Stealing Asia (19 page)

Chapter 5

It was as if the
previous evening had never happened. I could only guess at how Clay had managed
to get back onboard the boat. He continued to flirt and tease me as if I had
never pushed him into the sea at all. There was, however, a detectable change
in his manner. It was barely noticeable, but I could swear that he was nervous.
Whether his anxiety had been triggered by Barrett or something else was
indeterminable. All I knew was that something or someone was making him uneasy
and it was certainly not me.

The morning
passed much as it had done on previous days. After Clay left, I was confined to
my cell until lunch time. All I could think about during this time was Ben. I
wondered where he was and if he was even still alive. My hopes of Esteban
coming to save the day were also diminishing fast. There was a chance that he
could have gone to the authorities. I guessed that we were in international
waters, so there was nothing that the police could do anyway. He could also
have approached the senator directly. That did not bear thinking about for
either Esteban’s wellbeing or my own.

A rumble from my
tummy told me that it was almost time to eat. Would I try and seduce the guard
again? Probably not. I had completely lost the will for that kind of thing. It
now seemed that my best chance for survival would be to co-operate. I had no
more bargaining tricks. I was now at the mercy of whoever was directing Clay
and Barrett’s actions. That could literally have been anyone knowing the number
of enemies that the senator had built up over the years.

There was a
knock on the door. This meant it was Clay, as Barrett would just barge in.

‘Come in,’ I
said, although he knew as well as I, that no permission was required.

He opened the
door, but did not take up my invitation. Barrett was not with him, but he was
flanked by a guard.

‘Time to go,’ he
said.

‘Home?’ I
replied, somewhat optimistically.

‘Not yet,’ he
said. ‘First, we have to attend to business. I know that your father is no rock
star, but you are still worth a considerable amount of money to some people.
It’s time you were introduced to my employer.’

I followed him
along the now familiar corridor towards the control room. The guard remained
behind me, probably with his gun pointed at my backside. Barrett was waiting for
us inside. The guard took up a post outside of the door as Clay and I entered.
I got the impression I was not the only one under supervision. After the
weakness he had already shown around me, I guessed Barrett did not want Clay to
be left alone with me for fear of another mishap.

‘Any funny
business and you get a bullet,’ said Barrett. ‘Do you understand?’

I nodded. He was
sitting at one corner of the control desk with a gun in his lap.

‘I said, DO YOU
UNDERSTAND?’          

This time his
words were like a screwdriver in my ear. Now there is a pleasant image. I
actually saw that once; a screwdriver being jammed into some guy’s ear.
Obviously, not in real life; it was a movie. My world had become so fucked up
over the past week that celluloid was the only basis I had to relate the
experiences I was going through. Being in close proximity to Barrett brought
back a lot of random memories like that. I am sure that he would not hesitate
in sticking a screwdriver in someone’s ear should the opportunity arise.

‘Yes, I
understand,’ I told him. ‘You already took away the only thing that ever meant
anything to me, so why would I even want to escape? If you have to use that gun
on me, it will be because I want you to.’

‘Relax,’ urged
Clay, who looked as if he could do with following his own advice.

He placed his
hand on my shoulder to offer reassurance, but quickly removed it under a mean
glare from his partner. If the pair of them did make any money out of this
venture, it would certainly be interesting to watch them try and come to an
amicable arrangement for dividing their spoils.

There were two
empty chairs by the console and Clay dragged one out of arms reach of the
controls before asking me to sit on it. It had a bare metallic frame. I
expected him to call his boss, but the three of us just sat in silence. In the
corner, a clock was noisily ticking over. As the hands fell into place to
signal that it was one o’clock, the console lit up and began to buzz.

‘Do not speak
unless asked, okay,’ said Clay, before picking up the receiver. Despite the
balance of their alliance being more strongly tipped in Barrett’s favour, Clay
was still the best negotiator. ‘Ocean viper,’ he began, to take the call.

I tried my best
not to let out a giggle, but found it too hard. Clay ignored me whilst Barrett
shifted menacingly in his seat. I knew that he wanted to hit me. At least that
helped me to guess which of them had come up with the ridiculous call sign. As
Clay listened to the person on the other end of the line he played around with
various switches. Speakers above the console burst into life.

‘...giving you
any problems.’

The voice sent a
chill through my bones, but I needed to hear it again to be certain.

‘She’s been no
trouble whatsoever,’ replied Clay, who no longer needed to talk into the
mouthpiece now that the call was on speakerphone.

‘That’s good to
hear. You need to make sure that she does not try anything stupid that could
compromise the mission. If she discovers anything about why she is being held,
she could cause trouble for a lot of people.’

‘Even we don’t
know the answer to that riddle. You’ve been quite adept at keeping us in the
dark. It would be nice to know why she is so important to you.’

He looked back
for my reaction. I gave none.

‘You do not need
to know any more than I have told you already,’ said the voice, through the
speakers. ‘I am not paying you to ask questions.’

‘Maybe you
aren’t paying us enough then.’

I could see
Barrett tense as his partner began to press for a better deal. The two were in
over their heads way more than either could possibly have imagined.

‘The terms are
non-negotiable,’ said the voice.

Clay was more
relaxed than his friend and the more he sensed a challenge, the more he seemed
to like it. His confidence was hopelessly misplaced.

‘Everything is
negotiable,’ he replied. ‘When we agreed to this deal we were not advised that
there were other interested parties. My buddy got a knife in his back because
we were not properly briefed on what to expect.’

‘I take it that
you are referring to Señor Cruz.’

Barrett beat the
palm of his left hand with the fist of his right as he heard the Argentine’s
name mentioned. I had been given little information about the skirmish between
the two, but it was obvious Esteban had come out on top and that Barrett
thought he had a score to settle.

‘So you do know
who he is?’ asked Clay.

‘I know,’ was
the stark reply.

‘So what do you
plan on doing about it? We were paid to be kidnappers not assassins. If we have
to take this guy out, it is going to cost you.’

‘He’s already
been taken care of.’

My stomach
tightened. That was my last hope taken away. Barrett appeared frustrated, but
Clay was undeterred. Whatever plan was ticking away in that head of his was
still on course.

‘Whilst I’m glad
to hear that jerk won’t be bothering us again, it does not change the fact that
you need to up your offer considerably.’

‘Is that so?’

‘Yes, that is
most definitely so. Clearly this girl is more important than you are letting on
and if you are not prepared to tell us why, perhaps we should just ask her.’

I could not
stand being talked about in this way and wanted nothing more than to shrink out
of existence. The direction the conversation was headed made me uncomfortable
and could only serve to make my situation even more dire.

‘Have you spoken
to her?’ asked the voice.

Clay did not
respond, waiting instead for the other man to draw his own conclusions.

‘You have spoken
to her, haven’t you? What did she tell you?’

Clay turned and
offered me a wink to show that he had it all under control. He could not have
been any more wrong.

‘Why don’t you
ask her yourself,’ he replied.

The bottom fell
out of my world. First Ben, then Esteban and finally me; we were all dead.

‘Katherine is
there,’ the voice bellowed. ‘Are you telling me she has been sat listening to
this entire conversation?’

Barrett
descended into greater confusion than was normal even for him.

‘Who’s
Katherine?’ the big man asked, hopelessly.

Clay pushed his
chair back and gestured for me to take the mike.

‘Yes, I’ve been
here the whole time. I always knew you were scum, but to have your own
stepdaughter kidnapped is beyond anything I ever feared possible. This is just
some pathetic attempt at publicity, isn’t it? I bet I’m on the front page of
every newspaper, whilst you do your best to try and secure my release. Just how
many sympathy votes has this little stunt bought you, Mr Senator?’

Barrett rose to
his feet and he wanted blood. Shame for him he was yet to figure out just
who’s. Clay, meanwhile, seemed happy to sit back and watch events play out. He
was definitely up to something, but I could not for the life of me figure out
what.

‘You should have
done as you were told,’ said the senator. ‘The Peace Corps could have made
something of you. By turning your back on my offer of salvation, you have truly
damned yourself. I see no reason why I should not speed you on your way to
Hell.’

‘What exactly
are you saying, Senator Cole?’ asked Clay, who seemed to take delight in
speaking the title of his criminal employer.

‘Kill her,’
replied the senator. ‘If she comes back to me in a body bag, I will gladly
double your wages.’

‘You bastard!’ I
screamed.

I reached out to
the speakers and wanted to rip them apart. Barrett stepped forward and pulled
me away, shoving me back into my chair in the process. The force at which I
landed caused it to topple over, sending me crashing to the floor. As he moved
in to finish me off, I grabbed hold of the back of the chair and swung it
around catching him hard on his left temple. I half expected the chair to
buckle under the impact, but it kept its shape and Barrett crumbled limply to
the floor.

‘Wait,’ began
Clay, but I did not give him a chance to try and sweet talk his way out of this
one.

My fate was
sealed unless I acted fast. I flung the chair at him before looking around for
a better weapon. Barrett’s pistol was stuffed into the back of his belt and I
grabbed it before turning to face Clay once more. He had managed to deflect the
impact of the chair, but was not close enough to try and take the pistol from
me.

‘What’s going
on?’ demanded the senator, through the loudspeaker.

I had heard
enough of his voice and put a bullet into the speaker. It exploded in a burst
of blue sparks. As I pointed the gun back at Clay, the broken speaker hissed in
the background like a wounded snake.

‘You shouldn’t
have done that,’ said Clay.

The noise of the
weapon discharging alerted the sentinel who had been waiting outside. The guard
reached for his own handgun when he saw me, but Clay put up his hands to stop
him. There was a brief exchange in a tongue that I did not understand and then
the guard backed down and even stepped back out of the room, closing the door
behind him. I kept my gun trained on Clay the whole time.

‘What’s
happening?’ I demanded.

‘You have to
trust me,’ he replied. ‘This is not what you think. You can still make it out
of here alive, but you will have to do exactly as I say.’

‘Do you think
I’m crazy?’

‘I think that
you’re scared, but you shouldn’t be. Just put down the gun and I can help you.
I can get you reunited with Ben within the hour.’

‘So you are
going to kill me?’

I stroked the
trigger, having to exercise extreme self restraint not to squeeze it again.

‘Ben isn’t dead.
He’s safe and I promise that you will be too. First, you have to give me the
gun.’

I wanted to
believe him.

‘You’re lying. I
saw Barrett throw Ben into the sea. Nobody could survive in those waters alone
at night.’

‘I did,’ he
replied, ‘and so did Ben. I guess he has your lucky charm to thank for that.’

Was he referring
to my locket? I made sure nobody saw me place it in Ben’s pocket and Clay was
already overboard at that point. If he knew about the locket then he had to be
telling the truth. Ben really was alive. There was something else too. He had
called the senator by his name, a fact that he should not have been aware of.
Could Clay really be on my side? I slowly lowered the gun.

‘Now give it to
me,’ said Clay.

All I could
think about was seeing Ben again, so without thinking, I placed the weapon on
the ground and then kicked it towards him. He caught it under his foot before
stooping down to pick it up. He let out a sigh of relief and I thought that
just maybe, I had done the right thing. Then without warning, his demeanour
changed. There was a flash of aggression across his face and he raised the gun
in my direction. This time he was not merely pointing it at my tits. I was
given no time to react as the sound of the ejected bullet exploded into the
air.

Part 4

Conclusion

It was good to see
Esteban again. After being cast adrift in the open ocean, I thought I was a
goner for sure. The water had been close to freezing and it would not have
taken long for hypothermia to set in. I discovered that it was thanks to Asia
that I was found at all. Esteban said that he had planted a tracking device
inside of her locket. Without that signal giving away my position, I would not
have stood a chance.

Esteban had many
questions for me; almost as many as I had for him. Once I told him everything I
could remember about the pirate’s boat, he said he was going to attempt a
rescue right away. Five minutes later and he was back in my cabin followed
closely by Manu, who held a gun to his back. Forty eight hours earlier this
would have shocked me, but by this point, I had become numb to such
occurrences. After all, what was one more double-cross between friends?

‘What did he
offer you,’ asked Esteban, ‘a cut of the ransom money?’

‘You have it the
wrong way round,’ replied Manu. ‘It was I that made the offer to him. I let him
go so that he can bring us a far greater prize. He is going to deliver the
senator.’

I was already
lost. No senator had been mentioned when I was interrogated by Clay. I wondered
how much Asia knew that she had not told me.

‘Exactly who is
“us”?’ asked Esteban.

‘Surely you’ve
figured it out by now,’ replied Manu. ‘We’ve always been in the background.
Hell, if you hadn’t run down that goon in Penang we may have had to reveal
ourselves sooner. I was literally seconds away from pulling the trigger and
taking him out myself.’

Esteban and Manu
were both in Penang? Whatever was going on, I sensed that I was in way over my
head. I hoped to ride out the conversation without getting involved, but
somehow, I knew that would not be possible. One of them had already
interrogated me and it would not be long before the other did the same.

‘That was no
random street mugging, I take it?’ said Esteban.

Manu nodded and
then glanced to check my reaction. I was dumbfounded and had nothing to say.

‘The suspect did
not hold out for long under interrogation. It was not a straight hit. Somebody
paid him only to scare the girl, but he was under the impression that her surviving
the ordeal was not absolutely necessary. Sadly, he was unable to name who had
hired him. He had been recruited via some unknown intermediary in a bar.
Probably the same man who recruited Clay and Barrett.’

Esteban seemed
to have no trouble understanding what he was being told, but I was still
struggling to come to terms with what was being implied. Spies, hit men; just
what exactly was I involved in here and how did Asia fit into it all?

‘I suppose you
were behind Ben’s little detour when entering Thailand,’ said Esteban.

When Manu
nodded, I was unable to contain my rage.

‘What the fuck,’
I began, moving toward the Frenchman, temporarily oblivious to the fact that he
had a gun.

‘Cool down,’
said Esteban, who restrained me from getting too close to the other man. ‘Anger
will get us nowhere. Our friend here has it all under control.’

‘You should
listen to him,’ added Manu. ‘We tried to keep you out of all of this for your
own safety. Of course, Esteban here decided to take the opposite approach.’

Manu’s sarcasm
suggested that tensions were beginning to ease. I thought it was time that I
finally got some answers of my own.

‘Who are you
people?’ I asked. ‘Are you spies?’

The question
seemed to border on the absurd and I could hardly believe that I had given it a
voice, but I had already encountered kidnappers and pirates on this trip, so
why not spies? Esteban was the first to give me a straight answer.

‘After leaving
the military, I decided to take up a career providing freelance security to
anybody that could afford my services. I was hired by a US senator named George
Cole to watch over his daughter; Katherine Cole. My brief was simply to ensure
that she came to no harm. Unfortunately, I failed.’

‘Who’s
Katherine?’ I asked, but the answer was already within me, all I needed was
clarification.

The silence that
followed from both men gave me that clarification.

‘Why did she lie
to me?’ I asked. ‘Have I been played for a fool the whole time?’

‘She lied
because she cares for you,’ said Esteban. ‘Trust me; this girl’s feelings for
you are genuine.’

‘What about
him?’ I asked, pointing to Manu. ‘What has he got to do with all of this?’

‘Him,’ replied
Esteban, as if the Frenchman was of no consequence. ‘He’s with the CIA.’

Manu smiled.

‘Top marks go to
Señor Cruz. I wondered when you were going to get there. Tell me, when did you
finally figure it out?’

‘Not as soon as
I should have,’ replied Esteban. ‘It was your cover story that gave you away.
Greenpeace would never be so careless as to let ex-French military into their
organisation. Only the CIA would make such an oversight; don’t you people
remember the
Rainbow Warrior
?’

Manu’s smile
vanished.

‘That would mean
that you already knew who I was when...’

‘...I gave you
the gun,’ finished Esteban.

The Argentine
leapt from his seat and with lightning speed he grabbed Manu by the arm,
twisting it around until he had him pinned against the wall. The other man
struggled, but Esteban’s hold was too strong.

‘Enough of these
games,’ he said. ‘What is Clay going to do now that you’ve sent him back to the
boat?’

‘I already told
you,’ replied Manu. ‘He is going to bring us the senator. Those idiots had no
idea what they have been holding on to. We are sure that it was Senator Cole
who hired them. The whole thing is a pathetic effort to try and improve his
approval rating. Until now, we have not been able to get any evidence against
him. Even we cannot tap a senator’s phone. The last thing anybody wants is
another Watergate.’

‘And you
seriously think that Clay can get you that evidence. He did not even know who
he was working for until you told him. He answers to an intermediary; this
trail is dead.’

‘Not
necessarily,’ said Manu. ‘Since you contacted the senator, you have him
spooked. He is going to want to end this swiftly. I told Clay to request to
speak to the man at the top and we think that the senator may just be desperate
enough to take the bait.’

‘And what then?
Clay is no negotiator.’

‘He does not
need to be. All he has to do is record the conversation. Voice recognition
software will do the rest.’

Esteban seemed
satisfied with what he had heard, but I thought that they were both missing a
far greater issue.

‘What about
Asia?’ I asked.

‘A team is
waiting to move in as we speak,’ replied Manu. ‘Once Clay gives the signal they
will secure the vessel. We do not anticipate any collateral damage.’

Collateral
damage; even I knew that the term was simply political spiel for civilian
casualties. The bastards did not care about Asia or any of the other hostages
at all.

Esteban released
his grip and allowed Manu to take a seat next to me. Despite their actions
pointing to the contrary, I did not think that either man bore the other any
bad blood. To them, this was all just a game. A game, I sensed that they had
both played many times before. I followed Esteban as he went out onto the deck.
It was still dark and I wondered if a distant speck of light on the horizon was
where Asia was.

‘So what now?’ I
asked.

When Esteban did
not reply, I pressed him again.

‘Are you still
going to go after them? I mean, you’ve come all this way, you cannot just let
the CIA come in and take over.’

‘It’s not my
fight,’ he replied.

‘Not your
fight!’ I could not believe what I was hearing. ‘How is this not your fight? I
thought that you were some sort of professional. You were hired to take care of
Asia, so I do not see how you can just sit back and let a gung ho group of
macho idiots swoop in and probably end up killing everyone.’

He turned his
back to me, but in the still night air, I could clearly hear what he had to
say.

‘The man who
hired me is nothing more than a criminal. This whole thing was a set-up from
the beginning. It was never really intended for me to protect Asia. I was
nothing more than a scapegoat. My mission ended long ago.’

‘That is
bullshit and you know it. What about the time we all spent together on the
beach? Aren’t we your friends?’

He knew I was
not going to back down, so he gestured for me to take a seat. I preferred to
remain standing and ignored his offer.

‘In 1985 the
flagship of the Green Peace fleet was blown up and sunk in Auckland harbour.
The attack was in retaliation to the organisation’s opposition to nuclear
testing being carried out by the French in the South Pacific. Two innocent
lives were lost when the ship went down. A pair of French agents were tried for
the crime and sent to prison. After serving just part of their sentences they
were released home to France where they received a hero’s welcome.’

‘Why are you
telling me this?’ I asked.

‘The name of the
ship that was sunk was the
Rainbow Warrior
. Manu may not know his
history, but I do. France and New Zealand are political allies, but that still
does not stop their Governments from acting against one another if it is in
their interest to do so. In politics, there is no right or wrong and morality
has no part in it. I do what I do out of necessity, not valour. You should not
put your hopes in a man like me. When judged in relation to my enemies, I may
seem righteous, but if judged by my deeds, I am no better than anybody else who
lives by the gun.’

‘So that is it
then?’

He turned and
walked away. I did not go after him. All that was left for me was to wait and
hope that the CIA knew what they were doing. I wondered if Asia may not be
better off staying with the pirates.

***

The rest of the
night passed without incident. It was assumed Clay would make it safely back to
his vessel, but we had no way of knowing for sure. Manu had cut the deal
quickly and under pressure. After laying down the terms, he set Clay loose on a
raft powered by an outboard motor, and gave him a GPS to find his way back to
the ship. Even if he made it, we were relying on Barrett buying a bogus cover
story for how his partner was rescued and came about the raft.

The following
morning, the captured Thai was interrogated separately by both Esteban and
agent French, as Manu now called himself. I assumed the name was his idea of a
joke. He had at least dropped the clumsy Gallic accent and was now speaking in
what I could only describe as a west coast drawl. He sounded so much like Clay
that I wondered if the two of them were actually in collusion and playing us
all for fools.

Shortly after
lunch the radio burst into life and we listened intently as events played out
in real time. From what I could gather, the signal had been given and a CIA led
team was intercepting the pirate boat. There was heavy static on the reception,
but I could still make out the sound of gunfire and what Manu pointed out were
flash grenades. Listening to the assault on the pirates was one of the most
terrifying experiences of my life, but to the other two men it seemed no
different to if they were simply listening to the commentary on a football
match.

The fighting
lasted for just a couple of minutes, but each second of it made itself felt,
creating the impression that it had gone on for much longer. It was not the
sound of gunfire that affected me the most or even the intermittent cries for
help. It was the gaps in between. When it comes to human suffering there is
nothing more harrowing than silence.

Esteban, was
like me, now merely an observer. Once the battle was over, we both had to wait
for Manu to give the all clear for us to intercept the now defeated pirate
vessel.

When we caught
up with it, Clay’s boat was being flanked by a much larger military vessel.
Smoke lingered in the air from gas canisters launched by the Americans to
shield their assault. A row of Thai guards knelt at the aft of the boat with
their hands on their heads, whilst two marines watched over them at gunpoint. I
could not see any body bags and hoped that it would stay that way. The two
ringleaders and the hostages were also nowhere to be seen.

Manu threw a
rope to a nearby agent (the CIA could be distinguished from the marines by
their dark glasses) who then secured us to the larger vessel.

‘The threat has
been neutralised, but this boat is now a crime scene,’ said Manu. ‘Stay behind
me at all times and do exactly as I say.’

Esteban and I
followed him down below deck. It was strange returning to the place where I had
been kept hostage. Everything seemed smaller and far less daunting. The biggest
change was in how the place smelled. Before, the air had been filled with sweat
and fear. Now it just smelled industrial and metallic. If I closed my eyes, I
could have been standing in the middle of a steelworks. There was even the
lingering scent of battle amid some parts of the boat. This reminded me of Guy
Fawkes’ night back home. It is strange how sometimes the things that are most alien
to us, evoke the greatest sense of familiarity.

A mixed
gathering of agents and marines were crowding around the cell where the girls
and I had been kept. Each one was lapping up the attention of the grateful
former hostages. This was the room that I was most nervous about seeing again.
Not because of the memories that it brought back, but because I thought that
this time, Asia may be there. She was not. Izzie and Dee were both safe, but I
decided to delay any reunion until I was sure that Asia was okay. Manu led us
deeper into the vessel.