Chapters (48)
- COVER PAGE
- TITLE PAGE
- EPIGRAPH
- PRAISE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- MAP
- PROLOGUE
- CHAPTER ONE
- CHAPTER TWO
- CHAPTER THREE
- CHAPTER FOUR
- CHAPTER FIVE
- CHAPTER SIX
- CHAPTER SEVEN
- CHAPTER EIGHT
- CHAPTER NINE
- CHAPTER TEN
- CHAPTER ELEVEN
- CHAPTER TWELVE
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN
- CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- CHAPTER FIFTEEN
- CHAPTER SIXTEEN
- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
- CHAPTER NINETEEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY
- CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
- CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
- CHAPTER THIRTY
- CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
- CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- COPYRIGHT PAGE
- What’s next onyour reading list?
Van held back, walking behind them as they reached the street, oblivious to the danger of their mission, caught up in the romance of the roadside stalls and playful antics that surrounded them. Muir nudged him, speaking quietly. “Didn’t you say he was a friend?”
“This is Bangkok, Professor. If it’s not nailed down you can steal it, and if she’s not in the rack with you she’s fair game.”
“How was Marino?”
“Scary. Very scary.”
Condley held on tightly to the manila envelope as they walked silently down dark streets looking for a cab, suddenly worried that he might lose it, or that someone might burst from the shadows and steal it. But he had already memorized the name Marino had so nervously written on the back of one photograph.
Andrew Brandywine.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
On the darkened street outside the Vietnamese Embassy, Manh flagged down a tuk tuk, a small three-wheeled motor-driven rickshaw, then expertly negotiated a fare of forty baht for the driver to take them to Patpong. Dzung was an ungainly afterthought to Manh’s commanding presence, standing awkwardly next to him on the curb as they searched for a tuk tuk and then sitting stiffly in its cab as the driver motored them madly along the crowded streets.
The late-night air was damp and gamy, like someone else’s breath. Dzung found the rush of traffic intimidating, even after the crowded roads of Sai Gon. Everything in Bangkok was bigger and faster. The streets were filled with tuk tuks, cars, buses, and trucks instead of the cyclos, bicycles, motorbikes, and the less frequent cars of Sai Gon. He stared out at the massiveness of Bangkok through Rip Van Winkle eyes, unable to fully comprehend the fullness and sophistication that surrounded him.
The very size and unfamiliarity of Bangkok made Dzung for the first time deeply afraid of what Manh was going to ask him to do, not in the sense of whether it was right but of whether he could carry out his task at all. Seeing Condley on the plane had chilled him. He was shocked to look up into the eyes of his American friend and amazed when Condley did not recognize him. But mostly he was stunned at himself. His first reaction had not been a fear for Condley’s safety but rather an overwhelming relief that he and Manh had not been caught in their little game.