Thai Horse

‘The main thing is, Pai kept us there,’ said Cody. ‘Taisung didn’t send us to Hanoi. We honestly believed that if we went to Hanoi it was all over.’

‘I seduced Taisung,’ Pai said, staring at Hatcher’s feet. ‘I went downriver and brought him liquor, cigarettes, everything he needed to make life easy for him. Then I brought him China White.’

‘That was my idea,’ said Cody. ‘Hook the son of a bitch. Once he was hooked he’d do anything to get a fix. Johnny Prophett had the connection and Pai was free to move around.’

‘First, a little for the nose,’ said Pai. ‘Then the needle.’

‘Then we had the son of a bitch,’ said Cody.

Earp appeared in the doorway drinking a beer.

‘Everything okay?’ he said.

‘Come on in,’ Cody answered. Earp entered the small room and leaned against the wall.

‘Jaimie left you a note,’ said Hatcher.

‘A note? Where?’

‘At the Wall in Washington, the Vietnam memorial. He thanked you for Thai Horse. Now I know what he meant. He was talking about the Thai Horse that led the fallen warriors to heaven.’

‘That’s right. It was Pai who led us out of that hellhole into Bangkok,’ Cody said. ‘That’s why Johnny called her Thai Horse.’

‘The war had been over almost a year, and Taisung was still holding them,’ Earp said. ‘That’s where I came into it. Hanoi was on to Taisung. He was going to run for it and leave us there with a handful of guards. They probably would have killed us. But Pai offered a trade-out. She’d set up an escape and he could come out with the boys. I was living in Bangkok and helped set up the escape route and the boats.’

‘We should have killed Taisung ‘when we had the chance,’ said Cody, ‘but he was too quick for us. He stole one of the boats and made a break.’

‘And you just stayed here in Bangkok?’ Hatcher said to Cody.

‘That’s right,’ Cody said. ‘During the years I was a prisoner, things happened things that could never be explained properly.’ Cody stopped ‘with a sigh, then went on, ‘When we finally escaped into Thailand in late ‘76, I found out I was officially dead. The insurance was paid, my wife had remarried. My kids had a new father. Me? I had Pai and a chance to start over. What was there to go back to, Hatch? I decided to stay dead. When we first got out I used to fantasize about sneaking back just to get a look at the kids. They were one and two when I left, still one and two in my head — they’re in high school now. Well, so much for fantasy. Hell, I don’t even have a passport.’

‘And the others?’ Hatcher asked.

‘Well, we had Gallagher, who was looking at five to ten years for grand theft, and Riker, who was facing a court-martial for striking an officer. ‘You know Johnny Prophett’s problem. He and Melinda stayed here because dope is inexpensive and accessible. That’s when Sweets and Wyatt started the Longhorn. Tombstone just kind of grew out of it.’

‘How about the rest of them? Corkscrew, Potter, Max Early?’

Earp said, ‘When we got out, Early called home to Utah. The phone was disconnected, the house was sold, his wife and two kids were long gone. What the hell did he have to go home to? Corkscrew? And ex-Detroit pimp. Bangkok was heaven compared to that. Besides, the only family he had was his brother and he was killed on that ridge. And Potter? What was his option — a scratch farm in Arkansas and a wife who serviced everybody in the state while he was gone? The irony is that we were all bonded by those years of imprisonment. Corkscrew and Early couldn’t reveal what had happened to them without jeopardizing Cody, Riker and Gallagher, so they all stayed dead.’

‘The boys on the far side of the river, as Prophett would say,’ Cody remarked.

‘So what happened? How did Taisung get back into the act?’

‘We had this kid. Kilhanney, Ted Kilhanney. That’s when all the trouble started.’

‘Taisung tried to buy us, Hatcher,’ said Pai. ‘To make mules of us.’

‘Blackmail?’ Hatcher asked..

‘Of the worst kind,’ Cody- said. ‘He threatened to expose me, Gallagher, Riker and Kilhanney unless we turned mule for him. That’s what he was doing for Fong, recruiting dope carriers. And Kilhanney was the most vulnerable.’

‘Who’s Kilhanney?’ Hatcher asked.

‘A real Greek tragedy,’ Cody answered. ‘A Catholic priest — how do they put it? — fallen from grace. Somewhere between Saigon and Bangkok, he lost his religion. He was giving some GIs last rites and the position was counterattacked. In the camp he lost what little faith he had left. When we got here, he fell in love with the wife of a Thai politician. You think we’re screwed up? He was really screwed up. He couldn’t face the World, and he was torn up with guilt. Naturally he was the most vulnerable and the first one Taisung went after.’

‘What happened to him?’

‘All Kil was supposed to do was take a plane down to Hat Yai and drive a truckload of women to the Malaysian border. He didn’t know their babies were all dead and stuffed with heroin. When the guards discovered what was going on, Kil panicked and made it up here to Max. Two days later he took the bus over to the Phu Khat beach, swam out, and didn’t come back. What was left of him floated up a week or so later.’

‘That’s when we resurrected Thai Horse,’ Earp said.

‘We made a deal to run twenty kilos of heroin to Amsterdam, and when the courier delivered it, I killed him and dumped the twenty keys in. the Chao Phraya River. Then I sent a message to Tollie Fong and Wol Pot that Thai