‘No, mister,’ said Luc. ‘But Mr Smith only want deal with me. He pay in cash, but I the one who deal with it.’
‘What are you flying to Cambodia?’
‘People, bags,’ said Luc.
‘You look in the bags?’ said Mac, winking.
Luc looked embarrassed. ‘Only once. It was much, much money — American money.’
‘Anything else you carry?’
‘Whatever they want.’
‘They?’
‘Mr Smith have friends — maybe ten.’
‘Mr Smith’s friends — they businessmen? Engineers? Soldiers?’
Shrugging, Luc looked away. ‘Some, like me; some, they are like you, mister.’
‘Aussie?’
‘No,’ said Luc, miming to indicate muscles.
‘Okay, okay,’ said Mac, aware that Loan was smiling beside him. ‘Five days ago, maybe Mr Smith is in a hurry. You remember that night?’
Luc blushed through his facial injuries, averted his eyes.
‘It was a crazy night, huh?’ said Mac, nodding and smiling. ‘Lots going on?’
‘Yes,’ said Luc.
‘What happened?’
‘Mr Smith call me on cell phone, tell me he need the plane urgent, right?’
‘What time?’
‘Three in morning,’ said Luc. ‘My wife real angry.’
‘So you go to the airport?’
‘Yes, and pick up engineer on way.’
‘And then?’
‘Mr Smith and his friends are waiting, and we get plane ready, and they come on board.’
‘Were they relaxed?’
‘No! They nervous and Mr Smith angry with me.’
‘Why?’
‘’Cos when I ask if the woman is okay to fly, he grab me by throat and tell me, “There is no woman — you never saw woman.”’
‘Tell me about the woman,’ said Mac calmly, though his pulse was jumping.
‘She tired, or maybe drug.’
‘She Vietnamese, Cambodian?’
‘No,’ said Luc, shaking his head. ‘When I close the main hatch, I hear her speak to Mr Smith and she Aussie, mister. She talk like you — she look like you.’
‘And then?’
‘I fly to airfield in north of Stung Treng, I land and Mr Smith give me cash.’
‘Some for North Star, some for you?’
‘Yes, mister,’ he said, looking at the floor. ‘I not racish — I like Aussie. I try help the woman.’
‘Sure,’ said Mac. ‘You remember the airfield?’
‘I know how to get there, and it in flight log,’ he said. ‘But airfield not on map.’
‘So what happened, Luc — you get in a fight?’ said Mac, thinking he would need to get this man out of the cells.
‘No, I going work at airport this morning and then I kidnap,’ he said, lip quivering.
Mac averted his eyes. ‘By Mr Smith?’
‘No. The men, they beat me, want to know where the Uc woman is.’
‘This is the woman on your plane? The drugged one?’
‘Yes — they say, “Where Geralin? Where Geralin?”’
‘Geraldine?’ said Mac.
‘Yes — that what I say. I tell them the place I take her has no name, but they don’t believe me.’
‘They?’
‘A big ape — I think he police or soldier,’ said Luc, eyes moistening.
‘And?’
‘And very big Aussie,’ said Luc, shaking his head at the memory.
‘He look like me too?’ said Mac.
‘No — he dark. Very dark and very big.’
‘The other one?’ said Mac.
‘He same as you — but he Indonesi, Philippine maybe,’ said Luc.
‘What you tell him?’
‘I tell him it all, mister,’ said Luc, crying now. ‘He… he…’
‘He frighten you, Luc?’
‘Yes!’ said Luc. ‘I put my foot through window when they putting the bag over my head.’
‘The bag?’
‘Yes, they want me to fly them to Geralin!’
‘And then the police came?’
‘No — my engineer ask if I okay.’
‘Where did this happen?’ said Mac, confused.
‘In toilet, at work,’ said Luc, tears on his cheeks. ‘They waiting for me.’
‘Tell me about these people,’ said Mac. ‘How did they speak? Walk?’
‘The big ape — he call me “brother” all time, and then he hit me.’
‘Did you hear a name?’ said Mac.
‘Yes — I tell her,’ he said, pointing at Loan.
‘Tell me.’
‘The biggest one, he call the ape Bongo.’
‘Bongo?’ said Mac.
‘Yes,’ said Luc, nodding too hard. ‘Bongo — and he say he coming back.’
Chapter 41
Grabbing the second round of beers from the waiter’s tray, Mac put them on the table in front of Scotty.
‘So, what have we got?’ said Scotty. ‘Bongo and this Aussie try to beat a destination out of Luc, but the airfield doesn’t have a name — though there’re coordinates in the flight logs?’
‘Correct.’
‘So you ask Captain Loan if she has seized the logs, and she says they were stolen?’
‘A clerk at North Star looks up from her desk half an hour after Luc was kidnapped,’ said Mac. ‘A large Filipino man in a black trop shirt is standing in the operations office — he simply tells her to hand over the logs for the F-27s.’
‘Fokker Friendships?’
‘Yes — and the clerk hands over the logs.’
‘And Bongo walks out?’
‘Yes — there’s also an unconscious manager on the floor.’
‘A manager?’
Mac looked around the roof bar of the Caravelle Hotel. ‘A manager tried to stop Bongo’s requisition, and suffered a strike to the carotid artery, on the right side of his neck.’
Scotty shook his head. ‘Jesus.’
‘Anyway, Bongo has the logs…’
‘So Operation Orion needs Luc?’
Scotty’s phone trilled, and he frowned as he saw the ID on the screen and took the call.
‘Nah, nah, Davo,’ said Scotty into the phone. ‘Albion will be working with Orion on the joint venture — no one else.’ He rolled his eyes.
Waiters raced to clear tables on the roof terrace. The afternoon monsoon downpour was about to start and a stream of tourists had charged into the bar to escape the impending deluge.
‘Listen, Davo,’ said Scotty, in the non-carrying voice of the veteran spook, ‘it’s not my call. Our partners want Albion, not your bloke.’
Scotty raised his eyebrows at Mac — Urquhart obviously wanted Lance inserted into Operation Orion.
‘No, Davo,’ said Scotty. ‘He can’t be a lone wolf, because I’m running him, okay? When I know something, you’ll know.’
Laughing as he rang off, Scotty sat back in the cane sofa. ‘That bloke never stops, does he?’
‘Urquhart?’ said Mac, taking a drink.
‘Says you only remained in Indochina on his say-so, dependent on information from the Saigon cops,’ said Scotty. ‘That true?’
‘It was, but then he claimed to have cut me loose. Anyway, you speak with Yossi?’ said Mac.
Scotty knew Saba’s mate, Yossi, and he’d promised to put a call in to him and find out about the Mossad shootouts in northern Cambodia.
‘He wasn’t entirely forthcoming, which means whatever they’re working on is probably current.’
‘He confirm Joel Dozsa?’
‘He didn’t correct me when I named him,’ said Scotty. ‘And he was adamant that Dozsa’s team is working with a Chinese cadre in northern Cambodia.’
‘What are they working on?’
‘Yossi didn’t want to talk about it — said the gig was tailing the Mossad hit squad out of Bangers and up into Cambodia. That was their interest.’
‘Hit squad?’ said Mac.
‘They weren’t going to a tea party with Dozsa,’ said Scotty, stopping as two businessmen sat down at the neighbouring table. A loud woman joined the men, and Scotty relaxed.