The 13th Tablet

Mina jumped out of bed and felt queasy for a moment, her legs swaying underneath her. She looked around her. What should she take? Did she even have time to pack? Jack had rescued his mother and sister! She had only just digested what Jack had said. There was nothing stopping them now from leaving as planned. Who knew what disaster would strike today. She went for the simplest solution: leave everything behind. She slipped on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a good pair of sneakers. She checked that she had her phone, passport and money and slipped out into the dark maze of bungalows and palm trees. She took a wrong turn, and after a few more, hit the main road but too far down. She had to walk at least fifteen minutes to the taxi rank. She walked along the main road, avoiding a few drunken tourists returning from a bar to their hotel rooms. A taxi passed by her. She waved at the driver who slowed down and parked a little further on. She ran towards it, but two men were closer, opened the door and by the time she got there, the car had pulled away.

‘You bastards!’ she yelled, fuming.

She walked on and saw an empty tuktuk near the entrance of their hotel. The doorman noticed her questioning look, and told her the driver would be back soon. While she waited, she noticed a local squinting at her from the other side of the street. She thought for a moment the man had mistaken her for someone else, and she was suddenly afraid. But she was wrong about him; he seemed to have lost interest and before she knew it, he was talking on his mobile phone. She sat on a low wall waiting for the driver to return or another taxi to arrive. The man across the street was gone. The tuktuk driver came out of the hotel laden with boxes and wrapped-up gifts. Before Mina had time to speak to him, he had already fitted his load on the backseat and was ready to go. Mina was frantic. Would she ever find a cab to take her to the airport? Suddenly a taxi stopped at the rank. This time she practically tore the door open.

‘Are you free?’ she asked.

‘Yes. Where you going?’ he replied.

‘The airport,’ answered Mina.

But as she looked inside, she noticed someone was already in the front passenger seat.

‘You come in?’ the taxi driver urged her.

‘Well, I was just waiting until your other customer left,’ she answered.

‘No. She my friend, going airport too,’ he replied.

‘Right,’ said Mina.

She didn’t feel as if she really had a choice in the matter.

As the car left the taxi rank, Mina took a better look at the veiled woman in front. She had a funny sensation of deja vu, or more precisely, she recognised the woman’s perfume. It was quite distinctive, both edgy and classy; a fragrance that simply didn’t seem right among the locals. Suddenly a cold sweat broke out over her entire body as she remembered when she had last smelled it. She tried opening the door, but it was centrally locked.

She screamed ‘Let me out! Now!’

The woman turned around and pointed a gun at her. She lifted her veil and sunglasses and let her blond hair loose.

Natasha Mastrani smiled cruelly at Mina. ‘Shut up and stay still,’ she ordered.

Mina lost control and tried breaking the window with her mobile phone. The driver saw Mina wasn’t wearing her seatbelt and slammed on the breaks. She was thrown violently against the front seat but she wasn’t knocked out. Natasha suddenly plunged a needle into Mina’s thigh and emptied the entire contents of the syringe. Within seconds Mina felt an immense weariness spread through her and a moment later she lost consciousness and was out cold.

‘What was that?’ asked the driver.

‘At least we won’t have to hear her moaning until tomorrow. Drive back to the yacht,’ answered Natasha.

Chapter 33

December 26th, 2004. Phuket. Airport

Jack was a nervous wreck. What was Mina doing? He should have driven back to Patong beach to pick her up. His mother was asleep and Jen was stroking her head. Her eyes seemed vacant. They were still traumatised from their recent misadventures and Jack knew he’d have to find them some help when they got back to the States. Normal people don’t get over kidnappings in a matter of moments. He was still amazed at Mina’s resilience after all her ordeals at the hands of Wheatley. Maybe it was hatred for the man that kept her from collapsing. What was she doing? They couldn’t wait that much longer, it was almost 7:30 and they had already missed one flight to Bangkok. He’d called her mobile phone many times and she’d never answered. He hoped she’d forgotten it in their room and that nothing more sinister had happened. After switching off his phone for the the tenth time to avoid being traced, he turned it on again and this time noticed he had a text message. He opened it and immediately wished he hadn’t.

I have Mina. Same deal. Meet me 9am. Patong Beach. Chiang Mai Restaurant.

Don’t forget the photograph.