Katrien had had too much methamphetamine. She was hyperventilating now. Her heart raced. She was feeling claustrophobic and panicky in the hot stuffy room. She looked at herself in the small mirror that she used for cutting lines on: her mascara was down her cheeks, her face was blotchy. She threw the mirror down on the bed as her phone bleeped; she had a message. She read it and started to laugh and couldn’t stop. This was it. This was what she had worked for. She re-read the message. She couldn’t believe it: all her dreams were coming true. She went back into the bathroom, redid her makeup, and smiled smugly into the mirror. She was a clever girl. Even if she had misjudged things slightly and had to leave Amsterdam prematurely, it would all work out tonight. Then she stopped and smiled at her reflection.

I wonder if anyone has found my leaving present yet?

112

Shrimp waited in Mary’s till the message came and then, at four in the morning, the money stowed safely in his backpack, he got on a scooter and drove down to Friendship Bridge. The night was nearly over now, the last few shipments were being loaded onto lorries and heading into Thailand. Tired dealers were at the last of their energy, nervous and jittery, and sweating with exhaustion and adrenalin.

Shrimp knew what he had to do. He parked his scooter and slipped around to the back of the market.

113

‘We are here at Mae Sot, my friend,’ said Gee.

‘Moor the boat under the bridge, Gee,’ said Mann.

‘And then what?’ asked Sue as they stepped up onto the bank. ‘What do you want us to do?’

‘Head back to King’s bar. I’ll find you there afterwards.’ She was reluctant to leave him. ‘Go with Gee. I’ll be all right.’ Mann didn’t have time to explain.

Mann made sure that he wasn’t followed and then he went to find Shrimp. He had a hard time spotting him. He had camouflaged himself well—he looked like every other dubious type in Mae Sot, hot and dirty with a dash of colour. It also helped that his face looked like he’d been run over and then beaten up.

‘What the hell happened to you?’

‘Hello, boss. I had a lesson in Thai hospitality.’

‘Hope you returned the compliment.’

‘Sure did. What about you, you better?’

‘I’m okay.’

‘What’s the score, boss?’

‘You hold on to the money and I go in alone. When I need you I will call. Stay close but stay hidden.’

‘I’ve checked it out, you were right—they’re in a lock-up around the side of the market. I heard maybe five or six voices. How are you going to do it?’

‘I am not sure yet. But, if it comes to it, I will exchange myself for the boy.’

114

Alfie automatically took a step backwards, but his way was blocked by the owner of the shop. The first of the men, knife in hand, took a step towards him. But just as Alfie thought he was about to be stabbed for a second time, the man held out his other hand in a gesture of friendship. ‘Please join us,’ he said. Alfie watched the men slice through the rest of the boxes as he drank his coffee. He set his cup down next to the box of carved teak elephants.

‘Nice elephants.’

‘I told you, we did nothing wrong. You looked at our papers? All okay? You check up on my cousin Gee? He’s a good man. He helps his family many times. Now, take some pearls for your girlfriend.’

Alfie thanked him, accepted the pearls, and then he cycled over to Katrien’s. He had an urge to see if she had really gone for good.

Alfie opened Katrien’s door and punched in the alarm. He heard voices, muffled. It was like a bad porn movie was playing. And, from his place in the hall he could look into the lounge. The curtains were drawn; the room was dark except for light from the PC monitor. There was the smell of stale perfume, of sex, rancid wine and there was something else, a sweet, rotten smell of meat thrown into a bin and forgotten.

Alfie walked into the lounge. He could see the back of the monitor and the edge of the chair in front of it and he saw a pale leg, with its knee jutting outwards. The inside of the leg covered in brown dried blood. Beneath the chair was a pool of congealed blood, vivid against the white carpet. He moved slowly to the right and around. As he came from behind the monitor he saw the contorted face of a young woman, blindfolded. Across her mouth was a gag, her hands were tied to a harness that looped around her neck and strapped between her legs. Between her legs was the dildo that Alfie had seen Katrien wearing. The girl was dead. It was the young receptionist from NAP.

115

Saw rested his bloodied hands on the table as he leant across Anna’s naked body.

Then he looked straight into Jake’s eyes.

‘Are you ready yet, boy?’

Jake nodded, mutely. He had reached the bottom of hell and now there was nowhere left to go. He looked at Anna. Her blonde hair was matted with dark blood and her head twisted unnaturally to the side. Through misting eyes she seemed to be watching the dawn as it filtered through the rank air and began its trespass into the long night.

Saw smiled as he turned his head and spat a glob of sticky black phlegm onto the dirt floor beside the table. Saw had faced death many times. He enjoyed watching others die. He looked down and breathed in the mist of atomised blood and death from Anna. It caught in the back of his throat, he could taste it. He could taste her. Then a shaft of light hit him in the eyes and he turned his head towards the window. The corner of the makeshift curtain had dropped and the sun was beginning to rise. He knew that the game was coming to its end now.

Saw’s men moved in around Jake like jittery wolves waiting to finish off their prey. Their chests were bare, rank with stale sweat, sticky and thick with smeared blood. Their breath was heavy with stale liquor. Saw had given them a night to remember. Now there was one thing left to do. They edged closer and looked back and forth from Saw to the boy, waiting.

As Jake looked at Anna, he felt a terrible calm. He glanced up at the hovering men, waiting for his death like vultures, and then he stared hard at Saw’s face. Jake stopped crying. A boy he might be called but he would end his life as a man. He reached out and touched Anna’s cold hand. In the morning light her skin was grey and he knew she was gone. But her screams still rang in his ears. He didn’t want to hear them any more.

‘Yes,’ Jake said. ‘I am ready.’

116

Katrien checked the room and made sure she hadn’t left anything behind. She wouldn’t be coming back, that was for sure. She was about to start her new life. She was nervous and excited. She couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong now. But, when she was the ringmaster in a circus full of unpredictable animals, she wouldn’t be happy until she was holding the money in her hands and long gone.

She checked her phone and smiled, reassured, no message from the Big Man, Boon Nam must have got away. She’d be joining him soon enough then they could really kick start their business partnership.