Singapore Sling Shot - Andrew Grant [53]
“How did Lu find out Sami was the new partner?” I voiced the thought aloud. Jo picked it up.
“I don’t know exactly, but Sami used Stanley’s offices and his car and the apartment.”
“I thought Sami owned the apartment?”
“He does, but he’s never even stayed there until now. He used to stay at Stanley’s home. Stanley used the apartment as a getaway, a sometime love nest. He wasn’t an angel, Dan.”
“Naughty Stanley,” I muttered.
“Whatever, Dan, either Lu had the Intel or he had people watching and put two and three together. No matter now, but Sami had a close shave.”
“Mr Lu had better watch his arse.”
“Oh yes.” Jo’s voice was flat with promise. “I’ll be in touch if anything changes, my friend.” With that, he was gone. I dropped the phone onto the bed. With Jo at his side, Sami was safe. I had total faith in Jo Ankar. He was probably the best Special Ops guy I had ever worked with. To get through him, Lu was going to have to use a very big tank.
Thomas Lu was in a foul mood. The attempt on Sami Somsak’s life had failed. He knew that the Thai must be in possession of the cursed voice recorder, and that he would no doubt be planning to produce it at the scheduled meeting of the consortium. By killing Somsak, he could have prevented that happening. Now he had to stall the meeting and attempt once again to have the man removed. This time however, Sami Somsak would be well and truly alerted. He had no illusions that Somsak didn’t know who was behind the attempt on his life.
Lu used his cellphone. It was answered in seconds.
“Your information was correct, but as you know, the attempt on his life failed. Please keep me informed as to his movements. Call me any time. Thank you.” Thomas Lu closed the phone. Somsak wasn’t his only concern at the moment.
Raymond Mendez had badly hurt one of the pair of escorts he had selected for his entertainment. The girl had lost several teeth and suffered other injuries. The second girl had fled Mendez’s suite intact but naked and terrified, and she had raised the alarm. The cost of dental surgery aside, the settlement to keep the police out of the picture amounted to fifty thousand dollars.
Mendez had been evicted from his hotel suite and had moved to the Shangri La. Now Lu was on his way from his Nassim Hill penthouse to pick the man up. They were going to the warehouse in Jurong to await the container from Buenaventura.
Lu knew that the failed attempt on Somsak had put his own life in a danger as great, if not greater, than that threatened by the Mendez brothers.
“What can I do?” Lu whispered. The partition between the driver’s compartment and the rear of the limousine was closed. The words were directed at his faint reflection in the bullet-proof glass.
The question went unanswered for the five minutes it took to drive to Orange Grove Road. Raymond Mendez was waiting as the Bentley pulled up at the grand entrance. The Sikh doorman came forward to open the limousine’s rear door but Mendez brushed past the man, opened the door himself and threw himself into the car. He was scowling.
“Let’s go,” he ordered brusquely.
As scared of Mendez as he was, Lu bristled. This was his car. This was his town. He was about to reprimand his unwelcome guest when he had an idea. It was a moment of epiphany. The answer to all his problems. He smiled. Raymond Mendez turned to stare at him, his scowl turning into an expression of confusion.
“What’s so fucking funny?”
“I have just had an idea,” Lu replied.
“About what?”
“Just the solution to a personal problem. Drive on!” Lu said into the intercom and the Bentley purred away from the front of the hotel.
“I am going to sue The Fullerton. The pigs! I was a guest and they treated me like shit!”
“You did hurt the girl badly.”
“She was a whore. Whores are there to be hurt. I was a guest. I’m going to make them pay.”
“As you wish. In the meantime, let us go and collect this most valuable cargo,” Lu said. Now that the idea had fully germinated, he was desperately trying