chantrea asked.
Jake casually started to leave, moving in close to the two guards. When they didn’t part for him, Jake went through a quick progression of kicks and punches and elbows and knees, taking out both of the Cambodian guards without either man landing a single blow to Jake.
Chantrea started to reach for something behind her desk, but Alexandra was too fast, grabbing and twisting her arm behind the performer’s nice blue dress.
“This is a big mistake,” Chantrea said.
By now Jake had gotten both guns and four extra magazines from the guards. “Gen four Glock 17s,” Jake said to Alexandra.
“Nice. Now, can we get the hell out of here?”
Jake started for the door, but he stopped and turned toward Chantrea. “You didn’t seem to like the general. Why do you care what happens to him?”
“Because my other uncle happens to run the police department.”
Great. Now this same same but different lady boy would have both sides of the law after him.
Alexandra punched Chantrea in the mouth, knocking her out and probably keeping her from performing for a while until the bruise sank.
Then Jake and Alexandra walked out with purpose, catching a tuk tuk out front. When the driver asked for a direction, Jake had the man go to their current hotel. They grabbed their bags in a hurry and jumped into another tuk tuk. They did this, changing tuk tuks, a few times until they finally got out and walked the last two blocks to the only five-star hotel in Siem Reap.
21
Jake and Alexandra checked into the five-star hotel along a quiet river on the road to Angkor Wat. He used a Eurocard that matched his Austrian passport, linked to a bogus Innsbruck address that would have been right in the middle of the Inn River.
When they got to their room, Jake pulled everything out of his backpack and assessed the value of every item. Not a single item could not be easily replaced. The electronics were tools with no real value to him. He had already uploaded everything from his laptop to his secure server and then scrubbed the hard drive. The machine was now nothing more than a boat anchor. But instead of leaving it intact, he smashed it against the tile floor. Then he filled the bathtub. As it filled, he ripped the cord from a lamp and brought it to the bathroom. Then he threw all of his electronics, except for his secure cell phone, into the bath water. Alexandra had done the same thing with all of her electrical equipment. Then Jake plugged the old lamp cord into and outlet and threw the hot wire into the bathtub, bringing a nice display of sparks as the electrical boards fried.
The two of them went back into the bedroom area and looked over their clothes, most of which were dirty. They both found remaining black items and put them on.
“I hate to leave these shoes behind,” Alexandra said to Jake as she clutched a pair of nice black pumps.
“When this is done, I’ll buy you anything you want,” he said. “Jenkins will pay the expense.”