Message From -Creasy 5 Read Online Free PDF Page A

eyes that dispelled any thoughts of real
beauty. Behind her back she was known as 'the Cobra', and it was the latent
venom in the eyes that gave her that name. Nobody would be so foolish as to say
it to her face.
    Her real name was Connie Lon Crum, and she combined cruelty with sophistication;
designer jeans with a black heart. The well-dressed Thai businessman seated
opposite her knew something of her history. Her father was the notorious Bill
Crum, a half-Chinese, half-American rogue. During the Vietnam war he had
amassed a fortune selling whisky and other merchandise to the US Army PX's.
    In order to do so, he had bribed scores of American soldiers, from two-star
generals down to supply staff. He had met his death in 1977 in a mysterious
fire in the New Territories of Hong Kong.
    Her
mother had been a Cambodian prostitute. Connie Lon Crum had contrasted a French
education with marriage to a senior Khmer Rouge officer, whom she had later
killed in a fit of jealous rage. She had inherited her father's gift for shady
business and her mother's wiles for manipulating men.
    As he
looked at her, the Thai businessman felt a surge of sexuality, tainted by the
tinge of fear.
    Standing
behind her to each side were two short, wide, young Cambodian women. They were
dressed in black tunics and trousers and had holstered pistols strapped to
their waists. Their faces were flat and expressionless but their eyes never
wavered from the man.
    He was
incongruously dressed in an Italian suit, a silk cream shirt and a silk striped
tie. His shoes were by Gucci. It was not the normal attire for a meeting in a
hot jungle on the Thai-Cambodian border; but then, it was not a normal business
meeting.
    She
pushed the flat wooden box across the table towards him and said: "I'm in
a hurry. You have fifteen minutes to make an offer. Payment will be in US
dollars, Swiss francs or gold."
    He
opened the box and looked down at the gemstones. They were sapphires and pieces
of uncut jade. He picked up a piece of jade weighing about fifty grams. A tiny
'window' had been sliced open on one side. The colour was pale green,
almost translucent.
    He
looked up and saw the mirthless smile on her lips. She said: "Of course,
under normal circumstances, you would like to take it back to Bangkok and have
an even greater expert than yourself look at it: but you have no time, Mr
Ponnosan. In this place, life is always a gamble."
    The hut was not air-conditioned. He could feel the sweat running down his chest under
his shirt. He had an urge to loosen his tie, but he resisted it. It was the
first time that he had done business with the woman. Others from Bangkok had
traded with her for many months. Some had made a lot of money and others had
not. He realized that he was in a sort of jungle casino. She glanced at her
gold Rolex and he concentrated on the stones. There were about two dozen. He
separated them within the box.
    She watched and said: "You take all or nothing."
    He knew the procedure. He said: "Fifty thousand US dollars."
    She gave him a cynical smile. "Calm down, Mr Ponnosan. You are buying jewels,
not glass."
    The trading lasted for less than five minutes, after which they agreed to $85,000.
She reached forward, closed the box and pulled it back to her side of the
table, saying: "Hold out your left hand, palm upwards."
    He complied, knowing what was coming. One of the two young women behind her came
round the table, took his hand in hers and studied the palm intensely. She then
turned to Connie Crum and nodded. Connie pushed the box into the centre of the
table. He had passed the test. He stood up, unbuttoned his jacket and shirt and
pulled out the canvas money belt from around his waist. He first extracted a
single thousand-dollar bill and passed it to her. She held it up to the light,
examined it closely and then nodded. He counted out eighty-four more bills, and
then departed with the box.
    As his
Mercedes drove off down the dirt track towards Thailand, a