The Assassin on the Bangkok Express Read online

  He rang the hospital several times before she would speak to him, and he asked her out again. Her responses were brusque. She finally agreed to see him briefly, saying she would squeeze him into a half-hour dinner break from work. A week later they ate at a street stall on the Lamphun Road in Chiang Mai’s south-east, on the Ping River not far from her hospital. It was 10 p.m., and her long night shift would finish about 8 a.m. The traffic had subsided to a trickle of motorcycles. The street of stalls was shutting for the night, taking with it the myriad enticing food smells and allowing the odd stench of drains to surface.

  ‘What brings you here?’ she asked. ‘Last time it was something to do with a bank …’

  ‘A rather odious bank,’ he said with a rueful grin.

  ‘Something to do with a body part,’ she commented with a frown.

  ‘Your memory has not been affected by the accident,’ he observed. ‘It was the Handy Nugget Bank.’

  ‘Ah, yes. It had a base here and you were investigating it for your newspaper. Laundered money from drug deals in the Golden Triangle, yes?’

  He nodded, not wanting to expand.

  ‘And now?’

  ‘I’m acting as my paper’s foreign correspondent in the region. I’ll be covering Northern Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and even Vietnam. Maybe Hong Kong and mainland China too.’

  ‘That’s all?’ she asked with a smile as she sipped a soft drink.

  Cavalier looked defensive. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I was being cynical, the way you Australians love.’

  ‘Oh, I see. There is an old pro journo based in Bangkok. We’ll cover the region. I expect he’ll do the big stories; I’ll be left the table scraps.’

  ‘Doesn’t sound like you,’ she remarked with a sceptical grin.

  ‘I’m lucky to have the job. Had to push the paper for it. Paid for my own plane ticket and accommodation to seal the appointment.’

  Cavalier sipped his drink. After a pause, he asked, ‘Are you still with that young doctor?’

  ‘He never qualified, but we married, unfortunately. I left him. We are divorced.’

  ‘Last letter I had said you were pregnant to him.’

  ‘We have a baby. Her name is Far. She’s four years old.’

  ‘What went wrong?’

  Pin seemed reluctant to answer.

  ‘If it’s private .…’ he said, touching her hand.

  She stared for a moment. ‘He was into drugs. I said I’d support him. My first job after graduating was in a hospital in Mae Sot.’

  ‘I know of it: a town on the Burma border. Known for all sorts of intrigue.’

  Pin was silent. She picked at her food before saying:

  ‘He—Kun—is now a big mafia figure there.’

  ‘Hmm. Then you are best rid of him.’

  ‘He has my baby, Far.’

  ‘Oh!’

  ‘When we split, he took Far and would not let me see her. He … he … beat me up. He beat my mother up when she tried to intervene.’ Pin began to cry. ‘I had to escape from him. I left my work in Mae Sot and took a job here. I’ve seen Far three times in the last two years. I worry about her every day.’

  ‘What about the police?’

  ‘Huh! They do nothing. He controls them.’

  Pin pulled back her hair to show him a thin scar running across the top of her forehead.

  ‘Not a beauty queen any more,’ she whispered. She was distressed for several moments before saying: ‘I have thought of you often. I made a mistake in not dumping him for you. But our families wanted the marriage. We were both doing medicine. You were the first farang I ever really knew.’

  ‘You studied medicine for a couple of years in Sydney …’

  ‘Yes, and I was educated at a Catholic girls’ school there for two years before that. But I always knew Asian boys. Not Australians.’

  Pin looked at her watch. ‘Must return to work,’ she said.

  ‘I want to see you again,’ he said.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I enjoy our conversation,’ he said, opening his hands.

  ‘I’m really not ready for a relationship at the moment. The other stuff is still …’

  ‘Raw?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I just want you as a friend.’

  Pin scrutinised his expression for several seconds, and said finally: ‘All right, friends.’

  *

  The next day Cavalier flew to Rangoon, to interview a young and beautiful Burmese political activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, whom he had first met in London a few years earlier. Her main aim in life, she told him, was to bring democracy to her country. His paper was at first reluctant to take the story because the woman was not well known, but the editor liked the accompanying photographs. It was accepted and buried in the paper’s weekend magazine.

  On his return, Cavalier made contact with Pin and invited her to his humble hovel off the Chiang Mai Land Road. His apartment was narrow like a tramcar, with a small lounge, a bathroom and bedroom. He prepared an evening meal of chicken and mixed vegetables on her Monday night off work. They sat at table in a tiny courtyard off the bedroom.

  ‘More like a court-inch,’ she said glancing around at the close walls.

  As they drank a French Chablis, the first rain in three weeks rapped on the canvas awning covering half the small patio. He refilled her glass.

  ‘You can’t ride your bike home in this,’ he said.

  ‘It will pass.’

  He leant across and kissed her on the cheek. She ignored the gesture.

  ‘How long are you here this time?’ she asked.

  ‘A few months. Then the paper will review my position.’

  ‘Have you a wife, or girlfriend?’

  Cavalier shook his head.

  ‘Why not? You must be nearly thirty …’

  ‘Commitment is not easy for me.’

  Pin looked at him sceptically. ‘C’mon,’ she said, ‘you’ve been having too good a time, no?’

  ‘My work has prevented me settling anywhere. I am always off on an assignment.’

  ‘You are a proactive type. If you want a wife and family, I am sure you would pursue it.’

  ‘I do want a family.’

  ‘Then what stops you?’

  ‘You.’

  Cavalier held his glass up to her.

  ‘What?’ she asked.

  ‘After we first met on that trip to the Golden Triangle, I …’ He stopped speaking, waving a hand as if she couldn’t be interested.

  ‘Tell me.’

  ‘I knew you were engaged. I knew I had no chance. You were a gold standard. If I couldn’t have you, I wanted someone like you in my life. I’ve not met anyone like you.’

  Pin half smiled, half winced. ‘A fantasy!’ she said. ‘I am driven; very selfish!’

  ‘Yes, true, you are a fantasy.’ He leaned towards her again and kissed her briefly on the lips. She looked at him, more interested in his words than his advance.

  ‘You would have proposed?’ she challenged him.

  ‘Well, I …’

  ‘You see! All sweet talk!’

  ‘Stay and I’ll show you.’

  ‘Oh, please! Sex is not love.’

  ‘It can be a good part of it.’

  ‘I need to be home.’

  ‘It’s still raining.’

  ‘I have a headache.’

  ‘The wine?’

  ‘No, it’s good.’

  ‘In Australia, if a woman says she has a headache, it means she wants to make love.’

  She frowned. ‘I thought …’ she began, and noticed his slight smile. ‘Ah,’ she said, ‘you are joking, right?’

  ‘No. You should try it.’

  They moved into the bedroom.

  ‘Seriously, have you something for a headache?’

  Cavalier searched for an aspirin in the bathroom, while Pin lay on the double bed.

  ‘Please, try to sleep,’ he said, returning with a tablet and glass of
water. She swallowed it. He switched off the light, shed his clothes except underpants, and lay on his back beside her. He heard the steady tempo of her breathing, registering sleep. Cavalier studied her face. He did not think he’d ever encountered anyone with her appearance, which he considered more attractive and character-driven than classic beauty. The large, sweeping eyes, nose with a notch of imperfection and overgenerous full lips were enhanced in her repose, a sort of divine tranquillity, which belied the frenetic energy of her conscious state.

  After a few minutes of contemplation, he too was dozing. A few hours later she rolled over and draped an arm over him. Cavalier turned to Pin and kissed her. She responded. He kissed her ear. Her reaction was strong and they were soon coupling with passion.

  *

  Cavalier allowed himself few blissful moments in life. This was one of them. Here was a stunning woman, who only a few years earlier he had fallen for but accepted as unattainable. Now she was available and making feverish love to him. And that fervour had an added dimension. He had not had sex with such an aroused partner.

  ‘Thank you,’ she whispered in his ear.

  Cavalier smiled. She was thanking him for the best love-making he’d ever experienced. No woman had ever said that to him after sex.

  ‘Oh, and thank you,’ he said.

  ‘Did you come?’

  ‘Twice,’ he said. He did not say, but later told his diary he had been more intent on pleasing Pin than himself.

  ‘I have multiple orgasms …’ she said.

  ‘I noticed.’

  ‘I’m sorry …’

  ‘Please don’t apologise,’ he smiled, kissing her on the cheek.

  ‘Can you cope?’ she asked, running a finger around his face and lingering on his nose.

  ‘Have I?’

  Pin kissed him. ‘I’m demanding,’ she said in a warning tone.

  ‘I am not complaining. I enjoy it; every wet and sweet moment of it.’

  Pin smiled. ‘You should know that I am mad,’ she said. ‘Mad?’

  ‘I may be bipolar.’

  ‘Bi-what?’

  ‘Not bisexual, bi-polar. It’s a medical term more usually known as manic depression.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘I’m reading more and more studies about it. Some research says those with a bipolar condition have an abnormally high sex drive.’

  ‘I see,’ he said, smiling and sitting up on one elbow. ‘So I should comb the nut-houses for the best lovers?’

  Pin laughed.

  ‘Perhaps,’ she said, ‘but in my case, I may be simply highly sexed.’

  ‘So you can’t live without lots of …’

  ‘No, that’s not the case, at least with me. I have not had sex with a partner since the debacle with my ex. One must feel something strong. It’s all in the “feeling”. That triggers the desires and action.’

  ‘Pleased to hear that. Have you a problem or not?’

  ‘I’ve studied it. Feel like writing a dissertation. I do have the mood swings, which is a key determinate. But mostly I am fairly even-tempered.’ She looked at him and smiled. ‘Not quite as laid-back as you, but not hysterical either.’

  ‘So it could be that you are just “hot” when turned on?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘I didn’t use a condom …’

  ‘I’m on the pill.’

  ‘Not worried about disease, Doctor?’

  ‘Are you carrying something?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then don’t worry. I recall how you were when we first met.’

  ‘How was I?’

  ‘You didn’t play around. You didn’t do the bars down the road here. I never saw you with a bar girl, or any woman for that matter.’ She paused to kiss him. ‘I apologise. I should have asked for a condom.’

  ‘I have one in my wallet. Have ever since I was fifteen.’

  ‘Same one?’

  Cavalier laughed.

  ‘You were very serious about your work in those days,’ she said.

  ‘I had an assignment that needed all my concentration.’

  ‘You never told me what it was about.’

  ‘I can’t discuss it.’

  ‘Can’t or won’t?’

  ‘Both.’

  ‘Not sure I like hearing you have secrets. My ex now is a small-time crim. He had plenty of things he hid from me.’

  ‘There are some matters I just can’t discuss.’

  ‘So, what I see is not what I get?’

  Cavalier smiled, but did not reply. He kissed her tenderly.

  ‘So?’ she said.

  ‘Right now,’ he said seductively, ‘what you see is what you get.’

  3

  THE PROBLEM

  Cavalier volunteered to do a blood test at her hospital. It was clear. She rang to let him know the result.

  ‘It suggests that you still don’t play around,’ she observed, ‘although I worry about that lonely condom in your wallet.’

  ‘Just precaution.’

  ‘For what?’

  Cavalier didn’t answer.

  ‘If you are going to date me,’ she said, ‘you won’t need it.’

  ‘Are we going to date?’

  ‘That’s up to you. I would like to. You are a beautiful lover. You care about my feelings. You have compassion. That, and your smile, is what I remember about you when we first met. Oh, and you have eyes like the actor Michael Caine.’

  ‘I’m more than pleased you’ve changed your mind,’ he said in a surprised tone.

  ‘I was against any new involvement. But you’ve come along. It’s timing. I have buried myself in my work for too long because of what happened.’ She touched his face tenderly. ‘You’ve made me feel good about myself again.’

  *

  Cavalier urged Pin to take days off rather than store them up for some future, unspecified leave that she wasn’t sure she could take anyway. He hired a small plane and flew her over the mountains north to Chiang Rai for a weekend. Cavalier drove her to the Temple of the Golden Mountain—Wat Phra That Doi Kham—for a day’s outing. They dined together twice a week and he took her to a jazz club and the movie Body Heat. Their emotional involvement grew. Pin disclosed more about the major issue over her ex and his hold over their daughter.

  ‘He sounds very bad,’ Cavalier said.

  ‘I’d like to see him dead! I really would! I worry so much about my daughter. Some of his friends are deviant, drunken types. I fear for her.’

  They sat in silence as the bar began to fill with patrons, mainly foreigners on holiday. The walls featured prints of Picasso’s late ‘erotic’ period of sketches of people coupling. Staff dressed in colourful uniforms, the women in short skirts and high heels.

  ‘I shouldn’t say this,’ Pin said, lowering her voice and glancing around to see if anyone was in earshot. ‘My mother’s best friend has some mafia connections, who think my ex has gone too far.’

  ‘Meaning?’

  ‘Meaning they have asked her if she wished to do something about it.’

  ‘What?’

  Pin looked nervous. ‘I shouldn’t have told you,’ she said.

  ‘You’re hinting you want him dealt with using the Mae Sot mafia?’

  Her lack of denial seemed to affirm his suspicion.

  ‘I truly hate him,’ she said.

  ‘You said you wanted him dead …’

  ‘I mean it.’

  Cavalier believed she was serious.

  ‘He will murder someone in my family if we don’t do something—my mother, me or my baby.’ She began to cry again. He comforted her.

  ‘If you instigate this,’ he said softly, ‘suspicion is sure to fall on you and your family.’ Pin looked down. ‘You said the police were in his pocket …’

  ‘The ones in No Man’s Land between Burma and Thailand at Mae Sot are. It’s where my family home is.’

  ‘You couldn’t go higher, to the province’s chief?’

  ‘You don�
��t understand. No one would support me.’

  ‘You’re a respected doctor.’

  ‘I am a woman! I am not a local. My ex is.’

  Cavalier nodded understandingly. ‘What about your Hippocratic Oath to save lives, not destroy them?’

  Pin shook her head. ‘You don’t grasp how desperate I and my family are over this,’ she said, her voice now a hoarse whisper.

  ‘Your eliminating him can’t be the solution.’ Cavalier touched her arm and kissed her on the cheek. ‘You would risk so much.’ He gently lifted her chin so that she looked him in the eye. ‘I will help you try to find a better way.’

  *

  The relationship continued for several months; Cavalier flew to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Cambodia for stories while Pin worked her long hours at the hospital. He was in Phnom Penh when he had a call from her.

  ‘I’m pregnant,’ she said.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m pregnant,’ she repeated. ‘I have been on the pill. Sometimes I forget to take it.’ Cavalier was stunned and silent. ‘I know, don’t say it. I’m a very bad doctor.’

  ‘I am not thinking that at all.’

  ‘What are you thinking?’

  ‘We must talk.’

  ‘No time. I am going to Mae Sot in two days. Taking a couple of days off.’

  ‘I’m coming with you.’

  *

  Cavalier rode his motorcycle to a rough airfield a kilometre from Chiang Mai airport. There was a shed for a hangar that housed four Cessna planes. Cavalier met the owner, a forty-five-year-old American Vietnam War veteran who ran the small business. Cavalier took a one-engine Cessna for a half-hour flight around Chiang Mai, then asked the owner if it could be delivered to the airfield at Mae Sot.

  ‘When?’ the owner asked. ‘I have four planes on hire and they are in demand.’

  ‘Can I give you notice?’

  ‘Sure. I’ll need twenty-four hours.’

  *

  The continuing bad weather coming down from China had sent January temperatures dipping to under ten degrees Celsius for the six-hour, 450-kilometre bus ride over the mountains due south of Chiang Mai and the town of Mae Sot on the river border with Burma.

  Pin took her doll Serena, fully restored and cleaned up, out of a bag and placed it on the seat between them. It was dressed in expensive-looking clothes and had a special hairdo.

  ‘What is this?’