Gina Takes Bangkok (The Femme Vendettas) (20 page)

She flipped it over so that they could see the back, and Gina felt a rush of excitement as she realized what Montri’s captor had been looking at. There in the upper right corner was a display ad for a local kickboxing tournament, to be held at an open air arena that night.

Gina laughed. “Okay, I admit it. You’re a genius!”

“Duh” was the hacker’s gracious reply.

Kannon didn’t seem to hear them. “We can tail him back to where Alak Montri’s at. A rescue would change the entire situation. And we can be prepared to follow him on water as well as land. It’ll be tricky, but Wakai could’ve given us our biggest opportunity yet.” Gina could feel his suppressed energy, so different from his melancholy the previous night and the sexy slyness of that morning. Three different moods in less than a day. Maybe, finally, she was getting to see what else there was to the man who only saw himself as a killer.

Wakai studied the footage on his tablet, the imaging software smoothing out the pixels to transform the jagged, static-y scene into something for him to analyze. Although cameras were barred from Triple 9 by request of the patrons, they were on the streets, and the local shopkeepers had proved cooperative.

The club doors burst open, and he paused the action. He zoomed in on the trio that had appeared, then set the software to sharpen their features. Kannon and Ryota were instantly recognizable, but who was the woman with them? She wasn’t Asian, that was for sure. Too tall. Her features too pointed. Breasts too large.

She didn’t seem like a hired gun—women with looks like hers didn’t need to resort to violence to earn a living—so why was she with Kannon? With those shocks of royal purple throughout her dark hair, she was far from low key. Certainly no private investigator.

He retracted the zoom to further dissect the scene. There was a shrill metallic chime, and in the top corner of his screen a small image appeared from the elevator camera. It was Ek, and by the looks of him, he was as irate as he’d been last night.

Wakai tapped the button to allow entry. “Victoria,” he called over his shoulder. “The wizard’s here.”

She emerged into the living area from the bedroom. “I wish you’d stop calling him that.”

“I think you’d like my other names for him even less.”

She kneeled beside him. “He’s a valuable ally, John. When we needed him he was there to help us. Him and his entire clan. Why can’t you be nice to him?”

Wakai tried to feign a smile. “The man’s a bloodthirsty, sadistic, child-raping cannibal. You’ll excuse me if I’m a little suspect of his motivations.”

Victoria propped her chin on the arm of his chair. “He can’t help having the hungers he does, John. No more than I can help mine. I know we seem like monsters to you, but that doesn’t mean he’s disloyal.”

“He just wants to ply his trade in a new territory. At best, he’s a mercenary.”

Victoria tilted her head. “And what does Montri do?”

Her point was obvious. “Yes, he smuggles, defrauds and kills. Except he rid the city of foreign gangs like Ek’s. Put a virtual end to child prostitution. Helped thousands of Bangkok’s poorest get a leg up. He’s never driven around in big cars or owned fancy apartments. His intentions were always as good as any criminal’s could be. Ek’s are as bad as they get.”

His sister’s lower lip came out. “Even after what he tried, you’ll defend him?”

“I did what I had to do to protect you,” Wakai stated. “That doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. As for Ek, you have to give up on this fantasy of us being brothers. It’s never going to happen.”

On the far side of the penthouse there was a low chime, and Wakai heard the elevator doors open. “We’ll finish this conversation later.”

Victoria stood as Ek strode over, one arm in a cast. The giant stopped directly in front of Wakai’s chair, pausing only to nod in greeting to Victoria before glowering down at him. “You’ve got some balls talking to me like that last night. I want to know where Montri is right now.”

“I left him in the care of you two for a week and he looked like he’d been run over by a truck,” Wakai said, not so much as glancing at Ek. His fingers traced over the tablet screen. Something caught his eye. The woman in the van. He knew her, he knew her…from where, where, where?

Ek railed on. “We were trying to get information out of him. Information you weren’t able to, either.”

“Yes, I failed. Unlike you, however, I’ve actually got a plan on how to get rid of our enemies.”

Victoria gave a little happy squeal that Ek squelched with a glare. He glowered down at Wakai. “What are you going to do?”

“Not what I’m going to do, Ek. What I’ve already done. And what I’ve already done is set a trap for Kannon and his friends. Soon enough you’re going to have a chance to pay him back for your elbow.”

“When? Where?”

Always impatient, always greedy. “I’ll let you know the time and place,” Wakai replied calmly. “Remember your role and everything will work out fine.”

“My role?” Ek growled.

At last Wakai looked up at the brute, making no effort to hide his disdain. “Our deal is simple, Ek. You’re the muscle. I’m the brains. We’re partners of necessity. Don’t get the idea that you can do what I can.”

Ek gritted his yellowish teeth in a sneer. “You think you’re so smart. If it weren’t for Victoria here you’d already be dead.”

Wakai snorted. “If it weren’t for Victoria, you and your simian clan would still be cowering in some Cambodian backwater.”

“We’re rakshasas, not from some fucking simian gang.”

“Your answer proves direct lineage.”

His sister got between them. “Please, enough fighting. We’re in this together. We’re more than a gang. We’re a family. And Bangkok belongs to us so long as we work together.”

It was plain enough to Wakai that his feelings for Ek were returned in full, but he nodded. “We all have our roles to play,” he said, extending a small token of conciliation for her sake.

Ek grunted.

“Besides, I have more good news for you two. I know who’s been helping Kannon. Who’s probably protecting Tasanee.”

Victoria’s eyes widened in excitement. “Who?”

Wakai angled the tablet to Ek and Victoria, and pointed at the driver of the van. “See that woman?”

They nodded.

“Her name’s Darae Zaffini. Her husband controls half of Bangkok’s brothels and massage parlors, and he’s a close friend of Montri. Should have guessed he’d be the first to cross me.”

“Where is he?” Ek demanded.

“I don’t know,” replied Wakai. “Yet.”

GINA SAT BACK from the small plastic table at the tiny makeshift café and enjoyed the view. It was of Kannon, coming toward her through the crowd of diners and colorful stalls, his mirrored sunglasses blazing like the eyes of an avenging angel. From his right hand hung a large duffel bag, the thick fabric straining under the heavy contents, though he carried it with the same ease she did her purse. Or with the same ease he had carried her from 70 Rai. Or with the same ease he marked her with his kisses.

She scooted out a chair for him. He took it and set the bag down close, tapping it with his foot.

“Quite the interesting toys Dr. Chaiboonma has. We’ve got this on loan for tonight, and Kittyjack’s on standby to operate it. How did you do with Mrs. Kinjo?”

“Lwin called some fighters who’ll be competing, and they put me in touch with the arena’s owner. They’re going to keep a lookout for anyone with ‘pinged’ knuckles as they collect the tickets, so it’s all arranged. Now all we have to do is hope our hunch is right. You had anything to eat yet?”

Kannon looked down at the trio of empty paper plates in front of Gina. “I’m not hungry. Besides, I try to avoid street food.”

“What? It’s the very best kind!”

“And how do you figure that?”

She gestured about her as if the answer was obvious. “Look around you!”

He did. “All I see is chaos and all I smell is way too much of everything.”

“Kannon, most of the foods around us are delicacies. They’re not easy to make, and they take a lot of care to cook. Each vendor only makes one or two specialties, so over the years they become masters at preparing them. A restaurant chef is never going to get that good. That’s why I avoid restaurants when I’m here. And the best part is, any day now it will all be gone.”

“Come again?”

“You really don’t get it, do you? You’ve been here for how long, did you say?”

“Two years, about.”

“And do you know why I asked us to meet here?”

“I don’t know. I asked for a nice, quiet, empty place.”

“Because this morning driving by, it was! This was a vacant lot and that won’t do around here. Probably what happened was a motorcycle with one mini-kitchen in tow pulled up and began serving noodles. Then one after another came more motorcycles and up went stalls and soon you got all this—a half-dozen kinds of noodles, sweetmeats, coconut hotcakes. People coming around with baked goods and bottles. And see, there. A busker. It’s like a carnival.

“That’s the thing. American and Europeans always want to control, set down laws, tie things up in red tape, but the people of Bangkok, they grab hold of chaos and ride it into whatever adventure it will take them, and everyone accepts everyone else. That’s why you can have a skyscraper beside a shrine, and why a hooker and a monk make an offering side by side.” Gina scooted her chair closer to Kannon and nudged his shoulder. “And a decent man is out with a wild woman.”

She’d said the last bit because as she spoke, his entire pose had changed. He’d become very intense, his elbows were on his knees, and along the edge of his sunglasses she could see crinkles where one eye was narrowed on her. “You belong here.”

“In Bangkok?”

“Yes. Like a fish in water.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what Darae wants.”

“Not what you want?”

“I don’t know what I want. I know what I don’t want.”

“To be head of The Pink Stilettos?”

“I’m not any good at it, despite what Dr. Chai and Darae say. I’m no crocodile tamer, as Lwin puts it. I’m a washed-up party girl, and that’s it. You know what’ll happen to this market tomorrow, maybe the next day? This lot will be swarming with construction workers, and all these stalls will blow to the wind like dandelion seeds and touch down somewhere else.”

“You saying you’re a dandelion seed?”

She sighed, sitting back in her chair. “I
wish
I was. God knows that’s what I’ve been trying to be. Problem is my whole life has been rooted in this city since before I was even conceived.”

“And how’s that?” he asked.

She cocked her head at him. “Ask me out on a date.”

“What? Right now?”

“Yeah. And tell me we can go anywhere I want.”

He looked at her uncertainly, but with a shrug he acquiesced. “Fine. Would you go out with me, Gina?”

“Yep,” she smiled. “Where are you taking me?”

“Anywhere you want to go, apparently.”

She took him by the hand. “Then come on. I want to show you those roots we were talking about.”

As they crossed a canal, Kannon looked over his shoulder. “We’ve got seven dogs on our tail. Any idea why that is?”