Chapter 3

I needed to return to my previous human appearance before stopping at the Tawana to recover my belongings. I was met by the assistant manager as I entered the hotel.

“How is your friend?” he inquired.

“The doctor put him in the hospital for observation for the next several days to ensure that he is all right,” I told him, before going up to my room. Fortunately, he wasn’t there when I returned to the lobby to check out.

The Dusit Thani is also an older hotel, but it is one of the premier hotels in Bangkok. It is also more expensive, but I wasn’t worried about that. Additionally, I was expecting the delivery of a number of things there in the next few days. Tomorrow, I would see about collecting the things from the late CIA men’s office and their apartments.

Since I had made the reservation at the Dusit Thani on the computer, I had little trouble checking in. I had gotten a club room on the tenth floor. It was about 600 SF in size with a large single bed, a fine bath, and a large sitting room. Compared to my kuit room at the Wat, it was the lap of luxury. That evening, I dined at one of the hotel’s seven restaurants and had another steak dinner.

Sunday morning, I left the Dusit Thani after an early breakfast and changed my appearance to that of the CIA boss, Roberts, as I drove their car up Thanon Witthayu (Wireless Road) to the site of the new American Embassy. I had no trouble gaining access to the embassy compound, as I appeared to be Roberts, had his ID card and wallet, and was driving his official car. Additionally, it was Sunday, not much was happening, and the guards were a bit slack. I knew where the CIA’s offices were in the Embassy from his mind and had no trouble accessing them.

Once inside, I activated Roberts’s computer and started going through his records. It required a little time and the use of a more advanced program to break their security but wasn’t difficult. I found a number of things in there that would be very embarrassing to both the CIA and the American government if revealed to the Thais, or the leaders of several other Southeast Asian countries. I made copies of all of this to take with me.

The CIA also had their own classified document safe in their offices. I hadn’t gotten the combination to it from them, but it was easily opened with my control of material items. There were a number of interesting documents in the safe, and I used the digital camera that I found in the office to record the most interesting pages from a number of them before putting them back in the safe and locking it with a new combination. It would require considerable effort for someone to open it again. I removed the memory card from the camera and took it with me.

A further check of the offices revealed very little else of use to me, and I departed soon after that. I had learned while scanning his mind that Roberts had another clandestine office not far from the embassy. It was located down the road from the embassy in the Kian Gwan office building at 138-140 Wireless Road, and was rented under a different corporate name. The office was located on the fourth floor of the building. I saw no one on entering but passed a few people on the way to their office, however, none of them spoke to me. I had Roberts’s keys and entered the small office.

The room was very sparsely furnished with two desks, a filing cabinet, and some other minor furniture, but I wasn’t interested in any of this. Instead, I pulled out the second drawer of the filing cabinet from the top, which allowed me to pull the cabinet forward and moved it aside to reveal the safe concealed by the bottom two drawers which were inoperative, and would appear to be locked if someone tried them. There was an explosive charge behind the two bottom drawer fronts that would be set off if someone tried to open them by force.

Opening the safe with the combination that I obtained from Robert’s mind revealed several passports from different countries, and all had Roberts’s picture, but used different names. There were also ID cards in those names as well as driver’s licenses. Holiday’s passport and travel tickets were also in there in addition to a lot of money, American money. It was all in bundles of ten thousand dollars, and there were ten bundles. I put the money, the passports and other identification plus the travel tickets in a small brief case that I found in the office.

After closing the safe and replacing the filing cabinet, I eliminated all of my fingerprints with a thought before leaving the office to return to the Dusit Thani. It was on the way to the car, that it occurred to me that I should obtain at least some of both men’s clothing to take with me, if I were going to impersonate them. They certainly couldn’t afford, or at least didn’t wear, the type of expensive suits that I had ordered. I knew their addresses and drove to their apartments to collect some of their clothing before returning to the Dusit Thani. I also took Holiday’s suitcase to keep them in. Again there were no questions since I appeared to be them, I had their keys, and I saw few people while at their apartments.

On entering the lobby of the Dusit Thani in my form as Thorne Saint Cirq, I was approached by one of the female desk clerks.

“Mr. Saint Cirq, a package has arrived for you,” she told me and led the way over to the registration desk, where I was handed a small package with an international delivery company’s sticker on it. I thanked those there after signing for it and continued on my way up to my room with the package and the suitcase.

Setting the suitcase aside, I went to the desk in my room and opened the package. Inside were several new credit cards plus bank identification cards and checkbooks for several of my other identities. I placed two in my wallet before removing the small briefcase from the suitcase. At the table, I went over the various passports, ID cards and driver’s licenses plus the travel tickets before counting the bills in each bundle to be sure that the correct amount was in each of them. I didn’t intend to carry that much money around with me, and would deposit most of it in several of my accounts now I had the bank cards and check books for them.

By the time I had finished, it was evening, and I thought that I would go out for dinner tonight. After putting everything away in the suitcase, I changed to go out to dinner. Using my control of energy and matter, I adjusted the electronic lock on the door to the room, so that only I could open it. I also changed the size of the door expanding it, so that it was now wedged into the opening and would take considerable force to open, if they could manage to open the lock.

Slipping out of the hotel unobserved, I made my way down to the Phatphong area and the bars and clubs there. There was, or had been, a restaurant there that served a sweet and sour pork that I had particularly enjoyed on my previous visits, and I hoped that it was still in business.

Arriving at what had been their location, I was disappointed to discover that there was now a new building where they had been, and there was no sign of a restaurant in the vicinity. While there, I was approached by several bar-girls about buying them a drink, but I wasn’t in need of female company and sent them on their way. I was greatly disappointed that the restaurant, or rahn ah-hahn (literally eating room as it is called in Thai) was gone. I was preparing to return to my hotel when I was approached by an older Thai man who I had sensed in the shadows for some time.

“Are you looking for something, krup?” he inquired in good English.

“There used to be a restaurant here that served a delicious sweet and sour pork, but I see that it is gone now, krup,” I told him in Thai.

“You speak Thai very well for a fa-rang, krup,” he said in compliment. “I know the restaurant that you mean. They are still in business, but in a different location. They had to move to make-way for this new building. I can show you where they are now, krup,” he volunteered in Thai with a Lao accent. It was somewhat different from my own northern Thai accent. I had to wonder at his generosity however. In any case, I would remain ready to deal with whatever came along.

“Thank you. That is very generous of you, krup,” I told him, and we set out for the new location of the restaurant, which was only a short distance away on another street.

On entering the restaurant, all of the familiar scents of rice cooking, soup heating, and the scents of ginger, garlic, basil, and peppers plus the other herbs, spices and ingredients being prepared for the various dishes assaulted my senses. I stopped for a few seconds and inhaled all of the various scents, before turning to the man who had helped me.

“Will you join me in a meal, krup?” I asked.

“Yes, I will be glad to. It is always a pleasure to meet one who appreciates good food, krup,” he told me.

We were soon seated and had ordered large platter of sweet and sour pork, or moo bpree-o wahn. It was delicious, and I greatly enjoyed it. It was also very spicy due to the peppers used in it, and even I sweat when eating it.

My companion was soon finished with his meal and prepared to leave, signaling the waitress for his check.

“I must get back to work. The weekends are always very busy,” he explained.

“Please allow me to pay for your meal to repay you for your generosity in guiding me here. I would never have found the restaurant by myself,” I asked.

“If you insist, krup,” he answered with a bow.

“I insist, you have been most generous with your time and assistance, krup,” I assured him.

The waitress had arrived, and I paid for both of our meals and ordered another plate of sweet and sour pork. My benefactor and the waitress both smiled at this.

It was much later when I left the restaurant, as I has stayed for a time after eating to enjoy the ambiance of the place. The smells, the cooking, and the movement of people in and out of the restaurant all combined in a very interesting flurry of activity. The variety of their customers was also very interesting. I had enjoyed some of the local beer while doing this.

Consequently, it was rather late when I left, and there were several groups of young men out on the streets at that time, but I paid little attention to them. I continued to walk confidently in the direction that I needed to go. I did, however, square my shoulders and walk erect in addition to changing my hands into those of my original form in case they should decide that I was prey after all. It would have been a bad mistake on their part, but I wasn’t bothered, and after a time, they selected someone else who looked like an easier target. I soon reached my hotel.

On entering the lobby of the Dusit Thani, I was again approached by one of the clerks from the reception desk. It was a young man this time.

“Mr. Saint Cirq, another package has arrived for you. We tried your room, but you must have already gone out, as no one answered your phone,” he told me.

“Yes, I have been out to dinner for several hours,” I told him, as we moved toward the registration desk. There I was handed a much larger package after signing for it.

Back in my room, I opened the package to find the passports, ID cards and driver’s licenses that I had arranged for on Friday. I added them to the others that I had collected here.

Monday morning, I awoke early and spent an hour chanting and then another on my exercises. I had skipped both on Sunday. Following a good shower, I got out my tablet and looked up what international banks had offices in Bangkok. From those available, I selected three banks where I had accounts: Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC. I had decided that I would deposit thirty thousand dollars in each of my accounts with them and keep the final ten thousand dollars with me to use as necessary in places where I didn’t want to use my credit cards.

Two of the banks were on Wireless Road and the other was on Rama IV Road, making it easy to get to each of them. After depositing the funds, I spent the reminder of Monday reading the Thai and English language newspapers that I had purchased while out. I had dinner in the hotel, but their sweet and sour pork could not compare to what I had the previous evening.

Tuesday morning, the tailor delivered the three suits that I had ordered. This was fortunate as Holiday’s tickets were for a flight that took off shortly before midnight that night. I started packing that afternoon and would have an early dinner before leaving for Suvarnabhumi International Airport at around 7:30.

I had found a medium size American Diplomatic Pouch in the CIA’s offices on Sunday, and placed all of the extra passports, ID cards, driver’s licenses, money, credit cards, checkbooks, and the classified information that I had acquired in it. By international law, it could not be opened or the contents revealed until the courier reached his / her destination where it would be opened by the proper authorities. It would be handcuffed to my left wrist while I traveled.