CHAPTER 1
NOVEMBER 8
BANTEAY MEANCHEY PRISON, CAMBODIA
THE DELUGE HAMMERED against the tiled roof, drowning out all other sounds.
It had started before sunset, and continued unchecked into the night as if plotting to go on forever. The storm was the remnants of a late-season typhoon that had finally lost its lofty status after slamming into the coast of Vietnam. But while the winds may have lessened, the rain still drenched the countryside as it moved into Cambodia.
“He’s late,” Chayan said.
Though the lights were off in building seven, enough illumination from the exterior flood lamps drifted in through the chain-link-covered windows to paint the room in murky grays.
“You know these animals,” Mee Noi replied. “Never on time. But he’ll come.”
Chayan glanced at him. “And if he doesn’t?”
Mee Noi said nothing, sure their wait wouldn’t last much longer. He had worked hard to put the plan in place. Money had been slipped into the right hands to obtain a meeting with the new prison director, a man much more malleable than those who had previously held the position. The new head of the facility hadn’t blinked an eye at the cash offered to look the other way. More payments were made to Captain Keo and the men assigned to the task.
Admittedly, Chayan did have cause to be concerned. This wasn’t the first time they’d tried this. Which was why Mee Noi was not relying simply on the bribes. A backup plan had been arranged. If things didn’t proceed as expected, the prison director’s family would go missing within twenty-four hours, at which point it would be made clear to the man that his wife and their children—and mistress and their children—would not be returned until his promise had been fulfilled. A similar fate would befall Captain Keo.
Mee Noi was confident it would not come to that. The director might not have been the smartest of men, but he was intelligent enough to know money does not come for free. Especially from someone like Chayan.
So far, everything had gone exactly as expected. The prison, like all Cambodian prisons, was overcrowded to the point of ridiculousness. At Banteay Meanchey the population was nearly three times its maximum capacity. That meant at night, each building was stuffed full of prisoners sleeping on whatever small section of the floor they could claim. Tonight, though, building seven only contained Chayan and Mee Noi.
Over the roar of the storm, Mee Noi could now hear a faint rumble and splashing. He rose, walked to the door, and placed his ear against it. The rumble grew louder and then disappeared in a squeal of brakes.
“They’re here,” he said as he returned to his boss’s side.
Chayan’s expression remained neutral.
A few minutes passed before a key was inserted in the lock and the door swung open.
In walked Captain Keo and two of the bought prison guards.
“Inspection!” one of the guards announced in Khmer, a language both Chayan and Mee Noi were now well acquainted with. “Remain where you are.”
The flashlight beams swung side to side as the guards walked through the room. Keo, a short man with a barrel chest and matching stomach, watched from the doorway as if his mere presence guided the guards’ every move. After a few moments, he appeared to tire of this and sauntered over to Chayan and Mee Noi, a broad fake smile plastered across his face.
“My apologies if we have disturbed your sleep,” he said in fairly proficient Thai. “Are you aware of any contraband items your fellow prisoners might be hiding? Perhaps any forbidden activities they might be up to?”
“We are aware of nothing, Captain,” Mee Noi said.
“No one with plans to attack my men? Or maybe sneak out of the prison?” The smile again, this time accompanied by a chuckle.
“No, sir,” Mee Noi said, reining in his anger at the man’s foolishness.
Keo focused on Chayan. “And you? Nothing?”
Chayan looked at him, his lips a flat line.
“I guess that’s no,” Keo said.
“Captain,” one of the guards said. “Inspection completed. Everyone is…um…accounted for.”
“All right, then. Let’s move on.” The captain nodded to the two Thai prisoners. “Have a good rest, gentlemen.”
Mee Noi and Chayan watched the men exit. When the door shut, as per the plan, it was left unlocked. The two prisoners waited a moment, and then crossed over to it. As Mee Noi reached for the handle, Chayan touched his arm, stopping him.
“The captain needs to learn respect,” he said.
“I will make sure the message is passed along.”
Chayan removed his hand and Mee Noi opened the door.
Waterfalls of rain poured off the roof, adding to the growing lake that all but covered the ground between buildings seven and eight. Sitting in the middle of the water was the prison van that had brought the captain and his men. The trio was now in the neighboring barracks, conducting another inspection.
Mee Noi hurried over to the vehicle. As expected, the van’s single back door was unlocked. He opened it and checked inside.
The box was right where it was supposed to be, masquerading as a wide bench running down the driver’s side of the cabin. Opening the door had also opened a panel that covered the back end of the box, via a cord tied between them. The space inside the box would be tight, but Mee Noi was a small man and would take up much less room than his taller, well-toned boss.
He motioned to Chayan, letting him know all was ready, and then helped his boss into the box before slipping in himself. A makeshift cloth handle had been attached to the back of the panel. By pulling hard on it, Mee Noi was able to shut both the panel and the van’s back door.
With their hiding place now in total darkness, Mee Noi had to feel around to find the knotted end of the cord that connected the panel to the van’s door. It took him a moment, but he was able to undo the knot and push all but the very tip of the cord back through.
“They’re taking too long,” Chayan whispered a few seconds later.
Mee Noi said nothing. Again, it was just his boss’s frustration at their inability to fully control their current situation. But building eight was packed even more than usual, and they were both aware it would take the guards extra time to finish their inspection. The plan would work best, after all, if things appeared normal.
The rain pounded relentlessly on the metal roof, echoing through the inside of the van. The wood surrounding the two men barely dulled the noise. It was so loud they didn’t hear the van’s doors open, and only realized the guards had returned when the vehicle rocked as the men climbed in.
A creak of the box down near their feet indicated one of the guards had sat on it. Moments later the engine started up, and the van began to move.
Four minutes passed before the van slowed to a stop. Mee Noi could hear voices, but the downpour made them impossible to understand.
When the vehicle moved again, it was soon going much too fast to still be inside the prison. If Mee Noi needed further proof they had passed beyond the gates, he received it moments later when he heard several motorbikes zip by, the rattle of their engines delivering the relief he’d long been waiting to feel.
Four years he had been in that prison. Four years since he’d purposely let himself get arrested so he could join Chayan inside. Four years he had served his boss there, passing Chayan’s orders on to their organization, and working to get his boss and himself free.
This was their third escape attempt. The prison riot meant to facilitate the first one had fizzled before it began, and their second effort was thwarted by a “clean” lieutenant who had thought of himself as a Western-style anti-corruption official. The man had paid the price for his “superior” values, of course. His body was found tangled in a clump of trash floating down the Serei Sophorn River.
One would think a message such as that would make others more cooperative, but instead there was a crackdown that saw the removal of most of the prison staff Mee Noi had in his pocket, forcing him to start at the beginning again.
On the van went, curving through streets, splashing through water and bouncing from pothole to pothole. After a while, Mee Noi realized the ride was lasting longer than it should have. Of course, the rain and the atrocious Cambodian roads weren’t helping, but still, they should have reached the drop-off point by now.
Nearly a half hour passed before the van pulled to a stop and the engine shut off. The vehicle rocked again as the guards exited. For several minutes there was nothing but the sound of the rain. And then the back door finally swung open.
A knock on the panel of their hiding place was accompanied by Captain Keo saying, “Please, join us.”
Mee Noi did not like the man’s tone.
“Open it,” Chayan whispered.
Mee Noi hesitated, and then pushed on the panel.
Bright light flooded into the box, forcing Mee Noi and Chayan to squeeze their eyes shut.
“My apologies,” Keo said. He barked an order to his men and the flashlight beams moved away. Another shout and a man was next to the box, grabbing Mee Noi by the shoulders.
“Can do myself,” Mee Noi said in his patched-together Khmer.
The man pulled as if he hadn’t heard, so Mee Noi slapped at the guard’s arms.
“I said I can do!”
“Let him,” Keo said.
The guard backed away. Mee Noi saw there were now three others in addition to the captain and the two camp guards. None of the new men were wearing uniforms. They were, however, similarly armed.
Mee Noi pulled himself out of the box and set his feet on the wet ground. Their release was supposed to have happened inside a storage building on the edge of town, but they were outside in a clearing surrounded by jungle, the only structure in sight a decrepit hut. A glance around revealed but a single road leading in and out of the clearing.
As Mee Noi always suspected, the captain had changed the plan.
When Mee Noi leaned down to assist Chayan, he conveyed their situation to his boss with a look. Chayan was also not surprised.
Once they were standing outside the van, Captain Keo donned his ugly smile and held his arms out wide. “The air of freedom. Smells so good, doesn’t it?”
Mee Noi and Chayan said nothing.
Keo looked at them, disappointed. “At the very least, I would think I’d have your thanks.”
“You received our thanks already,” Mee Noi reminded him.
“I received some thanks.”
And there it was. Some people didn’t know when they already had a good thing.
“Come,” Chayan said to Mee Noi.
He took a step to the left as if intending to walk away. Immediately the three non-uniformed men pointed their rifles at the two Thais.
Chayan halted, and very slowly turned back to Keo. “What is it you want?”
“What is it I want?” Keo laughed. “Only a fair price for my services.”
“You’ve been paid a more than fair price,” Mee Noi said.
“You may think so. I do not.”
Mee Noi had worked for Chayan long enough to know when he should talk and when he should say nothing. This was one of those latter times.
Chayan said, “And what do you think is a fair price?”
“Oh, I’d say at the low end at least double what I’ve already received.” He gestured to the others with him. “And of course some for my men.”
“Of course,” Chayan said. “I suppose we are to remain your guests until that happens.”
“I like that term. Guests.” Keo paused. “Naturally it would be bad business to do things any other way.”
The rain continued pouring down, soaking everyone to the bone as Chayan and Keo stared at each other.
“Or,” Keo said after several seconds, “we could shoot you here, and claim we tracked you after you escaped. We’d be given medals. Maybe even a reward. Admittedly not as much as we would get from you, but still something to compensate us for our time. And the attention would be…enjoyable, I think. So tell me, which would you prefer?”
“Neither,” Chayan said.
“Understandable, but that’s not one of your options.”
Chayan glanced at Mee Noi and nodded.
As a boy, Mee Noi had worked the passenger boats on the Chao Praya River, where he learned the art of whistling to communicate with a boat’s pilot as they approached a pier. He used that skill now, letting out two loud, quick shrills.
Five gunshots, grouped so close together they sounded like one, echoed across the clearing. The two prison guards and the three other men dropped to the ground, dead.
Keo jerked in surprise and fumbled with the pistol in the holster on his hip.
“That would be a very bad idea,” Chayan said.
Keo froze, undoubtedly realizing he would never get his weapon drawn before he received the same fate as his men. When he moved his hand away, Chayan gave Mee Noi another nod.
This time Mee Noi’s whistle was a single long note. From out of the darkness came ten rifle-toting men, weapons pointing at the prison captain.
“You should have been happy with what you were given,” Mee Noi said.
The captain’s gaze flicked from the armed men to his fallen companions before returning to Chayan and Mee Noi.
“Go ahead, then. If you’re going to kill me, kill me.” The words might have been brave, but the tremor in the man’s voice belied them.
Chayan walked over and removed the pistol from Keo’s side. He checked the chamber and then shoved the barrel against the captain’s temple. Keo tried to pull away but Chayan kept the gun pressed to the man’s skull. The captain finally stopped struggling and began to cry.
Chayan sneered. “I want to be very clear about this. You are going to die.” He pulled the gun away. “But not tonight.”
It took a moment before Keo worked up enough courage to open his eyes again.
“Tonight you have work to do,” Chayan said. He gestured to the dead men. “Clean this up. I don’t care how you do it, but none of it comes back on me or my people.”
Keo hesitated a moment, and then nodded.
“The longer no one comes looking for me, the longer I don’t come back for you. Understood?”
Another nod.
“Good.”
Chayan flipped the gun so that he was holding it by the barrel and slammed the grip into the captain’s head. Keo fell into a pool of water, moaning in pain.
“That’s so you don’t forget.”
The dead men’s rifles were retrieved, and Mee Noi and Chayan’s team escorted them to the waiting vehicles.
“The border?” Mee Noi asked the team leader after they climbed in.
“Everything is set.”
“What about the list?” Chayan asked.
“Prepared and waiting for you.”
“Then let’s go home. We have a lot of work to do.”
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