He frowned as he continued looking at the fast disappearing trio of men. They were all carrying backpacks. The two who had been more aggressive were gesturing and talking, still upset. The one who’d talked to Surya said something that appeared to shut the conversation down. As they were about to disappear into the shadows, one of them bent over, picked up what looked like a rock, and threw it back toward the kids. He shouted something Kirk couldn’t make out but he could imagine what the expletive was. Okay, maybe Surya wouldn’t have been quite as successful placating those two.
After a few minutes, Surya waved goodbye to her new friends and started back toward the car, with Kirk following.
When he joined her in the car, she gave him that sly smile he was now familiar with. Like the cat who stole the cream. Oh, yes, his girl had a secret. He was both intrigued and mildly amused. Here he was, on assignment, and the woman was getting in on it like a boss.
He waved his smart phone at her. “Perempuan jahat!” he announced.
Her grin widened. “Doing translation, eh?”
“Since you’re doing such a good job being a negotiator, I thought I’d better brush up on my translation services,” he told her solemnly. “It says here, that’s Bahasa for ‘hellcat’.”
She chuckled as she started up the car. “I suppose that’s one translation. Usually it means mischievous or wicked.” She stepped on the gas pedal, rumbling the engine, and gave him a teasing look. “Ready to get back on the road, scaredy cat?”
Kirk gave her a side glance. “Wicked. Yeah, that describes you. You gonna tell me what you were up to back there with our suspects?”
“Ahhh. You figured it out already.”
He sniffed. “What’s hard about that? He walked like a damn military man.”
“Mmm-hmm. Big muscular arms. And so strong. He was carrying that backpack like it weighed nothing. Too bad he’s the bad SEAL.”
“How do you know he’s the SEAL and not one of the mercenaries?” Kirk asked, curious.
“There was a small SEAL trident tattoo on his wrist. I saw it when he handed me the cans. The other two men were rougher and their bodies were bulkier. They do have military training, though. I can tell from the way they moved and their body language. It’s just that the SEAL was a lot more attentive to details.”
“All that in the few minutes shouting at the first two men and another few haggling with the one who came up later, huh?”
“Yup. But I cheated. I asked the older kids about men going in and out of the woods who were hiking with too many supplies. They told me about the tough guys bringing loads into the forest at night. They’d planned to pick their pockets for cash because they were hungry. So…” Surya shrugged. “I thought I’d help them out.”
Kirk shook his head. She was something else. “Most people help by giving the kids cash, you know,” he said, “and not by encouraging a life of crime.”
Surya dimpled back at him. “I wanted to see them in action. Brings back old memories.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Memories? As in…you were a child pickpocket?”
Surya laughed softly. “Hard to believe, huh? I was the best before I was adopted.” She looked whimsical for a second. “Dirty, hungry, and needy all the time. Tourists eating left and right, tempting us with all that cash in their pockets. It’s getting harder, you know, what with the wide usage of credit cards. Child pickpockets are now part of real gangs with head gangsters who take their stolen cards in exchange for money. The kids are often treated badly. Back in my day, you could be a lone agent, doing your own little thing. Not any more.”
Kirk couldn’t imagine Surya as a dirty little kid, but he could see her picking pockets. She was very good at stealing his things, if memory served him right.
“So, you got close to the people we’re looking for,” he said. “Not sure if that’s a good idea.”
“I didn’t plan it that way. I’d actually wanted to just watch the kids steal the wallets and then take a look at what’s in them, but those men had their antennae up the moment the kids swarmed around them. I had to jump in or they would have caught the girl and who knows whether they’re the kid-beating kind of guys?” She looked angry. “I wasn’t going to see children get hurt, so I stepped in. Then that younger man appeared. He seemed in charge, so I guess that’s a good thing or they might not have listened to him.”
She took a turn and they were on a dusty road, off the streets.
“Where are we going?”
She glanced at him. “Gasi’s place isn’t far. I tagged the wallet and flashlight, so we can actually trail them to wherever they’re heading. There was a map of some kind, so I’m thinking they have all those supplies because they’re heading for that forbidden territory we heard about. Do you think they have the scientists there?”
“Wait, hold up.” Kirk pinched his nose. “That was a lot of stuff in that answer. You tagged those guys.”
Surya grinned at him. “Yeah,” she replied. “It’s a GPS-like tag, but only sends intermittent signals to save battery and avoid detection. We can’t trail after them immediately. He’s a SEAL and besides, they’re professionals. They’ll know if we’re too close to them. Sound carries in the woods, you know. When they come to a stop, I’ll get the last signal and we can head there. That way, there’ll always be enough distance between us. So, we need Gasi ASAP.”
Kirk shook his head. “We can’t take out that team all by ourselves, sweetheart. We have to get the SEAL team Dec MacKenzie has set up to do this part.”
“We aren’t going to ‘take them on’. We’re just following them to get the right location for the SEAL team. How else would they know where to go? If we wait for your friends to arrive, they could be too far in that forest for us to track. This way, we follow far enough to mark the right spot. That’s why Gasi is important. He’ll know exactly how to track quickly and also give us landmarks to send to your SEALs.”
Kirk stared out of the windshield, half-taking in the very scenic route of green, green trees in between paddy fields. Timing and planning were two very important elements of negotiations. This one was particularly tricky because the bad guys had a history of not keeping their word. They had a rocket, which they might or might not shoot, even if they received the ransom. They had hostages, whom they might or might not release, for the same reason. Usually, the terrorists only executed one threat at a time; this double threat was a bit odd, to say the least. Either one would be enough to garner attention, but they’d chosen to make this a private demand, without any news leakage. Which was fine with his side, what with an international meeting taking place.
