Off the Edge (The Associates) (11 page)

Niwat came up next to her. He wore a dark red turtleneck and his jet black hair was parted severely on the side. “Are you all right?” he asked quietly.

“No,” she whispered. “I mean, he didn’t attack me or anything,” she said when she realized what Niwat meant. “Fooled me is all.”

Niwat held out his hand. “May I?”

“Oh.” She let him have her gun.

Rajini burst in, hair up, makeup off. “Laney!” She flung an arm around her. “Honey!” she said. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.”

Dok strolled to the far end of the room to where Maxwell knelt and said something she couldn’t hear. Maxwell simply stared at the ceiling, bored. Too cool for all this nonsense.

Outrage welled up in Laney’s breast when one of the guards going through Maxwell’s clothes pulled out a gun and set it on her desk. Stupid to feel upset about that after what he’d said about guns, as if they had some pact of truth that transcended everything. Another gun was set out, complete with holster. And another.

“
Three
guns? Really?” Her voice sounded high. Hysterical. “For somebody with nothing to say. A dullard who works for Rolly.”

He finally looked at her, expression hard and remote as he was pulled to his feet, barely phased by the fact that he was naked and surrounded by five heavily-armed men. She was phased by it. She wished somebody would cover him so she wouldn’t have to see his cock, like a bouncing taunt every time he moved.
I fucked you and you loved it.

Dok was in his face, mumbling questions she couldn’t hear, questions that Maxwell didn’t care to answer, apparently. Maybe he knew when he was beaten. He seemed to have stopped bleeding, at least.

“Rolly knows,” she said to Rajini. “Maybe it really was Harken who I saw in the restaurant.”

“It wasn’t,” Rajini said. “You’re okay.”

“How can you say that? It’s over. I have to get out of here. Y’all have done so much—” she waved at the team of thugs. “I’m more grateful than you’ll ever know.”

“You can’t leave,” Niwat said.

Rajini hugged her closer. “We won’t let you,” she whispered. “We’re here to keep you safe.”

“I have to.”

Niwat studied her face. Softly he said, “He may not have made his report to Rolly.”

“He made a call. He could’ve sent an email. He could have partners.” Her eyes blurred with tears. “I’ve been found.”

Niwat called for Dok to bring over Maxwell’s phone, along with her laptop. “Check your last sent emails,” he instructed.

She took the laptop, sat on the bed, and checked. Nothing had gone out.

“The last call he made was hours ago, to a local cell,” Niwat said, pocketing the man’s phone. “Nothing to the U.S. for three days.” The guards had Maxwell lying face down on the floor now.

She kept her voice low. “It doesn’t matter. Police will let him have a phone call and he’ll call Rolly.”

Dok Shinsurin brought over the man’s wallet. He pocketed money and credit cards. Then he pulled out a business card and held it up, smirking.
Peter Maxwell, Ph.D., Bangkok International University.
He crumpled it and threw it aside. “Fake.”

“Don’t let him separate you from the herd,” Niwat said quietly.

“I agree. He hasn’t made contact with Rolly,” Rajini whispered. “Running now would be the worst thing you could do.”

“I’m putting y’all in danger,” Laney said. “He was probably trying to figure out what name I’m going by and who’s helping me and all that. He’s going to tell Rolly.”

“Do you trust us?” Niwat asked.

“Of course.” She glanced at Rajini. It was Rajini she trusted.

“Let us deal with this,” Niwat said.

Panic flared in her belly. “I don’t want anybody hurt. So if that’s what you mean…”

“Agreed.” Rajini put her arm around her, eyeing Niwat. “That’s a non-negotiable.”

Niwat grunted and signaled at the guards, who pulled Maxwell up from the floor and walked him past, cuffed and at gunpoint. Maxwell didn’t so much as look her way.

Rajini closed the door after them.

“Wait—where’re they taking him?” Laney asked.

“We’re going to keep him here as a guest.” Niwat said calmly. “We’ll learn what Rolly knows.”

Laney shook her head. She didn’t like any of it. “No.”

“This is a business situation,” Niwat continued. “For a price, this investigator can be persuaded that it was not you he saw. And if we learn Rolly has your location, we’ll set you up with a new identity and money. But it must be done correctly, Laney. Tell me everything that happened.”

Her face went red.

“Of relevance,” Rajini said.

She told them the G-rated version of the story, all the way up until she caught him going through her laptop. “He was copying something onto that thumb drive thingy.”

“Did we get it?” Niwat asked.

Dok fished in his pocket and tossed the thumb drive to Niwat, who grabbed her laptop and settled onto the bed.

“A guest? You won’t take him to the police?” Laney asked.

Niwat looked up. “Do you want us to take him to the police? We would if you wanted.”

“I don’t want him reporting back to Rolly,” she said. “But you can’t keep him against his will.”

Dok said, “We could hand him to the police and the police will hold him against his will.
And
let him call Rolly. Would you like that?”

“Stop it, Dok.” Niwat hit a few keys. “This is simple business, Laney. We offer him something better than what Rolly provided. Everyone has a price.”

Rajini said, “It’s a win-win. Even for this guy.”

“I don’t know,” Laney said.

Rajini whispered, “All he wants is a payday. He’ll make extra money and not have to wreck a woman’s life. He’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.”

It made sense, put like that. “I don’t want him hurt. And I shot him. Just grazed, but it should be looked at.”

“He’ll have the best care,” Dok said.

Assurances from Dok. Never satisfying. She pointed at the screen. “The recording from the show. That’s all he downloaded. Maybe he wanted the recordings from the show tonight as proof. Rolly would recognize my singing.”

“Hmm,” Niwat said. “Yes. To bring back to Rolly. I didn’t realize you were still making the recordings. No more for now. No more recording of any kind.”

Her pulse raced. “Maybe I should leave while I can. I don’t want a shitstorm here. Y’all’ve been such a family to me—”

“Laney,” Rajini said. “This is not a problem.”

“No problem,” Niwat added.

“Whatever you pay him, I’ll pay you back. I’ll find a way.”

Niwat closed the laptop and stood. “We’ll work it all out.”

Rajini stayed on after her brothers left. “Are you okay?”

Laney looked at the closed door. “Five guys armed to the teeth for one naked man? What do they think he’ll do?”

Rajini rolled her eyes. “God, my brothers. They just love to parade around their guys and their guns. It’s a black market thing. Show of strength. They wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“You sure?”

“That would make them no better than Rolly, wouldn’t it?” Rajini said. “C’mon, what really happened?”

“Nothing. I mean it was nice until—” she motioned at the little table where he’d sat, raiding her laptop. “He seemed so…my people. I need to take a shower.”

“Yeah, you wash him off you. I’m making tea.” Rajini was a big believer in tea.

The shower felt good, and when Laney came out, Rajini was sitting in her usual seat with two steaming mugs of tea at the ready. “I’m so freaked out,” Laney said, taking her seat. “Maybe I should leave.”

“If worse comes to worse, we’ll hide you. There’s a lot of places to hide a person in a hotel. Especially this one.” Rajini dunked her teabag up and down. “So, one second you’re doing your show, and suddenly you’re at the night bazaar buying books? And then…”

“Yup.”

“Back here.”

“Yup.”

Rajini raised her brows like she did when she wanted more details, but Laney didn’t feel like spilling them. God, staying loyal to the feeling that had run between them even after the guy turned out to be Rolly’s. “It’s official. I go for the worst jerks possible. Still…” She looked up. “Where are they keeping him? What will they do?”

“They’ll speak each other’s language, that’s what.” Rajini said. “Business. This is the best thing that could’ve happened to this investigator. More money and he avoids the police.”

“Right but, where do they keep him? In a room? What’s to stop him from leaving? Do they tie him up or what? I just need to know.”

“You need to trust,” Rajini said. “There’s nobody better to be on your side.”

“I want to know what’s happening in the name of protecting me.”

Rajini set down her cup. “I’ll check it out. Okay?”

“Now?”

“Once things settle.”

Laney tried to sleep after Rajini left, but she kept waking up thinking about Rolly and his angular face and angular smile that never seemed happy. Once she woke up with her heart racing, convinced Rolly was right there in her room.

That was the end of sleep. She lay there, listening to muffler-challenged traffic and the night birds and the barking dogs. Folks who’d known her as a young singer back home would be shocked to see her now, half a world away.

They’d be shocked that she’d married a man like Rolly in the first place, no less that she’d let him control her and isolate her for all those years. Well, what people didn’t understand about women who got isolated and hurt by their husbands was that they didn’t just
allow
it. It was more about making a whole passel of little choices toward the path of least resistance. Eventually it was just about not being killed. Her life got smaller and smaller until she was a little animal, paralyzed at the kitchen table.

It was always such a relief when Rolly’s military contractor gigs took him out of town, but even then she didn’t dare step out, especially not toward the end, because he had guys watching her. The FBI agent had given her a burner phone during Rolly’s last out-of-town trip, and she’d searched the house with him directing her around. The agent said Rolly had been involved in a murder of some sort. It had been nerve-wracking, even with Rolly gone. The agent had said Rolly would never know it was her who’d helped the FBI, but she’d always assumed Rolly would find out. Probably already had.

And now Rolly might know where she was. If not, he was close to knowing. Could the Shinsurin brothers really protect her? Could they reason with Maxwell?

The little bedside clock said 3:35 am.

She put on her robe, went out onto the balcony, and gazed at the sky. It was pinkish at the lower edges from the haze of neon, with a crescent moon high above. She hated that Bangkok’s moon was the same moon for Rolly. She felt as if the moon itself was staring at her. Like Rolly was looking through the moon.

She texted Rajini.
Learn anything?

No answer. Rajini had probably crashed.

What the hell. She texted Niwat.
Anything?

He texted right back.
You are safe. Rolly knows 0. No problem. :)

She felt a great gust of relief. Rolly didn’t know.

What about the guy?
She wrote back.

Negotiating. No problem.

No problem, Niwat’s favorite phrase. What did it mean? Were they still in the process of negotiating? Did they have assurances? She put aside her phone.

The whole thing didn’t make sense when she really thought about it. Why go through all the trouble of breaking into her room? If he’d really wanted proof of her being her, hell, just record her show with a phone. Snap her photo. It wasn’t like she got plastic surgery. But then, why else sneak into her computer? And he didn’t deny he was working for Rolly.

She couldn’t stand it anymore. She called Niwat. “What’s happening?”

“He’s contemplating,” Niwat said.

A chill went over her. “So he hasn’t agreed to anything.”

“He will,” Niwat said.

“What if he really teaches at the university?” she asked. “You can’t just detain him.”

“He doesn’t teach at the university,” Niwat said. “We check out these kinds of things. He had three guns, Laney, including one designed to defeat an airport metal detector. This is not a man from the university.”

Niwat had a point there.

“What if he won’t cooperate? Maybe if I spoke to him—”

“You cannot.”

“I think he’d respond to the human element. Whatever money you offered him, maybe I can persuade him on a moral basis. And I’m paying you back by the way. Whatever money…”

“This is now our affair. A man threatened one of our guests.” Niwat’s clipped tone meant business. “I promise you, this type of man does not respond to the human element.”

She stared out at the moon, unsure how to explain that she
did
think he’d respond. They’d connected. That was real—she was sure of it. Maxwell had used their connection. Maybe she could use it to get him on her side. “But it can’t hurt for me to talk to him, right?”

“Leave it to us,” Niwat said firmly. “I’m going to sleep now, and so should you.”

She stared at the phone after he clicked off.

None of this sat right. This was her life. Her business.

“Sorry, Niwat,” she said belatedly to the phone. She threw on some clothes, stuffed her gun into her purse, and wandered down to the lobby.

Her friends Sirikit and Kalaya were behind the desk, full of concern and questions. They’d heard a man was trying to take her laptop. A thief—that was the staff rumor. Good to see the staff grapevine going at full speed.

Sujet the bellboy pushed an empty luggage cart off the elevator and parked it on the other side of the lobby. If anybody knew where they put the man, Sujet would. And Sujet would tell her. They were pals.

She went over. “I know he’s still here. Where would they have put him?”

“Laney…” he shook his head.

“Sujet.” She smiled.

“Well, he’s not in a room, if that’s what you’re asking,” Sujet said. He was proud of being the eyes and ears of the hotel. Five minutes later she’d gotten it out of him: they were holding Maxwell on LL2, the basement under the basement. In the holding cell. Of course.

She’d never actually seen the holding cell, but she’d heard one was down there on the other side of the shooting range. She recalled the Shinsurins catching a group trying to skip out on their bill and holding them down there for the cops. You sure didn’t see American hotels with their own private jails.