Fighting Karma: A must read adventure by Reid Bracken

Author:Reid Bracken [Bracken, Reid]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

33

In Flight over Andaman Sea

Bree drifted awake. There was a steady drone and vibration under her. Above was a scuffed metal ceiling studded with rows of rivets.

A woman sat on a bench smoking and looking out one of the round windows along the fuselage. She turned to her.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been dragged behind a bus,” Bree said. “What happened?”

“You passed out. Your friends play rough. Who were they?”

Images of the black tattoo, a shaggy figure, and the explosions came back to her. “Chinese special forces. We’ve crossed paths before.”

Tita shook her head. “No way those were Chinese soldiers. Their uniforms and equipment were all wrong. More likely mercenaries or private contractors.”

Bree considered that. “Tita. Right?”

“Yup.”

“Thanks for your help back there.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Bree sat up. “Where are we?”

“Airborne over the Andaman Sea.”

“What were you doing on that island?” Bree asked, wrinkling her nose.

Tita blew a smoke ring into the air. “I’m looking for your father. We worked together years ago.”

“So, you’re in intelligence too?”

“Freelance. I hadn’t heard from Cole in years, then last week he calls me to do a quick job—”

“—You saw him recently?” Bree blurted.

Tita gave her a surprised look. “When’s the last time you saw your father, kid?”

“When I was fourteen,” Bree whispered and turned away. “I thought he was dead.”

Tita processed that. “We met in Pattaya. I helped him get information out of a Chinese medicine practitioner.”

“What makes you think he’s out here?”

“His last known position was about sixty kilometers due east. We started checking out the neighboring islands and picked up the helicopter on radar, which led us to you.”

At that moment, a dog trotted out of the cockpit into the cabin. The wrinkled Shar-pei whined when it saw Bree and sauntered over, tail wagging.

She petted the dog. “Where’d you co—?”

Bree stopped mid-sentence. She looked around the cabin. Recognition dawned. “Who’s flying the plane?”

“Thought you’d seen the last of me, huh Thomas?”

Up in the cockpit, Mac McCarthy regarded her from the pilot seat with a huge grin.

Bree laughed as tears filled her eyes. “I thought you were dead!”

“I was. Laos death certificate issued and signed off. I woke up on a gurney with a tag on my toe. Scared the shit out of the doctor and nurses when I walked out of the morgue. Then Tita shows up snooping around town, and we re-float my plane.”

Tita helped her stand up. The dog followed her to the cockpit, where she gave Mac a hug, which he half-heartedly returned.

“Yeah, OK. Appreciate the concern, Thomas,” he said, blushing like a bride. He leaned back and popped a fresh cigar in his mouth.

Bree met his eyes. “I’m sorry about Myia.”

Mac scratched at the bandage around his head and nodded. There was an awkward silence.

He reached over and unrolled a chart of the Mergui Archipelago. “So, where to?”

“The Moken said the pearl came from a San Island. It’s on the outer edge of the archipelago.”

Mac studied the map. “There’s no San Island listed.”

“Probably a local name,” Tita offered.

“Where were we before?” Bree asked.

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