The Prince and His Harem - Ch 65 & 66

Chapter 65

Rickie stood unmoving on the beach, his binoculars trained at the Waterfront some distance away, where constantly-shifting throngs of people swirled around, intent on watching the colorful boats and their rows of straining men.  Outside the buoys marking the race course, vessels large and small lay quietly at anchor.   And in one of them, his very heart lay trapped and surrounded by evil.

Lost in reverie, he was startled by a touch at his elbow.

“The boat’s almost here,” Raine said, “We need to go down to the APMM dock and meet them.”

After showing their credential to the guards, they drove to the main pier and parked Raine’s car.  As they walked down to the dock, a dark gray cigarette boat eased up alongside the deck, and an unsmiling soldier in dark fatigues on the bow tossed a rope, which Raine expertly caught.  She wrapped it around the capstan and pulled, causing the boat to move towards the bumpers.  When the vessel touched the side of the dock, both Rickie and Raine jumped aboard.

Raine and Rickie made their way aft to the staging area.  There the STAR troops, dressed in their American-style Army Combat Uniforms and already familiar from the sabotage situation, were being briefed on the available information.

“We have two rigid hulls here right now to try and find the terrorists’ boat or boats.  From what intelligence data we have, we know that the vessel containing the hostage is constructed, at least partially, of Fiberglas.   We have set up a discreet perimeter around the harbor, and are scrutinizing each vessel, although we are only detaining and searching a percentage of these.

“Our analysis states that these terrorists will remain in the area until they are able to procure the files they are looking for or can confirm that it has been destroyed.  We are not sure what information is entailed in that data;   the Special Branch has determined that this covert organisation may be the one that their agents were investigating approximately a year ago.

“Are there any questions?  Good luck, men.”  As a whole, they saluted and then began preparing their gear.  Rickie walked up to the front podium.

“Leftenan Komander, which team am I assigned to?”  The commander shook his head.

“You are injured, and a liability in this operation.  I request that you stay at the command base  and wait for any new information.”  Rickie looked ready to argue, and the officer clapped a hand to his shoulder.  “You need to think what’s best for the hostage.  You’ll be doing her a disservice if we need to abort the operation to return you to base.”

Rickie bowed respectively, but privately fumed to Raine once they were back on shore.

“How can they keep me out of this?!  I’ve already been up against them, and I know their strengths and weaknesses.  I have a better chance of spotting them.”   Raine pulled back on his arm to slow down his stride.

“You have to admit, Rickie that you are badly injured.  Everything he said is correct, and I agree with him.  You are too emotional here, my friend, and that’s not what’s needed now.”

Rickie nodded curtly, then took a deep breath and blew it out.  “I understand.  I just hate feeling helpless.”

“You wouldn’t be our Prince if you just sat on your bum,” Raine chuckled.  She gave him a quick hug.  “Are you going to come with me to the command post?”

Rickie shook his head. “I think I want to be by myself for a little bit.  Don’t worry, I won’t sneak aboard.”  Raine looked at him with narrowed eyes, but then shrugged.

“Call me if you need a ride. Otherwise, if you start walking, you’ll be there in about 15 minutes.” She pointed out the building a short distance away, and Rickie nodded.  And with that, Raine walked to her car and drove off with a wave towards the main building.

As soon as Raine’s vehicle was far enough away, he opened his cell phone and called the personnel at his boat house.

Chapter 66

Meaghan looked at her ersatz neighbor and friend, and internally shuddered at the coldness in her eyes.  Still, she mustered up enough of her flagging courage to ask a question.

“Why did you do all this?”

“I love Bangkok.  A lot of people like the Damnoen Saduak and all the boats floating in the market, but that’s too touristy and busy for the work that I do.  Had your friend gone there instead of the Khao San Road district, perhaps we wouldn’t have met up and she would still be able to talk.  As it was, she refused to give us any information right up to the end.  A remarkably strong woman, that Iviore.”

Meaghan couldn’t believe her ears. “You killed her? But why?  What did she do to you?”  She could hear the edge of hysteria in her voice, but tried to hold on to her tenuous control.

Shel nodded at Shuk, who stood up from the office chair and moved to casually lean against the bulkhead.  Shel swiveled the chair and sat down, leaning her arms against the seatback.

“She was a minor obstacle; she figured out we were laundering money through the company you worked for.  It was funny, funneling the money that was funding the destruction of that family’s business.  The furor was fantastic when Mystisith did such a fine job with the trail.” Shel smiled, but it never reached those chilly eyes.  “I don’t suppose it really matters what you found in those files. That is now just a footnote in all this.” She finished dismissively. Then she leaned forward and Meaghan involuntarily shrank back.

“Where are your parent’s files?”

“I don’t know.” 

Without warning, Shuk stepped forward from the bulkhead and slapped Meaghan.  She fell back onto the bunk with the jangling of the chains competing with the ringing in her ears. 

The older woman grabbed her wrist shackles and yanked her back up.

Shel continued conversationally, as if nothing happened. “If the BKN had the information, they would have already shut us down.  They didn’t have anything on their persons; we even check to see if it was embedded somewhere on their bodies.  It wasn’t in their belongings, so the only thing left is…you.  Well, you and your sister.”

“Don’t you dare touch my sister! I’ll kill you first!” Meaghan all but yelled, but Shel appear unaffected.  Shuk, however, pulled her hand back to strike her again, only a sharp rebuke from Shel stopping her.  She reversed until her back was again on the bulkhead, but the casual stance from before was gone.  Instead, she looked at Meaghan with happy malice.

“So, where could your dear, dear parents secured it?  It’s going to be a long afternoon for you if we can’t figure this out.”

~     ~     ~

Rickie thanked his employee as he stepped inside the rollcage of the small 2-seat jetsprint boat.  It was a vessel he normally used for racing between friends.  The 5-meter long straked vee-hull made it very maneuverable and the 6-litre engine produced up to 650 horsepower on aviation fuel.   It was not a boat for the open water, but Rickie thought it was perfect for inside the harbor, as he intended to look for Meaghan no matter what.  He waved at the now-stranded worker and hurried to the other end of the harbor, where the Duanwu Festival was in full swing.