Here is one scene from the
'mercenary' novel. Please feel free to add your insights into
making it a better piece - e.g. fleshing out the characters more
- that sort of thing. Thanks.
Vince followed Prik Dum’s directions to the impounded Fortuner.
Allegedly, it was lightly guarded, pending transfer to a more
secure site. As far as the Lieutenant was aware, the equipment
was untouched. But anything could happen in
Thailand.
“If we’re disturbed I’ll activate
plan B,” said Vince.
“What’s plan B?” asked
Jerry.
“Plan B is Bollocks. Run like bloody hell,”
replied Vince, his humour restored.
Jerry laughed. It eased the tension
they both felt. They had parked the Toyota Hi-Lux in a side Soi
and were walking casually around a small compound, with brick
walls topped with razor barbed wire. Security lights were dotted
around, although not all were working. From their viewpoint they
could make out a guard who was sat inside one small gatehouse.
The heavy-duty steel gates were padlocked. Vince moved close, and
peered through the gatehouse window. The guard was reading a
newspaper, engrossed in the sport pages. Smoke filtered from a
cigarette, and lazily climbed upwards.
Vince turned back. “No choice. No
way are we going over that wall, and then lugging equipment back
over. We need a diversion to bring the guard outside. Any
ideas?”
“Plenty,” said Jerry. “Money and
Women.” He laughed again.
Vince raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you
hit on it,” he replied. He outlined a plan.
The bar girl called Lego was
interested. 5,000 baht made it interesting. “No problem,” she
said, spitting out what looked like a grasshopper leg into an
empty ashtray. “Thai man like white lady from Isaan. Finish snack
already, we go, ok?”
“Let’s hope the guard is not gay,
it would be just my luck,” said Jerry to Vince.
“Well there are plenty of them
about as well,” replied Vince as he looked round the bar,
“although if that’s the case, you can do the chatting
up.”
“I’ll go and get the Toyota, while
you accompany Lego,” said Vince.
It was Monday. The plan worked
well.
As Jerry remarked later, Lego gave
an Oscar winning performance of a woman desperate for a man; any
man, even an on-duty guard. Vince said yeah sure, but Jerry told
him she was real hot and horny, maybe it had something to do with
eating grasshoppers.
Well it didn’t quite go like that.
The guard did look up from his newspaper at Lego, but the sports
page was more interesting, and he resumed reading. Lego put on
her sexiest smile and rapped again at the glass window. The guard
looked up and waved her away. Lego unbuttoned her top to display
her assets, and rapped once more. The guard looked up longer this
time, and then waved her away. Lego pulled a glass jar half full
of wriggling insects from her handbag; rapped harder on the
window, and showed it to the guard. Success; the guard stood up
and unlocked the door. As he opened it, Jerry hit him hard; over
and out. Then he turned round, gave Lego 5,000 baht for another
supply of grasshoppers, and told her to button up her top, and
leg-it.
With the guard trussed and gagged,
Jerry looked around. There was a monitoring radio. He turned it
off. Keys were hanging loose in an unlocked key box. He found
what looked like padlock keys and, closing the guardhouse door,
went over to the front gates to open them. Vince drove in and
Jerry closed the gates behind him.
“I reckon we’ve got about thirty
minutes or so,” said Jerry. “There is a monitoring system, but I
turned off the radio, and maybe they’ll think the guard’s asleep.
Which he is.”
They found the Fortuner easily
enough, but the equipment was missing.
