Cockroaches(90)

He felt as if someone had gripped him around the throat and he had to stand up to breathe.

This isn’t happening, he thought. This can’t happen—not again.

I can see you … Number 20.

He knows what they know.

You are alone.

Somebody had talked. He picked up the phone, but put it down again. Think, think. Woo hadn’t taken a thing. He lifted the receiver again and unscrewed the speaking end. Beside the microphone, which was supposed to be there, was a small black object resembling a chip. Harry had seen them before. It was a Russian model, probably better than the bugs the CIA used.

The throbbing of his foot dulled all the other pain as he dealt the bedside table a ferocious kick and sent it flying.





42


Wednesday, January 22


Liz lifted the coffee cup to her mouth and slurped so loudly that Løken glanced at Harry with one eyebrow raised, as if to ask who this creature was. They were at Millie’s Karaoke. From a photo on the wall a platinum-blonde Madonna stared down at them with a hungry gaze while a digitalized singback version of “I Just Called to Say I Love You” blithely limped along. Harry tried to switch off the remote. They had read the letter and no one had responded yet. Harry found the right button and the music stopped abruptly.

“That’s what I had to tell you,” Harry said. “As you can see, we have a leak.”

“What about the bug you say this Woo put in your phone?” Løken asked.

“It doesn’t explain how this person knows we’re after him. I haven’t said much on the phone. Anyway, from now on I suggest we meet here. If we find the informant they might be able to lead us to Klipra, but I don’t think we should begin at that end.”

“Why not?” Liz asked.

“I have a feeling the informant is as well disguised as Klipra.”

“Really?”

“By writing that letter Klipra is revealing that he gets information from inside. He would never do that if we had any chance of finding the source.”

“Why not ask the most obvious question?” Løken asked. “How do you know the informant isn’t one of us?”

“I don’t. But if it is, we’ve lost already, so we’ll have to take the risk.”

The others nodded.

“Needless to say, time is against us. It’s equally needless to say the odds are against the girl. Seventy percent of kidnaps of this kind end in the victim being killed.” He tried to say this in as neutral a tone as possible, and he avoided their eyes in the sure knowledge that everything he thought and felt was written in his.

“So where do we start?” Liz asked.

“We begin by eliminating,” Harry said. “Eliminating where she isn’t.”

“Well, as long as he has the girl they’re unlikely to let him cross any international borders,” Løken said. “Or check in at a hotel.”

Liz agreed. “He’s probably somewhere they can hide for a long time.”

“Is he alone?” Harry asked.

“Klipra isn’t associated with any of the crime families,” Liz said. “The kind of organized crime he’s involved in doesn’t mess around with kidnapping. Finding someone to take care of an opium slave like Jim Love isn’t that hard. But kidnapping a white girl, the daughter of an ambassador … Anyone he tried to hire would have checked it all out before agreeing. They would’ve known the whole police force would be on them if they took the job.”

“So you think he’s alone?”

“Like I said, he isn’t in one of the families. Inside those families there are loyalties and traditions. But Klipra would employ contractors he could never trust a hundred percent. Sooner or later they would discover why he wanted the girl and they might use it against him. The fact that he got rid of Jim Love suggests he will stop at nothing to protect his identity.”

“OK, let’s assume he’s operating solo. Where would he hide her?”

“Loads of places,” Liz said. “His companies must own a lot of properties, and some of those have to be empty.”

Løken coughed loudly, caught his breath again and swallowed.

“I’ve suspected for ages that Klipra has a secret love nest. On occasion he’s taken a couple of boys with him in the car and has stayed over till the following morning. I’ve never managed to track down the place; it’s certainly not registered anywhere. But it’s obvious it must be somewhere he’s left in peace, somewhere not too far from Bangkok.”

“Could we find any of the boys and ask them?” Harry said.

Løken shrugged and looked at Liz.