Chapter 35

I heard the door opening and braced myself. I was stood just inside the door to this room so I would be the last thing that she saw. I was sure that if she'd been market shopping then she'd head straight to the kitchen area of the room I was in.

I watched as the door opened and as Maia walked past, just as I expected, going to the small counter by the fridge and placing her bag down. I closed the door, loud enough that Maia turned around. She just stared at me, as though she couldn't believe that I was standing there, and a frown came across her face.

"What, why are you here?"

"I need your help Maia"

"Me, but you ran away"

I could see that she was still uncertain so continued with how I had planned to talk to her, yeah, two women who were caught up in something dangerous.

"I know, I was scared Maia"

"Scared?"

"I wanted to find someone, so desperately, that I needed to go back to Siem Reap"

"Did you find them?"

"I think he might be dead Maia"

As I said that I blinked quickly and raised my eyes as though trying to stop tears from falling.

"Maia, there were men there"

"What men?"

Okay that had her attention but from how she replied to me I could tell that she hadn't a clue what I was talking about.

"I don't know, but they seemed to know"

"What are you talking about?"

I was gambling on the next thing I said to her, hoping that my instincts were right and that it might be the key to getting her to talk.

"They said that a man's woman was involved, something about her uncle, that they couldn't find the man but would look for the woman"

I saw her eyes go wide with shock and watched as she sat down at the table, her head between her hands. I walked over and pulled out a chair opposite her to continue the conversation.

"Maia, I think they were talking about you"

"No. Maybe it was you that they were after"

"Maia we're both in danger, but I need to know why"

I almost held my breath as I waited for what seemed ages for her to eventually begin to talk.

"Damn it, it wasn't supposed to happen like it did"

"What wasn't?"

She took a deep breath but didn't look at me, her eyes still closed as she held her head in her hands.

"Seang said it would be easy, that nothing would happen. He needed to get something to the right people"

"What?"

"I don't know what it was. Juan said that he spoke to some people after those men were killed and got more information"

Interesting, that Maia was saying that Juan only knew what was going on after the whole rendezvous went to hell.

"What happened Maia, why were they killed?"

"I don't know. Juan said maybe there was information that was very important and a lot of people would want it, but he didn't say why"

"Maia who went to that rendezvous?"

"Seang told me that it was someone who he used to know, that owed him a favor"

I picked up immediately her referring to Seang and was assuming that this could be Seang Dara, her uncle who we were struggling to find out much about.

"So not Seang?"

"No, he would never come. He said he was afraid to fly and that his health wasn't good"

"Why have it happen here if he lives in America?"

I could only hope that my idea that Seang had somehow moved to America was right, and I watched as Maia frowned at the question, as though it was a stupid thing to ask. Okay well at least from that frown we knew he wasn't here.

"I just assumed that for some reason it was already here in Cambodia"

That Maia hadn't denied that he was in America didn't really help with what we wanted to know. Why would that information already be here? Was her other uncle involved with this, Narong? I never had found very much on him. And who did Seang want the information to go to? Were they the ones that had attacked Ranger and did that mean that they were people from Ronteah? Then there was the question of how Ranger's bosses knew about it.

"Maia could your other uncle have been involved, Narong?"

I could certainly identify with Maia when she rolled her eyes and was curious why she would do that.

"Him. He disappeared years ago. He hasn't spoken to anyone in the family, my mother was really upset about that. The last anyone saw of him was at my grandfather's funeral"

That might take Narong out of the picture but then again, he could still be in contact with his older brother. It didn't get us any closer to where he might be.

"What part did you play Maia, to help?"

"I was asked to suggest where the exchange could happen, because it needed to be an area where it was deserted and then liaise between Seang and his friend"

"So you met this friend of your uncle's"

"No. I only suggested a place where they could meet"

"Did you tell Juan about the meeting?"

Her eyes flashed at me when I asked her that question. Maybe she was being careful with how far she let Juan into her life, interesting.

"No. I told you. It was after everything went wrong that he wanted to know more, I told him what I knew, what my uncle had asked of me, but that was all. No details because I didn't have any details to tell him"

"I'm so sorry Maia. Is there somewhere you can go, maybe Juan can help"

"He's gone and I don't know how to get in touch with him. He said that he would try and find that information"

"Any cousins or family"

I was hoping maybe she could shed some light on Seang's immediate family and then realized that I would also need the name that he was living under in America"

"My cousins are in America, but I have friends who can help me out"

"Maia, do you know what name Seang uses in America, maybe he could help?"

Again, that frown appeared on her face and she shrugged her shoulders at me.

"We only ever spoke on email. I just assumed that was the name that he used"

I sighed as I realized there was nothing more to find out. Poor Maia had been caught up in this and was being used as conduit to pass on information. It still left a big question mark as to where Juan fit into this though and whose side he had chosen to be on. As I stood up, prepared to leave Maia pushed herself up from the chair and looked at me, asking a question that I knew I didn't have the answer to.

"What will you do now?"

"I don't know"

Which was an honest answer from me. Ranger would probably have a better idea and no doubt was already planning our next move.

I closed the door behind me as I left Maia, maybe to give Ranger a chance to leave the house without being seen. The place was empty, so I opened the outside door and started to walk down the track. As I came to the end, I looked across the street to see Ranger stood leant against the wall, one leg bent so his foot was flat to the wall.

I looked both ways for traffic, ever aware of the speed that the bikes travelled at and walked over toward him. He pushed himself off the wall and soon we were walking down the street, my arm around his waist as his rested across my shoulders.

"What now?"

I asked wanting really to know what he was thinking.

"The site for the meeting. Santos and Troy are already there"

I'd expected Ranger to lead me to the truck so was surprised when he stopped next to a bike. I pulled my skirt through my legs and straddled the bike behind him, making sure none of the material could get caught up in anything.

It was certainly a more efficient way of travelling through the streets, being able to weave and wind past the cars that seemed to be going so slowly. As we travelled it became very evident to me that the area was becoming more run down and crowded with buildings. A right turn had us travelling down a narrow path, which seemed to be the access to small apartment blocks. The route was strewn with garbage bags and washing was hung across the balconies above. Men were stood in groups talking but didn't seem to take any notice of us.

Another turn, down another alley and the buildings seemed derelict. You could almost assume that no one lived here if it wasn't for the children playing amongst the saw us and watched us as we passed until we were out of sight around a corner.

Ranger brought the bike to a stop and switched off the engine, which was my cue to get off. With the bike on its rest, we walked a few more feet through what might have been a gateway into an area that was where a group of buildings had once stood. I was interested to know where the men had been on that fateful night and turned to Ranger seeing him looking at a single spot.

"Ranger?"

"Sorry Babe, I was just remembering what happened that night"

"Where was Jack hiding?"

If he was confused with me asking, he never showed it, instead he just pointed ahead of us.

"In the corner of that old building"

"And the man you knew as Seang?"

"Over there, just underneath that tree"

I walked over to the tree and looked around, trying to work out where Ranger would have been. It was almost as if he knew what I was about to ask because he came and stood next to the tree, almost merging in with the old gnarled trunk.

"I was here when he went down, and the drive fell from his hand"

I turned and looked beyond the walls enclosing the area that we were in and then stepping over the broken concrete and rubble went over to where Jack had been. As I stood in the shadow of the corner for where a building had been, I looked to where Seang had been and then again at the skyline.

"Babe?"

"The shooter could have been on that rooftop, it's the only place that would have had a clear shot of both Jack and Seang. I bet they didn't see you at first"

Maybe he shook his head but then took out his phone and a moment later Ram suddenly appeared.

"You see that rooftop, the one with the aerials on? Go check it out. Look for any signs of a sniper"

As Ram began to walk away, I saw Ranger nod his head to Bobby and watched as Bobby followed and caught up with Ram. I continued to look around at where I was stood, not seeing any signs of blood anywhere, which I must admit had me confused.

"Ranger, would it be easy to get rid of the blood?"

"From Jack?"

"Yes"

"They could scrape away the top surface of the ground"

He replied as he squatted down and ran his fingers through the earth, looking to where Ram and Bobby were going to be. I followed him as he stood and walked further into the floor of the building, seeing a large hole that went quite deep. A voice behind me had me jumping so I turned around and saw Troy stood behind me.

"That's where I ended up, I reckon the explosion was hidden somewhere here, where the wall had totally collapsed"

"The other explosions?"

"One over there by that wall and I think there was one in the middle of that area"

"The one I got caught up in came from over there"

I looked to where Ranger was pointing, trying to get a picture in my head relative to where the men had been and where the shooter could have had a view. It was almost as if Ranger was talking out loud as he looked around before his eyes rested on the tree where he'd been hidden.

"They didn't want me or that man Seang hurt. They were creating a diversion to make sure that the pass off went ahead"

I wasn't too sure why anyone would do that, or were they banking on Seang still having the hard drive? Looking back at the rooftop I could see how Seang could have been in the line of fire when they were shooting at Jack.

"Bullets in the tree?"

I said as I looked at it. That had Ranger moving directly to it and as he lined up the rooftop with where Jack had been, he then started to look closely at the trunk of the tree. I saw him remove a knife from his pocket and begin to dig into the tree with the point.

"Bullet hole but no bullet"

Okay, so hitting the man that Ranger thought was Seang could have been an accident, though at this moment we didn't even know if that man had been hurt.

I was feeling a bit nervous as we stood there and walked over to Ranger.

"Can we go now?"

I saw the look he gave me and how he scanned the area before looking back to me.

"Babe?"

"Okay, my spidey senses are humming"

"Then we'll go. Troy, let Santos know to head back and tell Ram and Bobby to meet us back at the house"

I hadn't a clue where Les was, if he was even nearby and nearly jumped when he suddenly appeared from somewhere behind the ruined buildings. He was smiling as he followed us out of the area, back to where the bike was standing. I watched as Troy and Les went around another corner and then heard the sound of bike engines turning over, and not the 50cc that the locals rode, these were powerful engines.

It wasn't long before we were returning along the same route that had brought us here. The children had gone and there weren't the same number of men stood about, which in some ways made me feel uneasy.

I knew that Troy was ahead of us and Les was behind but the sound of other bikes starting up had me turning my head. Ranger must have heard it as well because I felt the bike picking up speed.

"Santos"

I presumed that Ranger was trying to alert Les but as he continued to talk, I was worried that Les wasn't responding.

"Santos. Shit. Troy slow down we've got a problem"

All I knew was that there was another bike behind us but didn't dare turn to look, Ranger was driving too fast for that and I was holding onto him tightly. I saw Troy ahead of us and as we overtook him, he slipped in behind us. What I didn't expect was for us to suddenly brake and feel the back wheel sliding from under me.

I closed my eyes, confident that Ranger knew what he was doing and leaned with him as he spun us around and came to a halt in the middle of lots of parked bikes. I was lifted off the bike and pulled down until I was almost sat down on the ground, knowing that this was Ranger's way of throwing the bike following us from our scent. I hadn't noticed Troy continue down the street, but I did hear and then see the bikes that had been following us.

Two bikes roared past us, the drivers wearing black helmets and face visors was what I saw, and it looked as though they were now following Troy. We stayed where we were for a several minutes until the sound of the engines disappeared and then I found myself being pulled to my feet and being held against Ranger.

"Are you okay Babe?"

I nodded my head, my breathing only just coming back to normal, before I answered.

"Yes. What about Les?"

"He's fine, one followed him, but he lost him"

I turned as though to remount the bike but turned as Ranger held my elbow to turn me to him.

"Let's get a taxi back to the house"

I wasn't going to argue with that, I suppose I would stand out on the back of a bike, especially with the white blouse I was wearing and the colorful skirt. It was a bright red taxi that we found with a driver who was very keen to accommodate us. All too soon we were pulling up outside the house and it was then that relief washed through me. Surely no one could know where we were staying, could they?

Ranger gave me that look as we approached the door, basically telling me to stay where I was while he checked the house. I watched as he drew his gun out from the back of jeans and then disappeared inside.

I stayed on the bridge at the entrance as Ranger went into the house. It was a big house so I knew it would take some time to be sure that the place was clear of any unwanted visitors. It certainly wasn't as easy to do as my apartment. It was then that I started to wonder how Eula was doing, if Rex had taken to her and was eating properly. I knew she wouldn't have any problems with the other residents but hoped that no one had called thinking that I was there.

I realized that my mind had wondered, and I started to worry where Ranger was and why he wasn't back. Something wasn't right but I had no idea what I should do. The thought that someone had attacked Ranger came into my head and I knew that I couldn't just stand at the entrance waiting.

I cautiously started to walk into the house, taking off my sandals in the entrance way, thinking that being barefoot would be quieter. I wasn't too sure about going upstairs so started in the kitchen, sliding a small knife out from the block on the counter and holding it in my hand. The kitchen was clear, and a quick look showed no one in the large lounge area so I started to walk through the doors that led out to the pool.

Everywhere looked calm and was quiet but as I turned to go back into the house a slight sound had me tensing. Before I could even turn around, I felt a hand go over my mouth and another around me, locking my arms to my side. I felt my feet leave the ground so started to kick and squirm, the only effect that had was for the arm to tighten around me.