Fathers and Law: Lom and Fah Book One

Chapter 25

Bank and Lom met at a Bangkok café. They sat down to drink their iced coffees while surreptitiously checking to see if either of them had been followed.

"Here's to tonight!" said Bank, clinking his iced coffee against Lom's.

"Here's to our last job together," said Lom, clinking glasses again. Bank was so happy this would be his last mission he was having trouble trying not to smile.

"By the way Bank, when we're with our guest tonight, can you not smile? It kind of detracts from our threatening image," said Lom, laughing out loud. Bank joined in the laughter.

"Where's the crew?" asked Lom.

"They're meeting right now at another café so they can check for any dogs on their trails. Afterward, they'll load up the gas and pipes, and park down the road from the target. They need to check on the neighbors and activity in the area. They'll wait for lights out to begin. According to our intel, the whole family is asleep by 9:00 every night."

"Great, I'd like to finish this as fast as possible. You're sure none of the guys will screw us over to get back at me?" Lom's apprehension was genuine.

"No, I told them it was my mission. I said I was trying for a promotion and Ton offered me this chance. I said you were coming along to learn from us."

"That was good thinking, and true to some extent. Thanks. I don't know what I'll do when you're gone."

"I'll give you a list of names of who to use, and who to avoid, and I'll personally introduce you to the trustworthy ones outside work so they can get to know the real you. Of course, that'll be after I'm out. Oh God, I can't believe I'm almost a free man!" Bank smiled again.

"What time do you think we should head to the location? 9:30?" asked Lom.

"Yeah, sounds right."

"We should go over everything one more time - make sure we didn't forget anything," Lom said. They drank their coffees and began the review.

Across town, at a café by the park, sat Worawut, Ek, Art, Tao, and Kiat. "Where is Mechai?" asked Ek.

"He's on his way. He called me on my other phone to say he had to stop off somewhere first and he'd be here soon," said Worawut.

The men sat around an outdoor table drinking their iced Americanos. Although they appeared to be a mismatched group they had worked together for Ton so long they became friends. They all liked Bank and while none of them hated Lom, none of them particularly liked him either. They thought it was funny the boss's son was coming along to learn from them and they had bragged about it at work for days. Luckily, word of their bragging never made its way back to Ton or Lom.

Although they considered themselves equals, Worawut was the leader of the group. He wasn't pushy and didn't try to command people, he merely suggested things and explained the best way to do a job in a quiet voice. Over the years the others had learned to respect his advice. Tonight was one of the few times they would be working as a unit on their own. No one said it but they all knew it was a test of their skills as well.

Mechai walked up to the group holding his iced macchiato. "Hey guys, what's up?" He pushed Ek over so he could sit down on the bench.

"A caramel macchiato? Ooh, excuse us Mr. Fancy!" laughed Kiat. Tao and Art started laughing as well.

"Fuck off! I like my drink. Americanos are too bitter," said Mechai.

"You just can't handle a man's drink," said Tao who loved to tease Mechai.

"Tao, this time I say it to you specifically: fuck off!" said Mechai, trying not to laugh. The guys continued to tease each other and gossip about mutual friends. Finally, Worawut signaled them to be quiet.

"Does everyone have their work phones?" Everyone nodded yes. "Okay, we leave our cell phones here. I have a plastic box and some bungee cords. One of us is going to climb that tree over there and put the box with all of our phones in one of the upper branches. Remember to keep them on but turn off all sounds. No vibration either. This way if we are accused, our cell phones will ping and show we were here during the job," said Worawut.

Everyone pulled out their phones and began adjusting their volume settings. They placed them in a pile in the center of the table.

"Who wants to volunteer to climb the tree?" asked Worawut. Everyone looked at Tao.

"Fine, I'll do it," said Tao sighing loudly. He was the shortest and thinnest. He was also incredibly flexible and strong.

Taking the box and the cords he tied them around his midsection and climbed the tree. Carefully avoiding the ants crawling on the bark he reached a branch that was high enough that someone on the ground couldn't reach it. He untied the box from his body, secured it to the branch, and then shimmied his way back down to the others.

"Okay. Now, let's review the plan. Tao is going to sneak in to secure windows and doors. Once that's done, Kiat will start pumping the gas. Ek, you watch as well. There's a fine line between the safe amount that will knock them out for an hour or so, and the amount that could make them sick or die. We can't have any accidents. This is a prominent family. Their two sons sleep in separate rooms. The little one's bedroom is right next to the master bedroom on the second floor. The older son sleeps on the first floor, to the left of the front door. Or to the right of the front door if you're walking into the house. You've all got copies of the floorplan on your work phones, right?"

Everyone nodded yes.

"Kiat, how long do we have to wait once you start pumping the gas in?" asked Mechai.

"I'd give it twenty minutes to be safe. It should be done in fifteen but some people take a little extra."

"Won't it be too much for the little kid?" asked Art.

"No, it might knock him out longer than the others. It shouldn't be a problem since we don't need him to be awake right away, he won't have any information we need," said Ek.

"We should head over there now. I secured a black van for us. We can park down the road and observe the neighbors and the house. We've got their schedules logged already but in case something unexpected happens, we need to know about it early on so we can adjust our plans."

"Hey, Kiat and Ek, don't start pumping that gas until you see me outside the house, okay? I don't want to wake up in the house with the police," said Tao.