CHAPTER 27
Ritchie, with time to spare while he waited for his next meeting with Medinski and the others at the Peacock, spent the morning at the Sabaidee and then went out for lunch. When Mark Dobson phoned him, he was in a 7-Eleven eating microwaved dim sum, a packet of seaweed and prawn flavoured crisps. He was bored and wanted to talk.
“I forgot to mention the boredom aspect of the job during your training,” Mark said. “Make the most of it. Tonight, it might be the complete opposite and you’ll need all your wits about you. Now delete this call.”
In Bangkok, Ho Chiang arrived sweating and pulling a simple cabin bag on wheels. He looked around the arrival’s hall, checked his watch and made for the taxi rank. Sannan followed him out and took an earlier green and yellow taxi, telling the driver to drive away but then stop and wait. He then turned in his seat to watch Ho climb into a two-tone pink taxi. They followed it down the expressway, through heavy, slow-going traffic and along Sukhumvit Road where it eventually turned into a side street and stopped outside what looked like a hotel.
“Drive past and stop around the corner,” Sannan told the taxi driver. He paid, got out and walked back. This was not an area of Bangkok he knew and what he’d thought was a small hotel was a modern block of apartments for short term rent called Hi-Life Two. He walked past the glass entrance and heard the door lock click shut. Inside, it was like a smart hotel lobby with a screened-off area instead of a reception desk. Ho was waiting for the lift. The lift arrived, he got in, the door closed and Sannan saw the lights stop on the second floor. Then he phoned Mark Dobson.
“He’s on Sukhumvit Soi 81,” Sannan said. “Second floor of a private apartment block. What now?”
“Just watch it for a while,” Mark replied.