“Guess I forgot to mention it,” said Oskar. “I wasn’t sure when he was arriving. I planned to use both him and Ben to cover you and Stew when we go down south. We thought we would take a couple of days off here to relax first.”

“I feel horrible,” said Jack. “I don’t know what to say. That poor guy. It was such a fluke thing. I hope he wasn’t married?”

Oskar shook his head and said, “No, but I do need some time to think about everything. I should probably call the American Embassy in Bangkok right away. You, uh, go and I’ll catch up to you later.”

A minute later, Jack tapped on Jim’s door and was let inside, where the team was listening.

“They believe your story,” whispered Willy. “Pike dropped off his luggage and went straight back to Oskar’s room. Before he got there, we heard Oskar mutter that he should have had insurance on Rabbit. Come and listen.”

Jack listened as Jim turned up the volume slightly.

“I can’t believe it,” said Pike sorrowfully. “After everything Rabbit and I have been through. To slip and die over a fucking wimp like that. The idiot doesn’t even realize how lucky he is.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about your friend,” replied Oskar. “I know you two were close.”

“In the line of work I’ve been in, I’ve lost a lot of friends over the years,” replied Pike. “Getting shot or blown up is one thing, but to lose someone over something as stupid as this really pisses me off. Rabbit and I were warriors and that’s no way for a warrior to die. Just doesn’t seem honourable.”

“Makes you appreciate life,” replied Oskar. “You never know when something unexpected could happen.”

“I’m so pissed off, I feel like going to that fucker’s room and ripping his head off,” said Pike, as his sorrow became replaced with rage.

“You’ll get your chance, but not around here,” said Oskar. “One body connected to us in this dinky little town is enough.”

“You going to call the big guy?” asked Pike. “He’ll be pissed off.”

Jack tensed, waiting for the reply. One phone call by Oskar might wrap up the case.

“Maybe not. Shit happens. He knows that. Besides, if need be, he has a couple of other guys capable of helping out.”

“I won’t need any help with either of those two goofs.”

“We’ll have to wait and see what he wants. I’ll send an email from the hotel lobby and let him know about the accident and tell him that the corporate asset we had intended to unload is still with us. I imagine he’ll want to wait and talk face-to-face in Langkawi and figure things out.”

“Think this will change things?”

“I doubt it. At least, not much. We’ll fly to Langkawi as planned. The only difference I see, is instead of only sending Stew to Hat Yai, we’ll probably send the both of them.”

“Do ’em both in Hat Yai?”

“Knowing the reputation of Hat Yai, I doubt it would even make the news there.”

The conversation came to an end when Oskar told Pike he would meet him in the hotel restaurant in an hour to eat.

“Email?” asked Jack, looking at Jim.

“If he’s being careful enough not to use his own computer, I suspect he’ll use a chat room.”

“No direct contact,” nodded Jack.

“I’ll see what I can come up with,” replied Jim. “It may take a few days to try and track things down, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

“If Oskar is meeting with his boss in Langkawi, things could work out perfect,” said Willy.

“Providing we get them talking near a bug,” said Tina. “Hopefully before you go to Hat Yai,” she added.

Pom put his hand on Jack’s shoulder and looked concerned as he shook his head. “Hat Yai is very dangerous.”

“More so than here?” asked Jack.

Pom nodded and made a slashing motion across his throat with his index finger.

“I see,” said Jack. “Which means we can’t let Stew Pot go there. We’ll have to extract him before that happens.”

“Hope it doesn’t burn things,” said Randy, “not that we have any choice.”

“I’m going to slip back to my room for a moment, then get Stew and go for dinner in the restaurant with Oskar and Pike so they aren’t alone to talk there.”

Jack stopped briefly in his room and checked out the Canadian Foreign Affairs and International Trade report for Hat Yai:

Avoid all Travel …(Hat Yai) experiencing criminally and politically motivated violent incidents. Attacks against military and civilian targets occur almost daily, and include shootings, bombings, beheadings, and arson.

Violence in the Muslim-majority southernmost provinces is highly unpredictable, and Canadians travelling in the region risk becoming casualties of an indiscriminate attack. Deadly attacks occur frequently and are regularly directed at government and security buildings and personnel, but have also occurred in a variety of public places, including shopping districts, entertainment venues, public transit, and hotels that may be frequented by tourists. Since January 2004, over 4,700 people have been killed and many more injured, including foreigners.

Jack wondered how his own murder would be planned once Stew was extracted. Up until now, the murders had been staged as accidents. In Hat Yai, that would not be necessary. Murder was so common there that a bullet to the back of the head wouldn’t draw much reaction. He glanced at the report again. Beheadings?

He thought of Pom slowly drawing his finger across his neck and subconsciously put his hand to his throat.

Yeah, Pom, well put …

Chapter Thirty-Two

Originally Oskar had planned that everyone would go to Langkawi on Tuesday, but Dixen’s death prevented that. The local police decided to hold Oskar’s passport until they straightened out who Dixen was working for and rectify a problem with a working permit that apparently was not in order.

On Monday, Oskar told Jack that they would be staying at The Westin Langkawi Resort and Spa and told him to make reservations for Thursday. Jack was pleased with the delay because it gave the cover team more time to prepare and make arrangements with foreign authorities.

The downside was that the time seemed to drag as he spent three days making small talk with Stew as they sat around the pool while Oskar and Pike preferred to go across the river to the casino in Laos.

As Langkawi was in Malaysia, but close to the Thai border, Pom would be the only Thai policeman to go along, in the event they needed to coordinate things if Jack did have to go back across the border to Hat Yai in Thailand.

The RCMP Liaison Officer in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was contacted and arranged for a four-man security team of Malaysian policemen to take over security in Langkawi for when Jack and Stew arrived.

On Tuesday, Jim and Pom both left the Golden Triangle and went to Langkawi to ensure that the rooms reserved by Oskar and Pike would both be under proper electronic surveillance.

On Thursday, Oskar, Pike, Jack, and Stew flew to Bangkok and caught a connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur. There they caught another connecting flight to Langkawi. Their flight in Kuala Lumpur was delayed and it was after midnight when they arrived at the front desk of The Westin Langkawi Resort and Spa.

As they received their room keys, Oskar told Jack and Stew that he would give them Friday and Saturday off to recoup from their travel.

It had been arranged through the Malaysian police that Oskar and Pike would have adjoining rooms on the top floor, while Jim had a room directly below them. Jack was also booked beside Jim, while Stew was booked into a room three floors down from the top and flanked on both sides by the Malaysian security team.