Cockatoo Pt. 44

"Dao, Dao, calm down. What do you mean she's been taken?"

Alex wrenched the phone from me and talked to Dao in Thai. At the same time, Alex's phone rang.

"Jamie, it's Shane. I tried to call your phone, but it's busy."

"Alex is on my phone to Dao. She says Areeya's been taken. What the fuck's going on?"

"Thaksin just called to warn me. Jandaeng was being taken under guard to hospital to have treatment on his arm. They were jumped between the prison and the hospital, and he was sprung. He's in the air. Two guards are dead, and a third isn't expected to make it."

"Where's Areeya?"

"As soon as I heard about Jandaeng, I called Areeya's close protection guy. No answer at all. There's a guy with Areeya 24/7 now she's running Kritsada's operations. We have a tracker on her car, it appears to be stationary somewhere in Sukhumvit. There's a team on the way there now. They should be there in 10."

"Shane. this isn't a coincidence is it?"

"No, it has to be Jandaeng somehow."

Alex grabbed my arm, "Tell him Dao is sending the plane down to pick us up. We'll be in Bangkok in four hours."

"Did you get that, Shane?"

"Copy that. I'll have someone waiting for you at the airport. I'll call back when the team reaches her car."

Alex fell back onto a chair. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, this has to be Jandaeng, doesn't it? Why didn't that shot kill him?"

My heart hammered in my chest, and my knees buckled as it hit me what had happened. I slumped down with my head in my hands unable to look at Alex.

"This is all my fault."

Alex turned to look at me. "What do you mean? This isn't your fault, it's Jandaeng."

"It is my fault. I didn't tell you everything that happened that night in the garage with Aki." I took a deep breath, "It's my fault because I could have killed Jandaeng that night."

"How? I mean it was an accident Jandaeng got shot, right?"

"Yes it was, but it didn't happen the way I told you. When Aki took me into the garage, he pushed a gun in my hand and told me to shoot Jandaeng. He even held my finger on the trigger. I couldn't do it, and the gun fell to the floor and went off, hitting Jandaeng in the arm."

"You're telling me you could have got rid of Jandaeng, and you didn't do it?"

"Alex, you weren't there. You don't know what it was like. I couldn't shoot him tied up on a chair. I thought Aki would shoot him, anyway. That's when they blew open the door."

My phone bleeped. It was Shane calling back.

"Shane, It's Jamie, I'll put you on speaker."

"It's not good news. We found her car in Sukhumvit. Her bodyguard was dead inside the car, but there's no sign of Areeya. The only good news is that there was no sign of blood on Areeya's side of the car. There was a witness who said she saw a woman pulled from the car and bundled into a white van. That's all we've got so far, but the Thai police are all over this, and Thaksin is keeping us in touch with anything they uncover."

Alex slumped back in her chair. "Fuck, there must be something more we can do?"

"Alex, we're doing everything we can do from here. Kritsada is pulling in every favour he can. We will find her."

None of us wanted to say the obvious, would it be in time?

"Shane, Jamie again, we will give you an ETA for our arrival as soon as we have one."

"Copy that, we will find her."

Alex got up and walked into the apartment. I heard her crying, and it broke my heart to hear her. I went inside to comfort her.

"Get away from me. I don't want you near me." The words cut me like a whip, and I retreated outside. I thought she would never forgive me after this, and I was about to lose everything I loved. I swore to myself that if I had another chance, I would kill Jandaeng without a second's hesitation.

My phone beeped again.

"Shane, any news?"

"No, but your plane is about an hour out of Samui, so get yourselves out there now and they'll do a hot turnaround."

"Thanks, Shane. See you soon."

I called a taxi and went back inside.

"Alex, we need to go, the plane is due soon. I've called a taxi."

She said nothing, stood up and walked past me as if I didn't exist. As the taxi pulled up Alex slipped into the front seat leaving me alone in the back. We didn't speak a word on the way to the airport. Alex stared straight ahead all the way, and all I could do was go over what happened in the garage time and again, hating myself for what had happened.

They rushed us through the airport and onto the apron where we watched as the company plane landed, turned around at the end of the single runway and taxied towards us. The rear door opened and a set of internal stairs deployed as the propellers kept turning. We ran over and climbed the stairs into the cabin. An attendant retracted the stairs and as soon as the door locked shut, the pilot gunned the throttle and we were off down the runway. I barely had time to buckle my seat belt before we were airborne. The plane had been on the ground for less than three minutes.

We landed at Dom Mueang airport an hour later. Alex had taken a single seat and spent the entire flight staring out the window. She obviously hated me, and Areeya was in Jandaeng's hands. It was all my fault, and I had never felt more miserable and alone in my life.

Nin met us on the apron at the airport in an SUV with another one close on our tail. Shane was taking no chances now. She kissed me on the cheek and turned to Alex who snapped at her, "Just get us to Shane." Nin looked at me and I shook my head, trying to tell her it wasn't her. Alex couldn't avoid being in the back seat with me, but she edged as far away from me as she could.

Nin spoke from the front seat. "We have command centre at Kritsada's office. We are going there now. No news yet from anyone. Police have roadblocks all over city stopping and searching cars."

In our panic about Areeya, I had almost forgotten that at least two policemen had been killed. The Thai police had as much interest in catching Jandaeng as we did, and we passed one roadblock, adding even more chaos to the usual traffic. We arrived at the office and went straight up to Kritsada's floor where he met us at the lift. Alex embraced him and they held each other for a while, their fears obvious to everyone. Kritsada turned and we hugged, "Jamie, we will find her, won't we?"

"Yes sir, we will. I will do anything to get her back safely."

Alex snorted and Kritsada looked at her in surprise. She ignored us both and said, "Where's Shane?"

Nin led us to what was clearly their command centre. TV monitors were showing continuous news feeds and a huge map of Bangkok covered one wall. There were two huge PC monitors, one of which was showing GPS locations and the other streaming social media sites.

Shane appeared, hugged me and turned to Alex, who shook him off, saying "What's going on, why hasn't she been found yet?"

Shane frowned and shot a puzzled look at me. I shrugged. Alex snarled, "Don't look at her, she's no use whatsoever."

Shane looked from me to Alex. "What's your problem? You two fighting won't help us find Areeya."

Alex glared at me. "Why don't you tell him, as this is all your fault."

"She's right, Shane, it is all my fault. I had the chance to shoot Jandaeng, but I couldn't do it. It didn't happen as I told you all. Aki took me into the garage and gave me a gun and told me to shoot him. He put his hand over mine and pointed it at Jandaeng's head, but I couldn't shoot him like that. I thought Aki would kill him so I dropped the gun and it went off. That's how Jandaeng got hit. Before Aki could do it, the police blew the doors open. As she said, it is my fault Jandaeng's alive, and now he's taken Areeya."

Shane looked from me to Alex. "Alex, come with me." He grabbed her arm, pulled her into a side room and closed the door. I couldn't hear what was being said, but Shane seemed to be doing most of the talking. I thought it wouldn't matter anyway, my life here was finished. Whatever happened, Alex wouldn't forgive me, and I would lose everything and everybody I loved. I felt so wretched I thought I was going to be sick as the minutes ticked by. Nin took my hand and squeezed.

"I sure it will be all right, Jamie." I tried and failed to smile at her. Shane opened the door and closed it again leaving Alex inside.

"Jamie, I will let you talk to Alex in a moment, but you need to get it through your head this is not your fault. Nobody can see into the future. You did what you thought was right. You could not have foreseen what would happen afterwards. This is all on Jandaeng and nobody else." He held me by my shoulders. "This is not your fault. Now, go talk to Alex."

He pushed me into the room with Alex and shut the door behind me. I flopped into a seat and kept my eyes to the floor, not wanting to look at her. Neither of us spoke for a few minutes, and I considered getting up and walking out.

"Jamie, look at me." She said. I didn't move. I was scared of what she would say. "Jamie, look at me, please?" She sounded close to tears. "Shane has spent the last ten minutes telling me to stop being a selfish bitch, his exact words, and that none of this is your fault, to apologise to you, and for me to quote get my shit in order unquote."

I looked up at her in amazement.

"What did he say?"

She heaved a sigh, "I will cut out the swearing, but what he said was nobody can see into the future, that killing another human being is the toughest thing anyone could do, that in a kill or be killed situation it is justified, but shooting an unarmed man tied to a chair would be cold-blooded murder and could only be done by a heartless bastard. He said you did what you thought was right, and he was proud of you, and the only thing anyone of us should worry about is getting Areeya back safely." She mustered a wry smile. "I feel like I've had my pants pulled down and my arse spanked over his knee, but I deserved it."

She sniffled and wiped her nose with her sleeve.

"Jamie, I hope you can somehow forgive me for being such a cow. When we had our fight about what I was doing with Kritsada, you told me afterwards you didn't think about what I had gone through. You said all you thought about was how it affected you. You then risked everything to make it up to me." She brushed away a tear. "The lesson didn't sink in because when you told me what happened in the garage, I lashed out at the person who loves me more than anyone else in the world. I blamed you because I was angry and somebody had to take the blame. I didn't stop to consider what a terrible choice it must have been for you. I should have known the Jamie I love so much would make the right decision. Please forgive me."

I blinked away the tears pricking the corners of my eyes and wrapped her into my arms. She cried on my shoulder, and I held her tight and stroked her back until the sobbing stopped.

"Alex, there's nothing to forgive. I love you too, and we both want to get Areeya back so badly. That's all that matters now."

As she sobbed on my shoulder, I thought even if Alex forgave me, there was only one way I could forgive myself, and that was to cut off the snake's head.

Alex and I emerged from the room holding hands to be greeted with a nod by Shane and a relieved smile from Nin.

"Did you really call her a selfish bitch?" I whispered to Shane.

He nodded. "Heaps of other things too."

I reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, my friend."

He squeezed my arm, "Glad to have you both back in the fight. Now, let's go find Areeya."

Dao had arrived, and we hugged her before Shane called us together for an update.

"Nin is the point person with Thaksin, so I'm asking her to give us a rundown on what we know. Nin, over to you."

"Jandaeng was being transferred from Bang Kwang prison for an operation on his arm. They originally thought they would have to amputate. It was saved but he cannot move his left arm. It is useless. This was check-up visit. He was guarded by three armed police but their armoured van was hit by a hijacked van driven into the side, here." She pointed a laser pen on the map at a location near Chatachuk Market. "Back doors were blown off, and two guards in the back shot, the driver badly injured, he is still critical. Jandaeng escaped in a van later found burnt out in Nonthaburi, here." She used the laser pen again. "We assume they changed vehicles. There were no witnesses to the exchange, so we do not know the second vehicle."

"Nin, how many men were involved in the ambush?" I wanted to know what we were up against.

"At least four, from what witnesses say."

"This happened at 08:27. At 09:05 we receive call from Thaksin telling us of Jandaeng escape. We immediately call Areeya bodyguard and no reply. Checking GPS, Areeya's car stopped here at 08:55." The laser pen pointed to a spot in Sukhumvit, well away from where Jandaeng had been freed. "We attended at 09:25. Bodyguard dead, no sign of Areeya. I am sorry."

Nin paused, but nobody broke the stunned silence, and she carried on.

"It mean there are two groups involved. We assume at least 6 men maybe more. Thaksin mobilise police with road blocks and internal investigations. Jandeang's old team seems to have disappeared. Thaksin thinks these are Jandeang's men."

Nin's phone rang, and she listened, then waved her hand for silence before scribbling something on a pad. Shane grabbed it and turned to us. "It's Thaksin, they think they have located some of Jandaeng's men in a warehouse out by the river in Pak Kret." He looked at the map, "Up here." He pointed to a location to the north of the city.

Alex was quickest to respond. "Is Areeya with them?"

Nin had come off the phone by then. "They not sure. There was a tip off from someone about the warehouse. Their SWAT team there now."

"Nin, get back onto Thaksin and tell him not to send in the SWAT team until I get there. They'll be trigger happy with two cops down. Jamie, you're with me. Alex and Dao, stay here and wait for our call."

Alex shook her head. "Fuck that, Rambo, we're coming with you."

Shane shrugged, "OK, but stay out of the way when we get there." Alex glared at him, but I dragged her away before she could say anything. We came out of the building to see the traffic at a standstill.

"Shit," said Shane, "It will take us forever to get there."

Alex turned to Dao and said something in Thai. Dao nodded, "We use Khlong Saen Saep, it will be much faster, take us to river then up to Pak Kret. It just round corner from here."

Alex noticed my puzzled expression. "It's a canal linking the Chao Praya all the way to Prachinburi. We can get a long-tail boat along the canal and then up the river." She glanced at Shane. "Good job we came along." He grunted as Dao led the way, and within a few minutes we were in a long-tail boat heading along the Khlong towards the river. It was slow going along the Khlong but when we reached the river, the driver opened up the massive truck engine with a deafening roar and we hurtled along the river playing dodgems with the other river traffic.

We took less than fifteen minutes to get to Pak Kret, where the boat landed us close to the warehouse. The police had cordoned off the area with guards holding back people attracted by the police presence. Shane called Thaksin who came over to let us through and he led us through to an office he had commandeered.

"We believe some of Jandaeng's men are in the warehouse, but we don't know how many or if Jandaeng is with them."

"Do you know if Areeya is in there?" Shane's question was the one we all wanted to ask.

Thaksin shook his head. "No, we don't know who is in there. We have the warehouse surrounded and are trying to establish communication with them. We had a tip off from an informer. Jandaeng has made many, many enemies."

"Look, Thaksin, you have to take this carefully in case Areeya is in there, right?"

"I promise you we will not move in for the moment. But, if they start something..."

"No, you must not risk Areeya." Dao screamed at Thaksin, before Alex put her arms around her and made her sit down.

"We will do everything we can, but these men have already killed two policemen and one of your guards. We cannot take any risks with them."

I put my hand on Thaksin's arm. "Thaksin, I know you will do your best."

He nodded. "I have to go now. One of you can come with me, but the rest will have to wait here."

"Shane, I think it should be you." I said, and the others nodded. "Just keep us in touch."

"I will, can you let Nin know what's going on?"

"Sure," I said, "Alex, can you talk to Kritsada?"

Alex called Kritsada, and I rang Nin. "We don't know much, Nin. Not even who is in there. Shane's gone with Thaksin and all we can do is wait. I wanted to say you are doing great, you are on top of everything."

"Thank you, Jamie. That means a lot. I think Shane and I work well together. There's no more news from here, I think we all have to wait."

"If you hear anything let us know."

"OK, Jamie, and stay safe there."

I ended the call and Alex came and sat next to me. "Kritsada is using all his clout, but nobody seems to know anything."

"Nothing from Nin either."

As I reached for her hand, the crackling of automatic weapons erupted outside. There was a pause in the gunfire, then it started again; short bursts followed by screaming and shouting. The shooting sounded close, so I grabbed Alex and Dao and pushed them to the floor. There was another short burst from what seemed to be right outside the door. I looked around for something, anything I could use to defend us.

Alex and Dao had crawled under a desk, and I picked up a wooden chair and smashed it against the floor. It broke into pieces and I picked up what remained of one of the legs. It would have to do. I stood to one side of the door holding the chair leg like a baseball bat as someone turned the handle from the outside. The door opened and a man burst in holding a short-barrelled automatic weapon. Dao screamed as she saw him, and as he whipped round to face the noise, I swung the chair leg as hard as I could straight into his face. It splintered into pieces, but I heard the crack of his nose breaking. He screamed and dropped the rifle as he fell to the floor holding his face with blood pouring through his fingers.

I picked up the rifle and locked the door. The man was now rolling around on the floor making sickening grunting noises, but I was taking no chances and kept the gun trained on him. I jumped as another burst of gunfire came from outside, followed by long bursts from several guns at once. The firing stopped, then one shorter burst and no more.

In the sudden silence we heard the wail of an ambulance, and a helicopter clattered overhead. Alex had picked up a piece of the broken chair and was beating the man with it and screaming something in Thai. Dao said, "She's asking him where Areeya is."

The door handle rattled, and I pointed the rifle at the door, my finger on the trigger. I would take this one out if he came through the door.

"It's me, Shane, open the door."

I almost collapsed with relief and unlocked the door. He pulled up as he saw me with the rifle.

"Whoa, Jamie. Let me take that."

"With pleasure, Shane."

He took it and unclipped the magazine. Alex had stopped hitting the man, but she was still trying to get him to answer her questions. Shane bent down, pulled her away and cuffed the man's hands behind his back with cable ties from his pocket.

"Alex, he won't be answering questions for a while, not with the way his face has been rearranged. Who did this to him?"

Dao pointed at me. "It was Jamie, she saved our lives. He would have shot us I'm sure."

"Fair dinkum, Jamie. I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

Alex jumped in. "What the fuck happened? Is Areeya OK? I thought they weren't going to start anything."