Chapter 7: Preparing the way

I had a brief call from Mandy from Bangkok saying she was on her way home. I drove to Subang and waited for the Lear to touch down. At nineteen hundred o'clock, a glowing Mandy alighted, kissed me chastely on both cheeks and preceded me to the car park. I pushed the trolley loaded with her suitcases and a few shopping bags. She had left with one large suitcase and returned with three, not counting the shopping bags. I wondered how she found the time to do all that shopping.

"I simply couldn't resist," she explained.

It's amazing how women tend to understate their shopping sprees. We drove home in silence. I did not ask her the questions that seethed in my head. It would have to wait until we got home. She hummed to herself cheerfully tapping her fingers on her handbag.

"Well, how did your trip go?" I asked with studied unconcern when we got home. Actually I was going crazy with anticipation wanting to know what she had done in Bangkok. She shrugged and walked to the bathroom shedding clothes as she went. Her round buns wiggled as she swayed. I licked my lips as my eyes followed those delicious buns.

"You're getting naughty thoughts, Kaid. Let's save that for later. I feel like celebrating tonight."

She smiled at me archly and I indicated I would go along with her request. Things had to have gone extremely well for her to be in such a good mood, I thought.

"What do you feel like doing?" I asked, wondering if she needed fresh sustenance. I had fed on Rose the night before.

"Oh, let's go to one of the night spots, the quieter ones. I can't stand that awful noise they call music these days."

Before her 'change' she had been into boy bands and girly bands and the inane repetitious lyrics that were sung to a jungle beat. These days she listened to Carol King, Nina Simone, and when she was moody it was Cassandra Wilson. My tastes are more wide ranging, stretching from early Led Zeppelin to Bruce Springsteen and from Miles Davis to Dave Brubek.

"Fine with me. I'll dress up while you bathe. Got anything from Thailand?"

"I bought you a bottle of very old Napoleon brandy."

"Mmmm, my favourite kind. Are you hungry?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"I had a bite last night before I left Bangkok," she said, giving me a toothy smile.

We don't eat solid food but we can consume liquid in any form, so we went to the Coffee Bean in Bangsar where they serve very good coffee and then decided to drop in the Olde Jazz Shoppe to listen to a visiting quintet from Holland. We left Bangsar and headed for the Damansara freeway to get to One Utama. We got home by one and then she told me what happened in Bangkok.

The Disenfranchisement of Jefri

Mandy watched the ground fall away and her view of the ground rapidly expanded as the Lear quickly gained altitude. She settled into the wide comfortable seat and immersed herself fully into what she had to do when she got to Bangkok. She knew where Jefri was staying and she had made a booking for a suite a couple of floors higher than the one Jefri was in. She reclined her seat and began thinking of what she needed to do in Bangkok. She promised herself that he would remember every minute of what she had planned for him.

To do this and get away scotch free she would need an alibi — someone in a position of power. She ran several scenarios through her mind until she found one that looked doable. She worked on it all the way to Bangkok, revising and refining the various ideas that came to her mind until she was satisfied she had one that was doable. By the time the aircraft pilot was asking for clearance to land she had the broad outline of a workable plan. It would need fine tuning, but she could manage that.

When the Lear was parked and chocked, the pilot helped Mandy to a golf cart that was standing by for her and saw her through immigration and customs. A limousine was waiting at 'arrivals' and drove her to the Hotel Sukhotai International where Jefri was staying. She was shown to her suite.

Jefri was having a 'body' massage when Mandy arrived at the hotel. He was without his bodyguard who had been banished to a cheap hotel somewhere in Patpong, the red light district. The bodyguard wasn't unhappy with the arrangement. As usual, a thick bundle of Thai baht made sure the bodyguard would give Jefri's father a favourable report regarding Jefri's stay in Bangkok. The bodyguard was expected to give Jefri's father a detailed report on Jefri's behaviour. The bribe ensured Jefri would be able to enjoy the fleshpots of Bangkok without his father being told about it. He could do without the bodyguard that his father had adamantly assigned to him.

The bodyguard would be debriefed by his father after each night out. After the bodyguard had been questioned it was his turn to be 'debriefed'. The lectures he was subjected to were so humiliating and boring! He had to sit and listen to long-winded lectures about moral turpitude and AIDS and so on. Come on! Hadn't the old man heard of condoms? Anyway what could happen to him in Bangkok? For starters, no one knew he was there.

Mandy had brought with her ten thousand US dollars and her Platinum Visa. A discreet flash of her black Visa card was enough to give the right message to the front office manager. She was immediately given VIP status and treatment. From the privacy of her room she made discreet enquiries. She spoke to the floor boy and money changed hands. He told Mandy that the man she needed to talk to was an ex-sergeant in the Thai Special Forces. He was Mr. Big in that part of Bangkok. He was sure that he could contact this Mr. Big and arrange for him to call on Mandy.

Vichai Chulanont was a courteous, soft-spoken man who concluded very quickly that there was more to Mandy than she allowed. It had taken money and a whole day for an emissary to contact Vichai and persuade him there was profit in meeting this beautiful farang, foreign, lady.

"No need to fear that she won't keep to her bargain, Elder Brother Vichai," wheedled the floor boy, who was acting as the go-between. "I wish I could tell you more, but all she said is that you will find it rewarding to talk to her tonight."

"Easy for you to say, Mongkhon, but what if she has something really nasty in mind and leaves me holding the shitty end of the stick, hah?" ex-Sergeant Vichai retorted, nailing the go-between with an icy stare.

Mongkhon quailed. Vichai was not known to be a forgiving sort. The snick-snick of the gang leader's sidekick honing his razor sharp flick knife disturbed Mongkhon, but he persisted. The torn half of a US hundred dollar bill nestling in his pocket reminded him that payment depended upon a successful mission. He played what he thought was his trump card.

"She even has a Visa card."

Vichai's upper lip curled in disdain. "My granny's got one, too. So what."

"It's a platinum card," Mongkhon continued. Vichai's lip uncurled. Now he was impressed.

"I swear, Mongkhon, you're pushing your luck playing your stupid mind games again. One day you'll go too far. Okay, I'll see her. Make the necessary arrangements."

Two nights later, Vichai turned up for dinner at Mandy's suite with two minders in tow. Vichai was admitted into Mandy's presence while the men mounted guard outside. He was stunned by the frail looking beauty that faced him. A stunning beauty in her own right, the vampire virus that infected her gave her a strange vitality that enhanced her beauty and her pheromones triggered all the worst instincts a man could have. Vichai stopped in his tracks, gaping, before he saluted her with a wai. The wai that she returned irked him. It wasn't from an inferior female to the dominant male. Somehow she had turned the tables on him. He felt inferior in her presence. He didn't like the feeling but he kept in mind that this was a wealthy farang and he could make a good profit from whatever she had in mind.

(Note: The "wai" is the greeting that Thais exchange when they meet. It is performed by pressing the palms together with fingers closed and steepled. The higher the hands are held, the more subservient is the greeting.)

"Forgive my unseemly haste, young miss." He addressed Mandy in the Teow Chew dialect which she was fluent in. Many Thais of mixed Chinese descent speak this dialect. "There must be a reason for our meeting. Surely, you're not looking for ... an adventure?" He smiled briefly.

"Indeed there is a reason, Mr. Vichai and it isn't what you think. There is always a reason for important and worthy matters. I'm a stranger to your wonderful city and I have come on a delicate mission. I understand that your business is usually conducted with utmost discretion, and that you are well positioned to know who to get in touch with should events require a sympathetic ear. No one is beyond needing an umbrella on a rainy day. It is so useful to know someone powerful and influential. Don't you think?"

She smiled at him and Vichai felt his knees melt like butter in an oven. Mandy pressed him for a reply. Vichai allowed that such was the case from time to time.

Mandy continued, her eyes glowing softly in the subdued light of her suite. Vichai started. He could have sworn there were flecks of crimson in the farang woman's eyes.

"Perhaps, Mr. Vichai, you are too modest to admit that you, too, are a person of influence. It is important to my mission that I meet someone in a position of power and authority. And naturally all kind deeds have their rewards both here and in your next incarnation," she added piously.

That fool Mongkhon hadn't been wrong after all. Only the truly rich could afford the best suite in this hotel. He was assured that he would profit by helping this farang lady and he knew just the right person to approach. They proceeded to dine on the best Thai dinner the hotel could offer. They passed the time with small talk while they ate six memorable courses.

When they had finished the repast and the waiters summoned to clear the detritus of their feasting, Vichai said, "If there is anything else, Miss Lopez, you have only to ask me. A companion while you are in Bangkok perhaps... ?"

He leered at her and Mandy knew that he was about to make a pass at her. She wasn't attracted by the squat, ex-soldier and she exerted her will on him saying, "Let us carry out our tasks first. Perhaps when the mission is successfully concluded..." Vichai smiled and nodded his head. He couldn't have known that she had subtly manipulated his thoughts and so felt no loss of face. To reject him outright would have been a great loss of face, to the detriment of her plans.

"I'll be in touch with you as soon as I make contact with this person, Miss Lopez. I have just the right man for you."

Mandy felt relief. She could have located this important person with the help of elementals, but she wasn't knowledgeable in the conjuration and control of spirits. Furthermore it wasn't safe to use arcane powers as she was a stranger in a strange city. A burst of psychic energy could alert an adept and there were any number of adepts in Bangkok, failed Buddhist priests who dabbled in the dark arts. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, her knowledge of black magic was at best superficial as she would be the first to admit it.

"I'm so glad that I can depend on you to help a defenceless girl like me and please tell that so important person that I would be honoured to entertain him to dinner."

Mandy waved a roll of hundred-dollar bills in his face and Vichai's eyes followed the gently moving roll of bills like a monkey swaying to the dance of a rock python. Vichai wasn't so sure that she was as defenceless as she claimed, but she had all the right paper qualifications. More importantly, they were coloured green. He pocketed the roll without counting it. That would have been crass. It was later in the privacy of his office that Vichai noted that the bills had been neatly cut in half. The farang woman held all the other halves. Vichai grinned ruefully. Also not stupid, he told himself.

As they rode the elevator to the lobby, one of his men was rash enough to ask him, "Hey boss, you fuck farang lady, yes? Bang her upside down, right? Good or not?"

A flashing backhand struck the man's nose.

"Oww! What for you hit me, boss?" the aggrieved minion whined.

"For having monkey brain, you asshole," Vichai growled his reply.