Cockatoo Pt. 36

'No, he has hired a boat on the river. It's an old sugar barge turned into a club and restaurant. Very nice. He has hired the whole boat.'

'What happens at these parties, Dao?'

'There will be drinks, some entertainment. Traditional Thai dancing this time. Then dinner and more entertainment.'

'Dao, why did Kritsada ask me to do this?'

She paused, looked at me, then glanced away. 'I don't know why. He just tell me to get everything set up. I didn't ask why, not my place. It will be nice evening, I think. Now I have to go to office, things to do. Car will take you wherever you want to go. I see you tomorrow at ten.'

I watched her as she left and wondered why she had lied.

***

Nin and I finished our lunch and asked the car to take us back to the hotel. I had a massage in the hotel spa and left Nin finishing up some of the project work that we had frankly neglected the past few days. My phone rang and without thinking I answered it, only to hear Jandaeng's drawling voice. 'I want to meet tonight.' I felt the anger rise, and I snapped back.

'What if I don't want to?'

There was a pause, I honestly don't think he expected me to pushback, and it knocked him out of his stride.

'Listen to me.' He was screaming down the phone now. 'Do I have to remind you what I can do to you if you don't do what I say? I can make you and your fucking friends disappear anytime I want. You do not want to try my patience too much. Now, meet me at the bar where we met before at 8. Do not fucking dare to be late.'

I was shaken by the force of his reaction. He was normally calm and controlled. I had never heard him lose it quite as badly as that. I called Thaksin to tell him about the meeting and he told me to expect a shadow in the bar when I met with Jandaeng. He warned me to be careful. They had intercepted electronic chatter from the Triads that they were losing patience with a source in the police. No names were mentioned, but Thaksin suspected it might be Jandaeng. I didn't have to be a genius to work out why Jandaeng might be so jumpy. I thought about calling Kritsada with that news, but decided to leave it for later. Instead, I called Alex and told her.

'Be very careful, babe. Don't take any risks.' She sounded distracted.

'What's up?'

'Oh, nothing. Just tired and missing you. I want you back soon, I miss that lovely cock of yours.'

'I miss your cock too.' That made her giggle.

'How's the preparation for the party going?'

'Oh OK, nothing special really, Nin is helping me so everything's fine. Dao is very helpful too.'

'Mmm.'

'What do you mean by that?'

She laughed, 'Well, at least I don't have to worry about you with her.'

'Huh?'

'Don't tell me you don't know?'

'Know what?'

'She's gay, you must have worked that out.'

'That's what Nin said, I had no idea. How do you know? And why am I always the last to know things?'

'Babe, because you are so dense sometimes. Anyway, what will you be wearing for the party? Make sure it's something nice, Kritsada's parties are always special.'

'Er, OK.' I wondered once again if she knew what Kritsada had asked me to do. I was on the point of blurting out the truth when she said, 'Sorry, got to rush, babe. Areeya and Pao send their love. Let me know how it goes with Jandaeng and don't do anything dangerous.'

'Of course, you know me.'

She snorted and ended the call. I hadn't exactly lied to Alex about what I was doing at Kritsada's party, but I hadn't told her the whole truth to be sure. Is a sin of omission as bad as a sin of commission? Luckily, I'm a failed Catholic, so I shook my head and went back to my immediate problem. Nin was meeting Shane tonight for dinner and she had already left. I had a quick nap, showered and then headed out to meet Jandaeng.

I arrived half an hour early and slipped in through the back of a bar across the road from where I was going to meet Kritsada. I hoped I was far enough inside not to be seen from the outside, but it gave me a good view of the road and the bar. What looked like a couple of Jandaeng's boys stood outside, both wearing those idiotic sunglasses. I had planned to settle my nerves a little with a drink before meeting Jandaeng, but as I got up to leave, I saw a man walk out of the bar opposite, look right and left before nodding to the two guards. I sat back down quickly, my pulse racing because I knew the man. It was Yut, one of Kritsada's sub-bosses. The one whose name meant war.

It all started to make sense. We knew someone had been leaking information from Kritsada to his competitors and It had to be someone senior. Yut was the sub-boss who had been the most resistant to Dao and I getting involved in his business. It couldn't be a coincidence that he had come out of the bar where I knew Jandaeng was. I toyed with the idea of calling Kritsada, but I thought I should try to get some more evidence first. I paid for my drink and walked out through the back of the bar. I walked up to a cross street then doubled back down the road to the bar where Jandaeng was waiting. I wanted his two boys to see me walking down the street to the bar. They stood aside to let me enter and followed me inside. I spotted Jandaeng at a table in the corner and walked across to him. As I got there one of his men pulled my arms behind me and the other one frisked me very aggressively, taking my iPhone and handing it to Jandaeng.

'What the fuck?' I spluttered.

'Just making sure you not have any weapons or wearing a wire.' He turned off my phone and laid it down on the table.

I shrugged myself free from the guy holding me and sat down facing Jandaeng. I could see myself in his mirror sunglasses.

'Why? You worried about something?'

'I trust no-one.'

I smiled, 'Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind. William Shakespeare.'

He slammed his fist on the table. 'I don't fucking care who said anything. I want to know who will be at the party.'

'First, I want a drink.' I thought he was going to hit me, but he snapped his fingers and one of the bar girls came over, looking scared. I wanted to stall a little as I hadn't seen anyone in the bar who looked like he might be Thaksin's man.

'Kho beer Chang khap.' She scurried away and returned with a bottle of Chang. I smiled at her. 'Khop khun khap.' She flashed a smile back and disappeared. I took a sip of the beer and looked around. Still no sign of Thaksin's people. Jandaeng put his hand in his pocket and laid a small pistol on the table, the business end pointing straight at me.

'I want to know who is going to be at the party.'

I couldn't take my eyes off the small hole in the barrel of the gun in front of me. I reasoned he wouldn't actually shoot me in here, but as a threat it was a pretty good one.

'Ok. Ok. I don't know everyone who will be there, but It includes some of his business contacts. I don't know all their names but some are foreign. There will be an Ambassador as well as some local politicians.'

'Who?' he snapped. I reeled off the names that Dao had given me, and when I said one name in particular, I thought I detected a small twitch in the corner of his mouth.

'What time and where will it be?'

'Eight o'clock and on one of the river boats. You know as much as I do now.' I took another swig of my beer. He began to run his fingers over the gun and I prayed that the safety was on. I was fed up with people pointing guns at me, and I particularly didn't want to get shot by accident.

'You can go now. I will be in touch again.' I didn't move, I wanted to push his buttons a little more. 'I said, you go now.'

'Only when you tell me when this will be all over?'

'All over, what you mean?'

'Well this must be part of some kind of plan you have. You said Kritsada was involved in politics, isn't that what this is all about? Isn't that why you're investigating him? When will you get off my back?'

'Listen to me, you worthless farang,' he hissed. 'I will decide when this is finished. Until then you will do what I want. Is that clear?'

I shrugged, 'That's clear, but don't underestimate Kritsada, he's a smart operator. He suspects someone in his business has been informing on him. Someone other than me that is. He thinks he knows who it is.'

Jandaeng stiffened and even behind those glasses I could sense his eyes narrowing. I thought for a moment I might have gone too far.

'Who does he think it is?' Wrong answer I thought, that confirms there is a mole. He should have just dismissed the comment.

'He hasn't told me, I just hear him saying that whoever it is will pay heavily for his betrayal.'

Jandaeng recovered his composure, perhaps realising he had let slip something.

'Phhh, Kritsada stupid. He think he can get away with everything. I know people who more clever than him by far. He not so smart. If he was he would get out of Thailand for his own good. He will be one who pays.'

'Who is it you know?'

He leant forward and grabbed my wrist and twisted it painfully backwards. 'You ask too many questions. You would be better to just do what you are told. Otherwise you might end up in canal.'

He let go of my wrist, 'Now fuck off out of my sight. I will call you when I need you.'

I grabbed my phone and walked away, rubbing my sore wrist. I passed the bargirl, and she smiled as I walked past. I went outside and walked away from the bar before retracing my steps through the back of the first bar from where I could watch Jandaeng's bar. I sat there with a beer, nursing my sore wrist and even had one of the bar girls come over and sit with me as cover. She got bored after a while as I wasn't going to do anything more than sit there and went off to find a more profitable client.

I bought another beer and I must have waited for about an hour when I saw an unmistakable figure walking up to the bar opposite. Yut walked straight in, but I got a few shots of him on my phone as he turned his head to nod at Jandaeng's man. It was no more than ten minutes later when Yut came back out of the bar with a face like thunder. I was ready this time and got a clear video clip of him.

I caught a tuk-tuk back to the hotel and headed to the bar where I found a quiet corner and called Thaksin. I filled him in on what Jandaeng had said, but leaving out what I had discovered about Yut. That was for me to tell Kritsada.

'Jandaeng seemed very jumpy, I think he's under pressure. Oh, I didn't see any of your men in the bar.'

He laughed, 'I don't just have men working for me.'

The penny dropped. 'Oh, it was the bar girl.'

'She said you handled yourself very well, by the way. She was worried when he put the gun on the table, but it didn't seem to frighten you.'

I didn't bother to tell him that I had been scared rigid by it. I made my way up to the room and let myself in. Lights were on in Nin's bedroom but the door was closed, and I assumed she was back from dinner with Shane. I walked over and opened the door without thinking. I stopped dead as I saw Shane, naked and on his back on the bed with Nin, equally naked squatting on top of him, bouncing up and down on his massive cock.