Singapore Sling Shot - Andrew Grant [76]
“Confirmed. I’ll go down, cross and come back, and park opposite.”
“Give us at least five minutes from park-up,” Sami instructed. “The signal to get into position will be a double squelch. The signal to go will be a triple.”
“Roger!” Two voices responded. Sami Somsak smiled grimly and leaned back into his seat. His guys were professionals. Hopefully, Lu’s were just triad street thugs. If they were, it would be no contest.
The light double-cab truck with the covered rear deck had three of his men in it. They were already getting out of their truck. They were dressed as gardeners. The other vehicle, a small Toyota rental van, carried just the driver, Billy Yee. He drove past the car park entrance as Jo Ankar turned in.
“Have you done it, Daniel?” Sami whispered. There were several other vehicles in the car park including a black Lexus wagon. A man was standing beside the Lexus. Sami immediately recognised the tall figure as Thomas Lu. There was no one else in the vehicle or close to Lu.
As Jo made to park the truck close to the Lexus, Sami’s phone rang.
“Yes?”
“We have them safe and sound. Do it to him.”
“You got it, Daniel!” Relieved, Sami said a silent prayer to his gods. His companion just smiled as he applied the brakes and switched the truck’s engine off.
“Playtime,” Jo said.
“Indeed,” came the response as Sami slipped the small radio into the arm sling he was wearing. He got out of the truck and walked around to the front. He was seemingly unarmed, as instructed. He raised his jacket awkwardly with his free hand and pirouetted to show Thomas Lu there were no weapons, just a cellphone pouched on his belt. Lu pointed to the sling. Sami gripped the radio concealed in the sling and held it in his fist as he pulled the sling over his head and shook it. Lu nodded and Sami awkwardly reversed the process, feigning pain as he did so. Lu nodded. Sami settled the sling back in position. Performance over, he moved forward a few paces and stopped, looking across the intervening empty parking space to where Thomas Lu stood.
“Mr Somsak, I presume?” Lu’s voice had a jovial, mocking edge to it.
“Mr Lu!” Sami’s voice was flat, emotionless. Anyone who knew Sami Somsak knew that this was Sami at his most dangerous. If the opportunity arose, he would kill Thomas Lu with his bare hands, slowly and with relentless efficiency. Sami was both a Samurai and a very accomplished martial artist. Even at almost seventy years of age, he was lethal. Perhaps Lu realised that as well, because he nervously maintained his distance.
“I believe you have something of mine?”
Sami stared at Lu with an expression that was pure contempt.
“And you have something of mine.”
“They will be delivered just as soon as I have possession of the money.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
“Just some friends of mine,” Lu replied. “Oh, there they are now.”
“This was supposed to be between us,” Sami said with just the right amount of indignation in his voice.
“I don’t think I can trust you, Mr Somsak,” Lu responded as the Mazda sedan carrying four of his men pulled into a park beyond the Lexus. The doors opened and the men got out and moved to stand in a loose group beside the black wagon.
Although no weapons were visible, Sami knew they were there under the hanging shirttails and bulky jackets. He smiled to himself. From the corner of his eye, he saw the gardeners spreading out around the fringes of the car park. Their intention seemed to be to tend the plants on the verge and the plantings beyond the lay-by. One produced a petrol-powered weed eater and fired it into life, concentrating on the narrow strip of grass that ran down the ocean side of the narrow lot. The Singapore garden crews habitually started work early to avoid the human rush,