第 21 页

The Frenchman shook his head. "Not at all. When I have things running smoothly, I get bored.

Sometimes I go and take over a hotel which is losing money and turn it round. I'm a sort of hotel

doctor. I get called in by all the big chains. If Hilton have a problem with a hotel in India or

Zambia or Timbuktu, they always call for Doctor Duprey." He leaned forward, as if imparting a

great secret. "And do you know what I do?"

Jens was genuinely interested. "Please tell me."

"I fire the head chef, the assistant manager, the front office manager, the housekeeper, the

reservations manager. And that's all. Even in a hotel with a staff of a thousand or more, I only

ever fire at most five people, always at the very top. Then I promote their assistants and teach

them. I don't worry about profit for the first three months. After that I start to use my

computer."

Now the Dane was fascinated. They had reached common ground. He asked: "How do you use

your computer?"

Duprey smiled contentedly. "I have special software. It's programmed to give me daily figures

on every profit centre, the rooms, the restaurant, the bars, room service, laundry service,

international telephone surcharges, etcetera. And then I start to cut away at the costs. And I

always watch the magic ratio; costs against occupancy." He chuckled at a thought, and asked:

"Do you know the highest occupancy rate of any hotel in the world, Mr Jensen?"

The Dane shook his head.

"Six hundred and fifty per cent," Duprey stated with a smile, and then burst out laughing at the

puzzled look on Jens' face. "It's the Phu Tey Hotel in Bangkok. You see, it's a brothel and on

average, they rent their rooms out six-point-five times in every twenty-four hours." He sighed in

mock misery. "The dream of every hotelier. Anyway, back to business. What can I do for you?

Was your visit to my friend at the Embassy successful?"

Jens straightened in his seat.

"Yes, it was, Monsieur Duprey. But I have to ask a further favour of you, calling your friend

Pierre again. I need an enlargement of a section of one of the photographs."

"An enlargement?"

Jens winked and lowered his voice. "Exactly. You see, for the evidence in divorce proceedings,

we need proof of actual penetration. You understand that it was a miniature camera."

Now it was the Frenchman's turn to be fascinated. He pushed his leather seat back, stood up

and started pacing the carpeted floor.

"Computer enhancement," he said. "That would do the trick. Pierre is a fanatic with

computers." He came to his desk and punched a button on his telephone console. When his

secretary answered, he said: "Get me Pierre Lacroix at the Embassy." While he waited, he smiled

at the Dane and said: "Computer enhancement...That's the answer."

The Dane felt very much at home.

Chapter 41

"We all do stupid things sometimes. Life would be boring if we always made the right

decisions."

Creasy spoke the words defensively, and they made no impression on Guido.

The two men were sitting on the patio of Creasy's bungalow drinking cold Tiger beer and

having a mild argument.

"It's been every step of the way," Guido said. "From the moment that dogtag was delivered in

San Diego, I've never seen anything so precise." He ticked off the incidents on the fingers of his

left hand. "The dogtag, the description and drawing by Mrs Bentsen of Van Luk Wan, the

follower in Saigon with his information of having seen a captive Caucasian near Tuk Luy, the fax

number here in Phnom Penh." He had run out of fingers on his left hand, so he moved on to his

right hand. "The file at the office of the Lucit Trade Company containing the photograph of Jake

Bentsen."

He looked up at his friend. "Whoever is behind this is extremely clever and well organized. And

they well understand your capabilities. They knew you would catch the follower in Saigon, they

knew you would trace the fax number and they knew you would break into that office and find

that file. It all comes down to one man who is long dead. A powerful man who had great

influence in Indo-China. You have to do two things, my friend. The first is to track down the

ex-associates and the family, if any, of Bill Crum. The second thing you have to do is call in the

Americans."

He gestured at the luxuriant gardens around the bungalow. "You sit here in a dangerous

paradise under the control of clever and probably evil people. They are drawing you on for a

purpose. If they wanted you simply dead, they could have hired a sniper in Saigon or even here."

He pointed to a cluster of sugar-palm trees fifty metres away. "There could be a sniper right

there at this moment drawing a bead on your forehead."

Creasy took a sip of his beer and said: "It's logical; but it's also logical that they don't want me

dead yet. My instinct tells me that we're coming to the final phase. You're right about Bill Crum.

He was probably the most evil man I ever met, and I've met many. We know that he paid to get

Van Luk Wan out of Vietnam. We have to try to find out who is controlling Van. We need to

find the puppet master. Bill Crum spent the last years of his life in Hong Kong. The answer

might lie there. I'm going to send Jens and The Owl to Hong Kong and see what they can dig up.

As for bringing in the Americans, I'll keep it in mind and make a decision when we fully

understand the next step. Anyway, it's better that Jens is out of the country. Things are going to

get violent and he's not equipped for violence."

Guido stood up and started pacing up and down the patio. He said: "That brings me to

something else. Maxie and Rene will stay in Saigon for a few more days before heading home.

It's better that you order them to wait there or even bring them into Cambodia very quietly as

back-up. I also think you should send the girl home. I know she's useful with her languages, but

she's very exposed."

Creasy said: "Sit down, Guido. It's like watching a tennis match with you walking up and down.

I have a problem with the girl."

Guido sat down with the curiosity showing on his face. He said: "Don't tell me that you've fallen

in love with her."

"No, although she's a fine woman and attractive in a very special way. She's a captain in the US

Army and right now she's doing her job, which is to help us track down American MIAs. If she's

at risk, that's her duty and she understands it."

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem is her father."

"Her father?"

"Yes. As you know, he was a colonel in the US Army Intelligence in Vietnam. He was reported

missing in action near Khe San after a helicopter crash. The problem is that there was no crash."

"How do you know?"

It was Creasy's turn to stand up and start pacing. His face was troubled. He said: "When I took

that assignment to kill Bill Crum in Hong Kong, part of the job was to destroy any files in that

converted temple at Sai Kung. Before I destroyed them, I read them. It was a kind of insurance. I

had been hired by senior US officers who were implicated in Bill Crum's web of corruption.

There were fourteen files with details of fourteen officers. I made a note of all the names. One of

them was a Colonel Bruce Moore of Army Intelligence...Guido, Susanna's father worked for Bill

Crum. It seems that towards the end he developed a conscience. There was a memo in that file

from Bill Crum to General Wayne Thomas, who was also on Crum's payroll. It ordered Thomas

to have the colonel killed and make it look like an accident. General Thomas had a lot of

influence.

He was a senior liaison officer with the ARVN. A week after Crum's memo, he sent a

handwritten memo back. It was an evil piece of paper, probably written with great pleasure. It

explained how he had arranged for Colonel Moore to be flown to Khe San in an ARVN

helicopter. During the flight the colonel was overpowered and tied up and tossed out of the

helicopter at ten thousand feet without a parachute. It was very easy for General Thomas to fake

an accident report." Creasy moved back to his chair and sat down. He said: "So my problem is:

do I tell Susanna the truth, or do I go on letting her think that her father died a hero?"

The two men sat in silence, with only the background noise of the crickets in the bushes. Then

the Italian spoke firmly.

"You tell her nothing. Too often in life the truth can do more damage than a lie. Besides, maybe

the man was a hero. It takes guts to walk away from temptation. Bill Crum had him killed

because he thought he was going to upset his organization. Let her live with her memories."

Creasy gave him a slow smile and a nod of agreement. "It's the romance, Signor Guido. Your

Italian blood. There's another problem with that woman."

Guido rolled his eyes theatrically, then remarked: "Women and problems go hand in hand.

What is it?"

Creasy waited to give effect to his words. Then he said: "First of all, she has fallen in love with

me. And secondly, she's pregnant."

The Italian lifted his head, laughed and asked: "How do you do these things, Creasy?"

"I didn't do it. The father is a Professor of Political Science at Georgetown University in

Washington. She's only a few weeks pregnant and he wants her to have an abortion."

Guido's expression turned sombre. He asked: "What does Susanna want?"

Creasy shrugged. "She doesn't know. She's confused. I think she wants to have the child. After

she told me about it, I took her to an orphanage in Saigon. I watched her hold a two-week-old

baby. I was looking at a woman who wants to be a mother."

Guido was studying his friend's face. He asked: "Is old Creasy getting a little sentimental?"

Creasy shook his head. "Not at all. But she's part of our group. I have a concern for you and for

Jens and The Owl and I have a concern for her. We live in a dirty world, all of us. It's probably

our destiny. You and I have seen more death and destruction than is good for any human being.

You remember the faces of the children in Biafra and Angola, in Vietnam, bewildered,

frightened, and all too often dying. It's a strange thing, Guido, but when Susanna talked about

having an abortion, I seemed to see all those thousands and thousands of faces in front of me. I

gave her a hard time about it. Maybe I was wrong. It's her life."

"You were right," Guido said emphatically. "It's not because I'm a Catholic. I don't know her

well, but I like her. If she has an abortion, it will scar her life. I'll tell her myself."

"You can tell her now," Creasy said, gesturing with his chin.

Guido turned to look. She was walking across the lawn towards them, wearing only a bikini.

Her gown was thrown over one shoulder.

"She's beautiful," the Italian murmured.

"Yes, she is, and not only on the outside. We will not discuss her father. But maybe a second

opinion about her child would be useful."

Both men stood up, and Guido went behind the chair and moved it to the table for her. She

gave him a smile of thanks and sat down. "What can I get you to drink?" the Italian asked.

"A Coke, please. And lots of ice."

Guido went into the bungalow. Bluntly, Creasy said to her: "I told Guido about your condition.

Don't get upset. He's my closest friend. It so happens that you're under my protection on this

mission, and if anything happens to me, Guido will take over. I will tell no-one else and neither

will he. You can talk to Guido as you talk to me. And you can rely on him under any

circumstances. We both think that things are going to get violent soon. He wants me to call in

the Americans as back-up and I'm considering it. I'm just waiting for the opposition to make

their next move."

She absorbed all of that without any change of expression. Then she started to say something,

but Guido came out onto the patio with the glass in his hand and said immediately: "Susanna,

you must have the baby. I'll be the godfather." He grinned mischievously. "And any child with a

godfather from Naples is guaranteed a perfect future."

Again she started to say something, but this time she was interrupted by Jens and The Owl

coming up the path. Jens put his briefcase on the table, opened it and took out four eight-by-ten

photographs. He spread them on the table with the air of a conjuror producing a rabbit out of a

hat. They all craned forward to look. All the photographs showed the same thing: a blurred

foreground, but in the background the very distinct shape of a temple.

The Dane said: "What we have to do next is find a temple expert."

Chapter 42

The Dutchman worked as he moved slowly backwards, scooping out the earth with a small,

sharpened shovel and then gently placing the mines one after the other in a pattern that

zigzagged the length of the white, pegged-down tape. As each mine was laid, activated and

covered, he rolled the tape up. The Khmer Rouge soldier stood behind him holding a lamp high

and casting a pool of light. It was after midnight and the air had cooled. But Piet de Witt still

sweated: it was that kind of work. He glanced to his left and then to his right. There were other

pools of light and other mine-layers at work.

Piet de Witt covered the last mine and stood up, stretching his aching limbs. He shouted an

order that they would stop for the night and start again at first light.

As late as it was he would pay a visit to Tan Sotho. It was always that way after putting his life

on the line. He needed the release of a soft woman. He needed to celebrate the fact that he

would see the sun rise in the morning.

Chapter 43

It was spontaneous. They had all eaten together from room service in one of the bungalows and