Dead and Kicking Read Online Free Page B

car horns, the humidity, the smells of street food, sweat, incense and leaded petrol fumes all added up to my favourite word: Asia.
    A tall, slender Vietnamese woman wearing a diaphanous white silk
ao dai
was standing with the two men. The
ao dai
, a high-necked, long-sleeved, ankle-length tunic split at the sides and worn over matching trousers, has got to be the sleekest, most graceful and sensual national dress going.
    I guessed the woman was in her late twenties, almost my height and nicely curved in some excellent places. A small white flower was tucked behind one ear and her long, glossy black hair was swept up, framing the most beautiful face I’d seen in a very long time.
    ‘Alby, Mr Murdoch,’ VT said. ‘I would like to present Miss Nhu Hoang.’
    Miss Hoang was gorgeous. She smiled and held out a delicate hand with long elegant fingers. As our skin touched, I felt an electric tingle shoot up my arm, run across my shoulders and down my legs, all the way to my toes. I knew instantly I was about to get myself into a whole lot of trouble.

FIVE
    ‘I’m very pleased to meet you, Mr Murdoch,’ Miss Hoang said in perfect English, with just a slight hint of an American accent.
    Jack took a sip of his champagne. ‘Miss Hoang is the granddaughter of VT’s sister,’ he said, giving me a look that I read as a warning to behave myself.
    ‘Miss Hoang is an officer with the national police,’ VT said, his voice giving me the same warning.
    ‘Some of my best friends are coppers,’ I said, reluctantly releasing Miss Hoang’s hand, ‘and believe me, none of them could wear a dress like that, not even the women.’
    I took two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and offered one to Miss Hoang, who accepted it with a smile.
    ‘Miss Hoang is also the national police pistol champion,’ VT said.
    It was game, set and match in the ‘warn Alby to behave himself’ stakes. I looked Miss Hoang up and down. That
ao dai
was one hell of an outfit.
    ‘You don’t appear to be armed at the moment, Miss Hoang,’ I said. ‘I mean, not as far as I can see.’
    She smiled. ‘Looks can be deceiving, Mr Murdoch.’
    I knew that to be a fact from bitter experience.
    ‘I hear from Uncle you are interested in the cuisine of our country, Mr Murdoch.’
    I nodded. ‘I’ve got a couple of weeks to kill so I’m planning to go wandering, hit some markets and maybe take a few cooking lessons.’
    ‘Please just ask if there is any way I can be of assistance,’ she said.
    Jack gave me that look again.
    ‘You guys still planning on heading north?’ I asked.
    Jack nodded. ‘Probably. The production has the chopper leased till the end of the week so we’ve got clearance to fly up that way to visit some of VT’s relatives near Hanoi. Then we thought we might take a quick side-trip out to have a squiz at Dien Bien Phu. The joint was a bit out of reach last time I visited Vietnam.’
    Jack was a military history buff and Dien Bien Phu had military history in spades. The valley near Vietnam’s north-western border with Laos was where the French colonial government had built a massive and heavily fortified base in 1954. They’d crammed it full of Algerian and Vietnamese soldiers and elite French Foreign Legionnaires, and dared Ho Chi Minh’s Vietminh rebels to bring it on. Bad call. When the smoke finally cleared, the fortress was pretty much obliterated, along with most of the men inside it. The majority of those who survived the catastrophe died in captivity.
    The music suddenly cut out and there was a murmur of voices behind us. When we turned towards the terrace door-way, the film’s producers and stars had joined the party and someone was tapping on a wine glass with a spoon to call for silence.
    ‘Bugger me,’ Jack said glumly, ‘speech time.’
    With exquisite timing, Nhu excused herself. ‘I have some police matters I need to attend to. Have a safe trip, Uncle.’
    She smiled at me. ‘Perhaps we shall be able to get