— Chapter Twelve —
Towhee had planned the meeting well. Always suspicious, he had left no room for error .The meeting place was chosen Pattaya as he still knew corrupt policemen there. Even though he had left under a shadow, he knew forgiveness would come in the form of Baht notes. Therefore knew this was the place for any transactions. It was the easiest place to get away with anything, from stealing a national treasure, or even murder, at the right price. He had made his two henchmen drive across the border, as there were no searches at the borders and no detectors, unlike airports, which made it ideal for Miguel and his small ‘package’. He had chosen the hotel of one of his old acquaintances, ‘The Dolphin,’ for the meeting. Towhee knew that his friend paid the police to ignore the goings-on there. It was a favourite venue for many underhanded activities, mainly the street walking prostitutes. These girls could not work in the bars, as they had the reputation for stealing, or abusing customers and therefore blacklisted, had to walk the streets for customers.
Mohammed wanted a neutral place to meet, and this, Towhee had told him, was ideal. Towhee had planned for every contingency, except his premature death.
Dam and Miguel had become concerned. They had tried to call Towhee for two days, and his phone was now switched off. ‘Very unlike Andrew, something must have happened,’ they both thought. They considered postponing, but they knew that Abdul was arriving on the 16th; they did not want to risk incurring Towhees wrath if his deal didn’t go through, and so they went ahead with the schedule. Miguel had booked one return flight to Cambodia for the 17th. He decided to change the venue for transfer of funds into to his bank account in Gibraltar, just in case something had happened to Towhee.
Everything was set. The inspection of the relic and transfer of funds would take place in their second floor room at the Dolphin. Miguel’s’ extra task was already set up and planned. The murder and disposal, of this now surplus to requirements Thai, Dam. They booked Abdul in at the Marriott Hotel and arranged a safety box for the relic. Abdul was to stay there one night, and fly back the next day to Saudi, with the holy box hidden in the base of a metal statue of the prophet Mohammed holding a copy of the Quran. The relic would be wrapped in a thin lead sheet that would appear hollow on x–ray. Dam and Miguel had the statue made on their arrival.
They had returned the hire car that Towhee had arranged for them at the border, and hired an inconspicuous Toyota Vios to pick Abdul up from Bangkok International Airport. They gave false names to the uncaring Thai rental company.
They collected Abdul, a small chubby Arab from the airport at 17:30. He carried with him a large suitcase, ‘much too large for a one-night stay,’ thought Dam.
They headed to Pattaya. Miguel and Abdul made small talk about Towhee and Mohammed, about how long each had worked for their respective employ. Dam drove, as he could not understand English, so therefore could not join in. They arrived at the Marriott Hotel and Abdul went to freshen up, while Dam and Miguel waited in the reception, which they thought to be a pleasant change from the seedy Dolphin.
The three then went to the Dolphin Hotel and up to the second floor, room 205. They sat down at a small table. The hotel had a musty, urine odour and the rooms were dank. Dam pulled open a large window to let some of the smells from the street filter in. Abdul, who was used to the high lifestyle his position granted him, looked uncomfortable. He opened his suitcase and removed a Toshiba A8-P440 laptop and webcam then plugged in an antenna, and made an internet connection. Dam removed the metal statue from a rucksack and unscrewed the base. The small jewel encrusted box was removed from its lead blanket and placed in front of Abdul. Dam started to get an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. Abdul did not appear as if he was from a museum, he wore large gold bracelets, rings, and a genuine Rolex gold watch. Dam felt something was definitely not right. Miguel glanced at his watch, and patted the small bulge by his rib cage. Walther PPK handgun with silencer, his favourite gun.
A smiling face appeared on the computer screen, as Abdul removed more items from his suitcase.
“Hello,” said Mohammed
He and Abdul then had a conversation in Arabic, and then reverted to English to speak with Miguel about Towhee.
“No problems,” said Miguel “Andrew had to go away on business; he has another artefact to look at in the jungle and wouldn’t be able to get a signal on his phone.”
“OK,” said the voice on the screen, “send him my regards.”
“I will get him to phone you on his return,” said the relieved Miguel, glad that the Arab had bought his story.
Abdul removed two enlarged A4 size photographs from his briefcase and studied them against the box. The photographs were of ancient pastel drawings, one depicting a young smiling King Bumnalonkorn, sitting in the lotus position, with the holy relic placed in his spread out hands and surrounded by fierce looking devil headed warriors, with armoured elephants in the background
The other photograph had been an enlarged segment of the first that showed only the box. Abdul compared this against the box, grunted and started to operate the machines and scraping small shavings off the box, which he placed on various pads and sensors.
“This will only take a moment,” he said.
Lights flashed, and noises emanated from the machines for several minutes and, when the device had completed its diagnostics, Abdul turned to the computer screen and announced to the smiling face of Mohammed.
“I will have to carry out a *Carbon 14 test on the contents in Saudi under better conditions, to be 100% certain. But with the age of the box’s metal, I am confident that it’s genuine.
Mohammed beamed and said
“Excellent! Let’s get on with the transfer.”
Dam had been staring at the pictures of the holy relic that Abdul had left lying on the table, ‘they were the first Tinju,’ he thought and a twinge of remorse cursed through his body.
Mohammed appeared to be focused on something off screen for several moments and then spoke to waiting three.
“Transfer complete,” he said.
Abdul passed the computer over to Miguel, who spent a few seconds typing in his bank account details. He pressed a key and let out a sigh of relief.
“$1,000,000, I’m a rich little Spaniard, thanks to these stupid Arabs,” he spoke aloud in Cambodian, so the two Arabs wouldn’t understand, but Dam understood.
Dam shouted at Miguel in Cambodian.
“No! I won’t let you double-cross Andrew,”
Miguel shouted at Dam to shut his mouth, or he would not see Andrew again. A heated exchange then took place between the two. Abdul nervously reached into his pocket for a handkerchief. Dam presumed Abdul had been going for a gun, and swiftly reached into his jacket, unsheathed his ‘Glave’, and in one smooth, flowing movement removed the top of Abduls skull. He then grabbed the holy box, as Miguel fired his PPK at him. The bullet entered Dams left shoulder and he launched the Glave at Miguel, which missed and stuck firmly into the wall behind the now determined Spaniard. Miguel aimed again. Dam, seeing only one way to escape, leapt out of the open window.
“Merde! Shit!” Shouted Miguel, as Mohammed’s face on the computer screen, screeched and wailed in English and Arabic.
*Radiocarbon dating, or carbon dating 14 is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 (14C) to determine the age of carbonaceous materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" (BP), "Present" being defined as AD 1950. Such raw ages can be calibrated to give calendar dates.