“Ah yes,” she said. “But we can’t read it.”
“Oh God… don’t tell me.”
“In Goa is a very good friend of mine.”
“Who can read your journal?”
“Exactly!”
He looked out the window and listened to the hum of the rotary engines. Selena and Charlie looked at each other in silence, and waited for the former US Marine’s response. “Well, we’re not going there tonight,” he said bluntly. He tapped one of the gauges on the instrument panel. “Not enough fuel.”
“But there’s an airport on Ko Samui.”
“And Kuan’s men are going to be crawling all over it. No, if you need to get to Goa then we have to fly west, so our next stop is Phuket. We can fill up at the airport there.”
“So you’ll take us to Goa?” she said excitedly.
Decker sighed. “To Goa — but no farther.”
“Anyone say Phuket?”
They turned to see a smiling Riley Carr stepping into the cockpit and zipping up his pants.
“Yes, why?” Decker said.
“I know a woman there.”
“Of course you do,” Selena said.
When they landed at Phuket and filled up the tanks, Decker checked the plane and realized Kuan’s men had been better shots than he thought.
“Crap.”
“What?” Selena asked.
“Both the vertical and horizontal stabilizers have taken damage, and look here — the port trim tab is shredded to pieces… no wonder the landing was rough.”
“I thought that was just you,” she said raising her head and fixing her eyes on his.
“Are you trying to be funny?”
“I might be.”
“Looks like you’re going to have to try harder, in that case.”
After a drawn-out conversation with officials at the airport they decided to spend the night in Phuket while essential repairs were made to the Avalon and after agreeing on a price they took a cab out to a restaurant on the coast that Riley knew and they all had dinner together.
They ate spiced crab rolls with red chilli and mango salsa, followed by Yellow fin tuna with a sesame crust and a good helping of Thai asparagus. Most of it was washed down with ice-cold Singha beers too numerous to count, and then after their meal they took their beers, stepped out of the restaurant and walked along the street.
After eating, Riley took a cab to find the woman he had mentioned and Charlie staggered back to his hotel room a little worse for wear. That left just Selena and Decker. She turned to him and smiled. “I need to make a call to an old friend.”
“Sure.”
She made the call as they strolled in the night. “Hello, Diana — how are you? Great… listen, I need you to translate something for me… yes, I have it at last!”
Decker listened to Selena’s half of the conversation and stared up at the stars.
“It is, yes…” she continued. “I know you don’t believe me, but if I’m right, it could change the course of history. This is going to hit Indian culture like a comet from outer space.”
Decker raised an eyebrow and doubted this very much, but he liked watching the way she got so excited about a stupid book. When she cut the call, they decided to take their walk along the beach in the moonlight.
“I’m glad you decided to fly me out of Hong Kong,” Selena said.
“Sure.”
“And you’re supposed to say something like and I’m glad you asked me.”
“Sure.”
“You are an impossible man!”
“Thanks.”
“It was no compliment.”
“I saved your ass in Hong Kong.”
“I suppose I’ll have to hear about that until my dying day.”
“Not unless you plan on dying before you hand me the cash you owe me for flying you to Goa, and then we’re history.”
“Nothing would bring me greater pleasure.”
Decker looked at her in the pale light of the creamy tropical moon which hung above them. It was so large and low it seemed almost close enough to reach out and touch. For a moment, it was as if they were the only two people on Earth. The only sounds were the lapping of the waves on the beach and the sea breeze rippling the palms along the backshore.
“All right, I’m glad you asked me, kinda.”
“Really?”
“Sure, why not? I’m not getting any more business out of Peter Ying and you can take that to the bank…” he stopped, and looked a little embarrassed. “And without that pay check I’m in trouble. Truth is Avalon Cargo isn’t the amazing business opportunity you probably think it is.”
“Er… yes, of course,” she said hesitatingly.
Decker sipped his beer and looked up at the moon. “All I ever wanted was to be an astronaut, but I guess I never made it.”
“You have the Avalon.”
He gave a low laugh and looked down at his boots in the sand. “Sure… but she can’t quite muster the escape velocity I’d need to get into orbit.”
“It doesn’t seem like a bad life, though.”
“I guess. What about you? You always wanted to be a museum curator?”
“Sort of.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ve never told anyone else this before, but when I was a little girl what I really wanted to be was a treasure hunter. Silly really.”
“A treasure hunter? Impressive. I guess you almost got there, what with working in a museum and whatnot.”
“Being a museum curator probably has the same sort of relationship to treasure hunter as being a cargo pilot has to landing on the moon.”
Decker laughed. Maybe it was the beer, but he was starting not to hate Little Miss Fussy Pants. “You never told anyone that, really?”
“Well…I told Riley once, but that doesn’t really count because it’s sort of like when you tell your dog secrets.”
Another laugh, and then the beers were over so they began to walk back up the beach and over the road to their hotel rooms. As they approached the car park, Selena turned to the American, hesitated and then said, “Tell me, Mr Decker — is there anyone waiting for you at home?”
Decker hesitation was even longer. “There was once, but not any more.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. What happened?”
“Things didn’t work out… you know how it is, right?”
“I suppose so.”
“What about you?”
“There was Riley once, but now only my work.”
Decker couldn’t think of anything to say, and the truth was conversations like this made him feel awkward and uncomfortable. He took her as far as the door to her room and passed a hand over his tired face.
“Goodnight then,” he said.
“Oh, yes. Goodnight, Mr Decker.”
He walked away and stopped and turned. “Will you stop calling me that?”
“I’m sorry, Mitch.”
He’d had a good night, but as he walked back to his room he was pretty uneasy about what she had told him over dinner. This Kuan character sounded like bad news, and it was obvious he was working for someone even shadier, and that just had to mean even more trouble.
All I want is a modest cargo company, he said. Just me and the Avalon, and no trouble.
This was a telephone call Lee Kuan did not want to make, and his fears were confirmed when he heard the icy voice of Rakesh Madan on the other end of the line.
“We were raided,” Kuan said. “They have the journal.”
“Tell me this is more of your infamous humor,” said Madan.
“Sadly, no… they stormed the place with Special Forces,” Kuan lied easily. “And dived off the cliffs to a waiting boat. Then an aircraft swooped down and took them away. It was very well-planned and executed.”
“Be careful with that word, Lee,” the Indian said coolly.