I had only just landed in Singapore when Anna called with the first piece of bad news.
“Please listen,” she began. “Don’t interrupt me. I went to the apartment where Solomon lives. You said everyone was going to Singapore. But Solomon is still here. I saw him in the car park. He was with the man you call GOB and an Arab man. Maybe it was Kader because he was wearing a long white robe like you described to me. And then . . .”
Her breathless voice tailed off. “What is it?” I asked.
“When I left this morning, there were two men sitting in the hotel lobby. When I got back from the apartment, they were still there. I didn’t like it, so I waited and watched. Then I heard them talking on the phone, and I heard the name Doctor Mike Stevens. That’s you, Mark.”
“Go on,” I said.
“Then I heard them say another name - Mathew Johnson. That’s also you. Then they went to reception and asked something. Maybe they asked about Mathew Johnson. I was scared, Mark, so I went to our
room, packed everything, and checked out. They were still in the lobby.”
“Where are you now?”
“In a taxi. I am going to leave our things in my old apartment and maybe stay there for a while. Why don’t you come back, Mark? They know about you. They know you were in Bangkok. Maybe they know you went to Singapore. What name did you use at the pharmacy last night?”
“I didn’t give a name,” I said. “I think the people in the pharmacy know nothing about what’s going on. They’d never heard of someone called O’Brian.”
I don’t know why I was telling her this. Talking about the two staff at Shah Pharmacy, the old man and the boy, was pointless, but I was giving myself time to think.
“Call Colin,” I said. “I’ll talk to him as well. Then stay in the apartment. I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
I swore at myself and walked around in circles, thinking. I knew immediately I’d made a mistake. Colin and Anna had both been right.
What more could I do? I should have handed everything over to the authorities to deal with. I’d done enough. Colin had done as much as he could and so had Larry and Kevin. Let Interpol, the Thai police, the Singapore police, and whoever else deal with it. That had been their opinion. Larry, in particular, had decided he could do no more.
“I’m running out of steam,” he’d said.
What he meant was he was running out of options to do anything that would make a difference. Colin had recognised that too and had tied up our case with his report. Reports, paperwork, form-filling, and box-ticking are not my style, but bureaucracy is what drives everything these days.
“What more can I do?” Larry had mourned, and he’d gone on to make as good a verbal summary as Colin’s written one. Larry’s arguments
had helped put a different perspective on things - things seen through the eyes of a medical doctor. I shall never forget Larry’s long rant about the World Health Organisation because, just like Kevin, he had opened my eyes.
“The WHO dabbles in everything,” he’d said. “It has become a job-creation scheme like every other publicly funded organisation.
Smallpox and polio have been dealt with, so they ask for more money in order to turn their attention to sexual habits, food, nutrition, education, and discrimination. In so doing, it has convinced the world that that is what it’s there for. No one asks questions, and no one criticises it because it has become a god-like structure that exists to take care of every one of us from before we’re conceived right up to our burial or cremation. It has become untouchable. But, in so doing, it has enabled us to live way beyond our natural lifespan and now wants more money to deal with the effects of its own dabbling: ageing, demographic problems, millions of economic migrants, mental health, disability, and quality of life. “It is a bureaucratic monster, Mark,” he’d concluded.
The trouble with me, Mark Dobson, is that I’m impatient. I make my own decisions. Sometimes they’re made in too much haste but I get results. I do things my way. So, what now?
I was in Singapore. I was at the airport, and I was ready to jump in a taxi or take the MRT and finish this job because I had this gut feeling that unless I acted, O’Brian, Solomon, Kader, and a million or so doses of a lethal virus would disappear. I phoned the embassy and asked to speak to Caroline Mason.
Things then happened quickly. “Rupert, dear, back so soon. Missed me?”
“Yes,” I said to avoid all the usual time-wasting female analysis if I’d said no. “Listen,” I added, “I’m in a spot of bother.”
“That’s not like you, Rupert. Always in charge. Always ahead of the game. What’s up? Where are you?”
“Changi. The airport. I arrived an hour ago from Bangkok, but I may have to turn around and fly back again.”
“Busy, diligent, handsome and hard-working men are always in demand.”
“I’m a busy man with a problem, Caroline. I didn’t know who else to turn to.”
“So, you immediately thought of Aunty Caroline. What can aunty do?”
“You remember Shah Medicals?”
“Yes, naughty little John Chua. Did you meet him last time?”
“I did, and he’s involved in something big and complicated, though I’m not sure he fully understands what it is or how big it is. It’ll take me a while to explain everything Caroline, so you’ll just need to listen to me and believe what I’m about to tell you.
“Ooh! Steady on. Take it easy. I’m very fragile until I’ve had lunch.”
If Caroline thought I was proposing to talk over lunch, then she was sadly mistaken.
“This case has everything,” I said. “In short, we’ve got counterfeit medicines, fraud on an international scale, bioterrorism, and I was recently a witness to two murders. Not only that, but our man in Nairobi…”
“Good Lord! And you are involved? Up to your neck?”
“I’m involved in as much as I’m trying to stop it and get people arrested. The priority, though, is to intercept a consignment of what I think might be refrigerated live and lethal virus arriving in Singapore this morning. It’s destined for Shah Medicals. After that… I’m not sure what they intend to do with it.”
“Do they intend to spread it around?” Caroline seemed genuinely alarmed. “Around Singapore? Is it a nasty one? Like plague? I’ve
always said that this place is a perfect place to start a pandemic. It’s so packed. We live like battery hens.”
“It’s worse than that,” I said. “This is deliberate. The virus has been deliberately genetically engineered to kill thousands, perhaps millions. The guy who’s created it is a world expert on viruses, and he’s a fanatical believer in the need to reduce the human population.
He calls his virus Malthus A. He could be working on Malthus B for all I know.”
People work faster when the pressure is on. I could have explained this to Caroline in a much more thorough and gentler way, but I was under pressure. She took it well.
“That’ll explain Singapore 2100 then,” she said. “I checked them out after you’d left. It’s an underground group committed to reducing Singapore’s population before we become so top heavy with high rises that we tilt over and topple into the sea. Oh my god!”
“That’s one possibility,” I said.
“It’s not the only one?”
“It’s not only Singapore,” I said. “And it’s not only just about spreading this thing around. Someone is planning to make big money out of it. Little John Chua, as you call him, might be completely in the dark about the origins of this virus. Chua’s job will be to market a vaccine or a treatment.”
“This virus expert has a treatment as well?”
“Not him. But his financial backers have got something. I doubt if it works, but can you imagine the profit from a hundred million doses of a something claimed to be a cure at $10 a shot?”
“They’d never allow it, Rupert, surely. You can’t sell medicines without tests and proof that it’s safe and it works. Heaven knows it can take years to get a drug approved.”
“Normally, yes,” I said. “But people are in this for money. They’ll sell millions of doses of something to people who don’t care whether it’s approved or not? Just look at the traditional medicines market in a tiny place like Singapore. There are people who’ll chew on a piece of rhino horn just to improve their virility. Go online, Caroline, and you’ll find thousands of businesses selling unapproved medicines.
China is a good place to start.
“Just this morning, waiting for the plane, I did a quick check on my phone and found a hundred companies offering treatments for everything, from indigestion to heart disease and kidney failure. I could have used by Visa card and ordered a box of capsules from one company who claimed that were for everything from indigestion to kidney rejuvenation, prostatitis, urinary tract infection, cystitis, and even premature ejaculation. The recommended dose was one to five capsules taken two to three times a day. That was a lot of boxes. And do you know what this expensive miracle cure contained, Caroline?
Ground up deer antlers, earthworms, pangolin, and centipedes.
“Now look at Africa. Africa is, I suspect, where they see their biggest market. First, they’ll spread their virus around, and then, for those that don’t quickly die of pleurisy or pneumonia, they’ll offer a useless, untested vaccine or treatment that might finish you of anyway. In Africa, if you’re poor, you might well seek the advice of your local spiritual healer who’d recommend a concoction of herbs that won’t work, and you’ll die. On the other hand, if you can afford a slightly more upmarket physician, you might be encouraged to purchase a new and better medicine from Singapore made from tap water and a drop of artificial colouring. You see how it can be done, Caroline?”
“Yes,” she said, obviously imagining the scene I’d been painting.
“You want me to go on, or shall I cut to the chase and I explain what I want?”
“You’re being very serious this morning, Rupert. What do you want?”
I was still at the airport surrounded by the jungle, waterfalls, and butterfly gardens that make Changi Airport such a unique place. It is a good day out for those with the time on their hands but I was bent over my phone and seeing nothing except the picture I was describing.
I took a breath long enough to wonder what Anna was doing right then, but then I continued.
“The UK and US governments have become aware of this,” I said.
“I’m hoping the US and British Embassies know. Would the UK
Ambassador know, Caroline? Can you check? Whoever it is, I’d like you to tell them you’ve spoken to me. I’m sure they are already taking the matter seriously and maybe liaising with the US Embassy. I need to know exactly what’s going on. The Singapore police should also have received an Interpol red notice to arrest a US citizen called Greg O’Brian. I think he’s still in Bangkok, but there are others involved as well, including, wittingly or unwittingly, John Chua. Got all that?”
“Got it.”
“The immediate priority is to intercept that airfreight consignment from Bangkok. It may already be here. There are two boxes marked as hazardous and not to be opened until final destination. That final destination is Shah Medicals. Can you organise that because I need to get back to Bangkok right now.”
“I’ve always said I’d drop anything for you, Rupert. But I know you well enough to realise this is serious. I’ll speak to the boss right away and check with the police. How can I get hold of you?”
I gave her my mobile phone number and the Asher & Asher number in London and then left to book a ticket back to Bangkok and to call Colin.
When Colin phoned me back, I was in the departures lounge, but he didn’t give me a chance to say anything before setting about me like a dog chewing on a bone.
“You should be proud of that new woman of yours, Jinx,” he said before I’d even said hello. “I’ve just spoken to her. She’s worried about you. She’s told me about your antics last night. Yes, good news about finding Solomon’s hideout and the two boxes going to Singapore, but clearly something’s gone wrong because we’re all being targeted now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, let me give you the first bit of bad news.”
Up until then, neither Colin or I had had the official confirmation, but Colin had now heard from Louise in Nairobi.
“Jimmy’s dead,” he said.
I suppose I’d expected it, but you know how it is. You always hold onto some ridiculous and lingering hope. I couldn’t speak for a moment, and Colin seemed to want to let it sink in. Eventually, I found the words to ask what I needed to know. “How? Where?”
“His body was found in a hut at a campsite in the national park outside Nairobi. He’d been shot.”
I needed to let that sink in as well, but Colin had had the advantage of a few hours and wanted to continue where he’d left off. “As I was saying, we’re all in someone’s gun sights now.”
I was still thinking of Jimmy though. “I’m so sorry,” I said. “He was a natural, but I blame myself for pushing him at the end.”
Then he started on me again. “You push everyone too far, Jinx. That includes yourself. But don’t push Anna, do you hear me? She’s too good to be tied up in all this shit, and yet you have involved her. You asked her to do something this morning. And you know what, my friend? Right now, she’s scared. But she’s standing by you because, for some reason, she only sees the good side of you. I’ve seen all your sides - the good, the bad, the ugly, and the downright stupid. You’ve been a damned foolish risk-taker over the years. You know that? Jinx
is your usual name but Foolhardy might be better. Now, let me give you another bit of bad news.”
I waited, wondering what was coming next.
“They got too much out of Jimmy before and after he was shot - his mobile phone, his wallet, and his notebook. Did you not know that Jimmy, despite resembling Will Smith in a comedy role, was very well organised? Jimmy was too well organised. I told him many times not to carry things around. But the notebook had a lot of names in it including two versions of you: John Franklin and Mathew Johnson.
So, GOB knows about you. He already knew about Asher and Asher, of course, which means he knows about me. Now, as you know, I’ve crossed swords with GOB before. I do not want to be garden-forked just yet. Get my drift?”
“Yes,” I said.
“And the other big problem, my friend, is Anna. Unfortunately, she was seen in the car park of Solomon’s apartment block by three people, and from her description, I guess the three people were Solomon, Kader, and GOB. They definitely saw her because she had a little accident in the car park and broke a heel on the shoe she was wearing.
“Now, ladies do not always make the best field detectives, Mark, unless properly attired and properly briefed. And Solomon, despite his desire to eliminate half the world population, appears to have a very old-fashioned, gentlemanly side because he rushed to her aid. Trouble is he wasn’t quick enough because Anna fled and jumped into a tuk-tuk. If that wasn’t enough to ring alarm bells with GOB and Kader, then I don’t know what was.
“So, as a private investigator known for his stubborn ways, I suggest you learn from all this. You either do everything yourself - and I mean everything - or if you decide to use someone else for a job, whether they’re African, Thai, Chinese, Belgian, Eskimo, or a cross-
dressing Russian ballerina, then you carry out a full risk assessment or take out insurance, which, I warn you, could bankrupt us. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Now then. Next thing. Pay attention. Anna told you she only saw two people at your hotel. The fact is she saw a third sitting outside in a car. Anna described this third man to me, and bearing in mind she’d only seen the guy from a distance as you sat having dinner last night, she thought it was GOB. I think she was right. She didn’t tell you that because she didn’t want to worry you. But are you starting to understand this rather special woman of yours, Jinx?”
“Yes.”
“Good because you now need to return to Bangkok, and with no other distractions or deviations, go straight to see Anna. Got it? Agreed?”
“Yes.” I said, but he still hadn’t finished.
“Something else worries me, Jinx. GOB is no amateur. He’s a pro.
He’s a pro, especially when it comes to protecting himself. My worry is that he saw Anna exit the hotel carrying two people’s bags. He may have had her followed. He may have followed her himself. He may, with luck, have lost her taxi in a Bangkok traffic jam and still be looking for her, but are you getting my message? If he can’t get you, he’ll get the next best thing.”
“My flight has just been last-called,” I said.
“Then call Anna and me as soon as you get back.”
“Thanks, Colin. And I really am so sorry about Jimmy. But - just one other thing from my side. I’ve spoken to the British Embassy in Singapore and they now know about Shah Medicals. They will try to get the Singapore police or customs to intercept the two boxes, and…”
“Jinx, for Christ’s sake, get on the bloody plane. I know all that. I’ve already spoken to someone called Caroline Mason. Now fuck off.”