BEFORE THE KILL

Cavalier watched Azelaporn leave. He knew the police chief had made a huge financial killing on the night: first, with his share of the gate and TV rights; second, from the money he had put on Jacinta to win. He looked happy enough. Cavalier shook hands with Dr Na, who could not wait to grab his winnings. They said farewell, with Cavalier promising to call him on his next visit to Thailand.

He reached an exit in time to see Mendez and his guard waiting for the arrival of two stretch limousines and four Humvees. Not wanting to be noticed, Cavalier eased through the exiting crowd back into the stadium and then moved off towards Jacinta’s dressing-room. Guards blocked him. He scribbled a note for her on a piece of paper and gave it to one of them, along with a five-hundred-baht note for him.

Five minutes later, the guard escorted him into the locker room. Cavalier walked straight into the two African women, who were naked and drying off after showering. They didn’t bat an eyelid and directed him into another room, where Jacinta, in only shorts, was slumped on a chair, crying. He breasts had multiple bruises. Cavalier didn’t know whether to stay or go. When Jacinta saw him, she made an obvious effort to compose herself and beckoned him in.

He popped the cork of a bottle of champagne sitting on a bench and poured out two glasses. ‘You’ve just done an incredible thing,’ he said, putting the glass in front of her and pulling up a chair. ‘I’ve never seen anything like that in my life, and I’ve watched sport of all kinds.’

Jacinta looked up, and managed a smile through her running mascara and smeared lipstick. ‘What happened to your beautiful salt and pepper hair?’ she asked as she wiped her nose with a tissue.

‘I like it shorter in this heat.’

Jacinta looked at the glass of champagne and then sipped from it.

‘You must come a long way down from such a mighty effort,’ he said. ‘Your adrenalin’s pumping still. It’ll take hours to climb back from such a dizzy height.’

‘Do you know what that’s like?’ she asked, her voice steadier.

He was reflective for a moment. ‘I have an idea,’ he said with the hint of a smile.

‘You’ve been in big sports events?’

‘Not really,’ he said, clinking glasses. ‘You should be celebrating! You’ve beaten the unbeatable!’

‘I’ve paid a price.’ He waited for clarification. She drank more champagne before saying, ‘I’ve lost my power.’ Her eyes welled up.

‘I don’t think so!’

‘You don’t understand. I am lowering my testosterone and increasing my oestrogen. I was very lucky that I could finish it early. Another round . . .’ she stopped and wiped her eyes, ‘and I would have been slaughtered!’

‘It didn’t look like it,’ he said, a solicitous hand on her shoulder.

‘He really hurt me in that last round.’

‘I saw what he was doing . . .’

‘They’re my weak spot,’ she said, wincing as she touched her breasts tenderly. ‘I love them! I hate them being abused like that!’

Cavalier put his arm around her as she cried. ‘They’ll be okay,’ he said. ‘And you can bet the Russian is a lot more hurt and upset than you are. He may never recover or fight again. You will.’

‘That was my last fight,’ she sniffled. ‘In another year, I’ll be beaten up by someone like him. Maybe worse.’ She continued: ‘He kept telling me he was going to crush my windpipe. I’ve heard that sort of threat before. But the look in his eyes was something I’d never seen.’

‘He has crushed windpipes.’

‘I was aware. I was more frightened than ever before.’

‘Why don’t you recover from this and then make a decision on your future later? Are you taking a few days off?’

‘Huh!’ she grunted. ‘Azelaporn has given me a day. I must report to him on Thursday.’

‘To protect Gaez?’

‘Hmmm,’ she muttered as she poured herself more champagne. ‘Do you think I should retire?’

He took a breath and reflected. ‘It’s often good to quit when you have a little bit left,’ he said, ‘but when you’ve rested and thought about what happened, you’ll have an answer.’

Jacinta touched his hand affectionately. ‘If it wasn’t for your advice—’

‘Uh-uh!’ he said, cutting her off. ‘You were in that ring, I wasn’t.’

‘But your capacity to spot my opponent’s weaknesses gave me the focus I needed.’

‘I’m happy to have helped,’ he said, kissing her on the cheek, ‘but I still owe you.’

Jacinta smiled. ‘You must take care,’ she said, squeezing his hand. ‘It’s a crazy, unpredictable time. My boss . . .’

‘What?’

‘I think his newfound position of power may have gone to his head,’ she continued. ‘He is making some dangerous deals, just when the junta generals are saying they will clean up police corruption.’

‘They gave him the top job . . .’

‘Sure, but they could easily take it away from him, if he overdoes it.’

‘Wouldn’t that be a good thing?’

‘Yes, but I am in his team. I’d lose my job too.’

When Cavalier couldn’t find a taxi outside the stadium, he decided to walk and test his strained Achilles. He could feel the injury, but the pain was mild and only impeded his normal stride a fraction. He reached Sukhumvit, where the traffic was stationary. Shocked, he realised he was close to the Mexican convoy, locked in the sea of cars. He had walked three and a half kilometres at the same speed as the convoy had crawled along the road. The gridlock eased a bit but he still reached Nana only thirty metres behind the convoy, which swung right towards the plaza of sex bars. As he strode towards Soi 10, he could see Mendez and his men alighting at the entrance He stopped at a pharmacy next to the Majestic Suites.

‘I haven’t been sleeping too well,’ he told the chemist in Thai. ‘Could you give me something that will help me rest through the night?’

The pharmacist sold him sleeping tablets, telling him that two would ensure six or seven hours straight.

‘And what would three do?’

‘It wouldn’t do any damage but you would be a little dopey the next day.’

Cavalier walked out of the pharmacy and stopped in front of the Majestic Suites. Several protester groups were milling on street corners. He looked across Sukhumvit to where police were strolling in a single line through the crowds of tourists at the hundreds of stalls. He glanced up and could see about fifty soldiers lined up on a footbridge. There was a disturbance close to him. Some people were objecting to the protesters blocking their path. Punches were thrown. Cavalier stepped into the hotel just as the front window started to shake from people pushing against it.

The altercation was soon over and the Thai maître d’ asked Cavalier if he wanted to dine.

‘I was just avoiding that fracas,’ he said as he picked up a menu. ‘But I was looking for a place to eat tomorrow night.’ He ran his finger down the wine list. ‘Ah! You stock Margaret River!’ He looked at the menu. ‘Hmmm. I like this.’

‘Would you like to book, sir?’

‘Why not?’

Cavalier walked past the Nana Skytrain station, which was above Sukhumvit. Ominously, another two hundred or so soldiers, all armed, were standing watching in the direction of the milling protesters. It seemed that Gaez’s supporters were about to break the truce that was set to be over in two more days. He stepped up his pace along Sukhumvit. The park next to Soi 10, Chuvit Garden, was open but only to soldiers, of which there were at least a hundred more.

He reached Galleria 10, where he found Waew Ing waiting for him in the lobby. She was wearing a tracksuit and running shoes. She shook his hand warmly and inquired about his Achilles, which, he told her, had improved faster than he’d ever known it to. She beamed a thank you as they took the lift to his sixth-floor room. At her request, he stripped naked.

‘I do not wish to fight your underpants when attending to your glutes,’ she said matter-of-factly. He smiled.

An hour later, when Waew was leaving, rioting in the nearby streets had become dangerous. She was forced to wait in the lobby before hotel security informed her she couldn’t leave.

‘But my two cats!’ she protested.

‘Have they enough food and water?’ Cavalier asked.

‘Yes.’

‘They’ll be okay.’

‘But they will fret!’

‘You can leave here when the curfew’s lifted, at 5 a.m.’

Waew sent a text to her neighbour, asking her to check on her cats, and accompanied Cavalier to his room for the night.

‘My bed can be split in two,’ he said.

‘Thank you,’ she said, stroking his arm. ‘Khun Rafferty was right. You are a gentleman.’

Sporadic fighting continued until about 2 a.m. Three hours later, Waew showered and dressed, and went on her way to find a motorbike ride to her home in the city’s west. She had agreed to give Cavalier his massage later that night, protests permitting.

Over breakfast at Viva, he received a text from Gregory: ‘Polly has a theory. She thinks your new best friend “J” may be Labasta’s executioner.’

‘Motive?’ Cavalier texted back.

‘Polly thought you might have found that out.’

‘“J” has just had the toughest fight you could imagine.’

‘You disagree with Polly?’

‘It’s down to opportunity. She’s avoided being assigned to protect “M”. She won’t be near him.’

‘If she was off duty, she could stalk him.’

‘I appreciate Polly’s analysis too, but she’s wide of the mark on this one.’

Later that morning, Cavalier discovered on the internet that last night’s protest had been isolated to Asok and a few streets west to Soi 8. Gaez claimed that he had not arranged it and apologised to the public, although pointedly not to the junta, for the breaking of the truce by some of his ‘eager lieutenants’. The junta generals were critical of his incapacity to marshal and control his supporters. They had warned that they would take firm action against any soldiers who proclaimed their support for him. Gaez had countered by saying that there were ‘too many men under arms’ who backed him. Civil war would result if the junta ‘tried anything’.

This was the first time civil war had been mentioned in public. All news websites picked up on it and the papers editorialised. The Bangkok Post had a banner headline: ‘Gaez Threatens Civil War’. But a small single-column story was headed more sedately: ‘Junta Leaves Truce in Place’.

Midmorning, Cavalier phoned Jacinta, to ask if she was okay.

She replied, ‘Very, very sore, thank you.’

‘Better take it easy today.’

‘Oh, I intend to! I’m not fit for anything else. And would you believe it? My chief has given me the night off tonight! Actually said I’d earned it! Honestly, I can never work him out. He even tried to sound sympathetic. I guess he is extra pleased with his money killing on me.’

‘What will you do? Celebrate?’

I’ll have a two-hour massage to begin with. I’m meeting my friend Siriporn tonight. We’ll have a little cry together. She saw the fight last night on TV and thought I was going to die . . . And you? What are your plans?’

‘Cricket practice this afternoon and then I’ll meet the players for dinner tonight, protests notwithstanding.’ He paused. ‘But I’m sure you’ll get a report on me in the morning from the tail.’

‘I told you there will be no tail on you, and I meant it.’

After the call, Cavalier thought he believed her. She had hinted before that he was not important enough to be tagged. Now, after her success in the fight, which she felt had a lot to do with his intelligence on the Russian, she was categorical: no one would be keeping tabs on him.

He had no intention of going to cricket practice, but instead spent several hours on the internet, answering emails and updating his diary. At 5 p.m. he rang Waew.

‘Would you like to come to dinner tonight, before you do the massage?’ he asked.

‘I don’t finish work until 9 p.m., and eating that late is not for me.’

‘Okay; why don’t you join me, have a drink and watch me eat?’