Chapter 21

That evening I declined an invitation to join the two single guys, I wasn't too sure if they had other ideas about me and I didn't want to find out. So I stayed in the hotel to eat and ended up with Daniel joining me. I didn't mind too much, and it gave me a chance to find out more about him.

"Do you do a lot of tours Daniel?"

"I suppose I do. It pays well and I really like it here in this part of the world"

"No ties to home?"

"No. I, err, I'm actually seeing someone here in Cambodia"

"Local to here?"

"Yes"

"Then why are you here and not with them?"

I was curious, especially as everyone else had gone out on their own to eat.

"There's a problem with her family"

Oh, was it because they didn't like that he was a foreigner? I wasn't up on the customs of somewhere like Cambodia, but I was almost sure that there weren't arranged marriages like other places in the world. I waited quietly, sure that Daniel would continue talking, it seemed he wanted to tell someone his problems.

"Her son's gone missing, and his grandfather has arrived, so she felt they needed to be on their own"

"Missing?"

I wasn't expecting something like that.

"I'm really not too sure what the circumstances were only that he seemed to just disappear"

"Does anyone know where he went?"

Thinking that maybe he'd gone off with friends or even to stay with a relative.

"No idea. Khera packed a bag and went but no one has heard anything from him"

"How long ago?"

"Four weeks now"

I suppose that was a long time for there not to be any communication, which made me think of my own parents. I used to regularly call in at my parents or talk with my Mum on the phone, though recently there had been a lot of tension between us. I pondered on what she might be thinking and then pushed it to the back of my mind. I didn't want to think about how she would go on at me about marrying Joe. That relationship was finished and although she was trying very hard with how she spoke to me I could feel her disappointment radiating over me. I was the daughter who was breaking the mold of expected behavior of a daughter in the Burg.

Did I feel guilty with anyone else? Maybe. Tank, Lester and Bobby would worry, and my Dad would as well. I didn't think Lula or Connie would, they'd be more interested in what I'd been doing. Mary Lou probably wouldn't realize I wasn't around because we could go for weeks without talking to each other. Besides, I couldn't get in touch with anyone without giving away where I was, and I wasn't going to be doing that.

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Sorry, I was miles away. I'm heading onto the lake"

"You'll enjoy that. It's peaceful and seeing how the people live on the lake is interesting"

"Yeah, I needed a lazy day tomorrow"

"The plan was to go to the lake the day after"

"I'll explore Siem Reap then"

He laughed as I said that, no doubt understanding my need for solitude and me not wanting to be stuck on a boat with the two guys or Tammy and Ashley"

"It's strange how each group works out. Usually they develop a friendship and get on really well. This group is a bit of an anomaly"

"I get the feeling they're using the tour because they're not confident enough to travel independently"

"Yeah, I suppose. What about you?"

"Guilty. It isn't what I expected, being here I mean. I'm not much of a group person really"

Okay, I knew that I usually enjoyed being in the company of others but my ulterior motive was to see as much of the surroundings as possible in the hope that I would see something that would give me a clue as to where Ranger could have been.

"Well, you know the travel itinerary so you can do your own thing and join us when you want to. Just let me know so I'm not worrying about you"

"Thanks for that"

After we finished eating, I went up to my room, deciding that having got up so early and then spending the day walking around Angkor Wat, I was dead on my feet. I showered and changed into night wear before rinsing through the clothes that I'd worn for the day and hung them to dry in the bathroom. I made sure my phone was on charge and found my camera in the rucksack with the intention of charging that up as well. As I sat against the pillows in bed, I was curious to see the photos that I'd taken, so turning it on went to playback mode. Thinking I'd start with the first ones I'd taken at sunrise I took in a breath as an image of Ranger came onto the screen.

Tears came to my eyes as I remembered that day. Ranger had been helping me to locate a skip and insisted that we did some surveillance first. He'd turned up at my apartment early in the evening all kitted out in his Rangeman gear, looking as sexy as hell, and was stood in the lounge with my bag held open in his hands.

"Babe, you need more than hairspray if we're going to do this"

"I knew that"

I'd said as I went through to the bedroom to find my binoculars. I'd reckoned Ranger would have everything we'd need so hadn't bothered to collect much together. As I found my binoculars pushed to the back of a drawer, I'd also found my camera. Turning it on I'd been pleased that it still had charge left so being as quiet as I could I'd stood in the doorway of my bedroom and focused the camera on him. The first shot was the best as he wasn't aware of what I was doing. The image had him looking toward the window, the light showing his features perfectly.

The sound of the camera clicking had him turning toward me, so the following shots captured his expressions perfectly. First surprise as he'd looked straight at me, then maybe annoyance that I'd caught him unaware then he'd smiled. His full 200watt smile looking straight at me. Of course, then he'd moved, like a cat stalking its prey, causing me to scream and dash back into the bedroom. Yeah, he'd caught me but then I had used everything I knew to distract him. We never did go out on surveillance making that evening together just as amazing as only he could make it.

That brought back the memories of him visiting my bedroom before he went in the wind. The time that I started to question myself and the relationship that I had with Joe.

Ranger had pulled away from when he came back, which wasn't that unusual, but maybe if he knew he would be disappearing again then I suppose he was trying to make it easier for me. I shut the camera down not wanting any more memories to distract me and plugged in the charger thinking that at least I had that one last memory of him.

Somehow, I needed to work out what had happened to him and who was responsible, a daunting task considering I had no idea where in Cambodia I was looking. I started to feel defeated at that idea but closing my eyes and picturing him in my mind, I chanted to myself "You can do this, do it for Ranger" before falling into a deep sleep.

I was heading back to the hotel with a bagful of food and drinks that I was going to need for my day out with Arun. I'd decided that the fresh food being sold in town would be far better than the awful sandwiches that the hotel provided and felt sure that Arun would think so as well. By 10 o'clock I was stood outside of the hotel ready to explore the lake. I'd decided to wear my boots and cargos in case the terrain we were going to was rough and had on a sleeveless T-shirt with a thin shirt over the top to ward off the rays from the sun. I was covered in sun cream, had insect repellent with me and had plaited my hair to put underneath a sun hat.

After ten minutes I was beginning to think that Arun wasn't going to turn up when I heard the sound of a bike engine getting closer. Arun waved and smiled as he came to a stop next to me and helped by taking the bag off me to go inside a box in the carriage.

My small rucksack was securely fastened to my front and I had no intention of it being anywhere else. We never said a word as Arun helped me up into the carriage and then sat on the bike starting up the engine.

As we travelled away from the hotel, I was surprised at how the buildings changed from modern structures to single story houses with lots of small shops dotted amongst them. It was as though they flanked the street we were driving along. There were lots of trees along the roadside and then I was aware of a river beside us, slow running and a dirty brown color. Sand flanked the road between the tarmac and the houses, somewhere we ended up on as larger coaches passed us from the other direction.

The further we travelled the fewer houses there were, but a lot now seemed less robust, made from what looked corrugated metal with makeshift roofs and doors. As we continued it was then that I noticed that the houses were built on stilts at the back where the land seemed to be covered in water. There were lots of restaurants with their large colored signs advertising the local beer until the area opened up and I could see water on both sides of us. There looked to be a lot of buildings with boats tied up next to them where I assumed tourists came to for their day on the lake.

I was surprised when Arun turned from the road and we were driving a sandy dirt track that wound above the level of the water, twisting and turning as it found high ground, past what seemed to be the remains of an old ruined site.

"Phnom Kron"

Floated through the air from Arun, so I assumed that was the name of the site we'd just passed. He continued driving and the road seemed to get bumpier by the minute until at last, he came to a stop beside a very dilapidated shack. As he stopped the engine and dismounted, I took that as my cue to do the same. Another man appeared from nowhere and greeted Arun then looked at me.

"This is my cousin, Chea. He has a boat ready for us"

I smiled at Chea expecting him to talk to me, but he turned away and headed down the side of the building.

"Chea doesn't speak or understand English"

His behavior made sense now so as Arun carried the bag of food I followed onto a rickety wooden platform where a small boat was tied to. Chea was sat at the back, preparing to start a small engine, so I stepped over and onto a plank of wood that doubled as a seat. Once I was seated, I heard the engine come to life and felt us move away from the jetty.

The water was tranquil as we sped across it, other boats around us. I was fascinated watching as buildings came into view. They were built on stilts, totally surrounded by water with areas that were for living in and open spaces where I saw children playing. As we approached, I noticed smaller boats alongside, laden down with bags and buckets, often a lone figure sat at the front with a paddle pulling the boat along.

I noticed that some of the structures seemed to be floating rather than being built on stilts. Chea slowed down as one of the smaller floating boats came close to us. The person manning the boat looked so young with her long dark hair and a beautiful looking face. She smiled as she came alongside us and started to talk. I looked to Arun, hoping he would translate for me.

"She says she has beautiful hat for beautiful lady"

In her hands was a circular straw hat in the shape of a cone. She held it out to me expecting me to take it from her. A look in her eyes and I knew I just had to buy it, I didn't really need one, but I was sure that she probably needed the money from the sale.

"Arun, how much should I pay?"

"You sure you want one?"

"Yes, they look much better than this one that I have on"

"Give her $2 at the most"

I opened the outer pocket of my rucksack and pulled out two dollar bills and handed them across to her. It was worth the money just to see her smile. As she moved away toward another boat that was carrying more tourists, I removed the hat from my head and replaced it with the new one. Two ribbons near the brim tied across under my chin, securing it. I turned to see Arun laughing at me and then his face went serious.

"It looks really good on you"

I turned back to looking out of the front of the boat, feeling slightly embarrassed at what he'd said and then brought out my camera and switched it on. Turning, I handed it to Arun and pointed at the hat. He immediately knew that I wanted a photo of myself in the hat.

I kept the camera out, taking photos of the houses as we passed them. Focusing sometimes on the faces of the people who lived here. It felt like I was getting an eye-opening view of how these people lived and left me with a sense of humanity and gratitude that I'd been allowed to see how they lived.

"We're heading to Mechrey Floating Village, we can stop there and have something to eat"

That was followed by an increase in our speed as the boat cut through the water heading, I think to the top of the lake. It was quieter here, no tourist boats in sight, only small boats of locals fishing. My camera was on my knee when I turned and looked for where a peculiar noise seemed to be coming from. In the distance I could see a helicopter approaching, quite low to the ground. It was a royal blue color with orange writing on the side and as it got closer my spidey sense started to send shivers down my spine.

I automatically raised the camera and zoomed as much as the lens would allow, following it as it flew through the air taking lots of photos. A hand on my shoulder made me jump and turning I saw Arun behind me and felt as his hand came over the camera and pushing it down onto my knee. The engine was too loud to hear if he spoke, so I resumed my position of looking at the view ahead.

Mechrey Floating Village was exactly that. They had a school, restaurants and shops all within the one area. Even live animals like chickens and pigs. Chea slowed the boat as we approached and he pulled up to a small decked area, tying up the boat as he cut the engines off.

"We can sit on the side of the deck to eat. No one will bother us, they all know Chea"

"Do people stay on here all year round?"

"Yes. In the dry season the water drops, and they are land bound, but they still live and survive out here"

It was Chea who brought out the bag of food, making me thankful that I'd bought enough for all three of us. From his face he seemed to approve of my choices, and we were all soon picking up things to eat and drinking water from the bottles. As I picked up some things to try Arun would explain to me what they were.

I was okay with Num Pang a typical Cambodian sandwich and sticky rice but declined the Snails and grilled worms and crickets. I tried the grilled squid skewers but wasn't so keen and decided that the sweet pork sausages and deep-fried bread and shrimp cakes were by far nicer. I realized that I was very full as I took one of the Chive cakes and noticed that the two guys seemed to be really enjoying everything.

As they were still finishing off anything that was left, I picked up my camera and started to look through the photos that I'd taken. I was looking for the ones with the helicopter on, though several of the shots were out of focus there was one that showed up the decals on the side very clearly.

"What was with that helicopter?"

I turned to Arun as I closed the camera down, wanting to know why he'd stopped me from taking any more photographs.

"They're bad news"

"Why's that?"

I turned as Chea suddenly said something that Arun laughed at.

"Abaymoukh akrak"

"What did he say?"

"You wouldn't like it"

"That helicopter?"

"You're not going to give up asking are you?"

"No, I'm curious now"

He looked at Chea before he began to tell me what I felt was a polite version of the truth.

"There's a new company, set up at the top of the lake. Apparently, they aren't very nice people"

"Don't they provide work for the locals?"

"Maybe, but all I hear are rumors"

"Rumors of what?"

"Look, I don't know and you don't need to know either. Believe me that they've caused a lot of trouble for anyone that tries to get near"

"What about the authorities?"

"They look the other way for the right amount of money"

I could see that happening, but I wanted to know more about that company, what it was called and what they did. But more importantly if this was the only place they were or if they had buildings in other areas of the country. I decided that maybe I'd pushed my luck a bit too far with Arun and Chea was definitely not comfortable. That he knew what we were talking about confused me slightly and had me thinking that maybe he understood more than he was going to admit.

"You ready to head back?"

"Yes"

"Thank you for providing lunch, it was very enjoyable"

We spent a small amount of time drifting past the rest of the village and then started to head back across the lake. This time Chea drove the boat more slowly allowing me time to think through what to do next. We pulled into the same place where we'd left from and I went into my bag to pull out the $50 that we'd agreed on for payment. I passed the money to Arun and watched as he handed probably half to Chea. Being back on dry land felt a bit peculiar having been on the boat all day and I was grateful for Arun holding me by my elbow as we walked back to his tuk-tuk. The journey seemed quicker going back to the hotel and it wasn't long before we were stopping. I could tell that Arun wanted to say something so stood in front of him.

"What Arun?"

"I don't want to push you, but do you want to visit waterfall tomorrow?"

"What does that entail?"

"Phnom Kulen Waterfall, then maybe the reclining Budha on Phnom Kulen Mountain"

I thought about it carefully, knowing that Daniel and the group were doing the floating villages and that I wouldn't want to do it again, made the decision easier. I mean what else would I do, okay, try to find out about that damn company. That seemed less exciting than what Arun was suggesting, and I knew I would have time to get back to it.

"Okay then"

I watched as Arun smiled back, pleased that it was my answer that had done that.

"Dress as you are now, but be sure to have shirt or something to cover your shoulders with and a swimsuit and towel"

"Food?"

"No, we stop at a café that I know"

"So what time?"

"8 o'clock"

I watched as Arun drove away and then stepped into the lobby of the hotel, enjoying the coolness after being on the water all day. A look at the time told me that I had time for a shower and a quick nap and then maybe I'd go out with the group tonight because yeah, I was feeling a bit guilty for abandoning them.

Three hours later I was dressed and down in the lobby waiting for people to arrive. It surprised me to see Tammy and Ashley with the two young guys and wondered how that would turn out. It seemed that Daniel was taking us to a very nice restaurant, one that served Cambodian delicacies. We walked and talked on our way there, I found it easy to talk to the girl, Jade, who was the other half of the couple. It seemed this trip had been her boyfriend's idea and Jade hadn't been keen at first but was now loving it. That probably accounted for her not been attached to him at the hip. Once at the Mahob Khmer Cuisine I found myself sat between Jade and the elderly lady. I have to say that between us we shared stories and laughed at each other's jokes, though I never mentioned my job as a bounty hunter, in fact as far they were concerned my life was at the point after I'd divorced Dickie Orr and was still working selling lingerie.

The food as I was expecting was amazing and considering that if this was cuisine food then it was extremely cheap. I enjoyed the evening out, as it gave me some time to relax and enjoy the company I was with. Maybe in the end Daniel would be lucky and the group would meld together.

It was a happy group that walked back to the hotel. I was with Jade and her boyfriend, Ben, as they told me about their time here in Siem Reap that day and the interesting things that they'd bought to take home. I wished them a good day on the lake but wouldn't tell them anything about it, I didn't want to spoil it for them. As we approached the hotel, I suddenly began to feel edgy, as though someone was watching me, though looking around I couldn't see anyone out of place.

Once inside my room I made sure the door was locked and checked out my belongings in the big rucksack. To be honest it wasn't very organized, so I had no idea if someone had been through it. My small rucksack with everything that was important never left my sight so I knew no one could know who I was or what I was carrying. Taking out my camera I spent time looking at the photographs of the helicopter, zooming in on the words written on the side. A look at the piece of paper hidden in my wallet that I'd found in Ranger's office had me realizing that they were the same. The symbol which I now recognized as Cambodian រន្ទះ Next to a name, Ronteah.

I didn't sleep very well that night, though I couldn't remember what dreams had plagued me, I knew that they must have been bad because of the way the sheets were wrapped around my legs. I showered and dressed in similar clothes to those I'd worn the day before and rinsed the worn clothes out and left them to dry. I had a towel with me with my swimsuit wrapped up inside and was heading out of my room just before 8 o'clock. Arun was already there waiting for me, so we were soon on our way.

Once away from the town the roads were very quiet of traffic and soon, we'd passed the areas where people lived and were travelling with fields on either side of us. In general, the roads were straight with very few corners, but it was as we were travelling that I turned because I was sure I'd heard an engine behind us. Turning I was sure I saw a motorbike behind us and continued to watch as it caught us up and then overtook us.

It was as we were turning into a corner that Arun had to break hard, the bike struggling to control the swerving of the carriage. I grabbed hold of the bars on either side of me trying to brace for the impact that might come, breathing out a whoosh of air as we came to a standstill across the road. The cause for us having to stop so suddenly was a motorbike across the road and the driver laid unconscious beside it.

"He's the one who overtook us before"

I told Arun as he walked toward him, kneeling down beside him to check him over. What happened next took us both by surprise, causing us both to turn and look at who it might be. A new looking truck had come out from behind the trees and was now stopped in the middle of the road behind us. As Arun looked over to the truck, the man who'd been laid on the ground suddenly moved, pulling Arun down with a strike behind his knees. As soon as that happened, I knew we were in trouble, knew that I had to do something, the problem was what.

As I started to move to help Arun, I saw three man leave the truck and head toward me but I was faster and as I approached Arun and the man who had knocked him to the floor, I swung my boot out, kicking the man in his ribs. It gave Arun a chance to roll away and get onto his feet, but instead of running he was looking back at the men approaching us.

"Arun, run"

"What?"

He obviously hadn't any idea that just maybe these men weren't here to help us, that they meant us harm. What he did do was to pull me behind him, putting himself between me and the men, though what he thought was going to happen I had no idea. He certainly wasn't prepared for guns to appear in their hands.

"Stand aside, we don't won't to hurt you"

I peered around from Arun to see who was talking and saw a large white man staring at me, flanked by the two other men who looked Asian to me. All three men were big with short cut hair and all three were wearing identical royal blue polo shirts with the symbol that I recognized from the helicopter. I think Arun was too surprised to do anything and just stood there staring back. As the large man stepped forward, I pulled Arun back with me, breaking his trance, his eyes wide as he turned to look at me.

"What do they want?"

"I don't know"

A shot rang out hitting the road in front of us making us both jump back again.

"Arun, move away from the woman and you won't get hurt"

The use of Arun's name surprised me, did they know him, did he know them? Had Arun set this up, surely not.

"Okay, how about I say this. You, lady, move away from Arun or I shoot him"

I saw him aim his gun and knew that it was pointing at Arun's chest. For a moment I didn't know what to do and as I felt Arun's hand tighten down on my wrist, I knew that he wasn't involved in this ambush. I had to let Arun know who was involved so whispered something in his ear.

"The men from the helicopter, Ronteah"

Hoping he would understand what I meant. I would never forgive myself if they killed Arun so stepped out and away from him. One of the men walked up to us, the gun still pointing at Arun, and then as he came closer, he used the gun to backhand Arun across the head. Arun went down, unconscious, and I knew that I couldn't get away from this. Even as I turned, I felt the impact of something on the back of my head and knew that I didn't stand a chance.