Cockatoo Pt. 44

"Jandaeng's men tried to break out to get to the river. They started shooting, and Thaksin's men had to return fire. Nobody says they saw a woman, but we'll have to wait until they have cleared the place."

"It's clear now." Thaksin stood in the open door. "I can tell you we have found no trace of your friend or Jandaeng, they were not here."

He stared down at the man on their floor who was now whimpring, then looked at me. I shrugged. "You don't have to say it, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You are wrong, this time it seems you were in the wrong place at the right time. I am sorry, we should have stopped him. He should never have reached here."

I wrapped my arms around Alex and Dao, but our relief was short lived. If Areeya hadn't been here, she was still with Jandaeng somewhere. As if reading our thoughts, Thaksin said, "Jandaeng is on his own. He cannot run and hide much longer. We will find him soon. I would ask Jamie to stay to give us a statement about how this piece of shit came by his accident, shall we call it?" He paused to prod the man with his foot which set off another round of moans. "But it's a formality. The rest of you can go."

Alex squeezed my hand. "Do you want me to stay?"

"No, you all go. You'll do more good back at the centre. Bring Kritsada and Nin up to speed. I won't be long."

Dao came over and kissed me on the lips. "Thank you, Jamie. That was so brave."

"Not brave, Dao. Desperate."

Alex snorted. "When will you believe us when we say you're brave?" She kissed me too. "Hurry back."

The three of them left and after some of Thaksin's men had dragged the man away, we sat and I wrote out my statement.

"Will this one get lost in the system too?"

He smiled. "The inefficient bureaucracy in the Kingdom can sometimes mean documents are lost, yes. I am sorry we have met again under these circumstances. I will do everything to find Jandaeng and your friend."

"Thank you, I know this was none of your doing, but we want her back so badly."

"We want to find him too, he has many things to answer for. Do you want an escort to take you back?"

"No, don't worry, I'll make my own way back. I'll pick up a boat and go back along the river."

He walked me out through the barricades and we shook hands. "Keep us in touch, Thaksin." I said as we parted.

I walked towards the river and was almost there when my phone rang and I stopped to answer it. I almost dropped the phone as I heard Jandaeng's voice.

"Listen farang whore. If you want to see your friend alive, then you do what I tell you."

"Fuck you Jandaeng, where is she?"

"I have her here. Bitch, tell the farang you are here."

"Jamie, I'm here but don't do what he wants."

I heard a slap and I felt sick as I thought of what he was doing to her.

"If you want to see her again, then do as I say."

"OK, OK."

"I want you to come here. I will give instructions. Catch river bus to Asiatique. I will call you in 30 minutes with more instructions. Do not tell anyone else. If you do not come alone she dies."

The line went dead, and I had to hurry to catch the river bus which had just pulled up. What the hell should I do? Would he carry through with his threat if I called anyone? Could I risk calling his bluff? It took me the whole of the ride to Asiatique to decide that I had to do what he said. If there was a chance to free Areeya, I had to take it. It would go a long way to make up for the guilt I felt.

Asiatique is a shopping mall on the riverside packed with tourists and locals. I got off the river bus and my phone rang as I walked into the mall.

"Go through to road and catch tuk-tuk to Mandarin Hotel. Remember, if you talk to anyone, she dies. I give you 20 minutes."

I pushed to the front of the queue for tuk-tuks and told the driver to get there as fast as he could. Traffic was worse than usual due to the many roadblocks, and we got there with a few seconds to spare.

His call came as I paid the tuk-tuk. "Walk through hotel and there is service area at back. Go straight through. If I see anyone else, I will kill her."

I did as he said and emerged into a dark alley at the rear of the hotel. As I looked around, I felt something poke into my side and Jandaeng whispered. "I have gun in your side, we walk now."

He pushed me forward, and we walked down into a maze of passages and alleys. I had no idea where we were.

"Take out phone, then drop on floor." I did, and he stamped on the phone, smashing it into pieces. There would be no chance of anyone tracking me now.

"Where are we going?" I said.

"Fuckin' shut up." He pushed the gun harder into my side. We emerged onto a street where he stopped a tuk-tuk and pushed me inside. Keeping the gun well hidden under his coat he gave the driver an address. He kept checking the back window, but seemed to be satisfied we weren't being followed. Telling the driver to stop he pushed me out in the middle of a deserted side street. He hustled me down an alley, and I thought this was where it was going to end. Jandaeng would shoot me here and leave me dead in a grubby Bangkok alley. I steeled myself to try to jump him, but he kept the gun pressed hard into my side. He stopped and opened a door, pushing me inside. I gasped as I saw Areeya tied to a chair with duct tape around her mouth.

"Areeya, are you OK?"

"She fine, I make her stop talking. She talk all the time."

"If you hurt her, I will make you pay for it."

He laughed and pointed the gun at my face. "You in no position to make me pay for anything."

"What do you want, Jandaeng?"

"I want my fuckin' arm back." He yelled, thrusting his left shoulder forward, his arm hanging uselessly by his side. "The one you shot, you farang whore."

"It was an accident, I didn't shoot you. The gun dropped on the floor and went off."

"I don't care, it was your fault."

"Listen to me Jandaeng, it wasn't my fault you got caught while you were trying to kill Aki. If it wasn't for me, you would be dead. Aki was going to kill you. You owe me your life."

"Fuck you." he screamed, "I owe you nothing. You will pay for what you did to me, and Kritsada will pay big time money for his bitch daughter. Maybe even in one piece if he pay enough."

Keeping the gun trained on me he patted me down. He found the Palad Khik amulet Areeya had given me in my skirt pocket.

"You think this fuckin' piece of crap will protect you?" He threw it into the corner of the room. "Nothing will save you now. You should not have come. You should have shot me when you had the chance with that fuckin' Yakuza."

I glanced at Areeya and she was staring wide eyed at me.

Jandaeng noticed and laughed. "You didn't know? The whore had the chance to shoot me, but she couldn't do it. Good for me, bad for you both."

"Areeya, it wasn't like that, believe me."

"Shut up," he screamed and kicked me behind the knee, sending me sprawling to the floor to the floor. I thought a ligament had snapped because it felt like my knee had been touched with a red-hot poker. He bent down and pressed the gun to my temple. "I have the gun now, and I am not scared to use it like you."

I closed my eyes, waiting for him to pull the trigger.

"But no. I won't shoot you yet. You have to pay for my arm." He stood up and stamped on my elbow. The pain was like nothing I had ever felt, shooting up my arm and into the rest of my body. "That's only to start with." I was writhing on the floor and he kicked me in the ribs, and that was worse, like a cattle prod had been stuck in my side. I was sure some of my ribs were broken. Bending down he yanked open my mouth and stuck the barrel of the gun inside.

"I would put my cock in your mouth and make you suck it like last time, but you would bite it off. So, suck on this, you whore."

He moved the barrel in and out and I closed my eyes, gagging on it. He stood up once more, placed his foot on my elbow and slowly increased the pressure until I was screaming with the pain.

"Now you know what my arm feels like." He moved around and kicked me in the ribs on the other side. I moved with this kick this time, so it didn't do as much damage, but it still hurt like hell.

"Before I am finished, you will be begging me to kill you."

The pain in my side and arm had subsided a little, and I knew I would have to tackle him soon. I would not lay here and have him kick me to death. As that thought went through my mind, he bent down again and cracked me across the face with the gun. I turned my head as he hit me, so it was a glancing blow but it made my ears ring and I could feel blood running down my nose.

I glimpsed Areeya who seemed to be trying to break free from the duct tape that bound her to the chair.

He kicked me once more in the ribs and then aimed a kick at my head. I covered my face with my hands which seemed to enrage him, and he hit my knee with the gun butt making me scream once more, and he laughed. I couldn't take much more of this, the beating was draining my strength. I glanced at Areeya again and for a moment I thought she had loosened the tape a little.

Jandaeng was warming to his task and stood on my elbow once more, making me scream and writhe in agony. He kicked my ribs again, and I felt more of them snap. Another kick like that could send a rib through my heart or lungs. Time was running out fast, and I looked at Areeya for what I thought would the last time before he killed me. She had got one arm free and was tearing at the tape on her other arm. I screamed and yelled to cover up the noise of the tape ripping, and to distract Jandaeng.

He kicked me again and stood in front of me so all I could see were his shoes. "Say goodbye to your friend, because this is where I kill you." He drew back his shoe and I tensed waiting for the kick that would slam into my head.

Instead, I heard him say "Fuck." I opened my eyes to see Areeya had freed both arms and was ripping at the tape on her legs. Jandaeng ran across to Areeya and slapped her hard across the face. She fell sideways to the floor, one leg now free of the tape. As he bent down to slap her again, something glittered in my peripheral vision, and I realised he had put his gun down while he dealt with Areeya. I tried to stretch out my hand but it was just out of reach.

Summoning up all my remaining strength I tried to crawl on my belly towards the gun. I moved a few inches and then flopped down exhausted. Jandaeng slapped Areeya again and was yelling at her in Thai. He was trying to tie her to the chair, but she was fighting back, and with only one arm he was finding it difficult.

The gun was now only inches away, and I knew this would be my last chance. Gritting my teeth and ignoring the pain, I moved one, then two inches and felt the steel of the gun against my fingers. Areeya could see what I was doing, and she redoubled her efforts to fight Jandaeng. He was hitting her now to get her to stop. I knew if I didn't reach the gun this time, I wouldn't have the strength to go for it again. My fingers scrabbled to get a grip on the gun, and then I had it in my hand. Jandaeng turned around, saw me and moved back towards me.

I raised the gun and as Jandaeng tried to kick it out of my hand, I pulled the trigger. The noise was deafening and the recoil from the shot knocked the gun from my hand. I thought I had lost my chance, he would shoot me now for sure. I looked up expecting to see him standing over me, but he was laying against the wall, his hands over his belly trying to stop the blood pouring through his fingers.

He was looking wide eyed at me and trying to say something. He looked disbelievingly down at the blood seeping through his hands before his head slumped onto his chest. My last thought before my eyes closed and the darkness came was that finally I had cut off the head off the snake.

They told me later Areeya had freed herself and used Jandaeng's phone to call Shane. When he arrived, he picked me up and carried me to the helicopter which took Areeya and me to the hospital. Alex and Dao rode with us while Shane stayed behind to deal with Thaksin when he too arrived.

I spent a week in hospital, then another week in a wheelchair while I recuperated at Kritsada's house. Alex and Dao watched over Areeya and me like mother hens while we tried to deal with the emotional trauma we had experienced. Praew supervised our care and eventually gave Areeya the green light to go back to work.

Thaksin visited to take yet another statement from me. He said this one wouldn't get lost, and I was in line for a reward for what I had done. I told him to donate it to charity, I wanted no part of it.

I took a little while longer to deal with the nightmares I suffered, but in time they became less frequent and I could sleep without reliving the events of that night. Areeya had picked up the Palad Khik Jandaeng had taken from me. I carry it everywhere, and it's sitting on my desk as I write this.

Which brings me neatly onto why I am writing this. As part of my therapy, Alex suggested I write down our adventures, and thus Cockatoo was born. She says I should publish the story, but I seriously doubt anyone else would find it interesting.

So, what happened to us afterwards?

Kritsada resigned his control of the businesses and became Non-Executive President. Areeya took over as Chairman with Dao as CEO, and Alex and I joined the Board. We sold off most of the red-light businesses, but kept Cockatoo in Bangkok and Samui for old times' sake. We reinvested in the legitimate businesses and expanded into new markets in Malaysia and Vietnam. Pao is running both Cockatoo bars, and she is doing such a great job we are making her a partner soon. A Chinese company bought the property on Samui which we had bought for the Kathoey showbar and we turned a good profit on the deal.

Praew and Kritsada married in a beautiful ceremony on Samui and moved to the US where she has become a leading trauma surgeon and lectures all over the world on advanced trauma care. She uses my survival after the pirate attack as a case study. We owe her so much. Kritsada set up a Muay Thai gym in Los Angeles and already has a few promising fighters on his books. He sends me a bottle of Glendronach every birthday and New Year.

I bumped into Sam at a tech conference one day in Bangkok. She was shocked to see me as Jamie, but we chatted and she was cool with it. It turned out she wasn't happy with her job with the company which had been bought out by an American tech giant. I told her I felt at a loose end and after talking a few times we decided our skill sets would complement each other, and we set up our own IT consulting company. It's gone well, even taking clients from our old firm, and we're hiring extra staff to cope with demand. Areeya doesn't mind me working with Sam. She's happy with Dao, and I think she's forgiven Sam.

Alex got her Michelin star for Koh Samui Blue. She opened a new restaurant in Bangkok called Bangkok Blue, and it won't be long before it too gets a Michelin star. She's in Phuket now scouting locations for another restaurant site. Alex and I decided we couldn't run our various enterprises from Samui, so we moved our base to Bangkok. Alex still runs Koh Samui Blue though, and we all use the apartment there as a vacation home. Cockatoo 3 is still there and I've taken my Yacht Master ticket so I can take clients out by myself, but I keep an eye on any boat which gets too close. We keep a shotgun on board, just in case.

Do I miss living on Samui? Yes, and no. It is still a beautiful island, and after all it's where I met Alex and Areeya and where my life changed forever. But, it harbours mixed emotions for me.

Shane and Nin set up their own close protection security company. I've watched her training new recruits, and any guys who think someone like her can't teach them anything have second thoughts when she has flipped them onto their back with her fist poised to smash their windpipe. Shane and Nin are not just business partners. They live together and are blissfully happy. I have, with Alex's blessing, been with them both a few times, and it's as awesome as you might imagine.

Alex and I are still together. I love her more than ever and we share a penthouse apartment in Sukhumvit with Areeya and Dao. Yes, we do all get together sometimes, and it can get steamy. After a lot of soul searching, I decided to go ahead with breast implants. Praew recommended a surgeon she trusts, and my operation is next week. Alex said she wants me to get 38 DDs. I will get something more modest, but I'm still not entirely sure she was joking.

What happened to the others?

Aki didn't spend long in Bang Kwang prison. He was quietly deported to Japan without even going on trial. There were rumours the Thai Government were leant on by the Japanese Government. Mysteriously, he didn't go on trial there either. The Yakuza have a long reach. The Triad leaders were deported to Hong Kong. Nobody knows what happened to them when they got there. It ended the turf war, leaving Thai crime back in the hands of the Thais.

We heard through Sam that her brother Tony, the journalist who had caused us so much trouble, had been fired from job after job because of his drinking. Despite her many attempts to help, he died one night when he smashed his car into a lamp post in Birmingham. His blood alcohol level was four times the legal limit.

Thaksin was promoted and now heads up the entire country's anti-corruption force; a tough job in Thailand.

Nancy and Joe separated, but we still do business with her company, and once or twice I've met her as Scarlett. She loves to use her strapon, and so do I.

So, that's about it. But, if you are lucky enough to visit Bangkok, find your way to the Cockatoo bar in Soi Cowboy. You might find Alex, Areeya, Pao, Shane, Nin, Dao, or Jamie there. If you're very lucky Scarlett might be in that night. If you do meet any of them, tell them Nikkie sent you.

Laéw-jer-gan

The End