“Excuse me a moment,” he said as he stepped away and brought the phone up to his ear. “Colonel Kulawnit.” He listened for a few moments. “What?!”
As Bulatt and the professor watched in confusion, Kulawnit’s face turned ashen. “I’m on my way there now,” he snapped, and closed the cell phone.
“Khun Prathun, what — ?”
“Four of our Forestry Rangers have been found dead, shot, in the southern peninsula,” he whispered. “One of them is my son.”
CHAPTER 10
Charter Flights Section of the Bangkok International Airport
The cab dropped Wallis off in front of a medium-sized hanger with the name ‘RIGLEY CHARTERS’ painted in big blue letters on the side. As he walked inside the attached office, a slender, clean-cut man in his mid-thirties looked up from a computer. The tabs on his uniform shirt identified him as a pilot.
“Help you, sir?”
“I understand your company charters fast and slow flights from varying locations on short notice?”
“Fast and slow flights?” The pilot cocked his head, looking puzzled.
“Private jets and seaplanes,” Wallis translated.
“Well, yes, as a matter of fact, we do. There’s a sweet little G-Four out on the tarmac right now that can get you just about anywhere you want to go very quickly, and with a great deal of comfort and privacy,” the pilot said. “And we do operate out of several other major airports in Southeast Asia. We’re not cheap, by any means; but we do pride ourselves on being adaptive to our customer’s needs. What destination did you have in mind?”
“Singapore; and then, ideally, connecting right away to a seaplane for a flight to the Malacca Strait — somewhere near Langkawi — to pick up a couple of passengers.”
“A Seaplane? Hummm.” The pilot consulted his computer for a few moments and then shrugged. “We do have a converted twin-engine Grumman Super Widgeon based in Singapore that we use mostly for search and rescue operations these days. She’s a little old in the tooth, and bounces around a bit in rough weather, but she’ll get you up the Strait and back, no problem. The pilot’s ex-military, RAF. Bit of an odd duck, but — ”
“He’ll do just fine,” Wallis said.
The pilot shrugged agreeable. “So, how many passengers are we talking about for the flight to Singapore, and when did you want to go? We can configure the G-Four for as many as six, and — ”
“One passenger, right now,” Wallis said.
“You mean — ?”
“Right now,” Wallis repeated as he reached inside his raincoat and pulled out a band-wrapped stack of hundred dollar bills.
The Medical Clinic at the Draganov Research Center
Sergei Draganov and Aleksei Tsarovich stood side by side in the small veterinary medical exam room located in a small building near the research center’s Minimal Containment (MIN) facilities, shivering and still covered with snow from the raging snowstorm outside. They were staring at a set of skull x-rays on a wall-mounted, backlit viewer.
“See how the brow and eye-sockets are thickened?” Tsarovich pointed out with the tip of the pen he held in his thick muscular hand. “Now compare that to the x-ray from three weeks ago.”
Draganov nodded his head slowly. “Yes, I agree, it does look like gamma-five bone-growth. But her eyes — ”
“- are clear, yes. No dye infusion that would indicate a transition infection. But the growth pattern is unmistakable.”
“But how could she be infected?” Draganov demanded, the frustration evident in his strained voice. “She cleans cages and feeds the animals at MIN, never here. Only you and I handle the newly exposed animals.”
“I don’t know. Right now, I’m more interested in reducing her fever.”
Draganov suddenly blinked in awareness. “Wait a minute. What about Borya? Could he be infected also?”
Tsarovich paused for a moment. “It’s unlikely. He has no physical contact with the ones at MAX. It would be much too dangerous, and he understands that. He just cleans cages, distributes food, and drinks.”
Draganov slowly shook his head for a few seconds, his mind racing ahead. Then finally: “We must check, to be sure.”
“Now, in this storm, and so late at night?” Tsarovich looked as if he couldn’t believe his ears.
“Yes,” Draganov nodded firmly, “we must go now.”
Tanya’s room inside the veterinary Medical Clinic
Veterinary Lab Technician Tanya waited quietly in her bed, pretending to be asleep, until she heard Draganov and Tsarovich leave the clinic. She continued to wait until she heard the Sno-cat’s engine rev up. Then she got up, locked her door, pulled a dresser aside, opened a concealed door, and pulled a small Clouded Leopard kitten out of a hidden cage.
Back in her bed, a feverish Tanya held the kitten close and smiled weakly as it cuddled happily into her arms, it’s eyes flashing a bright emerald green.
CHAPTER 11
Forestry Division Headquarters, Phuket, Thailand
It was nearing dusk when the police helicopter carrying Colonel Kulawnit, Bulatt, and two M4 carbine-armed Thai Forestry investigators who functioned as Kulawnit’s bodyguards, landed at the Forestry Division headquarters in Phuket. A unformed Major was waiting beside a pair of black SUV’s at the edge of the helipad.
“Colonel, I offer my most humble apologies. Your son died while under my supervision and care, and there is no excuse for my failure. I will forward my resignation immediately,” Major Sathan Preithat said in English, acknowledging Bulatt’s presence, as he opened the rear door of the SUV and stepped aside.
Bulatt glanced at the Major’s face and decided that he’d never before seen anyone who managed to combine the looks of utter dismay and absolute rage into one barely-controlled expression.
Kulawnit had been stone-faced as he walked toward the waiting vehicles; but he hesitated at Major Preithat’s words, blinked, and then shook his head and turned to face his subordinate commander.
“Khun Sat,” Kulawnit said. “There shall be no more talk of your resignation. I placed my son in your charge because I considered you to be the most competent and loyal commander in our Division. I did so because I believed he would have the best opportunity to become a skilled leader of good men under your guidance. And I know from his letters that you were succeeding in his training beyond all of my expectations. His death was not your fault. Please devote your skills now to helping me find the killers of my son, and our Rangers.”
The Major’s expression shifted slightly, his sorrow- and rage-filled eyes taking on a glistening edge. “We will find them, Khun Prathun, I promise you that.”
“Khun Sat, this is U.S. Wildlife Special Agent Gedimin Bulatt, a member of Interpol, and my friend.”
Bulatt and Preithat acknowledged each other with brief nods.
“Khun Ged left the Tokyo Interpol meeting this morning to assist us with the Clouded Leopard investigation,” Kulawnit went on. “He now offers us his skills as a crime scene investigator. He also believes he may have useful knowledge about the foreign hunters who plague our country that could help us in tracking down these killers, so I want him to be a part of our investigation. I trust him as I trust you, so please give both of us your full briefing.”
“Yes sir, of course.”
“If there’s anything I can do without interfering with your work, I’m at your service, Major,” Bulatt said, staring into Preithat’s glint-edged eyes. “And I promise to help you and Khun Prathun find these people, and bring them to justice, in any way that I possibly can.
Preithat hesitated, and Bulatt thought he could see the Major having to fight against a deeply ingrained sense of national pride; but if there was an internal battle being fought, it didn’t last long.
“If you see or know anything that will help us identify and locate these… creatures, Agent Bulatt — ” Preithat struggled visibly to control his words. “Please, do not hesitate to speak out. I would be both grateful, and in your debt.”