Singapore Sling Shot - Andrew Grant [71]
“He’s just arrogant enough to do that,” Sami mused. “It would be just like him to use it again as a private joke against me. He’s so sure that because it is so obvious, I’ll consider the hotel and discount it.”
“Reverse reversed psychology, or whatever,” I agreed, “but more than that. On a practical level, K is right. It’s logical. It’s the ideal place to maintain his people out of sight until needed.”
“Then let’s look at turning the tables yet again on Mr Lu.” Jo had a smile on his face. That was unusual in itself. It was the sort of smile that meant someone was going to get hurt. “I have a plan!”
To work, Jo’s plan relied on three things: that the hostages were being held at the Silver Sands Hotel; that Lu would press for a dawn exchange; and that a reconnaissance run be made to check out the hotel. K left to organise that.
Sami used the phone. This call was to the man in charge of the computers. The reply he was seeking came back a few minutes later. They had isolated a van entering Scotts Road from the building’s car park at the time of the fire. It was then Sami asked that they cut to the chase. Instead of letting the computers wade through millions of images, he had them concentrate on the Sentosa Bridge footage. Twenty minutes after it left Scotts Road, the van crossed the bridge onto the island.
K reported back half an hour later from the island. There was a transit van parked in the car park at the Silver Sands Hotel. The registration number matched that on the CCTV cameras. He also reported that the relatively isolated car park, with its fringe of tended jungle, was the perfect scenario for what we had in mind. That was, of course, if we were right about the hostages being inside the hotel. If we were wrong, people were going to die.
“I can’t seem to stay away from Sentosa,” I muttered to no one in particular. Sami heard me.
“At least you won’t have to swim this time.”
“I hope,” I replied, looking round the office, wondering if Stanley’s bar was still intact. It was!
It was a few minutes to 19:00 when Sami made the call to Thomas Lu.
Thomas Lu was almost laughing as he set his cellphone down on the shelf protruding from the side of the spa. He had set his trap and now he had received a wonderful piece of news. Bad weather over the Pacific had led to Carlos Mendez postponing the long flight to Sydney to refuel and then carry on to Singapore. Lu not only had another twenty-four or forty-eight hours before the Colombian arrived, but Sami Somsak had agreed to return the money in exchange for the women.
“A soft man at heart,” Lu said as he gloated at his good luck. “A soft man to give away two billion dollars for a handful of women.”
Lu relaxed in his spa. Michael was in the shower prior to joining him.
The transfer would take place at a location of Lu’s selection at dawn. He hadn’t told Somsak where this would be. That meant there would be no chance of an ambush. He would direct the whole operation by cellphone.
The truck with the money would be directed on a route he chose, and at the point he chose, the truck would be ordered to stop. He would then verify the money was indeed aboard and then, and only then, he would order the van with the women aboard to the transfer site. The transfer would be made and that would very much be that. Part of him, of course, wanted Sami Somsak dead as part of the exchange. However, there would be witnesses, so Somsak’s demise would have to wait a little longer.
In any other situation he would have expected a double-cross, but there simply was no way that the Thai could organise one, short of filling the truck with gunmen, and that would guarantee the death of the women, so it was not going to happen. Thomas Lu took a sip of whisky. There would be no chance of a double-cross. The plan was as near perfect as he could make it.
“I should have done this to get that cursed recorder back,” Lu murmured thoughtfully. It would have been so simple. Why had he not thought of it sooner? Now, of course, it was