JACINTA’S APPRECIATION
Jacinta walked Cavalier back to his cabin after the meal.
‘Are you going to invite me in?’ she asked.
‘If you like; a nightcap perhaps?’
Jacinta locked the door and approached him. Cavalier was surprised at her seductive manner. He was concerned not to antagonise or upset her in any way, given that she was the one person in Asia who could expose his double ‘game’. In effect, she held a life or death power over him, if she wished to exercise it. It made him wary and keen to avoid intimacy. So far, Jacinta had repeated her approach to the Mendez assignment by remaining a passive supporter, who had let Cavalier use his ingenuity and experience in challenging situations.
‘This is where I must find out what you are doing,’ she said, ‘who you really are.’
Cavalier undid his bow tie and the top button of his shirt.
‘Hmm,’ she said nodding to his chest hair, ‘reminds me of an Australian with a similar chest full of hair.’
‘Yeah, well I used to wear a gold Buddha chain around my neck to show me where I should stop shaving.’
Jacinta half-smiled. ‘You’re not that bad. Your chest is hardly a mohair sweater. I only saw this Australian naked once, or nearly so—in the dark at a hotel pool in Bangkok,’ she pulled at his shirt and exposed his scars from bullets. ‘And I never saw evidence of his past—like these.’ She ran her hand over the scars.
Cavalier removed his jacket. He fixed them both a double malt whisky and ice. He saluted her as they sat on the plush sofa.
‘This is what’s called a “steadier”,’ he said, his expression more serious.
They sat in silence, listening to the train’s beat before Jacinta remarked: ‘This is where I am under orders to find out about you.’
‘A gentle, seductive grilling, perhaps?’
‘I know this expression. I think it is better to say a “slow pan fried”.’
‘There is not much of interest really. Just a simple French peasant family from outside Montpelier.’
‘No French Foreign Legion?’
‘You know about the Legion?’
‘You were in it, Monsieur Claude?’
‘I wish I had been, for a short time at least.’
‘Why?’
‘The experience.’
‘You like to work alone, no?’
‘I prefer it. I’ve known a few members of the Legion. They were spirited, devil-may-care.’
‘Doing France’s dirty work in North Africa?’
‘That is the downside,’ he said, ‘the reason I never bothered, although I was invited to join, twice. Similar to the CIA, the Legion wouldn’t give me clues as to what I’d be doing. I rejected their offer.’
‘When did the CIA want you?’
‘When I was a journalist in Melbourne. I was twenty-four. That was the first time. One of their reps in Australia had heard about my capacities other than in journalism. Without specifics for the job, I couldn’t judge what would be expected of me. Money was enticing, though—three times my newspaper salary. The downside was that I would not have my job in journalism. I needed more experience in the writing business.’
‘Did you ever find out what they wanted you for?’
‘I did, actually. It brought me to Chiang Mai for the first time.’
‘For what?’
‘Did you ever hear of the Handy Nugget Bank?’
‘Not really.’ Jacinta frowned. ‘Although the name is familiar. I think Azelaporn may have had a link to it, a long time ago.’
Cavalier looked out the window again.
‘So what about this bank?’ she asked.
‘I’ve said enough.’
‘You see,’ Jacinta smiled mysteriously, ‘I have learnt something I did not know about you.’
‘True,’ he said. He reached and pulled a curtain across to reveal a blur of jungle in the darkness. ‘Is the train speeding up?’
‘Maybe,’ she said, reaching in her handbag for her phone and checking the time, ‘it’s not yet eleven p.m. Can’t be in the territory yet.’
‘What territory?’
‘Extremists’. The train doubles its speed and more through the south of Thailand.’
‘Why? Fearing an attack?’
‘The Express takes no chances. It would be hard to stop it at top speed.’
They sat in silence for a few moments.
‘I don’t know how you plan to do it,’ she whispered.
‘Do what?’
‘Please, Victor, don’t play games.’
Cavalier did not answer. He sipped his drink and looked out the window.
‘You know that there is a guard outside your door all the time?’ she said.
‘It’s a problem, I admit,’ he said.
‘Do you have help on board?’
He stared out the window without answering.
‘You’re not thinking of—’
‘There are footholds and handgrips on all the carriages.’
‘You’ll be spotted and shot!’
Cavalier pointed to the roof.
‘You are not going on top!’ she protested, ‘if we go under a bridge …’
‘There are two tunnels between here and our destination. Neither would cause a person to be struck if he was prone on the roof.’
Jacinta looked concerned. ‘You’ve done your homework. But someone is going to recognise you,’ she said. ‘You really should escape. The Americans will deal with Cortez.’
‘Maybe they won’t. In any case, it’s my daughter I want to save. That’s the main priority.’
‘It’s all too dangerous,’ she hissed. ‘Azelaporn is suspicious. Remember, he saw the real you in Bangkok at the Satan’s Cave bar.’
‘And he came to a cricket match in Chiang Mai last year. I was playing and he wanted to interrogate me.’
‘Something will click in his mind. Especially if he does some recognition work. He did that last year when you escaped Thailand. He was smart enough to compare photos of you, and the Swede you impersonated. If he does that again, he will know it’s you.’
‘I’ll take the chance.’
‘Your disguise is good,’ Jacinta persisted. ‘However, if someone focuses on comparisons with real photos of you, they will make the link.’
‘I am an illusion. I can only hope it lasts another day.’
‘You love the charade, don’t you?’ she said. ‘That performance you gave in Melbourne when we first met when you impersonated your cricket coach at an old school dinner; your taking off of a Frenchman to evade police in Chiang Mai; a Swede to carry out the liquidation of Mendez; an Englishman to escape Thailand last year; and now this, a Frenchman again. Any more characters you want to perform as?’
‘Michael Caine would be cool,’ he said with a slight smile as he sat up. ‘People have often said I have his eyes.’
‘Never heard of him.’
‘He played the butler in a Batman movie.’
‘Still never heard of him.’
‘Do you know Mr Bean?’
‘Yes. Everyone in Thailand knows and loves him,’ she paused and scrutinised him. ‘You look nothing like him.’
‘Maybe not, but I know an English guy in Chiang Mai who is the spitting image of the Rowan Atkinson character. Every time he goes to the market, Thais point and tell him he looks like him. He becomes very angry, just like Mr Bean, and goes home to complain to his Thai partner.’
‘You seem relaxed, for someone planning to …’
‘I can assure it’s a cover for nerves. I’m always on edge at these moments, although I am clear on what I must do.’
‘Don’t you fear death?’
‘I try not to think about it. This is not a suicide mission.’
She looked concerned.
‘I do know I don’t want to be there when it happens,’ he said flippantly.
‘So you are scared. You can back out now. You can achieve so much more alive.’
‘We all die,’ he said, his expression more serious, ‘but only what we die for counts.’
‘Please, you should leave the train.’
‘There are no scheduled stops between here and Singapore.’
‘I can arrange it. Just go, please …’
‘I can’t leave Pon now.’
‘If you manage to achieve your mission, have you an exit plan?’
‘No. It depends …’ He felt he had said too much. He stood up. ‘I need to rest.’
Jacinta walked to the door and unlocked it.
‘If you need any assistance …’
‘I don’t want you implicated,’ he said touching her shoulder. ‘If you know nothing, you can’t be accused of being an accomplice.’