The Cover of War (5 page)

'I have
information.'

The man
appraised her. 'What information.'

'I deal with
Triet, not you.'

He laughed.
'I'll take you to him.' His voice was harsh. 'Follow me.'

Amai grimaced;
it couldn't have turned out any worse. What a spectacular failure.

The Flashing
Tiger was only a block away. Amai disliked the strip-club almost as much as she
disliked The Trung Hoa. The sleazy atmosphere was a breading ground for
womanizing, drugs, and crime.

Inside she
passed a sultry girl dressed in tatty lingerie. The girl flipped backwards onto
a pole, and started spinning upside down. The Trung Hoa thug went to the bar.
Amai spotted the toilet and went in. She took off her wet dress and underwear,
and washed off the drainpipe's grime. Then she went through another door, which
led from the bathroom, into the strippers' changing room. She found some
clothes, put them on, and then went back into the club. The top fitted too
tightly across her chest.

Triet was
waiting at the bar.

6

Tan Son Nhut AFB

Hangar 38

10°48'49.62"N
106°39'25.00"E

D
anny parked the jeep. A man in a flight-suit stood in front of the
hangar.

'Morning, Sir.'
The pilot said, obviously checking Danny's face against a small photograph.
'We'll get your suit on and get airborne.'

'A flight-suit?'

'Yes, Sir.
You're flying Phantom Airways.'

Danny felt
giddy. 'Oh.' It was an over-the-top way to travel, but the General did have
some pull.

He followed the
pilot across the tarmac to the rear of an arched, concrete hangar, and realized
the high-pitched whining sound was probably coming from his ride. The air
inside the hangar was rich with the nauseating smell of JP-4 exhaust.

The pilot helped
him into the flight-suit and Danny could see the grey Phantom, waiting on the
tarmac like a captured shark, desperate to swim away. He felt nervous and hoped
he wouldn't throw-up in the cockpit.

Danny put on the
green helmet and waddled out to the big jet. The pilot indicated the steps.
Danny climbed into the backseat. He was sweating. The pilot buckled Danny's
harness, and then got into the front. The canopy came down, sealing Danny in.
He felt helpless; his life now in the hands of a man he'd know less than ten
minutes. The Phantom rolled forward and taxied fast before turning onto the
wide runway.

A metallic
female voice came through Danny's helmet speakers: 'Surger four-four, cleared
to takeoff runway zero-seven right.'

A mighty roar
engulfed him and Danny felt his body crush back into the seat. Then the ground
was moving rapidly away; the wings shuddering; the roar falling back to a
shrill whine.

Christ, what
a thrill.

The jet climbed
steeply, giving Danny a magnificent view of the continent.

'We'll go
angels-twenty,' the pilot's voice came through the helmet. 'We're over
Cambodia
now.'

'That's fast.'

'Already doing
eight-hundred-miles-an-hour, Sir.'

Cambodia
flashed below.

'Thai airspace.'

A city grew out
of the landscape.

'A last minute
change of location,' the pilot said. 'We'll be landing at
Bangkok
.'

Odd,
Danny thought. The General had purposefully concealed Benmore's
location.

Danny could hear
a faint Asian voice giving instructions to the pilot. The jet banked
sickeningly hard to the right, and as it leveled, a long runway stood ahead.
The Phantom felt like it was coming in too fast. Danny gripped the seat. The
airframe shook. The landing gear clunked as they opened and locked. Fat white
lines and a big number '03' flashed below. The jet touched down, pulled-up
hard, and turned right off the runway.

'Welcome to
Bangkok
, we hope you enjoyed your flight.'

Danny checked
his watch; twenty-two minutes ago he had been in
Saigon
. The jet taxied to a row of hangars where a lone C-130 stood,
turned one-hundred-and-eighty degrees, and then stopped. The pilot unbuckled
Danny, and told him to go into the hangar.

Danny climbed
down and walked across the apron, feeling woozy. The Phantom taxied away behind
him. Danny walked through the empty hangar to the far end. A door opened and a
man walked in.

'Come with me.'
The man's words were as blunt as his features and Danny instantly got the
feeling that he could 'handle himself'. The man opened the passenger's door of
a Citroen Lady Grey parked behind the hangar, and then got into the driver's
seat. Danny got in beside him. 'I assume you'll take me to Benmore?'

The man grunted
and the Citroen pulled away.

Bangkok
's traffic was thick, but unlike
Saigon
's, mostly cars and busses. Suddenly the Citroen swerved into a side
street and accelerated; the driver's eyes flicking from the rear-vision-mirror
to the road and back.

Danny looked
back. A tan colored sedan turned the corner behind them. The Citron turned
sharp left; the tan car followed.

'Fuck,' the
blunt-faced man said.

7

T
riet glared at her.

'You were
followed, Amai,' he said.

'I got away.'

Triet's eyes stayed
on hers. 'Why do you want to see me?  . . . What has happened?'

With a sick
feeling, she held up Danny's secret letter.  

Triet read it,
nodded, said: 'Well done,' and then put it in his pocket.

'I hate this
place,' she said. 'I'm going.'

Triet put a hand
on her shoulder. 'No. You're coming with me.'

She felt
trapped. 'Where?'

'We need each
others' help. Let's go.'

She had no
intention of having Triet help her; but Amai did fear being caught by the
Americans. If she were, Tet would be finished - but so would she.  

'I'm glad you
came
.
' He smiled. 'Your task is not yet finished.'

Amai couldn't
believe what she was hearing.
Was he really foolish enough to send her
back out? Amai had other plans. She would find another way to report Tet, and
then she would hide. There were places in
Saigon
where she could disappear - until Danny returned.   

Triet took her
by the shoulders. 'Something important has come up.' The intensity in his eyes
was disturbing.

'What?'

Triet put his
arm around her and steered her out of the club and into the street. He took her
through Cholon to a rundown building, squashed into a narrow lane near the Phu
Tho racetrack.

Amai felt
emotionally drained. Her escape from the canal had been luck. She knew that she
could be dead - or worse - suffering torture at the hands a grinning General
Loan.

'This is my
Headquarters,' Triet said.

His building was
a dirty yellow color with a terracotta roof. Outside, hard-faced men milled
about smoking tobacco. Inside, several played a dice game on the concrete
floor. In turn, the men nodded to Triet as he led her past. A thin man holding
a thin cigarette between his lips stared at her breasts, before looking her up
and down. Amai would never have come here without Triet. Triet gave a hand
signal and the skinny man and one other fell in behind them.

He led her
through several passageways and doors before exiting the building into a closed
courtyard. The two men went to a dry concrete fountain and dragged it back
several feet. The fountain had concealed an opening. The smell of opium drifted
up from the concrete basement, and Amai felt the sudden urge to smoke. She had
never smoked the drug, and hadn't wanted to, but
Saigon
was getting on top of her. She needed an escape.

She climbed down
the narrow ladder behind Triet. Two ugly men and a beautiful girl sat on the
floor. The men stood, greeted Triet, and then the three of them became
engrossed in conversation, referring periodically to a large wall map. Amai
recognized one of the men as Pham Xuan An, the blunt-nosed spy from Time
Magazine. She had worked with An before.

Amai listened to
the men talk.

An said: 'We'll
bring in AK-47s by the thousands. And grenades.'

'How?'

An's blunt nose
flared. 'The Tet celebrations. We'll bring in truck loads of flowers and hide
the weapons underneath.

Amai looked at
the girl. Shrouded in velvety smoke, the girl drew back on a long bamboo pipe.
She smiled at Amai and then put the pipe on the worn rug on which she sat. Amai
recognized her.

Thi Ling Nang
, Amai thought.

They had walked
part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail together; from the Pan Handle to Cu Chi. Thi was
a spy.  

Thi waved in
lethargic recognition, but did not get up. Amai figured that she had smoked
several pipes; her glazed eyes suggesting that nothing would bother her.

That's how Amai
wanted to feel.

Amai realized
Triet was looking at her. 'Pipe?' He said.

Amai nodded. He
looked surprised.

Amai sat beside
Thi and smelled the subtle scent of her hair through the opium.

She could never
return to her flat on
Thong Nhut Boulevard
. She would have to abandon her beautiful dresses and shoes - she
could never get them back.
And Danny,
she thought.
How will he find
me?

Under a dim
electric bulb, Amai watched Triet light a small stove, heat the opium bead, and
then scrap it into the bamboo pipe. Amai took the pipe and inhaled. The smoke
tasted hot and sharp. She coughed - and then drew back again.

'Another?' Triet
said.

She felt heavy.
'Yes.'

Triet repeated
the process.

Amai wanted to
forget everything single thing that had happened today. She wanted to forget
everything from now, until Danny came back. She drew back as much smoke as her
lungs could handle and the effect was immediate and overpowering. She felt
sluggish and lethargic and her arms felt like blocks.

Xuan An spoke
into Triet's ear and the two men climbed the ladder and left the basement. The
sound of their sandals on the ladder echoed in Amai's head.  

Thi smiled
casually. 'Where's your handbag?'

Amai thought
that Thi was dazzlingly pretty: petite, with smooth youthful features, and
sharp darting eyes. 'I don't carry one. Why?'

Thi held up a
glossy snakeskin purse. 'It's genuine python.' Thi opened the purse, took out a
stick of lip-gloss, and applied some to her lips. Then she said: 'You've still
got the best breasts in the world.'

Thi's comment
took Amai back six years, to the Ho Chi Minh trail. She recalled her fears as a
naive seventeen year-old: showering in the monsoon rain, as her hands soaped
the curves of her body, she worried about looking different to the other girls.
They all had petite bodies and small, perky breasts; but Amai's body was
fuller, and amongst the girls, her breasts quickly became the source of secret
conversation.

How stupid,
Amai though.
I should've been scared of coming here.

Back then, when
the men ogled her, it had made her feel grown-up. Now she had learned to loath
it - except for Danny.

The opium made
her head swim. She felt nostalgic; then homesick; and then Danny entered the
bunker. She stroked his windswept hair and the weather-beaten skin of his face;
and then he dissolved into the velvety cloud.

Thi was smoking
again.

Amai felt
gravity force her down. She lay close to Thi. Waves of fear rocked her.
They're
after me. Everyone's after me.
Beads of cold sweat covered her body.
I
can't take this. They'll kill me.

Amai felt Thi's
velvety skin moving against hers; a comforting arm wrapping around her
shoulders. The drug heightened all sensations. Thi stroked her hair and
whispered calming words; her comfort driving out the fear. Amai felt the warmth
of affection and she realized it was what she so desperately needed. Her hand
found Thi's small round shoulder and they held one another.

Then she felt
Thi's soft lips on hers, kissing her gently. Amai pulled back. Thi followed; the
tip of her tiny tongue licking the tears from her cheeks. Thi's hand slid up
her thigh.

Amai tensed.
What
is she doing?

Then Thi was
kissing her again.

Amai felt
detached from reality.
I'm drugged.

Thi sucked her
bottom lip. Amai couldn't stop herself from kissing her back and they began
sucking each others tongues and Amai realized that she was unbelievably wet.

What am I
doing?

Thi's hand moved
between Amai's legs and found her most sensitive spot. Amai felt a surge of
sexual desire run through her body, and she realized that she needed something
that she couldn't put into words. Thi seemed to understand her craving and her
fingers slipped in and out of her while her thumb rubbed her in a circular
motion.

Amai's hips
moved involuntarily.

Then a tingling
feeling started in the soles of her feet. It spread into her legs, her thighs,
her belly, and her clitoris. Then it came in an intense wave and she let the
ecstasy take her.