Gina Takes Bangkok (The Femme Vendettas) (12 page)

“Plus,” Kittyjack interjected, “I can pretty much guess who’s running the server you’re looking for. Hacker named Capslock. Used to work for us till Dr. Chaiboonma kicked his butt out of B² for playing too much Starcraft. Guy runs a small operation hosting Darknet sites for spammers, scammers, and pervs.”

“Okay. Anything else we should know?” Gina asked.

“Nope,” Kittyjack said, her eyes riveted to her screen, fingers a blur. As they turned away, she called out. “Oh, yeah, I forgot. Take earplugs.”

One step into Talad Rot Fai and Kannon knew why he’d never come before. It would’ve driven him insane. The place was a maze of pretentious shops dealing in high-end antiques, intermixed with gaudy stalls, hawking everything from roller skates to ABBA records. Throughout the area stood abandoned train carriages, several of which had been retrofitted into tiny bars and restaurants, providing the throngs of vintage-wearing, retro-loving hipsters with hot food and cold beers while they shopped. Ryota kept eyeing the food vendors but there was no slowing Gina.

“Oh wow! Check this out!” She held up an ancient Dukes of Hazzard lunchbox. “You know how much this is worth?”

Kannon crossed his arms. “Apparently more than time.”

Gina carried on as if he hadn’t made a very good point. “This used to be Brian’s favorite show when he was a kid. I’m going to buy it for him.”

Kannon and Ryota exchanged weary glances as Gina began haggling with the stall keeper.

“An hour of walking around this garage sale and we’re still no closer to finding him,” Kannon grumbled. Although they were in the general area of the hacker, the anarchy of the market made it impossible to determine a precise location. It didn’t help that this was Gina’s sixth purchase, he and Ryota already toting bags with vintage dresses, her little spree courtesy of something she called tingles.

“They rush through me like an orgasm,” she’d tossed over her shoulder, and Kannon had to shove Ryota in the back to get him moving again.

“Can we please get down to business now?” Kannon said as Gina trotted over to them, lunchbox in hand.

“What do you think I’ve been doing?” she said, giving him the lunchbox, which he automatically handed off to a reluctant Ryota.

“Buying junk,” he replied. One day with her as boss and he’d had it. His only hope for peace was to get her back to the boat so he could get a break from all her…pinkness.

She stuck her face up to his. “I’ve also been talking to the stall owners about the guy we’re looking for. Come on.” She was off again, weaving her way through the crowd, one lucky shopper after another feeling the brush of her breasts or her behind.

She brought them to an old boxcar on the far edge of the market, its sliding door securely locked. Gina and Kannon kept watch as Ryota picked it, opening it only slightly slower than if he’d had the key—one lesson the boy had learned well. The inside of the train car was lined with rows of shelves, each filled with humming computers. At the back of the car was a small window, and hooked up in front of it was what looked like a large rifle scope on a tripod, its glowing red end aimed at a cluster of nearby apartment blocks. Ryota kneeled down behind the device and looked through it.

“So, what do we have here?” Gina wondered aloud, taking a picture of the setup with her phone. She forwarded it to Kittyjack, and not a minute later got a call back that she put on speaker.

“Infrared laser. Nifty. Letshimtransmitdatafrom—”

“Slower, please, Kitty.”

“I said he’s using an infrared laser to send and receive data from his network without leaving any kind of record,” said the hacker. “That way he never has to visit the train car. Never has to access its internet connection. Never has to leave any clues behind.”

“It’s pointed at a concrete wall,” Ryota detailed.

“Means he’s ricocheting the laser to another location. Makes him pretty much impossible to find.”

Kannon stepped close to the phone, which in turn brought him within the range of Gina’s warm scent. He held his breath and said “So this is a dead end?”

“Duh. No,” Kittyjack said, with barely controlled patience. “All you have to do is unplug the power. When Capslock notices it’s offline, there’s a good chance he’ll show up to see what the matter is. Problem is, that could take hours or months depending on how often he checks it. If he’s really paranoid he might even abandon his little business, but seeing all the work he’s put into it, I doubt he would.”

“Thanks, Kitty,” said Gina. “Give Dr. Chai my love.”

“Will do, Gin.” The hyper-hacker’s voice actually softened. Did Gina have that effect on everybody? Make women go soft and men hard? Kannon focused on the interior of the car. “Fuse box is over here.” He ran his fingers down the panel, killing the power. The computers instantly switched to backup batteries. “These shouldn’t last long.”

He looked at his watch, doing his own computing. “Seeing as this is our only lead, we’ll have to take shifts waiting for him to show up. Are you fit to stay here till morning, Ryota?”

His back-up checked his gun before returning it to his holster. “I’ll be fine. If he comes, I’ll call you immediately.”

Kannon was exiting when he saw that Gina was scrolling on her phone. He bit down hard on his back molars. “That work for you, Gina?”

She made a little noise in her throat he was willing to interpret as agreement.

“Then we should head back to the boat.”

Her thumb tapped the phone and she brought it to her ear. “Actually I’ve got a better idea.”

No. Not another idea.

“Hey there, Pensri. It’s Gina. Guess who’s in town?”

Kannon’s heart stopped. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. But given it was Gina, why not? He listened to Gina exchange niceties with her old friend, and then she chirped, “Listen, I’m here with a friend of mine and we need to lay low. Okay if we stay at your place tonight?”

Say ‘no’, say ‘no’. From Gina’s sudden brightening, Pensri was soft, too.

Once off the phone, she waggled it at him. “Old friend of mine. We’re crashing at her place.”

He folded his arms over his chest and took one last desperate stand. “We can’t do that. We don’t know who can be trusted.”

Gina snorted at the idea. “Don’t worry, she’s one of my oldest friends. If there’s anyone in the world I can trust, it’s her.”

“If she’s really a friend, then it’s best we don’t put her at risk.”

Gina peered at him. “Are you okay, Kannon? You’re acting kind of weird all of a sudden.” She glanced at Ryota, who had his neck stretched so far in the other direction he looked like an owl. Gina switched back to him, looking for clues. Kannon kept his expression like a blank screen.

She shrugged and made for the door. “Never mind. I’ll find out sooner or later.”

Kannon dug out a piece of nic gum and started chomping like there was no tomorrow.

WAKAI LAY IN his bed, typing the address of an obscure chat site into his tablet. Every night since his best friend had gone missing, he’d checked it, hoping to hear from Jarun, and every night his friend’s pseudonym was absent from the list of participants. Tonight, he ran his finger down the list and smiled. He created a private chat room, empty save for the two of them.

I was beginning to give up hope
, he typed.

Managed to get away.

Are you okay?

Yes.

Who had you?

Doesn’t matter.

Wakai sat up in bed, dragging his useless legs with him.
It matters if I’m going to stop them
.

I cut a deal with them
.

It took a few deep breaths before Wakai could reply.
You changed sides?

The answer came quick.
Don’t be stupid
.

Yes, it was certainly his old friend he was talking to.
If you’re on my side then why won’t you tell me who’s hunting me?

They won’t hunt you if you let Montri go. We could leave the city. Start somewhere new.

Where was this coming from?
That’s not an option
.

Yes, it is. Your sister could go to Cambodia with her friends
.

Wakai leaned back. Ah, there is was. As much as he cared about his sister and best friend, the two of them had always hated each other with a passion. And he could understand why. Jarun tortured and killed for work, not pleasure. And never children.

It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one that told Alak about Victoria’s addictions
.

No. I should have. Years ago. Now look where we are
.

Wakai wasn’t sure he believed his friend. Not that it mattered. He needed allies he could trust, even reluctant ones. Jarun and he had saved each other’s lives a dozen times over, and if there was one person in the world he could count on it was his old friend. He tried a different tack.

I don’t want to hurt Alak. We worked well together for a lot of years. Will you help me protect him from the Cambodians?

There was a pause, then—
Yes
.

Wakai pressed his opening.
Kannon is hunting me. If he catches me, I’m a dead man. Will you help me stop him?

This time the pause was longer. Much longer.
Yes
.

Wakai released his breath and his fingers flew.
I’m going to give you the address for Montri. Get him and then contact me again. I’ll give you instructions from there
.

What’s security like?

Wakai filled him in, finishing with,
Is that a problem?

No.

Wakai paused. Their business was concluded, but he didn’t want to sign off quite yet.
It’s good to have you back
.

Wish I could say it was good to be back
, replied Jarun. Then abruptly, he signed out.

Kannon lagged behind Gina as they walked down the hallway of a lavish apartment building, all plush blue carpeting and silver chandeliers. It was hard to imagine that hours ago they’d been in another high rise, dark and empty.

He wished like hell he was back there again. He’d pitch himself over the stairwell if it meant avoiding what lay on the other side of the apartment door Gina was knocking on.

It was opened by a beautiful Thai woman, her black hair a long sensuous ripple, her body barely concealed by a short silken robe of bright crimson.

“Gina!”

“Pensri!”

The two women hugged each other, and then Pensri caught sight of him over Gina’s shoulder. Pensri’s hug slackened and Gina didn’t miss her cue. She windmilled a hand to hurry him in. Kannon slowly did so, closing and then locking the door.

“Pensri, this is my friend, Kannon.” Gina’s smile was huge.

Pensri gave a short bow. “Hello, Kannon.”

Kannon returned the greeting. “Hello, Pensri.”

Gina’s smile slipped. “So, you two know each—oh....”

Kannon winced. Of all the people in a city of fourteen million, naturally Pensri had to be Gina’s friend. He seriously wondered if there was a person alive who wasn’t connected to this woman.