Message From -Creasy 5 (32 page)

The rusty hinges of the door squeaked as it opened. The Dutchman looked up. Creasy
was standing there. He had a revolver in his hand, unbalanced by a fat silencer.

The Khmer Rouge soldiers scrambled for their rifles. Creasy shot them both. As they
fell to the floor he stood aside and another man came through with a
submachine-gun held ready.

De Witt recognized Guido Arrellio. He moved quickly to the two soldiers and checked
that they were dead. Then he nodded to Creasy, who walked over to de Witt and
looked down at him. He said: "I told you the last time I saw you that if I
ever saw your face again, I'd kill you."

De Witt laughed harshly and said: "It makes no odds. If you don't, she will."

"She is Connie Crum? She's in the temple now?"

"Yes. She is waiting for you." He laughed again. "She expected you to come
by parachute."

"How many men does she have?"

"I don't know. Nobody knows."

Guido had moved over to stand beside Creasy. He asked the Dutchman: "How long
have you been here?"

"Ten months."

"Have you seen any Americans?"

"No. But there were some here until about three years ago. They were prisoners of
war and they were used to clear mines. I was told that the last one got blown
up three years ago."

"Who told you?" Creasy asked.

"A woman, she's Vietnamese. She was trapped here. They make her work as a
prostitute. She has a young son by one of the Americans."

He looked up into Creasy's eyes and said: "Whatever you do to me and anybody
else, I ask a last favour: that she is not hurt."

Creasy glanced down at him and replied: "I don't make war on women who don't make
war on me...You laid the minefield round that temple?"

"Yes...It was a work of art."

"How many accesses are there?"

"Just one, only a metre wide."

"You have a map?"

"No. No-one has a map. The men I trained here laid that field with me. After it was
finished, she had them all killed."

"So how did she get into the temple?"

The Dutchman shrugged. "I showed her the bearings. She took notes."

Creasy turned to look at the two dead soldiers and then gestured at the shackle on de
Witt's wrist. He asked: "Do they have the key?"

"No, she has the only key."

Creasy said to Guido: "Call The Owl. He'll open that thing up."

As Guido walked to the door, Creasy asked de Witt: "Where are that girl and
her child now?"

"She lives in the house at the end of the track with her son. Her name is Tan
Sotho."

Guido returned with The Owl. Creasy pointed at the shackle. "Can you open
that?"

The Owl squatted down and looked at it, then pulled out his lock-pick. "No
problem," he said. "It'll take a couple of minutes."

Creasy said to Guido: "There's a woman called Tan Sotho who lives in the house at
the end of the track. She has a young child. Please bring them both here."

Guido went back to the door. Creasy asked de Witt: "What do you know about the
Khmer Rouge deployments in this area?"

The Dutchman looked up and said: "Before I tell you anything else, answer this
question. Are you going to kill me?"

Creasy shook his head. "As far as I'm concerned you're vermin and you always
were, but I'm not going to kill you. In about half an hour, you're going to
lead me through that minefield. Then, if we get out, I'll take you back to
Thailand and you go free."

The Dutchman thought about that and then nodded. He said: "I hate your guts,
but you're known as a man who keeps his word. There were a lot of Khmer Rouge
in this area until about two weeks ago when Connie Crum moved them out to the
southeast. As far as I know, there's only one detachment remaining, which is in
a village called Ak Lau about a mile due south from here with about twenty men."

The Owl had done his work. He pulled open the shackle. De Witt stood up, stretched his
frame and rubbed his wrist.

"Don't try anything," Creasy said, "or you'll surely die. I have other men
outside, men like Maxie Macdonald and Rene Callard...Not exactly friends of yours."

"You brought the cream," de Witt said wryly.

The door opened and Guido ushered in the woman and the child. She looked at the two
dead bodies and then at de Witt. Her fear was evident in her eyes.

"Do you speak English?" Creasy asked.

She nodded.

"Then understand that you have nothing to fear from us. We will leave soon for
Thailand. If you wish, you can come with us, with your son."

The boy had a round face and button eyes. He was holding on to his mother's leg. Creasy
asked her: "Do you know a man called Jake Bentsen?"

"Yes."

"What happened to him?"

"He was killed clearing a minefield."

"When?"

"About three years ago."

Creasy was looking at the boy. "Is that his son?" he asked.

She hesitated, and then said: "I think so...I hope so. Jake was a good man,
gentle and honest. He never hurt me like some of the others do." She put
her hand upon the boy's head. "Jake died three months before Kori was born."

Guido had pulled the two dead bodies into a corner and covered them with the stained
cloth from the table. Creasy asked de Witt: "When Connie Crum was here,
where did she stay?"

"In the house next door."

Creasy turned to The Owl and said: "Go and check that house. Look into every
room, look for documents and maps. If you locate a safe, try to open it. But
you only have ten minutes." To Guido he said: "Radio Jens. I want
that plane to take off from Bangkok in five minutes." He turned to Tan
Sotho and gestured at the table and chairs. "Please sit down. I want you
to stay in this room with your son until we return."

As she sat down with her son on her lap, Creasy asked: "Do you know a man called
Van Luk Wan?"

Before she answered, he saw the look of distaste on her face. "Yes. He's a
bastard and a sadist. I'm ashamed that he's a Vietnamese."

De Witt said: "He was with Connie Crum yesterday, and I guess he's still with her now."

Creasy nodded in satisfaction. "Good. This time I won't miss."

Tan Sotho was watching his face. Abruptly, she said: "You're Creasy?"

He glanced at Guido and then asked her: "How would you know that?"

"Because Jake spoke about you. He was your friend."

Creasy sighed. "Yes, he was my friend. And I'm sorry I got here three years too late."

The satellite phone buzzed and Connie Crum grabbed up the receiver. She put it to
her ear and listened, then gave Van Luk Wan a wicked grin. She said: "That
chartered plane has just taken off from Bangkok. It filed a flight plan for
Phnom Penh, and of course it will make a slight diversion over here."

She spoke a few words into the phone, then hung up and looked at her watch.
"My people confirmed that there were two passengers, both Caucasians and
carrying big canvas bags. I estimate that they'll be overhead in half an
hour." She stood up and carried a can of petrol from the table to the
marble sarcophagus. She placed it reverently on a corner, saying: "In
twenty minutes we turn on the gas. And then I soak the wood and we burn Creasy black!"

The Owl returned ten minutes later, accompanied by Rene.

Together they carried a large wooden box and in his left hand The Owl had a leather
pouch. They hefted the box onto the table and Rene went back out. The Owl
tossed the leather pouch to Creasy, saying: "There was an old French-made
safe, a MITEL. I did my apprenticeship on those things. That was inside."

Creasy untied the drawstring of the pouch. Inside were hundreds of sapphires. He
passed the pouch to Guido, saying: "We got lucky, at least on the financial side."

Guido held the pouch, but did not look inside. His eyes were focused on the wooden
box and the lettering on its side, which was in French.

"Where
did you find that?" he asked The Owl.

"In a storeroom at the back of the house."

They all approached the table. The black lettering stated: 'Costumes et masques
protecteurs contenant calciumhypochloride contre gas neurotique de type V. 8 unites'.

Creasy, Guido and The Owl immediately understood the implication, but de Witt had no
French. Creasy translated for him. "Protective clothing and gas masks
containing calciumhypochloride against V-type nerve gas. Eight units. Where the
hell would that bitch get nerve gas?" he asked.

Guido hefted the leather pouch in his hand. He said: "This alone would buy half
a chemical factory."

The Owl had prised open the top of the wooden box. He said: "There are four suits
and masks here. It originally contained eight." He started to lift out the
bright yellow overalls and the masks.

De Witt said: "No wonder she was confident. She knows all about you and Arrellio.
She knows about your character and your history. I never met anyone in my life
more cunning and more frightening than that woman."

"If we had dropped into that compound, we would have been dead in seconds," Guido mused.

Creasy looked at his watch.

"She'll be sitting up there now, together with Van Luk Wan, dressed in this gear and
waiting for us to drop out of the sky. She's going to get a nasty surprise. We
move in five minutes. De Witt will take us through the minefield. We need
something to lay a trail for when we get out."

Guido walked across the small room into the kitchen and came back holding up a large
bag of sugar. Creasy nodded in approval.

"You bring up the rear," he said. "I'll have the RPG-7 and blow away the
gate. Meanwhile, Maxie and Rene had better keep guard to the south. If there's
any shooting, that Khmer Rouge contingent will come around." He turned to
The Owl. "Bring up one of the jeeps. And when I call you on the radio,
drive it to the edge of the minefield. De Witt will show you the place on the
map." He turned to the Dutchman and said: "You had better think it
through. Your only chance to get out of Cambodia is with us. You're certainly
going to lead us through that minefield, because you'll have my gun at the back
of your head. But for the sake of enlightened self-interest, that should not be
necessary. You had better make your mind up which way to do it."

De Witt was looking at the leather pouch. He said: "Do I get my cut?"

Creasy looked at Guido, who gave him a wry smile and said: "It was always that
way with de Witt. Let him take his cut and he goes through the gate with us. At
least the bastard knows how to use a weapon."

Creasy nodded in agreement and gestured at the two AK47s propped against the table. He
said to de Witt: "Pick one out, strip it down and check it. Then we leave
for your minefield."

They put on their protective clothing at the edge of the minefield, and then pulled
the gas masks over their heads. Creasy's voice was muffled, but audible as he
gave the instructions.

"Naturally you lead, de Witt. I follow you with the RPG-7. Guido
brings up the rear, laying a trail with the sugar and carrying a spare rocket
in case I miss with the first one and in case the temple itself is secured by a
door. How far from the gate does the track straighten out?"

"Exactly fifteen metres," de Witt replied.

"OK, I'll launch the rocket from there. Let's go!"

The Dutchman carefully took his bearings and then moved forward as though walking over ice.

Twice they stopped while he took more bearings, using trees and shrubs. There was a
half light from a half moon, but still he used the trilux night sight. He moved
slowly, but comfortably. It was his minefield and he knew his way through it.
Creasy followed two metres behind, putting his feet in exactly the same places
as de Witt had trodden. Guido followed the same distance behind, also putting
his feet in the same places and spilling the white sugar.

Inside the compound Connie Crum, her two bodyguards and Van Luk Wan were dressed in
the same protective clothing and masks. She had turned on the gas several
minutes before. When it was over she would turn a green handle and release the
calciumhypochloride to make the compound safe. They were standing in a line
with their backs to the compound wall and their guns held ready, looking up
into the sky. Very faintly, Connie Crum heard the drone of an aircraft.

Her two bodyguards moved out and positioned themselves on either side of the temple
with their AK47s raised in expectation.

De Witt made one final turn and then stopped. He turned around and pointed to the
compound wall looming above them, with a thick metal door in its centre. He
pointed to the trunk of a tree at his left and the bush on his right,
indicating where the minefield enclosed them. Then he took one step sideways.
Creasy moved past him and laid his submachine-gun on the ground. The tube of
the RPG-7 was strapped to his back with the cone-shaped missile in place. Guido
moved up, unstrapped the rocket-launcher and passed it around Creasy's body,
then crouched down beside him on his right. The Dutchman also crouched down, to
his left. The path was strewn with small stones and angled sharply upwards.

Carefully, Creasy lifted the tube on to his shoulder and sighted on the metal door.

Beyond it, Connie Crum was puzzled. The drone of the aircraft was receding. It had not
flown over the compound.

Van Luk Wan said: "They could have dropped a mile away. Those modern parachutes
are more like wings. The wind is in the right direction." His voice was
nervous as he strained his eyes looking up into the sky.

Creasy pulled the trigger. Flame gouted from the back of the tube and, a second later,
the missile detached. At first it seemed to move in slow motion, but then it
gathered speed and smashed into the door with a hissing explosion. Guido was
already up and running, with de Witt close behind.