Free Plausible Denial by F. W. Rustmann Jr. Page A

know how to do
this without her.”
    Culler
surprised Mac with compassion. “There’s no way around it, Mac. You’ve got to
tell her the truth. She’ll never accept some cockamamie story about making
people sick. She’s too smart. And I agree, you can’t lie to her. Actually, she
probably already knows that the only way to do this is to kill a few people in
the process. You’ve just got to convince her that a little collateral damage is
worth it.”
    “I
know, I know. But what if she doesn’t go along? What if she puts up a stink?”
    “She
won’t. Anyway, we don’t really know how this is going to play out until we get
there. Tell her what might happen, that some people might die, but leave
everything kind of open to adjustment depending upon what happens when we get
out there.”
    MacMurphy
was silent for a long while and then he looked up at his friend. “Yeah, good
advice. I’ll be as smooth as I can, but I’ll tell you what I think. I think if
we get an opportunity to poison some of Khun Ut’s heroin, we’re going to do it.
    Culler
pushed his chair back and hit Mac on the shoulder.  “That’s what I like to
hear, Mac.”
     
     
    Chapter Twenty
     
    Chiang Mai, Thailand
     
     
    T he
discussion with Maggie had not gone well. She acquiesced only after Mac
appealed to her loyalty to Edwin Rothmann and asked her to reserve judgment
until after he got on the ground in Thailand and got a better feel for the
situation. She had no compunctions about taking down Khun Ut and his empire,
only about the collateral damage that would inevitably result.
    So
it was with mixed emotions that MacMurphy landed at the rural airport in Chiang
Mai, Thailand, with Santos. 
    Culler
had been a rock for MacMurphy ever since they met at the CIA’s covert training
base, The Farm. Santos was one of the smartest and toughest men Mac had ever
known. Trained as an electrical engineer at MIT, he was a mathematical genius
and a skilled artist locked in the body of a brute.
    His
sensitivities to those around him astounded MacMurphy. Always calm and
unflappable, he had a knack for relieving tensions and cooling things down when
tempers rose. But if confronted, he would destroy anyone who threatened him or
those he cared about.
    Mac
had seen Culler erupt only once. They had been hanging out with a small group
of Farm students at a nearby bar called the Tumble Inn. Everyone was feeling
mellow, and the beer and camaraderie were flowing freely when one of the female
students slapped one of the townies who was slobbering all over her.
    The
townies hated the CIA students. The whole town knew that the facility was a CIA
training base, despite the CIA’s futile efforts to maintain its cover. They
considered the students pompous interlopers on their territory.
    The
townie was a huge, pot-bellied, tattooed beast accustomed to bullying people in
“his” bar, and he was surrounded by an entourage of similar low-lifes who egged
him on.
    Culler
had calmly stepped between his female colleague and the townie, politely asking
the townie to leave his friend alone and take his smelly group of pig farmers
to the other side of the room.
    The
townie responded by smacking Santos in the face with a beer bottle, splitting
open his lip. The blow had not seemed to faze Culler. He had stepped back away
with his left foot, crossed his right foot over in front and brought it up and
around to meet the townie’s right cheek with such force that teeth and cheek
bone shattered, sending the huge man careening across the room and into la-la
land. Without missing a beat, he had turned on the others, swiftly taking out
two of them with rapid-fire, vicious kicks and punches while the remaining
thugs beat a hasty retreat toward the door.
    Mac
was reminded of this fight every time he saw the angry scar on Culler’s upper
lip. Santos was the meanest, toughest guy MacMurphy had ever known, and he was
totally loyal to Mac and Maggie and Edwin Rothmann.
     
    Chapter