Overthrow (A James Winchester Thriller Book 2) (James Winchester Series) by James Samuel (the gingerbread man read aloud .TXT) 📕

move towards them. Rith sat transfixed, whereas the women and children scrambled backwards until their backs hit the wall.

“You translate, Rith. This is nothing personal. We want to meet Prahn. Bring him here,” said James.

“No, no, no, I can’t.” Rith shook his head.

Blake made a show of switching his Glock’s safety off. “You can and you will or I’m going to start shooting you one by one.” He gritted his teeth. “And I’ll leave you alive so you can watch everyone die.”

Rith’s eyes bulged. Tears formed on the edges of his eyelids, like a banana leaf after the rains had fallen.

“Call him.” Blake gestured with the gun. “Now. I know you have a phone and I know you’re capable of calling him in an emergency.”

Rith looked back at the family sitting just a little behind him. The women held the kids tightly. They exchanged some hurried words in Khmer. James didn’t understand a word, but he could tell the women were begging Rith to summon Uncle Prahn.

“Okay, okay, I call him, yah.” Rith fished his phone out of his pocket. “I call him now.”

Blake lowered the gun and leaned against the side of the door. James joined him as Rith spoke in hurried Khmer.

“We should have given him a script. Who knows what he’s saying or who he’s really speaking to?” said Blake. “I wouldn’t trust this guy. You know how they are when you point a gun at them. Maybe I should put a bullet in his leg to make sure he knows not to screw around.”

“Even if we told him what to say and who to call, he’s speaking a language we don’t understand.” He glanced at the animated Rith. “He’s calling Sambath, I know it. You can tell just by looking at him.”

“Well, I don’t trust him.”

“Leave them alone. Unless they do anything that deserves it, let them be. These people are defenceless.”

Blake’s expression tightened. “Don’t get soft on me because you want to start having misguided principles again.”

Every inch of him wanted to fire back at Blake with what he knew about him and Gallagher. Blake, once again, had his own secret mission. He took a deep breath and bit down on his tongue. This wasn’t the time for that.

Rith gesticulated like a wild animal as he spoke into the phone. He paused, and then his voice quietened before he let his cell phone drop to the floor beside him, the dust shifting.

“Well?” said Blake. “When is he coming?”

“I don’t know, but he said he come. He come soon.” Hatred sprang from Rith’s brow. “He kill you.”

Blake roared with laughter. “Sure, he will, kid. Sure, he will. I guess we’ll just have to put that theory to the test. Time to hunker down for the night.”

James and Blake conferred. They agreed to keep a watch of six hours each. Watching the family and the land around the farm at the same time wouldn’t be easy, but they didn’t have the manpower to do anything more.

James settled in for the first watch as Blake moved to the adjoining hut to get some rest. Soon, Prahn would come. And James knew that Prahn wouldn’t come alone.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Poipet, Banteay Meanchey, Cambodia

Dylan and Adam continued to stakeout the guesthouse across the road. Prahn emerged, his movements sharp and jumpy. The two foreigners peered at him with curiosity from their vantage point at the bar.

“He never looked like that before,” Dylan remarked. “Something’s spooked him.”

“Just watch him closely. We don’t know what it means.” He dug into his wallet and threw a pile of dollars on the table. “We have to be ready to move fast. Do you have your car here?”

“Sure,” said Dylan. “It’s just around the corner.”

Prahn moved down the street towards his vehicle, the much-beloved Cambodian staple, a silver Toyota Camry.

The two field agents rose from their seats and dismissed the waiter.

“Get to the car. What is it?” asked Adam.

“The same car as his. Since the Camry is the most popular car in Cambodia, I figured it would help us blend in.”

“Nice one.” Adam gave him a quick clap on the shoulder.

Dylan had bought the Camry from a local on the outskirts of Phnom Penh soon after his arrival. He’d thought about renting but considered that a private purchase would make it harder to track. Not that he’d got any papers. The car was still registered in the original owner’s name.

He opened the door of the Camry, parked on the adjacent corner of the bar when Adam nudged him in the side.

“Let me drive. Just in case he wants to play silly buggers and start a chase.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, you’re right.”

Dylan jogged around to the passenger side. Adam had extensive experience in high-speed driving. As much as he wanted to handle everything himself, he couldn’t let his ego get in the way of keeping track of Prahn.

By the time they pulled away from the curb, Prahn had already started negotiating the border traffic. Hemmed in by the buses, tuk-tuks, and backpackers, Adam slammed the horn and gesticulated at the mess in front of them. It would be easy to lose Prahn in the scrum of Poipet.

Dylan took out his phone and picked out Shao’s number. Prahn’s behaviour didn’t match his descriptors. So calm during his journey to Poipet, Prahn sped out of town like a man afflicted with some wild phantasma.

“Yes?” Shao answered.

“It’s me,” said Dylan.

“I told you never to call me directly. Do you Americans not know how to follow orders? You are putting me at risk here,” said Shao, his tone uncharacteristically irritated. “Make it quick. I have business to attend to.”

“Sambath’s on the move. We arrived at Poipet and now he’s turned around and he’s moving quickly back into Cambodia.