— Chapter Eight —
The underground storeroom was a converted wine cellar beneath Towhees bungalow. It was a vast, racked area, full of weapons, ammunition and explosives, ranging from Beretta and Colt pistols, to SAM surface to air missiles with launchers. Towhee sat at his small desk and smiled. He had just got off the phone after speaking with Mohammed, and he felt great. All details had been finalised. Dam and Miguel were on their way with the relic to meet Abdul and get his million dollars. Towhee took a mouthful of his imported Bushmills Irish whiskey; he savoured the flavour of the smooth velvety amber fluid as it slipped down his throat.
‘Life is good,’ he thought.
His phone rang and interrupted his euphoria,
‘What does that stupid Arab want now?’ he thought and answered.
His assumption was wrong, it was Kip.
“Hello, Mr. Andrew,”
Kip then went on to make small talk, about his health, his business etc. Towhee let him ramble, because he felt that nothing could upset him today, he stared at his racks and drank his whisky while Kip rambled on, then he stopped suddenly and sat up straight in his chair.
“What?” he asked.
“Yes Mr. Andrew, she only came today, eight years old, needed a bit of a cleanup, but she would squeal good for sure,” said an excited Kip.
Towhee now concentrated on the conversation
“Bring her straight over Kip.” said an excited Towhee.
“Yes Mr. Andrew, straight away,”
Towhee finished his drink and went up a small flight of stairs, through a small door, which led into the living room of his bungalow. ‘Things cannot get any better than today,’ he thought.
Dam and Miguel were due to meet with Sheikh Mohammed Del Alaz’s most trusted aid, Abdul. The meeting was to take place in Pattaya, an area that Towhee knew well from his time living there. Towhee had arranged the meeting for 16th December, when the transaction would take place. Towhee hated Pattaya as he had previously lost a fortune while living there, by having to pay off corrupt police, both for protection of his dubious business dealings, and moreover his sordid personal pleasures. Although it had been many years since he’d lived in Thailand he had vowed never to return.
He had sent Dam and Miguel away that morning, the 13th, he wanted them in Pattaya for the 14th, to give them time to set the meeting point, and give Miguel time to prepare for an extra little task he had assigned him.
Miguel and Dam had left early to make the eight hour drive from Phnom Penh to the border at Poi Pet. They took the Isuzu D-max and drove out of the Cambodian capital. They would get to the border that night and stay at one of the many hotels around the border town. Miguel would then walk across the border first thing the next morning. Dam would go across on the back of a ‘load cart’.
Cambodians are allowed to cross over the border. These were usually the market traders, who sold their wares at Aranyaprathet, the Thailand-side market. The market was quite vast, selling everything cheaply, clothes, ornaments, most things, both legal and illegal, could be bought there. These traders would go across with a small cart, piled high with their wares, many times higher than the cart, many people would push these barrows and some people sat on top to stop the load from falling off. Dam, having no papers, would have to pay one of the traders to let him travel on top of the load cart. If the police or immigration were to stop them, which rarely or never happened, they would just give them two dollars.
Once across the border, Dam and Miguel would meet up in the market area, where a car that Towhee had pre-arranged from one of his old acquaintances would be waiting. They would then travel the four hours from Aranyaprathet to Pattaya, here they would have a two-day wait, giving them plenty of time to prepare.
Towhee sat behind his large teak desk. He had poured himself another glass of Bushmills and waited the arrival of Kip and his night’s entertainment. He played with the safe key hanging around his neck and thought about his new friend Mohammed, who had just made him more wealth, therefore more power. He was satisfied with how he’d managed to con the stupid Sheikh.
Mohammed Del Alaz was rich, obscenely rich, one of the richest men in the world. Not a ruthless or evil man, he had made his money from oil and, like other Sheikhs, enjoyed the trappings of the wealth that his liquid gold had provided. Mohammed lived with his family in Saudi Arabia. He had a large palace and servants to take care of his every whim. He was a collector, and loved to collect artefacts from other religions. Mohammed’s twisted train of thought was that if he possessed some artefact from other gods, or prophets, on his death Allah and the prophet, Mohammed, would welcome him into heaven with open arms as he would hold other religion’s holy artefacts, making his god, Allah, superior to the others.
This strange way of thought had already cost him dearly. He had many significant artefacts from religious history. His prized possession was the ‘Holy Grail’ of Christ. He had paid $2,000,000 for the grail, from his now good friend Professor Julian Grimes. Mohammed had advertised over the Internet for artefacts and although he’d had many replies, only two intrigued him enough to pursue. He had sent his advisors and experts out to check the authenticity of one of the claims and, whether or not it actually existed.
The other he knew about was in existence somewhere, that being the ‘Holy Grail’. Professor Grimes flew out to Saudi and presented the Sheikh with the exact location of this long lost treasure, showing photocopies written in ancient text. The originals, he explained, were not allowed out of their original storage. Grimes laid out his evidence and convinced the Sheikh he could, with a small deposit for tools and bribes, get hold of the grail.
Grimes arrived at the Sheikh’s palace with a stone block, which was x-rayed immediately upon its arrival, were it was revealed that within the block was the Holy Grail. The stone was then carbon dated and revealed its age, as the good professor had stated. Delighted that he possessed the grail, he immediately locked the item away in his private vault, convinced that he now owned the symbol that Christians had searched so long to try and find.
It was of course an elaborate hoax. Professor Julian Grimes also known as, Mr. John Crawford, who claimed he lived in Cambridge, England and was a tutor at Kings University. Crawford did in fact live in Cambridge. He however, did not teach, he was an assistant curator at the university’s museum. He was also a confidence trickster. Grimes photocopied old books and maps and dubiously obtained a chunk from the stump of a column from the ruins of Glastonbury abbey, which he knew was a building block from the late 10th Century.
He then took some of his ‘evidence’ to Saudi and, at Mohammed’s palace convincingly told his story, showing unreadable and some partially damaged papers, and explained that the missing chunks of the originals were the reason everybody had searched in the wrong place. He went on to explain, the ‘Knights Templar’, had found the grail during the 11th century and sealed it into a building block, the same way as the mythical Excalibur was sealed in a rock. The knights then built it into a pillar within Glastonbury Abbey over 900 years ago, and he knew, pointing to the evidence, the location, within the guarded ruins of the abbey, in the South West of England. Mohammed excitedly gave him instructions to obtain the grail.
On his return to England, Grimes asked one of the Cambridge art students to make him a wooden model based on what the student thought the grail might look like. Grimes then employed a stonemason to cut a bung out of his ancient masonry. He then placed the model in the hollow, cemented the model in, cut the removed bung to make a top and sealed it in. The stonemason then scraped a minute hairline crack around the stone, so it looked as if the rock had been split in half to get the grail in and magically sealed.
Grimes then set off a small explosion at the ruins that everyone blamed on a Methane gas build up, and a vagrant being clumsy with his matches. Then he obtained a copy of the article from the local press, which he scanned and e-mailed to Mohammed, who he told to transfer the remainder of the money to pay off his accomplices.
A few weeks later, he arrived at the Sheikh’s palace rock in hand. Grimes appeared terrified and claimed that a radical group of Zionist, who had known about and, had been secret guardians of, the Chalice for millennia, and they now pursued him and had issued death threats. Grimes implored Mohammed never to mention him, or the Grail, The Sheikh bought his tale and not wanting to get his good friend Professor Grimes into any trouble, locked the Grail away and agreed, and gave his word, that he would never divulge anything about the grail, and gave his oath to keep his silence on the Quran and the prophet Mohammed.
Grimes told Mohammed that he also knew the whereabouts of some missing parchments of the *Gnostic gospels. Excited by this, Mohammed commissioned his new and trusted friend to find this artefact. “Spare no expense Julian,” he would say, “money no object.”
Grimes A.K.A. Crawford, explained that they had been buried somewhere in a desert and he was going to head there, straight away, to give his fugitive status time to cool, stating that he may be gone for some time.
Grimes went to the desert. The Nevada desert, and to accurately pinpoint his location, Caesars Palace casino, Las Vegas.
Mohammed, pleased with his acquisition, then turned his attention to his next project. His advisors had taken many months that dragged on into years, collecting proof and documentation to support the fact that indeed, such an artefact did exist. He recalled the most recent piece of his information on his computer, which showed a hooded monk who appeared to be outside an ancient temple holding a small golden box.
Now, after three years, Mohammed dialled the number and a voice at the other end answered in Cambodian.
“Hello, could I speak to Mr. Towhee?”
Towhee reverted to English.
“Towhee speaking,”
Mohammed introduced himself, and told him that he wanted the Buddha’s relics. Towhee, who was a little taken aback, said
“The price is still $1,000,000 dollars.”
“Yes,” said Mohammed “No problem.”
“Ok I will obtain it for you and call you when I have it.” Said the exited Toohey.
Mohammed had obtained an ancient drawing of the box, so requested photographs first. Towhee put down the phone and shouted Dam. The photograph that Mohammed had been given was of Dam, photographed entering *Angkor Wat, an ancient temple City in Cambodia, dressed in monks robes, clutching a phony, home-made relic. Towhee thought it added a bit of mystery and intrigue to the set up, although he realised that Mohammed would have the means to find out more information about the real holy item. He received the call which confirmed Mohammed’s eagerness to buy the artefact three weeks ago, now Towhee was only days away from adding more wealth to his already full pot, care of his friend, who was soon to be ex-friend, Dam.
A tap on the door was Towhees signal that Kip had arrived with his quarry, he went to the door, and a happy Kip was stood outside with a small child, who appeared to be about eight years old. The girl had been sobbing and her dirty tears had left black smudge marks around her cheeks. She wore a dirty faded floral dress; she looked up at the big Irish man as he opened the door. Gripped with fear she started to sob again and was sharply checked by Kip who squeezed her hand.
“Good evening Mr. Andrew, I trust she is okay for you?”
Towhee grabbed the girl and dragged her inside closing the door and instructed Kip to wait on the porch, and told him that he would receive a bonus tonight. Kip went over to a table and sat down, and lit a cigarette. The door opened again, and. Towhee threw a packet of five King Edward cigars and a bottle of Samsong whisky at Kip, which he struggled to catch.
“Thank you, Mr. Andrew,” Kip snivelled
Towhee slammed the door shut, eager to get on with the night’s proceedings.
Towhee dragged the sobbing girl towards his bedroom. She was terrified, but noticed the safe.
“Don’t look bitch,” he snapped in Cambodian and pulled her into the bedroom. Aroused to bursting point he pushed the youngster into the bathroom.
“Shower”, he snapped and the girl ran into the shower room locking the door behind her. Towhee was agitated, he undressed and got onto his bed, thinking of how he intended to push himself into the tight little orifice and thrust when the girl screamed. That was the part that he loved, the popping, and then the screaming .The more he thought, the more agitated he became.
“Hurry up! Hurry up!” he yelled, “Come on, or I’ll break down the fucking door.”
The door slowly opened and the little girl came out.
“Come here, come here now!” growled Towhee.
The terrified child moved slowly over toward Towhee, who leapt up and ripped her dress off, grabbed her arm and dragged her with him onto the bed. The little girl sobbed frantically, which excited Towhee even more. He put his hand between her legs and felt a warm liquid hit his hand. He looked down and saw a stream of urine coming from the frightened young girl.
“Dirty little whore!” yelled Towhee in his broad Irish accent and threw her off the bed. “Clean it up and get back here.”
The girl ran back into the shower room and washed herself, while an angry, but still aroused, Towhee waited impatiently. He switched off the main light and turned on the bedside lamp.
“Come here, Come on!” screamed Towhee.
The door opened and the young girl walked nervously out of the bathroom. She glanced at Towhee and then looked over at the figure now who standing in the shadows at the door. Towhee noticed the girl and looked over in the same direction.
“What the fuck... Kip, get out, you little fucker.” hollered an angry Towhee.
The figure moved forward into the light.
“Who the fuck are you?” Towhee yelled in English and then repeated in Cambodian.
The figure wore the same monks’ robe that Dam had made himself, complete with sword attached to a red sash. Pon, who had changed outside earlier into his Tinju robes, threw Towhee the picture of Dam.
“I am looking for this man, he has something that does not belong to him and I want it returned.” Pon spoke in Cambodian slowly, so Towhee understood.
“He isn’t here, now get out.” Pon looked at the girl and she ran to the monk and desperately held onto him.
“Please help me holy monk,” She pleaded and the monk held her to him. Towhee annoyed by this intrusion into his sordid world, leapt out of his bed and rushed at Pon.
Pon turned around to shield the girl, removed his sword and sliced it across Towhees throat in one smooth rapid movement. Towhee stopped, a shocked expression came over his face. Pon calmly turned his back on Towhee and left the room with the girl. Towhee fell to his knees and slumped forward, his head thumped loudly against the floor, followed a few seconds later by the rest of his torso.
Pon had no remorse about killing as he was trained not to have. Vitchae and Somchay had told the monks, ‘If the time comes, remember we are not the judges of these ‘duties’, that is between them, and their god .We are only commissioned to arrange that appointment.’
Pon had arranged two appointments that night. Towhee was only the second life he had ever taken. The first he now had over his shoulders and carried Kip’s lifeless body, who he had dispatched with his Pitou minutes before, to join Towhees corpse. He laid Kip on top of Towhee and placed Towhees head on the top, like a cherry on a cake.
The little girl picked up Towhees safe key, which had fallen off his neck, due to having no head to hold it in situ. She had opened the safe, her eyes widened as she took out bundles of crisp dollar bills, she explained to Pon, who looked for clues to the whereabouts of Dam, about money. It was only paper to him, but she explained what this paper could do.
She had put back on her ripped dress. Pon turned to the now happy and relieved girl.
“You keep it,” he said.
She split the bundle,
“You take half, you will need it holy monk, besides, and there is enough for me and my family to start a great new life. With this I can go home, my parents will be pleased, and let me stay.” she said. A note of hope now in her voice.
Pon thought and accepted. He knew if money had that kind of power, it would be more useful than his ornaments. He found a photograph in a frame on Towhees desk, which ahowed Dam going into Angkor Wat. Pon stared at the picture then placed it in his rucksack, at least now, he had confirmation and was on the right track, but was disheartened his trail had now gone cold, where would he find Dam and the holy relic? He had failed and although there were many papers on Towhee desk, he could not understand them. He would take them to Taksin’s friend, he thought maybe he could help but he still had one more task to complete. He went back into Towhees bedroom and over to the two bodies.
He opened his jar of sunblaze powder, and poured a thin line over the centre of the bodies. He poured out of another container, a thin liquid that he mixed and spread over the powder, leaving a blob on the bodies that hardened to blue-white clay. He then took out another pot that contained gold dust, and black, blue and white fine filings and sprinkled these in a circle around the bodies, this would, when the sunblaze ignited, react with the heat and direct the force upwards. He removed his simple but effective tinderbox, and went back to Towhees desk to look for some paper to light. As he grabbed a bundle of tissue paper, a loud ringing and vibrating sound came from the top of Towhees desk.
“It’s his mobile phone,” said the girl and handed the phone to Pon. He pressed the receive button, and a voice at the other end, a voice which Pon had not heard for over eight years answered.
“Andrew, it’s Dam, we have arrived at Poi Pet just checking in.”
Pon looked down at the little girl.
“That man who brought you here, what was his name?” he asked as he covered the mouthpiece.
“Kip,” replied the girl and screwed up her face in disgust as Pon said
“Dam it’s Kip, Andrew is in the shower.”
“Oh,” said Dam “you brought him another child have you?”
“Yes,” said Pon
“Are you OK Kip? You don’t sound your usual self.”
“Yes, I am fine,” said Pon. “What’s your message?”
“Tell Andrew, we are now in Poi Pet, and we will check in tomorrow when we get across the border and before we leave for the Dolphin hotel in Pattaya.” Said Dam
“Yes,” said Pon, “I will tell him.”
The phone clicked off and Pon stared at the phone. “Soon my friend, very soon,” he said as he placed the phone in his bag, switch it off and asked the girl if she knew where Pattaya was?
She didn’t, but he thought ‘Now I have another phone, I will call Taksin maybe he knows where Pattaya is.
Pon felt relieved and thanked Buddha for his continued help by saying a prayer; he then blessed Towhee and Kip’s bodies and, along with the young girl he walked outside. Pon lit some tissue and tossed it through the open window into Towhees bedroom. There was an instant whoosh! With a blinding white light and intense heat, and then, darkness, all that remained was a fine gold line around where two dead bodies were laid only moments ago, although there was now a large hole in the roof of the late Andrew Towhee’s bungalow. Pon and the little girl walked away into the hot dark night and caught a passing tuk-tuk.
* Gnostic gospels are alleged documents written by Disciples of Christ, containing the actual words of Christ. It is rumoured they also claim that Mary Magdalene was married to, and had a child by Jesus and, that a holy bloodline exists.
*Angkor Wat Stretching over some 400 square kilometres, including forested area, Angkor Archaeological Park contains the magnificent remains of several capitals of the Khmer Empire of the 9th to the 15th centuries, including the largest pre-industrial city in the world. The most famous are the Temple of Angkor Wat and, at Angkor Thom, the Bayon Temple with its countless sculptural decorations.
Angkor Archaeological Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992. At the same time, it was also placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to looting, a declining water table, and unsustainable tourism. UNESCO has now set up a wide-ranging programme to safeguard this symbolic site and its surroundings.
Angkor itself has no accommodations and few facilities; the nearby town of Siem Reap, just 6 km. south, is the tourist hub for the area.