Gemsicuted

Written by Julian Robov


Sixty One


Pius felt grateful and relieved by his sincere confession to Marty and Boonchu after his release from Saint Louis Hospital. He was on his own, as his Malaysian girlfriend fled the country with his luggage and belongings. He had nothing, except his clothes and a few dollars. He was poor again, and now he was at the mercy of Marty and Boonchu. Forgetting his past became Pius’s first priority, and he was willing to do anything for Marty and Boonchu, as long as they didn’t hurt him again. Going back to Geneva was a remote possibility. After the incident, Marty decided to stay at Silom Inn and rented a room for Pius, till he figured out his next target, Chai. And he pondered whether it was a good idea of using a crook like Pius to catch Chai. Pius had quite a lot of theories, and he suggested that Marty loan him some money to execute his plans. Giving money and trusting Pius was the last thing to do in the world, instead Marty listened taking his time. But the news from Boonchu and his contacts was discouraging. No one knew exactly Chai’s whereabouts, and all the speculations remained in and around Pattaya. Even the women whom he loved to associate with had given up their jobs and fled the place to avoid another wave of killings. They just didn’t want to be the wrong target nor be questioned by any suspected groups knowing the violent landscape of relationships among opposing gangs busy procuring women and men for their special clients.

So with such a scenario progressing nowhere, Marty began to seriously ponder the purpose of his stay in Bangkok. He had already lost a lot of money buying the bloody 37 carat synthetic flux ruby, and taking care of Pius just for the sake of catching Chai looked stupid. Marty hated himself for his carelessness, and instead of being patient and watchful, he walked into Boonchu’s office with a final threat. He couldn’t cope with the situation any longer. If Boonchu and his contacts were unable to track Chai’s whereabouts, Marty was going to do something dreadful. Marty didn’t elaborate, but the message was clear and specific. He gave Boonchu one more week to come up with the evidence, and after that he was going to act. No one had a clue except himself what Marty had in his mind. Boonchu knew the seriousness and the pain behind such decision. It was a catch-22 situation to abandon his business and go for Chai or wait patiently and get all the people involved to track his hideout, if that was the case. All his friends and relatives believed he wouldn’t do such a thing, but they too hadn’t a clue as to why on earth he had to disappear so quickly after the ruby sale.

Now the only suspicion remained if anyone killed Chai for the very same reason. After the news flash in the local dailies about a gem broker’s suspicious disappearance, the last person to hand him a note was Lawan, who worked as a receptionist at the Pattaya condominium. She had slept with Chai several times and he always showered her with gifts and money. After reading the newspaper articles and the theories behind his mysterious disappearance, she began to fear for her life, because the last person to give her the note was Somboon, a friend of Chai.

She had done similar things before and there was nothing to be suspicious about, but now after what she had been reading for the past several days regarding a 37carat synthetic ruby, and the tale behind its acquisition she knew that one day she too might become a target. Lawan had no idea of the number of men who had used her or any idea of the gemstones the news dailies were talking about. All she was interested was in money and she did anything for her clients as long they kept that standard. She had no reason to fear death because she was good to her clients.

Now a sudden chill flashed across her spine, as she thought about the consequences lying ahead. She had no idea what had happened to Chai after giving that fateful note to him. It didn’t take much time for her to realize that some third parties might have killed Chai and dumped his body elsewhere. It was just a thought that beamed across her troubled mind. And she had every reason to believe, as several incidents such as these happened discreetly without much trace. The executioners were too organized and powerful with money and the right political connections.

It was a Tuesday morning, and like another day, she walked to her reception desk. There was a note for her. It was from Somboon. Suddenly she began to fear for her life though no one had any reasons to take her life. But consciously or unconsciously she felt something dreadful was going to happen. The question remained whether to go to his room or just flee like the others. But they knew her family and the usual hideouts, and escaping from their clutches was unthinkable. They would have caught her anyway. Going to another country had a remote chance. She had never been out of the country. She read the sentence in the note once again to see the difference in the wordings chosen. It was the same style. When Somboon wanted to have a good time with her, irrespective of the daily scores she always was there, and acting differently meant trouble. She decided to go to his room. It was a numberless room on the third floor, and she knew it by heart.

After a gentle knock, the door opened. There were two foreigners with Somboon. This was unexpected, as he always preferred to be alone when he needed her. But the foreigners wearing dark glasses frightened her. She tried to compose herself and stood beside Somboon waiting for his instruction. He was calm and gentle without showing any signs of stress or discomfort. After squeezing her breasts three times, a regular ritual whenever she was called in, brought a guarded laughter from the two foreigners. He did this when they were alone. The sudden change of habit really puzzled her, but she smiled at him and then sat on his lap so that he could do whatever he liked. Lawan had never met the two foreigners before as they began to communicate in a strange rough language, while he played with her breasts. His hands were all over her body. They had other plans. She took his command seriously when Somboon said she was accompanying them in his BMW. She had no other choice than comply.

After getting dressed, Somboon said to Vladimir and Papov in Russian that she was the only link left who knew about Chai, and she was going to forget everything soon. They liked that statement. Several buses kept arriving during the day, as tourists flocked to the beach for fun and other extracurricular activities. It was hard to distinguish their nationalities as there were many on the road busy having fun with a large number of Ka-toeys (transvestites). Lawan had never been out with Somboon in a car and the two foreigners were enjoying the ride watching his fingering on her, and at the same time driving like a Formula one race car driver to meet another Russian contact, Boris Luganov, at Montein Pattaya hotel.

As she was wondering what they were up to, Somboon picked up the speed to show his driving skills. Then a Ferrari crossed in front of them from nowhere hitting their car first with a big bang crushing other cars in the vicinity beyond recognition. Since it was so unexpected, Papov and Vladimir had their skull smashed and limbs severed. Somboon and Lawan were confirmed dead with their body parts scattered around Pattaya Beach Road along with other metallic parts. It so happened, the Ferrari belonged to a Thai politician and his son who along with his girlfriend were driving fast to join their friends at the Siam Bayshore hotel. As the police and the politicians family members arrived at the crash site busy sorting out the circumstances and other details, Boris Luganov counted his blessings. He knew the consequences and decided to flee Pattaya for good to forget the event once and for all. His friends, Papov and Vladimir were dead and the time had come to take over and reengineer their discreet operations with another bait. And that was only possible if he reached Bangkok safely.