Part 20 (1/2)

'Yes, thanks. She and the kids are here with me.'

'It's none of my business, H, but if I had a wife and kids, I wouldn't bring them to Bangkok. I don't think they'd like ma.s.sage parlours.' He looked across the room. 'Hey, H. There's that f.u.c.king nonce that was in Brixton with us on that table over there. What's his name? Hobbs, that's it. Hobbs. The dirty b.a.s.t.a.r.d.'

'He's with me, Mick.'

'What! What are you doing hanging around with a nonce, H? Ain't like you a bit.'

'I'm sure he's not a nonce, Mick. He's just a gay who prefers teenagers to geriatrics. He doesn't go after young kids. I mean, how old do you think that girl is, the one trying to give you a b.l.o.w.j.o.b?'

'Yeah, but it's different here in Bangkok, H. You know that. It's a different culture. It's gotta be. And even if, like you say, he's not a nonce, he's just an iron, a poof, I wouldn't trust him an inch. If he can't keep his a.r.s.e shut, how can he keep his trap shut? I don't like him seeing me with you. Who's he going to tell?'

'Mick, he's far less a danger than the two DEA guys sitting at the end of the bar. Besides that, you and I aren't doing any business together at the moment, are we?'

'You think they are Old Bill, those two? I'd been wondering myself, as it goes. And I did want to talk a bit of business with you, H, as it happens. I got this geezer ...'

'Let's go outside, Mick, and get a bite to eat.'

'Shall we take these little darlings?'

'No, you leave them, and I'll leave Hobbs.'

'I don't like the idea of him leering at them when we've gone, H. The dirty b.a.s.t.a.r.d.'

'He won't, Mick. I just told you he's gay.'

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble Not much between despair and ecstasy One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble I can feel the devil walking next to me.

Mickey Williams and I walked outside.

'I'm sorry I didn't tell you this when I saw you last, H, but I was trying to get a little touch together on me own. I met this geezer in the slammer in Amsterdam. He got Schiphol together there. A mate of his works for a freight consolidation company actually in the bleeding airport. If we send him a box of gear, he can make it come up clean as a whistle in London, Holland, or Canada. It's a blinding coup, H, I'm telling you. Well, this same geezer, who's still in the slammer, had a connection out here for sending gear. He gave me his phone number and some kind of address, but no one seems to have heard of him. So if you know someone in Bangkok who can send us 500 kilos, and I know you do, H, you've got yourself a nice little trade. I got all the details with me here. I'll put 50,000 of me own money into it. Fiftyfive, H. Half what we get through is yours, half mine. I got the money sitting in London. That's how much I know it'll work. I can't do no more, H.'

'Can I sell it once it gets through?'

'If it pops up in London or Canada, I'd want you to, H, but if he brings it out in Amsterdam, I said he could sell it.'

'We can do it, Mick. Give me the details.'

'Another thing, H. I need to change up some money. A few thousand quid. I don't want to do it at me hotel: they ripped me off once already. The banks are shut, and I'm a bit lairy of banks if I'm not robbing them.'

I flagged a tuktuk tuktuk, and we both took it to the money-lending area of Bangkok's Chinatown, the largest Chinese settlement outside China. Sitting in the tuktuk tuktuk made me think of Sompop. I would try to see him this Friday at the Erawan Buddha. made me think of Sompop. I would try to see him this Friday at the Erawan Buddha.

Mick and I walked down the narrow, shambolic streets. Doorways led to opium dens and businesses of all kinds. Noodle stalls cluttered the doorsteps. Although it was late, several dozen money-changers were still open selling local currency at prices far cheaper than the banks. They also operated as illegal bookmakers, taking bets for just about anything. We walked into one. Mick's eyes were darting in all directions. We asked how many baht they would give for English sterling. It was an excellent rate. Mick changed 3,000. We walked out.

'H, did you get a butcher's at that peter they got?'

'At what, Mick?' I was beginning to forget my c.o.c.kney slang.

'The peter, H, the bleeding safe. They might as well stash their loot in a f.u.c.king jam jar. That bank or betting shop, whatever it is, got no security, no alarms, nothing. I blagged harder ones than that when I was a nipper. It's got to be worth going back there, H, one night after they shut. Like taking sweets from little kids.'

'Be careful, Mick. This city has strange ways.'

Phil was at home when I telephoned. We arranged to meet in the lobby of the Dusithani Hotel.

'Phil, can you send two tons of Thai by container to the West Coast?'

'Is the Pope a Catholic? Why do you ask? Of course I can.'

'Can you change the origin of the consignment and make it look like it came from Jakarta, Indonesia?'

'Naturally.'

'How do you do it?'

'Bangkok is not really much of an international seaport. It's too far up-river. A couple of local Thai s.h.i.+pping lines use it, but no foreign ones. Everything for the US transits through Singapore. Freight from Indonesia also transits through Singapore. We bung this Chinese freight agent in Singapore a bag of money, and he'll adjust the paperwork.'

'Will it be good-quality gra.s.s?'

'The best. The new crop has just been harvested. There's a sample in that envelope.'

'Can you make it smell-proof?'

'No problem there. We vacuum-pack and nitrogen-flush the lot.'

'Can you do it all on credit?'

'Say that again. I don't think I heard you right.'

'Can you do it all on credit?'

'No way. Those days are gone, Howard.'

'They haven't. I can still get credit in Pakistan, Phil. As much as I want.'

'Then send two tons of Pakistani hash to Manila. I've got a connection there who can re-route it to Australia, where I can get three times the money I can get in America.'

'Sure. I'll do that. Just as soon as you've sent the Thai.'

'It's not that I don't trust you, Howard, but I did learn from you, don't forget. Why don't you just pay for the Thai you want, and I'll pay for the Pakistani I want?'

'Okay. You want to do the Pakistani one first?'

'You must be joking. You started this.'

Phil clearly wasn't going to budge. He was a tight old sod. I knew he got the Thai gra.s.s on 100% credit. His only expenses would be transportation and giving the Singaporean freight agent enough money for a night's whoring in Patpong. But he would never admit it. I'd have to let him get something for nothing.

'Phil, I know what it costs here. You know I know. Forty dollars a kilo is the absolute maximum. The rest of the expenses are cheaper than a night out in London. So $100,000 will cover the lot. If you don't want to give me that on credit, I'll pay you.'