'After two years,' I told him, 'I don't remember much about this place.'
'You will now that you're back.'
His point. The memory relies strongly on environment. Recollective recall. If examinations were taken in the familiar surroundings of the lecture rooms where the stuff was learned there would be fewer failures.
'I don't know this place for a start. Who's Varaphan?'
'The Embassy gave us his name.'
'Don't tell me you trust the Embassy.'
'We've checked on him, of course. He was educated on the Burma Road, liaising with our escape parties. Since then he's been useful, very useful, to several of our operations. He travels a lot, with gems. That takes him to London a great deal.'
'He's not an agent?'
'Not strictly.'
'He took a good look at the street to see if I'd been followed before bringing me in here.'
'He's not a fool.'
We had to stop talking because the girl was coming in with drinks. As soon as she had gone we set on the lime juice.
'At least he could rig up a fan in here.' I said.
'We will see what can be done.'
Some of the mutual antagonism went out of us now that the thirst was slaked.
'Is this Local Control Bangkok?'
He considered. 'We don't quite know where Control is yet. It's officially at the Embassy, though of course they don't know that. They think we're Security. This is our safehouse for the moment but if things get too hot we shall have to move on.'
My ears were still buzzing a bit from the altitude and I had come straight here from Don Muang Airport with no time to get into fresh things so I said:
'Let's put it on the line, shall we?'
He was nervous again at once and I knew he'd been holding me off because he sensed I would try to refuse the mission, and that would mean pulling Styles out of Java.
He poured some more lime juice to give himself a last chance of planning his run in.
'This is a special job,' he began. 'Very.'
I fingered a chunk of ice out of my glass and sucked it while he turned away and looked at the rosewood Buddha. Then he turned back and at last managed to stand still plumb in front of me. 'You may know there is an official visit planned for the end of this month. Three days in Bangkok as part of a larger Southeast Asian itinerary.'
'No,' I said.
'You don't read the newspapers.'
'Not often.'
'Then let me put you in the picture. Politically – one can even say militarily in view of local wars – Thailand is becoming drawn into the vortex of affairs involving China, India, Malaysia, and of course also Laos and Cambodia. Global interest is now centered on this capital, which has been a focal point in Southeast Asia for half a century in any case. Thailand is a stable kingdom with close ties with the U.S. and to a lesser extent with Britain. We have NATO here in this city and we have the SEATO headquarters here as well. Bangkok is a key city in the Southeast Asian complex, and geographically it finds itself in the middle of the China-India situation.'
Loman is one of those people who make whatever they are saying sound dull. Perhaps I was showing boredom: he began talking faster so that he could reach the point.
'Relations between Britain and Thailand have always been good, partly because each is a democratic monarchy and partly because many people close to the Thai throne – princes, ministers, financiers and men of affairs – spent much of their youth in English public schools and universities. At this time, when the whole of the Southeast Asian picture is confused and threatening, Her Majesty's Government considers it highly desirable that a goodwill mission be undertaken by someone who is neither a statesman nor a diplomat, but who commands international respect and admiration, particularly in Thailand.'
He waited for me to digest this. Some of his nervousness had gone; it had been soothed away by the reassuring sound of his own voice.
'Thus in three weeks' time a representative of the Queen is to visit Bangkok on a goodwill tour.'
Most of the ice in the bowl had melted but I found a bit and slaked my thirst with it.
'Since the Person – by the way, that is how we already refer to him for security reasons, so please adopt the habit – since the Person is neither a statesman nor a diplomat, a tour of this kind entails no political functions. There will be, instead, a day's yachting in the Gulf, a polo match on the Lumpini Grounds – I am told that Prince Udom is to play – and a drive through the city in an open car. The Person will also visit those centers of traditional interest to him: youth clubs, welfare organizations, hospitals, and of course sports grounds. He will be, one might say, our representative of the humanities.'
With careful precision he said:
'During the visit we want you to arrange for his assassination.'
2 Pangsapa
The two fish circled, their heads turned towards the center to watch each other.
The smaller was the more beautiful, its colors less diffuse, but both were caparisoned in the flowing splendor of their fins. They moved like rainbows through the pearly water. Faintly reflected in the glass was the face of Pangsapa, an enormous moon.
The strange sweet smell of opium was in the air.
The fish sped suddenly together dart-quick and murderous with the fins drawn close to the body as they met – a torn fin could unbalance them and bring almost immediate death.
The eyes of Pangsapa were unblinking in the great moon on the glass.
The fish circled near the sides of the tank with their colored raiment flowing, reminding of medieval war-horses on the battle field. The next charge was mutual and explosive – they closed, met, held and span in a whirlpool with their razor-teeth working for a kill. Three times they attacked and withdrew, and now the water was tinged with carmine and from the spine of the decent price on them. So far nobody's found out what he will not do for money.'
We had talked for another hour at the safehouse in Soi Suek 3, Loman and I. His bit about my making arrangements for the assassination had caught my interest at last, but I didn't say anything.
'I'm sure you get the point,' Loman said.
'I'm to make the arrangements and then give you the set-up so that you can take countermeasures against any similar plan.'
'That's right.'
'It's bloody silly. You can plan it a dozen ways.'
'We think your way would be the most efficient. We think we are up against somebody very clever. Don't misunderstand me: I am not buttering you up so that you'll cooperate.' His smile was smooth. 'You don't want this mission, or any mission with me as your intelligence director in the field. We don't like each other, do we? But I was asked in London to choose a man who could plan this kind of job – an assassination -so efficiently that it couldn't fail. I think you'll agree that there's more at risk than a few hard words between us if we do this job together. So I chose you.'
I said, 'You'll just have to go on talking. Get me out of the dark. I suppose there's been a threat, has there?'
'Of course.'
Then why don't they just call it off?'
'The visit? For the same reason that they didn't call off the Queen's visit to Canada. Your Anglo-Saxon doesn't panic easily. Also this visit is part, as I told you, of a larger itinerary in Southeast Asia. They can't leave out Bangkok because it's the most important stop. And they can't cancel the whole thing because of one threat in one place. Even if the Government decided to back out I doubt if the Person would let them – he's not quite the type. So we're all in it.' He drank off the rest of the lime in his glass and looked at me again and asked sulkily: 'Or aren't you included?'