The Malaysian Operative

Chapter 3 : You Scratch My Back

The helicopter arrived at a small airstrip an hour later. The sun had just risen and the surroundings was still foggy. As the helicopter flew across the small airstrip, Azeem looked down and noticed 4 black SUV's parked nearby. He could also see few men and a lady standing, looking at the descending helicopter. They must be the medical personnel whom he requested soon after leaving the landing zone to provide medical assistance to Azeem's unit as soon as they arrived at Bangkok.

As the helicopter landed, medical team rushed towards the helicopter to help carry down the body of the dead Malay and the Chinese. With Andrew's hand slung across his shoulders, Haris assisted Andrew to get down from the helicopter.

"Steady buddy, let them to have a look at your wound," Haris said.

" Urghh...hurts like hell," replied Andrew.

"There is something to cheer you up,"

"What do you mean?"

"See for yourself,"

Andrew got the point. A woman, dressed in a tight t-shirt and sport trousers ran along with the other men heading towards them. She was carrying a paramedic bag with her. Seeing that, Andrew felt comfortable already. She must be the paramedic.

Azeem got down from the helicopter, carrying with him his equipment and weapons. Funny they all felt heavier than before.

Fatigued and exhaustion were creeping up on him as his unit has been in the jungle to conduct reconnoitering since the last 48 hours. His muscles ached, his head felt heavy. As he walked to a SUV, Azeem noticed his commanding officer, Colonel Othman who was observing nearby. With him, Aroon Chaiya, also a colonel in the Thailand Air Force who was also monitoring the whole situation. They were talking, perhaps exchanging intel among themselves.

As he walked passed Colonel Othman, Azeem didn't say anything to Colonel Othman but lifted his eyebrows. Colonel Othman replied by nodding. He went to open the boot of the SUV and put in all the equipment. Haris went to the same SUV and did the same.

"What did the doctor say about Andrew's condition? Is it bad?" asked Azeem upon seeing Haris.

"Just some flesh wound, he got some shrapnel from the trees. Still a bit shaken by the blast."

Azeem turned. Near the other SUV, the same medical personnel were treating Andrew and the Chinese man. Andrew sat on the edge of the SUV boot without his shirt on while the lady paramedic was treating his wound. She cleaned the wound area by applying alcohol swab and patched it with clean gauze. Andrew tried his best to cajole the lady for small talk.

Meanwhile, Ramasamy was talking to Zulaikha, going through their whole ordeal an hour ago. Both of them held bottles of drinking water, hydrating their body after sweating profusely during the firefight.

Azeem noticed that Colonel Othman was in serious discussion with Colonel Aroon. He could see it in their faces. Then, Colonel Othman took out a medium sized envelope and handed it to Colonel Aroon. If he had to guess, the content of the envelope must be a form of payment to Colonel Aroon. As his unit was conducting covert operation deep inside Thailand, a few 'arrangements' had to be made with the Thailand army so that the mission could be carried out smoothly. Most likely Colonel Aroon had to pay off some people to ensure the whole incident being kept under the lid.

Azeem was pretty sure that the Thailand army knew about their operations, perhaps they were watching. But since the area of operations were commonly used by the drug cartels or terrorists, the Thailand army just didn't mind some harassment to the common enemies.