“It’s true,” Anchali said, her voice more upbeat than the situation seemed to call for. They all looked at her strangely. She waved her hand. “Don’t you see? It’s perfect. There’s a death certificate on file for her and everything.” To Sukhon, she said, “Officially, you don’t exist. I can help you. We can give you a new name. A new life.”
Sukhon shook her head. “I just want my son. And I want Kendrick dead.”
“Well, we can help you with the second part. Marshall Kendrick is on borrowed time,” Park promised.
Anchali looked at him, frowning. “What does that mean?”
Park looked at Gift, nodding for him to answer his mother.
Gift shrugged sheepishly. “Torturing and killing Kendrick is sort of like our midterm exam.”
Anchali looked at Park. “You can’t be serious.”
Park rolled his eyes. “Your son is attending a school for assassins, Anchali. He’s not trying for a merit badge. They need practical hands-on experience, and killing Kendrick is a far better test of their skills than killing some barely competent criminal.”
“And the rest of the school is okay with this?” Anchali asked.
Gift scoffed. “Are you kidding? There’s a line forming of people who all want a piece of him.”
“People are even flying in to watch,” Park added. “If we sold tickets, we could fund Project Watchtower for another three years.”
Gift turned back to Sukhon. “Come back with us. Please. Let us help you. You can watch us put Kendrick down for good. Please?”
Sukhon shook her head. “Come with me?” she countered. “Start a new life with me.”
“Mae, I’m an adult. I have a life. Agoodlife. Let my mo—Anchali help you start over. Then we can see each other as much as we want. Maybe she can even arrange for you to start over here in the States. Somewhere nearby.”
Park frowned, looking at Anchali. “How did you get Sukhon into the States anyway?” Park asked.
Anchali gave a shrug. “I had her smuggled in.”
Park shook his head. “What? How?”
“Yeah, how did you even know any of this was happening?” Gift asked.
Anchali looked a little insulted. “I still have my old contacts, you know. People more loyal to me than to Kendrick.”
“But that doesn’t explain how you even knew Sukhon was alive in the first place,” Park said.
“I didn’t. At first. When Gift was giving his description of the attacker and he’d said it was a woman and that she spoke Thai, I worried that Kendrick had been right all these years that Sukhon’s family had found Gift in Malaysia and had come for him, maybe for revenge but more likely trying to kidnap him. I never thought it would be you,” she said to Sukhon.
“Still, I sent Gift to Park because I knew he could keep him safe. I never expected Kendrick to show up and ask you to teach for the project, just as I never suspected Kendrick had any ill intent towards Gift. He seemed far safer on a military base full of psychopaths and soldiers than in your condo. So, I allowed it.
With Gift safe, I had some old friends do some recon on Sukhon’s family home, hoping to get pictures of some of her family to show Gift, but when they sent me the pictures, I recognized Sukhon right away.”
Gift looked at Sukhon. “You went home? Weren’t you afraid Kendrick would find you?”
Sukhon scoffed, voice frigid. “I wanted him to find me. I was going to finish what I started all those years ago and put a bullet in his head.”
“Oh,” Gift managed, eyes widening at the venom in her tone.
“Why didn’t you tell Kendrick I was alive?” Sukhon asked Anchali.
Anchali shrugged. “At first, I thought he knew, that maybe he’d let you go all those years ago and you had finally made your way back home. You’d clearly been clever enough to make your way from Chiang Mai to Kuala Lumpur and back. Whether he knew or not, I wasn’t ready to share anything with him. I was biding my time while my people found out what they could about you.”
Sukhon nodded.
“Knowing I had tabs on Sukhon, I continued on with my daily routine. I didn’t want anyone catching on. I was on my way to a meeting in Phuket when someone drove me off the road and tried to shoot me. I lived. They did not.”
