[Thomas Caine #1] Tokyo Black Read Online Free PDF Page A

sir?”
    He nodded.
    Rebecca took a breath. “I do not have the access required for the task you’ve assigned me. The assets you want to deploy in this situation require an extremely specific skill set. Language skills, deep cover background, regional knowledge … I’ve exhausted the normal pool of outside talent, and no one comes close.”
    Allan looked at his watch. “I’ve got a meeting with Homeland in ten minutes. Give me your pitch.”
    Rebecca stifled a laugh. Working for Allan had taught her new meanings of the word “arrogance.”
    “I don’t have a pitch, Allan. I’m just not sure—”
    Allan held up a gloved hand. “Just tell me what you want, Freeling. What’s it going to take to get you to do your job?”
    All humor left her face as her features hardened into an icy stare. The man knew how to get a rise out of her.
    “All right. I need higher clearance to find the kind of talent you’re looking for. I need access to records that are closed off to me right now. And I need Ethan working point for me on this. That’s what it will take to get this done in the timeframe you’ve given me.”
    Allan nodded and looked towards the shiny buildings in the distance. Although he seemed disinterested, she knew him better than that. The far-off look in his eye was risk analysis. He was weighing the odds and planning his countermoves in case things went south.
    “All right, fine. As of now, you are head of a new task group I’m starting. The Extra Departmental Assets Group, or some other bullshit name we come up with. High-level clearance. Minimal oversight. Ethan has access to any and all files he needs. Just get someone suitable in Tokyo by the end of the week. I don’t care who it is. I don’t even want to know who it is. Just get it done. Are we clear?”
    Rebecca opened her mouth, but no words came out. Of all the possible outcomes of this meeting, a promotion was one she had never considered. Finally, she settled for a firm nod.
    “Good. Don’t bother keeping me posted…. I’ll be keeping tabs on you.”
    He turned and walked off into the rain. Rebecca bit her lip, turning Allan’s words over in her mind. She mentally replayed the conversation word by word. It occurred to her that a promotion at the CIA could be a curse in disguise.
    Maximum clearance and minimal oversight … just enough rope to hang herself.

CHAPTER FOUR
    After forty-eight hours in Bang Kwang central prison, Thomas Caine ranked it near the top of his list of god-forsaken hell holes. Eighty acres of stinking, sweat-stained concrete and metal surrounded him, and the air was thick with sewage and despair. He wasn’t sure which smelled worse. He knew he had seen worse…. He had suffered pain and captivity the likes of which most people could never imagine. But Bang Kwang, the legendary “Bangkok Hilton,” was a close second.
    As he swatted a fly off his sweat-drenched forehead, he felt optimistic. True, conditions were bad, abysmal even. But in a place like this, a place of sickness, violence, corruption … how far away could death be? How long could he realistically expect to suffer before infection, or a cold metal blade in the dark, ended his horror for good?
    He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. You’ve survived worse. You didn’t give up then. You can’t give up now.
    But why not? he asked himself.
    His gaze drifted across the courtyard. Men were everywhere, like bloated, lethargic vermin infesting a long dead corpse. Some talked in groups, smoking cigarettes they had bought off the guards with favors and contraband. Others played cards or flipped the pages of moldy, faded paperback novels.
    Across the cement square, near a group of old picnic tables, a dozen or so prisoners lined up. An older man sat at the table with a worn leather satchel full of rusted tools. One by one, the men stepped up and opened their mouths, allowing the old man to peer in, examining their teeth.
    As Caine had learned at mealtime the