Gina Takes Bangkok (The Femme Vendettas) (16 page)

“Sadists. Cannibals. Black magicians. Very dangerous people. Nothing they won’t do.”

“They’re a clan you say? Like a crime family?”

Lwin shook her head. “No. They raise no children. Rather they corrupt the lineages of others.”

“I don’t understand. How?”

“Their seed is tainted, Gina,” the old woman explained. “They do not know love. They father their children through rape, and when the resulting child grows, it seeks out its own kind. Over the centuries Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist warriors exterminated them, till the last of them hid in the Dângrêk mountains between Thailand and Cambodia.

“Their numbers had almost dwindled to nothing when the Khmer Rouge came to power, and naturally they became part of Pol Pot’s genocide. Under their reign they tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands, and they impregnated countless women, creating a whole new generation of rakshasas to plague the world.”

Gina didn’t go much for ghost stories or black magic, but Lwin was no fool. Whatever the truth behind the rakshasas was, she was probably getting a good part of it. “So Ek Choeun is their leader?”

“Their true leaders are demons that dwell beneath the mountains,” said Lwin. “As far as I know, Ek is the greatest of their servants. He came to Bangkok a year ago. Easier to serve his clients, I suppose. Rakshasas make deals with ordinary people all the time, but they only ever form partnerships with other rakshasas. As traitorous as he might be, I wouldn’t think this Wakai was one of their kind. Don’t think Alak Montri would have ever dealt with a character like that.”

Gina turned that fact over in her head. “Are there such things as female rakshasas?”

“Oh, of course,” Lwin replied. “Rakshasii. They show their heritage less than their brothers, but they’re every bit as corrupted. According to legend they’re why the rakshasas have to breed the way they do. The females have a habit of eating their young.”

Gina felt sick to her stomach. Thank God she’d abstained from the website. “Even crocodiles carry their babies in their mouth.”

Lwin nodded. “Even crocodiles. That was why I’ve left him alone, and he me.”

What? “You knew about what he did and let him carry on?” She expected it of the hacker, not of the woman from the Ramree swamp.

Lwin’s expression maintained its usual Buddha-like calmness. “I’m a hundred years old and have killed a thousand monsters. After all your training from so many of us, can you not deal one with one?”

Gina felt the soft rebuke like a blow. On the drive to Lwin’s she’d chatted to a mostly silent Kannon about her past. As part of her training with Dr. Chai, he’d sent her to his old friend. Lwin, who’d already seemed ancient to the adolescent Gina, steeped her in the legends and culture of Southeast Asia, taught her the traditions and the superstitions that ultimately had Gina believing nothing but respecting everything.

When she’d left Bangkok a decade ago, Lwin, like Dr. Chai, hadn’t said one word to stop her. At the time, it seemed as if she was giving her blessing. Looking into those small dark pools of brightness now, Gina realized that Lwin had waited ten years to speak her mind.

Kannon tapped her knee with his. “What’s going on?”

“She’s—she’s telling me things I need to hear, that’s all.”

“Something I need to hear, too?”

“I—yes. Maybe, later.”

He gave a soft grunt and frowned at Lwin. She smiled and waved.

Kannon’s mouth twisted. “I see where you got your deeply rooted fear of nobody from,” he said to Gina.

Having dealt with Kannon, Lwin turned back to Gina. “There is a long friendship between Alak Montri and your father. And I understand why your family would seek to free him. But don’t underestimate Ek Chouen. Even my markings cannot protect you fully from their kind of evil.”

Considering her tats couldn’t ward off mosquitoes, Gina wasn’t disappointed. “I promise we’ll be careful. Very careful.”

Her old mentor wasn’t yet satisfied. “Ek Chouen is a born killer and leads an army of born killers. To kill him you will need to kill a thousand. You will need to become like me.”

Gina bowed her head. She’d left Bangkok because she couldn’t accept the life she was being groomed for. Now, a decade later, she was right back in it. Nothing had changed. This time she couldn’t run. Otherwise she was no better than the hacker she’d exiled. “A monster hunter.”

Lwin reached across the table and touched Gina’s chest where the tattoo was. “No. A crocodile tamer.”

Gina managed a weak smile. “Ah, much easier.”

Lwin sat back and said gently. “For you, so easy.” Her voice became brisk. “Ek works out of an underground club called Triple Nine.” She rattled off an address Gina immediately inputted into her phone. “He comes and goes, sometimes for weeks at a time. Still, that is where you’ll find him. And believe me, you’ll know him when you see him.”

“Thank you, Lwin. Please let me know if there’s ever anything I can do to repay you.”

“I will.” Lwin pointed a thin, chicken-bone finger at Kannon. “Tell me, is he your lover?”

Gina could feel Kannon straighten, and she put her hand on his thigh to calm him. His muscles there tensed. “Now what’s she saying?”

“She wants to know if we’re lovers.”

Deep lines between his eyes appeared. “How is that her business?”

Gina translated his question back to Lwin whose smile grew as wide as a crocodile’s. “Anyone who answers a question with another question doesn’t like the answer he’d have to give.”

“Are you saying that he wants us to be lovers?”

“Tell me, how does he feel underneath your hand?”

For the purposes of research, Gina let her hand travel down Kannon’s thigh which produced very tense muscles. “Hard.” She ran her hand down again. “Large.” And again. “Twitchy.”

With each descriptor, the old woman’s merriment grew until she burst into cackling laughter. “You’ve taken him to the mat, girl!”

Gina couldn’t help from joining in. That was enough for Kannon. He set his hand on hers to stop her. “You two laughing at me?”

Gina automatically flipped over her hand, catching his. “She said we’re destined to be lovers. No use fighting it, Kannon.”

She expected him to snap back at her or even get up and leave. Instead he gripped her hand tight in his and the look he gave her this time—forget the socket, she was hooked to the grid.

“Tell the tattoo lady this,” he said. “Tell her I’m not fighting it. I’m timing it.”

Kannon had seen plenty of women drink from a bottle of sugar cane juice but none of them worked it like Gina Zaffini was doing right now with hers. They were standing down a short ways from Soi Cowboy, one of Bangkok’s popular red light districts, and across the street from Triple Nine. Ryota had gone inside twenty-six minutes ago to check the exits and make sure Ek Chouen was there. Twenty-six minutes in which Gina suctioned her full lips around the neck of the bottle, rolled the cold dewy glass across her sweaty upper chest, lapped up spilled drops. And all the while she texted, taking in updates from Ryota and whoever else. She had a different chime for each contact, and so far he’d heard a half-dozen.

“Pensri says ‘hi’.”

Kannon growled. “Can we get back to business?”

Gina looked around. “We haven’t left it.”

“How about we focus on it, then?”

“What do we need to do that we’re not already doing? We’re standing here watching and waiting, and blending in, which you in your suit on a hot, muggy night in Bangkok among thousands of horny tourists doesn’t work.”

She was right, which irritated him to no end. “You certainly dressed for the part.” She’d switched into a party dress. A gold deal that barely covered her butt, and she had enough bling on her to be a walking jewelry kiosk. She’d even glittered her tats. Normally he detested tattoos on women, not in small part because he had so many. But like everything about Gina, she made them into something desirable and totally hers.

She squeezed the bottle between her breasts and the way her dress was wired made it stay in place. His cock shifted. “Ah,” she breathed out. “You have no idea how good this feels.”

“I think I do.”

“Why, Kannon, you need to stay focused.”

He looked away. She was right again. He needed to finish this job. Get this rakshasa to spill Victoria’s whereabouts, dig out Victoria, find her brother and get Alak Montri back home. There’d be consequences for not keeping Montri safe but not much because he had stayed loyal and, just as importantly, alive. He’d deal with them, bring his daughter out of hiding and then get on with getting it on with Gina Zaffini.

It was hard enough holding out against her constant sexiness, but what threatened to undo him were her sudden exposures of sadness and worry, like when she saw the state of her father and her revulsion over 70 Rai. He wanted to protect her from all that ugliness, as he had with his wife. Except with his wife, she hadn’t wanted to know about his life. It was easy to hide what no one wanted to find in the first place. The problem with Gina is that there was no saving her from anything.

Two full-blooded Aussies rounded the corner, their arms wrapped around a pair of Thai hookers in white cowboy hats and boots and little else. So engrossed were they in their purchase of the evening, one bumped into Gina. He immediately apologized and took in Gina’s bottle.

“Hey there, mind if I have a sip?” Everyone in the group, drunk or pretending to be, laughed, and Gina joined right in.

Kannon came up beside her. “Drink from your own bottle.”

The Aussie immediately threw up his hands. “No worries. Didn’t know she was with you.”

“You know,” Gina said, as they disappeared into the happy crowd, “I could’ve handled that.”

“You could’ve but you don’t need to when I’m here.”

Her phone chirped and she smiled at its message. “Pensri again. She wants to know how our first date is going.”

“I may be bad with women but even I can do better than this.”

Gina laughed and began typing.

“Don’t tell her that.”

“I’m telling her we’re across the street.”

“At Ek’s club?”

“No, silly.” She lifted her head long enough to point to a flashing neon sign with bubbles floating upward. Outside, Thai girls in skimpy nighties were blowing bubbles at potential males. “The Bubble Boat.” The signs carried by two girls read ‘Pop my bubbles! Happy endings!’

“Yeah, it belongs to my dad. Pensri made her start there.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“What can I say? Good times are our business.”

“What I mean is that it would be right close to Ek Chouen’s place. Anybody you’re not connected to?”

She bumped her behind against his groin. “There is one.”

“You come on to every man like this?”

Gina made a sweeping gesture. “Look around you. Look at the business I grew up in. I’m a product of my environment.”

“You don’t care about girls becoming hookers?”

Gina tugged out her bottle from its boob holder and took a long pull. “I hope you’re not suggesting that hookers don’t deserve respect.”

“I’m asking what your answer is to those that might think that.”

“Here, it’s a job. And like every job, it’s got its good points and its bad points, and if the bad starts outweighing the good, you leave it.”

Her phone sounded, and this one was repeated from before. Ryota. “He’s coming out.” No sooner did she say it then out he came and crossed the street.

“Only two bouncers inside the door. No guards or cameras from what I can see.”

“What about our man?” Kannon asked.

“He’s there. And out in the open.” Ryota’s eyes widened. “He’s big. Very big.”

Which meant it would be a bitch to get him. “Get Darae. Have her pull up front.”

“Got it.” Gina was already tapping on her phone. From her unsmiling expression it was hard to believe that one minute ago she was flirting with him. Would she switch back to party mode once they were inside the club, get distracted and get hurt?

“You need to know, Gina, that what we’re doing now is something I normally take weeks to plan. Ryota and I can do this because it’s what we’re trained for. You go in there, the plan doesn’t change. It’ll still be to get Ek. Me, Ryota, we can’t be saving you, too.”

Gina lifted her bottle and drained it. “Lucky for you, then,” she said, cracking a huge grin, “that I don’t need saving.”