Free See You in Saigon by Claude Bouchard

risk, particularly since we invested
the capital required to increase poppy cultivation and subsequent production.”
    A moment of
silence passed before Scorpion responded. “I don’t believe you.”
    “I don’t give a
damn what you believe,” said Jonathan. “That’s the situation and I’m not happy
with it. Since you caused the problem, I expect you to fix it. It isn’t that
complicated.”
    “Okay, enough of
this,” Scorpion snapped. “I don’t know who you are or what you’re up to but I’m
going to find out and you’re going to regret having tried to mess with me.”
    “Does this mean
we’re not going to work at solving this problem today?” asked Jonathan.
    “Here’s what I
suggest you do today,” Scorpion replied. “Gather your band of sidekicks and get
on the first plane that can get you out of here and back to where you came
from.”
    “I don’t think
that’s going to happen,” said Jonathan. “What I do think, however, is you’ll
soon regret not even trying to resolve our differences in a friendly manner.
Last chance. What do you say?”
    “You’re a dead
man,” said Scorpion.
    “Suit yourself,”
Jonathan replied. “We’ll be talking.”
    He cut the
connection and waited for Chris who stood close by, a mobile still to his ear.
    “Nothing useful,”
Chris announced after ending his call with Jerry Washington. “He’s still in Sa
Pa and he called from a different phone. That’s all we have.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Tây Ninh, Vietnam,
evening
     
    By weight, the
yield of heroin from raw opium is approximately six percent. Stated another
way, almost seventeen pounds of raw opium are required to produce one pound of
heroin. On this basis, it makes perfect sense to refine the opium near where it
is harvested, particularly since the process is relatively simple and does not
require a sophisticated laboratory by any means.
    Cao Van Minh had
understood this logic and accordingly, had established a number of refining
facilities in areas where sufficient opium harvesting warranted them. These
primitive labs were generally housed in a shack or barn and minimal investment
was required to acquire the basic reusable equipment such as steel drums,
plastic tubs, pots and portable stoves.
    One such lab,
which had been in operation for a number of years, was located in a fair-sized
old barn amidst the fields of Tây Ninh. This particular facility was one of the
organization’s bigger producers for several reasons. For one, much of the land
surrounding the city was farmland, a fair portion of which was used for poppy
cultivation. In addition, location was a factor as Tây Ninh was only ninety
kilometres, or slightly over fifty miles, from Ho Chi Minh City where chemicals
required in the refining process could be readily acquired and distribution of
finished product facilitated. Even closer to Tây Ninh was the border with
Cambodia from where raw opium was also brought in for processing.
    Earlier in the
day, Kelly, Whittaker and Chen of the American team had gone sightseeing in the
Tây Ninh area, their trip made relatively simple thanks to information which
General Quang had supplied on the memory card. They had easily located the
heroin lab on a dirt road in farm country, well away from the city. A few hours
of surveillance, first from a distance and then closer up, had left them
confident the lab would be a fairly easy target. Smoke rising from a stone
chimney had confirmed current production activities but only three people, two
men and one woman, had been seen at the barn. Security, if any, had been deemed
minimal at best.
    It was now past
ten in the evening as Leslie, accompanied by Steve Chen, walked along the road
toward the barn. The young Vietnamese guard they had seen during an earlier
drive by was still seated on an old wooden bench by the open door, his shotgun
leaning against the wall beside him. The only light in the area came from an
oil lantern hanging from a hook by the door which