He was standing at the entrance to some kind of club: dark interior, crimson lights. Men sat around low tables smoking hookahs, the scent piquant and alluring, not just tobacco.
“Is there a rear exit?” he asked the doorman in his prison-yard Arabic.
The doorman shook his head, unimpressed.Not for you.
Simon thrust a thousand-baht note into his palm. Thirty dollars.
The doorman motioned him to follow.
They passed through a heavy curtain, then up a flight of stairs, the smell of incense and patchouli sweet and thick. Up again to the second floor, then along a dimly lit hallway, doors open to either side, dark-eyed women lounging on cushions.Come in. Let me entertain you.
“You want?” asked the doorman.
Simon shook his head. “Exit.”
The doorman stood aside, duty fulfilled, and pointed to a flight of stairs, a barred door barely visible at the top. Simon ran up the stairs, giving the door a shove with his shoulder. He stepped onto a fire escape, rusted and unsteady, swaying under his weight. He turned and reached for the door as it slammed shut. He tried the handle. Locked.
He ran down a flight, both hands on the railings, metal groaning. Dead end. No ladder. No more stairs. A fifteen-foot drop to the alley. He retraced his steps, continuing up several flights to the roof.
It was a world unto itself. A tended garden, chickens in a coop, an Exercycle. He heard a door slam somewhere below him, the rickety fire escape groan. He ran to the edge of the building. A seven-foot drop to the next rooftop, the buildings cheek by jowl. He jumped and landed heavily, wiping his hands as he stood. Up again, running to the next building and the next, aware of a figure giving pursuit, thinking Colonel Tan had better give his men a raise.
He arrived at the last building on the block. One foot on the parapet, he gazed over the edge. Four stories to the ground. Across the street, a forty-story apartment building. He turned, searching the rooftop. There, hiding in the rear corner, a makeshift hovel, planks, tin roof, lights burning behind flimsy drapes. He pulled aside the curtain and entered. A man and woman sat cross-legged on a Persian rug, bowls of noodles in their laps, watching television. They gazed at him, neither evincing much surprise.
“Downstairs?” said Simon, winded, hands on his hips.
The man pointed at a door across the room.
“Thank you.”
As he reached the bottom of the stairwell, he heard a door slam several floors up, another set of footsteps.
He was done running.
He opened the door to the street and let it close. He did not go outside. Crouching, he hid beneath the stairs. Footsteps echoed in the stairwell, closer and closer still. He could hear the man fighting for breath, as fatigued as Simon. The footfall grew louder. He caught sight of the man’s back, an arm reaching toward the door.
Simon slid from his hiding place. Taking hold of the man with both hands, he threw him against the wall. He was young, maybe thirty. Stunned, he fell to a knee, turning to confront his aggressor. Simon hit him twice, solar plexus, chin.
The man’s eyes rolled and he collapsed in a heap. Finished for now.
Back outside, Simon walked from intersection to intersection, searching in vain for a street sign. A block farther on, he saw a bridge and, to one side, a string of people descending a stairwell, disappearing from view. Reaching the bridge, he joined those taking the stairs. A rush of cool air greeted him, the pleasing scent of fresh water and plumeria. He skidded on the dirt footpath running along a broad creek. Aklong,one of many cutting in every direction through Bangkok. Foliage everywhere—casuarinas, bamboo, palms, a jungle in the city.
He walked beside the water, the growl of an approaching motor drawing his attention. A longboat ferrying a dozen men and women, plenty of open seats, pulled to the riverbank.
“Okay?” Simon asked a young man, dressed in a school uniform, meaning could he climb aboard.
“Sure,” said the high school student. “Where would you care to go, sir?”
“Chao Phraya. Bang Rak.”
“Five stops.”
Simon joined the queue.
Chapter 20
Bangkok
Hello.”
