Alex Mitchell - The 13th Tablet

‘You bastards!’ she yelled, fuming.

She walked on and saw an empty tuktuk near the entrance of their hotel. The doorman noticed her questioning look, and told her the driver would be back soon. While she waited, she noticed a local squinting at her from the other side of the street. She thought for a moment the man had mistaken her for someone else, and she was suddenly afraid. But she was wrong about him; he seemed to have lost interest and before she knew it, he was talking on his mobile phone. She sat on a low wall waiting for the driver to return or another taxi to arrive. The man across the street was gone. The tuktuk driver came out of the hotel laden with boxes and wrapped-up gifts. Before Mina had time to speak to him, he had already fitted his load on the backseat and was ready to go. Mina was frantic. Would she ever find a cab to take her to the airport? Suddenly a taxi stopped at the rank. This time she practically tore the door open.

‘Are you free?’ she asked.

‘Yes. Where you going?’ he replied.

‘The airport,’ answered Mina.

But as she looked inside, she noticed someone was already in the front passenger seat.

‘You come in?’ the taxi driver urged her.

‘Well, I was just waiting until your other customer left,’ she answered.

‘No. She my friend, going airport too,’ he replied.

‘Right,’ said Mina.

She didn’t feel as if she really had a choice in the matter.

As the car left the taxi rank, Mina took a better look at the veiled woman in front. She had a funny sensation of deja vu , or more precisely, she recognised the woman’s perfume. It was quite distinctive, both edgy and classy; a fragrance that simply didn’t seem right among the locals. Suddenly a cold sweat broke out over her entire body as she remembered when she had last smelled it. She tried opening the door, but it was centrally locked.

She screamed ‘Let me out! Now!’

The woman turned around and pointed a gun at her. She lifted her veil and sunglasses and let her blond hair loose.

Natasha Mastrani smiled cruelly at Mina. ‘Shut up and stay still,’ she ordered.

Mina lost control and tried breaking the window with her mobile phone. The driver saw Mina wasn’t wearing her seatbelt and slammed on the breaks. She was thrown violently against the front seat but she wasn’t knocked out. Natasha suddenly plunged a needle into Mina’s thigh and emptied the entire contents of the syringe. Within seconds Mina felt an immense weariness spread through her and a moment later she lost consciousness and was out cold.

‘What was that?’ asked the driver.

‘At least we won’t have to hear her moaning until tomorrow. Drive back to the yacht,’ answered Natasha.

December 26th, 2004. Phuket. Airport

Jack was a nervous wreck. What was Mina doing? He should have driven back to Patong beach to pick her up. His mother was asleep and Jen was stroking her head. Her eyes seemed vacant. They were still traumatised from their recent misadventures and Jack knew he’d have to find them some help when they got back to the States. Normal people don’t get over kidnappings in a matter of moments. He was still amazed at Mina’s resilience after all her ordeals at the hands of Wheatley. Maybe it was hatred for the man that kept her from collapsing. What was she doing? They couldn’t wait that much longer, it was almost 7:30 and they had already missed one flight to Bangkok. He’d called her mobile phone many times and she’d never answered. He hoped she’d forgotten it in their room and that nothing more sinister had happened. After switching off his phone for the the tenth time to avoid being traced, he turned it on again and this time noticed he had a text message. He opened it and immediately wished he hadn’t.

I have Mina. Same deal. Meet me 9am. Patong Beach. Chiang Mai Restaurant.

Don’t forget the photograph.

Jack wanted to hurl his phone against the wall.

‘I knew it,’ Jack said out loud. ‘I should’ve gone back to the bungalow.’

He looked at his mother and sister, and made up his mind in an instant.

‘Mum, Jen, I’m putting you on the first plane to Bangkok. I’ve also organised your connecting flight back home.’

‘But Jack, what are you going to do? Where’s Mina?’ asked Jen tearfully.

‘You have a two hour gap between the arrival in Bangkok and your departure for the US. I have to stay here until Mina arrives.’

‘We’ll wait with you Jack,’ she answered.

‘No Jen. You must go. It’s all arranged. You’ll land in Phili.

Uncle Frankie will pick you up. Mina and I will see you when we get back home. We’ll be fine.’

One look at her stubborn brother left her defeated. Jen took her mother’s arm and they walked briskly, passports in hand, to the departure zone. He stood there for a few more seconds, watching them go and then rushed out of the hall. On his way out he placed a few personal belongings, including his laptop, into a locker, but kept his small rucksack and the fake photograph of the tablet, which he placed in an envelope. He jumped into a cab and offered the driver triple the fare to get to Patong beach as fast as he could. He drove like a madman through the countryside and Jack arrived on Patong beach just before 8:00 a.m.

As he paid the driver the agreed fare, Jack heard his stomach growling. He realised he hadn’t eaten since dinner the day before. He noticed a Starbucks cafe on the beach and decided to grab coffee and some food, as he still had one hour to go. As Jack pushed the door open, he suddenly felt sick, as if all his insides had been turned upside down. A powerful tremor had shaken the cafe and the people sitting inside had felt the sharp rocking motion too.

They all looked at each other in surprise. Three American kids huddled around their parents, started screaming. The parents tried reassuring them, but they seemed as apprehensive as their children. They quickly ordered a few mango smoothies to distract their children, which seemed to work momentarily.

Two young Swedish men were having breakfast with an Israeli couple. The group’s diving gear was scattered all over the floor. Markus, one of the Swedes, a tall blond hulk with a bronze tan, turned to the others excitedly:

‘Did you feel that, guys?’

‘Yeah, that was a close one! Maybe we shouldn’t go diving after all?’ the Israeli girl wondered.

‘Don’t tell me you’re scared, Irit?’ her boyfriend asked her.

‘Irit? Scared of anything?’ Markus laughed.

‘What about you Stieg?’ she asked the Swede, ‘are you afraid?’

‘No, dude. I don’t feel anything anymore so it must’ve been pretty far away. Let’s go!’

Jack’s hands were trembling. He sat down, his hands on his thighs as he breathed in deeply. ‘It’s the earthquake!’ he thought. ‘It was true after all.’

But at least it meant that the earthquake was over now, and regardless of what it had caused in another country or island in the Indian Ocean, Thailand was now safe. ‘It’s over. Now I can focus on dealing with that Wheatley bastard.’

He thought about the restaurant, Chiang Mai. It was a swish restaurant on the sea front and not very far from where he was. It was a slightly elevated building, isolated from bungalows and guest houses by a dense row of coconut trees. It had a good view of the beach and the seafront. As Wheatley was obviously a megalomaniac, Jack guessed he’d probably have booked the entire restaurant to avoid any witnesses. He caught sight of a local boy he’d seen hanging around the hotel the other day. He called him over.

‘Hi! You remember me?’ asked Jack.

‘Yes Sir, I carried your luggage.’