Free Assignment Bangkok by Unknown Author Page B

go.”
    Benjie was surprised. “It’s too easy. It’s a trick.”
    “No trick. He wants us to get out.”
    “How can you tell?”
    “He hates Savag’s guts. He’s sympathetic to us. He told me so, when he mentioned caravans out of Chiengmai. He knows what my job is. He wants me to get it done.”
    “You’re building a lot on a few casual words.”
    “The Thais are like that. You ought to know.”
    The office door was not locked. The corridor was empty. Benjie followed him out. From an open doorway down the hall came the sound of high-pitched Thai argument. General Savag’s voice was a low growl over Major Luk’s protests. Durell gave Benjie the signal to go the other way. At the head of some stairs going down there was a dim light, and below was an open door going outside. The sounds of highway traffic seemed louder.
    “They must have my jeep here,” Benjie whispered.
    They went silently down the stairs. There was no alarm. The single unshaded lamp made a dangerous pool of illumination, and from behind them came the continued argument in Savag’s office. Durell wondered where Savag’s platoon was posted. Then he took Benjie’s hand, and, together, they ran across the lighted hall and out the doorway.
    Among the weeds and trash that littered the barracks area, they felt isolated, as if the place were deserted. Then Durell noted a cigarette glow near the sagging gate posts that led to a rutted road going toward the highway. Headlights flared from the traffic there, above a small rise clumped with vegetation. He pulled Benjie silently to the left, around a corner of the sagging doorway, and exhaled softly.
    Two army trucks and Benjie’s jeep were parked in the shadows under some leaning palm trees. She dug into the hip pocket of her baggy blue denims.
    “I have a spare key,” she whispered.
    They ran for it. If any of the soldiers in the shadows of the wire gate saw them, they gave no sign. Benjie tumbled in behind the wheel, jabbed the key into the lock, and switched on the engine. The racket sounded enormous. Over its roar, Durell thought he heard a shout of alarm, but Benjie paid no attention. The jeep swung in a wild turn that kicked up a cloud of dark dust around them, and then she switched on the headlights. The guards at the gate were caught by surprise in the glare. Benjie tramped on the gas. One of the soldiers tried to raise his rifle, but he was sideswiped by the jeep and sent sprawling into the dust. Before any shots could be fired, they were through and heading for the open highway.
    The barracks was only a few hundred yards along an access road to the four-lane thoroughfare. There was a lot of military traffic going east out of Bangkok. Benjie slammed on the brakes to avoid crashing into a troop-carrier. The column seemed endless. The jeep rocked on its springs, and Durell looked back. Some lights were going
    on in the rambling barracks. A single shot made a dim popping noise through the racket of the traffic, but the bullet went wide.
    Benjie grinned wanly. “Major Luk is not going to be very comfortable when Savag learns of this.”
    “I’m sure Luk has an explanation ready for the general.”
    There was a momentary gap in the convoy. Benjie stepped on the gas and the jeep bounced forward onto the concrete. She swung left, tires screeching, and headed for the city. Durell looked backward, but no one seemed to be following. If he had estimated Uva Savag correctly, however, the general would be turning the town upside down for him.    
    “Are you still willing to fly me to Chiengmai?”
    Benjie looked serious. “On my deal. I go with you.”
    Durell considered it. The girl was competent enough. On the other hand, she was a sure tell-tale for General Savag to take him in again. “Can you get a plane to the airport?”
    “There’s a small strip at Lung Moc. I’ll have a Thai Star plane there by dawn. But where will you stay tonight?”
    “Better if you don’t know. I’ll be at Lung