Court sighed. “Would it help if I handed you my gun now? Would that demonstrate to you I was no threat?”
Zoya nodded slowly. “That would help a great deal.”
Court made no movement towards the pistol tucked under his T-shirt.
“Well?” Zoya asked.
“You aren’t getting a gun. Jesus, lady, I’m a nice guy, but I’m not fucking crazy.”
“No, I don’t believe you are. But I also don’t believe you are as heroic as you make yourself out to be. I think you are… what do you guys say in America? I think you are playing me.”
“You mean you think you are being played?”
“Yes. That’s it.”
“I just want Fan, and you know where he is. It’s as simple as that.”
Zoya said, “The truth is, I don’t know Fan Jiang’s location. Nattapong did not know exactly where Fan was being taken, only that Kulap would move Fan and get out of Bangkok because of what was going on at the Black Pearl. He was going someplace where he’d be protected.”
Court said, “But you know where.”
“Nattapong told me where he thought his brother would go. Still… I only have the guess of a Thai gangster to go on.”
Court said, “It’s more than I’ve got. Will you tell me?”
Zoya looked at him a long time. “Where is everyone else on your team?”
He shrugged. “It’s just me.”
“You are a liar.”
“I’ll rephrase that… it’s just me on the hunt. I have been told I can call in some help on the ground for the actual rescue, but for now, everyone else is somewhere safer.”
“Then your colleagues aren’t much better than mine.”
“At least they haven’t tried to kill me.” It was a bald-faced lie. The CIA had spent years trying to do just that, but since he was back in their good graces, sort of, and since he was only speaking about this particular mission, he felt he was being honest enough.
“Yet,” Zoya said.
“Right. Yet,” Court allowed.
Finally, she said, “I was given a job, and my job is not completed. I want to go with you. I want to see this operation through to the end.”
Court stared at her a long time. Finally he said, “Agreed. Where do we go to look for him?”
Zoya hesitated a moment; she was afraid to play her one card. But finally she said, “Phuket, Thailand.”
CHAPTER
FORTY-SEVEN
For the next hour Zoya and Court sat in the hotel room and pored over Court’s computer looking at maps of Phuket, a few hundred miles south of Bangkok along the ocean. Zoya explained that Nattapong’s father, Panit, owned a large jungle property that ran along the coast. Panit was abroad, and Kulap had told his brother he would lay low in Bangkok for a day or two, and then he would go to the Phuket estate.
Zoya also explained that Kulap had a helicopter, and if he was, in fact, at the estate, then the helo would be there, as well.
The two operatives used Google Earth to zoom in to the walled property, just inland from the coast. In the center was a large ornate home in the traditional Thai style, surrounded by tropical gardens, rimmed by thick jungle on all sides.
Less than a half mile west of the property was a large five-star resort. Court and Zoya agreed they would go to the resort, check in under the cover of an American couple, and begin their reconnaissance.
It looked like the journey by car from Bangkok to Phuket would take twelve hours if they split up the driving duties, which they agreed to do. They were both dead tired already, but Zoya offered to drive the first leg while Court slept.
Court agreed to this, as well, but he said he needed to go for a quick walk and make a phone call before they left.
“You are calling your handler, obviously,” Zoya said. “Why can’t I listen to you? Obviously you will tell him about me, you will tell him about Fan, and you will tell him about our plan to find him.”
Court shook his head. “In this instance I truly believe that less is more. My handler would be very upset if I revealed I am working with an SVR asset.”
“You could tell him I was fired.”
Court stood and headed to the door. “We are a team, you and me, but you’ll have to trust me that I know what I’m doing. My handler is—”
“Your handler is a woman, I take it.”
Court cocked his head. “How did you—”
“You keep saying ‘my handler,’ so as not to give the gender away. You wouldn’t do that if your handler were male.”
Court was at once pissed at himself for the tell and stunned by her powers of intuition.
“Yes. My handler is a woman.”
Zoya said, “Most men I know would have just lied.” She shrugged. “It’s a bad sign that my new partner gives away his secrets so easily, but maybe it’s a good sign that my new partner is, at least, a little honest with me.”
Five minutes later Court stood in the open parking lot of the Novotel, watching an Airbus A320 take off from the airport just a half mile away. In his hand he held his mobile, and while he waited for Brewer to come on the line he thought about the woman upstairs.
He wondered if she’d run, now that he wasn’t watching her. Of course he knew he couldn’t trust her to stay, and he couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t call someone. He’d taken her mobile phone from her, but right now as he stood here she could have been on the hotel phone calling the police, the Russian embassy, or some other group. There were all sorts of people who could come in and ruin Court’s day, and he’d done nothing to prevent Banshee from contacting any of them.
But he trusted his instincts. And while his instincts did not tell him to trust her fully, they also told him she wanted the same thing he did, and she was practical enough to realize she needed help to get it.
Suzanne Brewer answered the phone with unmasked concern in her voice. It was ten p.m. on the East Coast, but at this point in the operation he took it as a given that Brewer would be in her office when he called.
“Identity challenge, Dastardly.”
“My response is Denver.”
“Confirmed. What’s your status? Everything I’ve heard about the Black Pearl has been disconcerting. I was wondering if your body was going to be found in that smoldering building.”
“I’m okay, but I have to tell you, your idea about calling the Chinese in to help last night really sucked.”
“The Chinese went into the building?”
“The Chinese and the Russians. And God knows how many Thai. Don’t worry, I kept a low profile. There are no comebacks on the Agency, and I managed to get some intel. From what I learned, Kulap has an estate in Phuket, and he might bring Fan immediately, or else it could take him a couple of days to get there. There is a helo that will be on site if Kulap Chamroon is on the property.”
Brewer pulled up satellite data of the area immediately. Looking it over, she said, “No helicopter on the ground, but the most recent image I have was four p.m. yesterday. As soon as I get updated imagery I’ll check again.”
Court said, “I’ll be on the ground there by late this evening.”
Brewer said, “Tell me how you got your intel.”
Court said, “Not prepared to do that. Trust that I’m working, and trust that I’ll check in as soon as I have something actionable for the team.”
And with that he hung up the phone. He knew he’d just pissed Brewer off, but he had to be careful with what he said. He was calling an audible working with the SVR operative, and he was certain Brewer would disagree with this decision.
Next he dialed Colonel Dai, and he told himself he had to keep his rage with the man under control.
Dai opened the conversation with, “What happened last night?”