Albert Decides to Turn his Coat Inside Out
Chapter 32
Albert Wu wasn’t a stupid man despite his lack of a formal education. To the contrary, he was a shrewd operator when it came to most things in life. However, he had an important decision to make and he wasn’t sure what to do. He was stumped for an answer.
He’d agreed to cooperate with the authorities to bring Kris Amar to Thailand to be arrested for some youthful indiscretions while in India. That much was clear. The two million dollar reward on Amar was considered big bucks in most parts of the world and he wanted to collect, even though Kris was his partner and sometimes friend.
He was aware that if Kris was killed, he’d be out of the drug business. If Kris was arrested, he’d still be out of the drug business by signing the cooperation agreement. What to do? What were his options, if any? Why the hell did he get involved in this dirty business to begin with? Then he remembered; money and more money than he ever dreamed of. How could he make a decent living, one that would provide an income of at least a half mil a year without tax or being taxing?
So he sat down at his computer and drafted an e-mail to Kris. There was no need to talk around the problem or weasel-word it now. He’d run it by Dick Avery for his approval before it was sent. That was the deal and Albert believed in honoring deals, especially those in his favor. So he wrote a short note:
“I was busted by the cops and agents of Dick Avery on my drug run to Bangkok. I had no choice but to cooperate with the authorities to save my skin. As you’re aware, Thailand has a death penalty for drug trafficking and I was worried about drawing a grumpy judge. I’m in a bind, as you can clearly tell and can’t shake free. I also know you have a large reward on your head and I plan to collect it, if I can. My end of the operation is burned beyond repair as you can already surmise. That much should be obvious. The authorities only allowed it to continue in order to get you to cross the river. They have watchers at the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge looking to spot you as you enter the country. Sorry, I really had no other alternative except to turn on you. After all, it’s just a matter of business as you can well appreciate. P.S.—I’ve been cooking the books for the past couple of years and consistently shorted your share of the money, nothing personal. I’ll give you the recipe if we ever meet again. –Al”
***
“I really like it, especially the part about cooking the books. The taunt will drive him crazy. By the way, is it true? I don’t care one way or another, just curious,” Dick mentioned to Albert.
“Of course it’s not true. I wouldn’t do that to a partner,” Albert blithely lied through his crooked teeth.
“No matter, send it, but take out the part about the watchers at the bridge. There’s no need for him to know that bit of extraneous information.”
“Well Albert, we each now have large bullseye painted on our backsides. We need to be especially cautious from here on out and practice operational security measures for our protection. I’ll assign Angie to watch your back and use Chi for mine. Oh, by the way, don’t get too frisky with Angie unless you want to get a close shave,” Dick chuckled as he left the mortuary.
Albert didn’t get the joke since he had trouble understanding Americanisms or Americans for that matter. By and large, he found them to be insufferable, inscrutable people.
There was one bright spot that lifted Albert’s dour mood: the death of Ron Johnston whose gory photo had appeared on the front pages of the local newspapers. By the looks of it, Johnston didn’t go lightly into that good night. That pleased Albert to no end, remembering the torture session he endured at Ron’s hands. He could never forgive Kris Amar for that episode of needless pain. It was unnecessarily brutal. A simple reminder to pay more attention to business would have sufficed, he truly believed. It appeared by all accounts Ron’s murder was swift and painless. That was the only regret Albert harbored about his death: the fucking bastard never suffered like he did!
So far, he’d been unable to discover a chink in Dick Avery’s armor. Something he could exploit to his advantage. Avery seemed to have his act together, apparently making great strides in his investigation, at least by his own account. Perhaps, just perhaps, Albert might be the very chink to bring him to his knees by what he’d just done.