“You did.Thanks for coming.It helps to have someone I can confide in.”Sophie’s phone vibrated.She glanced down at it.“Feirn has been helping with facial reconstruction of Sunan and other possible members of his group.He has some more results for us to see.”
They hurried back downstairs.Pierre entered Chen’s office while Sophie went to a nearby conference room, emerging minutes later with a young Asian man that Pierre recognized as Connor’s second in command.He carried a laptop.
“This is Feirn,” Sophie said.“My bodyguard.Show them, please.”
Feirn set the laptop on Chen’s desk, opened it, and turned the screen toward them.“This a face who may be Brotherhood,” he said in careful, heavily accented English.“He left Yam Khûmk?n same time as Sunan.”
The screen displayed a 3D facial reconstruction featuring a hard-looking Asian in his mid-forties, with a distinctive scar through the left eyebrow.
Pierre started.“Merde.That’s Khun Sakchai.”
“You know him?”Chen asked sharply.
“Only by reputation.He’s wanted by Interpol.A thief of high-end art and valuables.Former Thai special forces, suspected in a dozen assassinations across Southeast Asia.”Pierre met Sophie’s eyes.“He’s a white whale for Interpol; they’ve been hunting him for years.”
“He’s likely the one masterminding the artifact thefts,” Sophie said.“And we’re running out of time to stop him.”
“Show Pierre Sunan’s picture,” Chen urged.“We didn’t have any hits on him in the criminal databases, but maybe you recognize him too.”
Feirn hit a button, and another visage filled the tablet’s surface.This man was younger, with high cheekbones, heavy black brows and a shaved head.“Don’t recognize him,” Pierre said.
“We’ve got two faces to circulate everywhere around the world through law enforcement,” Sophie said.“Good work, Feirn.”
The young man ducked his head in embarrassed acknowledgement.
“I’ll make sure these images get out,” Sophie said.She and Feirn left.
Chen’s phone rang.She listened for a moment, then hung up.“The judge will see us in two hours.We need everything ready by then.”
Pierre took a seat at a chair by the window.He opened his laptop.
“I’ll add you to the document I’m creating.You can access the matches I’ve made, pairing your material to the missing pieces as I’m assembling them,” Chen said.“We can check them together in real time.”
“Oui.Yes,” Pierre said.A moment later his computer pinged with the access to the file.
This document was a critical step to getting the artifacts back and possibly stopping Sunan’s bid for power; but a darker worry gnawed at him.
If Pim Wat was truly missing, and assassins like Khun Sakchai were part of Sunan’s group, then Sophie was in more danger than she realized.He was glad she had a bodyguard.Hopefully Feirn would be enough.
23
SOPHIE
A day and a half later,Sophie and Waxman, with Feirn seated cross-legged on the floor, tuned in via remote camera to watch the raid on theMoku Pahu.Button cams mounted on Janet Chen’s and Marcella Scott’s ballistic vests provided a grainy live action feed.
The FBI conference room smelled of burnt coffee and the alcohol cleaner someone had used on the whiteboards.Sophie sat forward in her chair, eyes fixed on the wall of monitors showing live feeds from button cameras.Her reflection ghosted across the screens—a pale shadow against the bright displays.
They’d timed the rendezvous in the conference room for when the coast guard cutter was nearing the huge cargo ship, and it happened to be past sunset.
“Thank you for inviting us to follow the action,” Sophie told Waxman.
“You deserve to be here, and I know you’d rather be on board with Chen and Scott than sitting in this conference room,” Waxman said, his eyes on the screen as he typed.
Sophie stayed silent; that wasn’t strictly true.She didn’t have a strong stomach for boats, and it had been nice to be able to spend a day at home while the raid got organized; even now her hands smelled like the baby shampoo she’d used on Sean’s hair just before she left for the FBI building.
A crackle of static.
“Coast GuardCutter Kimballto FBI One, we have visual on target vessel,” the speakers spat.“Moku Pahubearing two-seven-zero, range three thousand meters.”
