advantage of her emotions.”
“Good on you, mate,” Younger nodded approvingly as he went back to his computer. “Try to keep those noble thoughts in mind when she gets tired of waiting for you to be properly consoling, knocks you silly, and drags you off to a nice cozy cave.”
Bulatt blinked, starts to say something, and then hesitated as Younger visibly recoiled from his laptop screen.
“Bloody hell!”
“What’s the matter?”
“My latent query. I got a negative hit — no match to any of our linked databases.”
“In thirty seconds? That was fast.”
“Not just fast. Absolutely bloody impossible. My input generated an automatic full database scan, but there’s no way in hell our computers could have searched — ”
The desk phone on the lamp table next to Bulatt’s chair suddenly rang loudly.
Bulatt glanced curiously at Younger, who shrugged, and then picked up the handset.
“Hello?”
“Agent Bulatt?”
“Who’s asking?”
“Agent Smith. We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“Your recent latent query.”
“You mean the recent query we made approximately one minute ago?” Bulatt asked, his voice turning cold and dangerous.
“That’s correct. The Phuket Mariott coffee shop in one hour. Be there.”
CHAPTER 24
In the Phuket Mariott coffee shop
Ged Bulatt and Pete Younger sat quietly at a small, isolated table at the rear of the coffee shop and watched as a broad-shouldered and tough-looking Caucasian man entered and walked straight to their table. Two similar- looking men followed, taking seats near the front door.
“I’m Agent Smith. May I join you, gentlemen?” the tough-looking man asked.
“Do we have a choice?”
“There are other options. This one is easier for everyone concerned.”
Bulatt gestured Smith to one of the empty chairs. For a long beat, the three men stared at each other.
“And who might these other ‘concerned’ people be?” Younger finally asked.
“People who are interested in the origins of that latent print.”
“Why would they care?” Bulatt asked.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Which actually tells us a lot,” Younger pointed out.
Smith shrugged as if to acknowledge the obvious.
“You’ve been monitoring us for a while, aware of our investigation into the Khlong shootings, waiting to see what we found,” Bulatt said matter-of-factly.
“Actually, we’ve been monitoring the two of you ever since you took down the Captain of the Muluku.”
Bulatt snorted derisively. “Are you suggesting that incompetent idiot was involved in the Khlong killings?”
“I can’t talk about that.”
Younger stared at Smith for a long moment, and then smiled.
“Of course, it’s the Russians, isn’t it?”
“What Russians?” Bulatt asked.
“We had intel that a Russian drug smuggler named Gregor was using the Muluku as a cut-out for some of his transactions,” Younger said, “but we never got a lead on the guy.”
“And you never will,” Smith said, “because he’s dead… along with his entire crew.”
“How did they die?” Bulatt asked.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Pure coincidence, of course,” Younger added, “that we’re looking for three former military-types who are quite good at killing people; one of whom carelessly left his fingerprint on a transmitter battery.”
“You want to find them, and we want to know who they are,” Bulatt pointed out, “so let’s work together, share what we know.”
“I can’t. Info can only go one way on this deal.”
Bulatt sighs, pulls a cellphone out of his pocket, punches a couple of buttons and handed it to Smith. “Here, I think a Major Prethat wants to talk with you. He’s been listening in on a ‘remote’ line.”
Smith stared at Bulatt, takes the phone, listens for a long moment, then slowly places the phone on the table.
“I’m sure you have some kind of diplomatic immunity,” Younger suggested helpfully, “but you should also be aware that the Major has a one-track mind where shooting of Colonel Kulawnit is concerned. He’s not likely to care about that immunity.”
“My guess is he rolls up your entire operation within the hour, then takes his sweet time in responding to your Embassy’s ‘query’” Bulatt added with a tight smile.
Smith stared at the two men coldly for a few moments, and then sighed.
“I can’t tell you much about them. They were in the Australian Special Air Service before they decided to free-lance their skills.”
“With your Agency?”
Smith ignored the question. “They excel at what they do, but not necessarily at staying on point.”
“The Russian drug smugglers — ?”
“Were apparently too tempting.”
“What did they take?” Bulatt asked.
“A yacht and a lot of cash.”
“The Avatar?” Younger asked.
Smith nodded silently.
“So why are you after them?” Bulatt asked. “You can’t possibly care about dead drug smugglers and their missing assets.”
“It doesn’t matter why, Agent Bulatt,” Smith said firmly. “You and your Interpol pals are getting in our way, and that's not going to be acceptable.”
Bulatt seemed to consider that idea for a few moments.
“You know,” he finally said, “I’d like to believe you really do intend to take these men down; and it’s really tempting to just step aside and let you do that.”
Smith stared at Bulatt, saying nothing.
“But if we did,” Bulatt went on, “you might decide to put them back to work, and that’s not going to be acceptable to us… or to Major Prethat.”
Bulatt looked up to see flashing red lights outside.
“And it looks like his internal affairs team has arrived for their heart-to-heart talk, so we’ll be leaving now.”
“Oh, and may I suggest that you try not to become an ‘inconvenience’ to the Major, Agent Smith,” Younger said as he and Bulatt got up from the table. “He’s not likely to find that very amusing.”
As Bulatt and Younger walked outside the Mariott hotel, they saw a tired-looking Achara Kulawnit in her Ranger Captain’s uniform, directing teams of SWAT-armed Rangers toward the front and back of the hotel
