The Burma Legacy Read Online Free Page B

on his head.’
    With their luggage on a trolley they queued at an agency desk to find a hotel.
    ‘ Two rooms,’ Midge stressed, to the surprise of the girl behind the counter.
    They took a taxi to the centre, checked in to an anonymous tourist monolith and began the painful process of reporting back to their respective headquarters, agreeing to meet up later.
    Sam was startled by his controller’s lack of concern. The man was a dry Ulsterman called Duncan Waddell.
    ‘It was an Oz operation, Sam. From what you’ve just told me, no mud will stick to the firm.’
    ‘That’s hardly the point, Duncan. Jimmy Squires …’
    ‘They’ll catch him eventually,’ Waddell interjected. ‘And when they do, our concerns about the man will be history. Essentially he’s their problem, not ours.’
    Clean hands. All that mattered to a bureaucrat.
    ‘Anyone who threatens to kill me is my problem,’ Sam snapped.
    ‘You’re off the case, and that’s an order. Look, the main reason for getting you involved was that we owed the Aussies a favour. You did the deed. Now we’re evens.’
    But Sam wasn’t. And he wouldn’t be until Jimmy Squires was sorted out.
    After finishing his call to London, he went into the streets and found one of the internet booths that dot the centre of Bangkok. He dialled into his email and downloaded a couple of messages. One was from Julie wishing him a Happy New Year. The other hadbeen sent by his controller just after he’d left Singapore – a more detailed background file on Jimmy Squires. He printed it, checked there were no copies stored on the computer, posted a reply to Julie saying he’d try to ring her later, then logged off.
    It was early evening before he and Midge met up again. She came to his room and her eyes suggested she’d been crying.
    ‘Problems?’ he asked.
    She screwed up her face, making out it didn’t matter.
    ‘Gave me a roasting, that’s all.’
    ‘I’m sorry.’
    ‘I’ll get over it.’
    He told her about his email. ‘There’s some personal stuff on Squires. Comments from his former mates. Adds a little colour.’
    ‘I’d like to see it.’
    He handed her the printout. ‘Basically it says he was never happier than sleeping in a ditch. Had a reputation for putting up with any amount of shit and terror so long as there was a good piss-up and a willing woman at the end of it. But a little out of his depth in the real world. And not used to handling big sums of money.’
    ‘Times have changed, then.’ She frowned down at the sheet of paper. ‘What’s all this about him being fascinated by military history? World War Two in particular.’
    ‘Simply that his views on national characteristics are pretty much formed by the past. All Germans areNazis … Japs are torturers. That sort of stuff. Half the UK population thinks that way.’
    ‘And the people who use his smack are cockroaches, I suppose …’
    ‘Yeah.’ Once again her bitterness flagged some personal motive in her quest to nail the man. ‘Don’t worry. You’ll get another crack at him.’
    ‘Unless he gets his crack in first.’ Her face was pale and drawn. ‘I have to be honest, Steve. He’s got me scared, him and Hu Sin.’
    Sam wanted to give her a big hug and tell her it’d be okay, but feared she might sink her teeth into his neck. She handed the email back to him.
    ‘Tell you what,’ he suggested, ‘why don’t we find some cosy bar where they do food, and forget all about it for the night. It’s New Year’s Eve.’
    ‘I don’t want to go anywhere. Just for tonight I’ve lost my nerve.’
    ‘Then let’s get some booze and a takeaway and we’ll eat here in my room.’
    She agreed to that and he took himself off to a nearby shopping mall to get in supplies. On his way he paused by an international call centre, thinking of ringing Julie. Then he remembered Bangkok was seven hours ahead of London. She’d be at work. Better to wait until after midnight his time and try to catch