The Export by J.K. Kelly (read along books txt) 📕

long ago. From there, he’d be off to Phuket, eventually landing on the island where the hunt would take place. Twenty-five hours of long-haul travel with no assurances that their prey would even be there.

After the call, the two spent another hour together in the living room. There was something on Netflix they had heard was good, but they ignored the program and sat quietly in their thoughts. Lois had found a spot at their feet and fell fast asleep. The next morning, as Dale’s driver pulled up in a white SUV, she stared at Matt for a moment. He knew the look.

“No, with everything falling into place, this will not be the last time you see me, young lady,” he assured her.

She smiled and came close, kissing him on the cheek. “Come home in one piece, and I’ll put my condo in D.C. on the market,” she whispered in his ear.

“Do it now. I’ll be home soon. Now off to work, dear,” he joked.

As she walked to her ride, she turned and looked at him, but he was already gone.

Matt stood at the window, playing with Lois, who wouldn’t let go of a tennis ball she’d found, but also watching the only woman he cared for in the world, the only person he could now trust, drive away.

*

A day and a half later, Sam and Matt walked off the plane and into the heat and humidity of a beautiful Thai island. They cruised through passport control, thanks to Matt flashing his diplomatic credentials, and hopped in the first cab they could find. Not long after, they were in their adjoining rooms at a quaint beachfront hotel property. The plan they had forged on the last leg of the flight was to shower, breakfast, and then hide under sunglasses, hats, and beach umbrellas and take the day to acclimate to the time zone and Thai weather. Matt quickly changed that up the minute they walked into the hotel lobby.

“Coffee! Where’s the coffee?” he pleaded jokingly with the front desk staff. Within one minute, a waiter from the restaurant arrived at the desk with a pot, two cups, sweeteners, and cream.

“I love it here already,” he said as he waited for his credit card and passport to be processed.

An hour later, Matt was in the open-air restaurant enjoying a huge serving of pastries, donuts, and fresh fruit. Sam was nowhere in sight. After texting Dale that they were AOK MSU, the letters for Ko Samui Airport only in reverse, he finished eating and then headed back to his room. Knocking on the door that separated their rooms, he was happy to hear Sam was up but surprised at what he saw when Sam finally opened the door.

“What’s the matter?” Matt asked his longtime friend. “What’s wrong?”

Sam motioned for Matt to come into his room and then for him to take a seat. After a minute of staring out the sliding glass doors that opened onto a spectacular beach, Sam walked to the chair across from where Matt was seated and spilled his guts.

“I haven’t been entirely honest with you, Matt,” he began.

Matt was watching everything. He watched every breath, every wink from Sam and, from time to time, looked about Sam’s room watching, listening for anything out of the ordinary. What the hell is this? he wondered.

“Anika, my Susannah, and I were more involved than just an affair,” Sam began.

Matt continued to listen and waited for what was sure to be a huge shoe drop.

“I lied about her saying she wanted to visit Thailand sometime. We had planned to see it together.” Matt’s senses went into high alert, and he regretted not having one of the handguns he had brought with him in a diplomatic pouch closer.

“So, what now? Is she going to walk out of the bedroom?” Sam’s face suddenly felt tired and worn from the trip and the emotional struggle being waged within.

“No, but I know where she is, and we can intercept her tonight.”

Sam spent the next half-hour describing how their relationship had started, how once he had gotten to know her and fell for her, he helped her get the job at the Coleman Ranch. He swore to Matt that he never knew she wasn’t who she said she was or that she had intended to kill Coleman. He had planned to leave his wife. They still had fun together when it involved a night at the bar, but other than that, they had gone in different directions, and the split was inevitable.

When Susannah came along and things developed, he fell hard for her, and she, at least for appearances’ sake, for him. When she had told everyone she had to leave for New York to tend to her ailing mother, everyone believed her. The truth was that she was leaving so she could continue on her way to Thailand and wait for her new love to join her there. When Coleman turned up dead, it delayed his departure. She wasn’t after money; he hadn’t wired her any. There was no reason for him to think that she wouldn’t be on the beach waiting for him here in Ko Samui.

“You’re fucking good,” Sam said, applauding Matt for figuring out where she would be. “You didn’t know any of this, and you pegged it on the dot. You’re fucking amazing.” Instead of smiling at the compliment, Matt was destroyed. He trusted so few people in the world, and this guy had been one of them.

“Thanks. Yes, I seem to have a talent for figuring out shit like this, but you got the meeting her here by me totally, and that scares me for a variety of reasons.”

Sam stood up, and that worried Matt even more. What the hell can he possibly say or do now?

“So, here’s the deal,” Sam began. “You can walk back into your room right now, get one of your guns, and put one in me right here. I deserve it. I do.”

“Been thinking about