---

Bright morning sunlight glistened off the calm sea. It delighted Johnno. He sipped a glass of rum punch and sat on his hotel balcony in blissful contemplation. Here in Pulau Pinang, for the first time in over ten years, Johnno's mood was one of rare tranquility. He drank his rum punch and smiled at the green water of the Malayan Peninsular which shimmered magnificently in the stifling heat.

 

Georgetown, with its brilliant sky and bustling confusion of rickshaws, buses, lorries and scooters was an experience not to be missed. The buildings of the ancient colonial past in this town were now juxtaposed with the sparkle of state-of-the art hotels and street cafes and life was splendid and full of hope. As he gazed out to sea, Johnno thought of Australia. He had been away for almost six weeks and he did not miss it at all.

 

"Let go of my arm, you arsehole!"

 

The shrill female cry instantly broke Johnno's mood of calm reflection. He shifted his position on the first floor balcony of the hotel and lowered his eyes to view the busy street below. The voice had been Australian and he quickly discovered its origin: a young, slightly built, Caucasian woman with short, blonde hair was remonstrating with one of the locals. She wore a red top with faded blue jeans and carried a bright pink handbag across her shoulder. The local man grabbed for her arm and she angrily pushed him away.

"Piss off!" she yelled at the man who now hesitated, seemingly alarmed by the commotion she was creating.

The man muttered something to her in Malay in a threatening tone and reached again for her arm and she lashed out with her pink handbag and struck him a telling blow to his head. He recoiled from the wallop, quickly composed himself and launched once more towards her and grabbed her by the shoulder.

Johnno reacted quickly. He stepped over the hotel balcony railing, lowered himself down and swiftly dropped to the grass below. By the time the local man had heard the dull thud of Johnno's bare feet hitting the soft earth, Johnno had rushed towards him and stood menacingly by his side. Now very aware of Johnno's presence, the man turned and aimed a punch towards Johnno's face. Johnno swayed his head away from the man's clenched fist and instantly returned a blow of his own. It caught the man flush on his nose, causing him to drop to the ground. The blonde-haired girl stood near-by, transfixed by this sudden turn of events, as the man on the ground raised his hand to his face and felt for the blood that trickled from his nose. He spoke again in Malay to the girl. This time it was a slow, controlled dialogue, but Johnno recognised an undertone of hostility in his delivery. The girl spoke back to the man briefly in Malay before adding in English, "Just piss off." The man looked towards her, and then to Johnno before slowly rising to his feet. He glanced once more at Johnno, before hurrying away through the small crowd that had gathered and disappearing from view altogether.

"Nice one. Thanks for that," the girl said to Johnno.

"Are you ok?" Johnno asked.

"Yeah fine," she said. "You're Australian? Aren't you?"

"Yes," Johnno replied.

"I feel like a drink after that." The girl looked towards the hotel that Johnno had emerged from. "Let's go inside and get away from all these people."

Johnno walked with her towards the main entrance of the hotel. The small crowd quickly dispersed and returned to their business of the day. The spectacle was over and life continued. Johnno knew it was like that in Georgetown, or Penang, as the locals confusingly called it - little could disrupt the large community of traders and businessmen.

As they entered the hotel the clerk at reception waved to Johnno. "Good morning, Mr. Johnno!" he called.

"Morning, Eric," Johnno said, "any messages today?"

"None again today, Mr. Johnno," Eric replied with a smile.

"Good." Johnno was happy there were still no messages. It meant that no one knew where he was.

 

A few minutes later, Johnno sat with the girl in the hotel's bar and the staff fussed over him as usual. This time their attention seemed heightened, however, and they smiled towards his female companion with delirious happiness.

 

"A drink, Sir?" the waiter asked, "and one for your lady?" The waiter exposed all of his brown teeth with a smile of joy, and he laughed out loud when he noticed Johnno's bare feet.

 

"Another rum punch for me," Johnno said. "What would you like?" he asked his new companion.

"Gin and tonic," she said, "with lots of ice."

 

The waiter bowed his head, smiled and scurried away to the bar.

 

"My name is Susie," the girl said, "Susie Ray. I'm from Melbourne."

 

"I'm, Johnno," Johnno replied.

 

"Thanks for your help out there, Johnno. Some of the locals can be a bit of a pain." The woman who called herself Susie brushed her hand through her short blonde hair as if her recent altercation had simply been a mild annoyance. Johnno found her attractive, in an Aussie sort of way.

 

The waiter returned and placed their drinks on the table. Johnno gave him some five-dollar notes and the waiter smiled and returned to the bar. Johnno then took a large sip of his rum punch.

 

"What's your last name, Johnno?" Susie asked.

 

"I'm just known as Johnno."

 

Susie laughed. "Fair enough, what part of Australia are you from?"

 

"All over." Johnno casually played with his glass of rum punch on the table. He then adopted a serious expression on his suntanned face.  "When I was last there, I spent six months in a cave in Enmore in Northern New South Wales."

 

Susie gave him a puzzled look. She took a sip of her gin and tonic and grinned. "You sound like an interesting person. How long are you staying here?"

"I'm not sure. I only arrived in Malaysia a few weeks ago."

 

Susie took another sip of her drink and spoke again: "I may have some work for you if you are interested, Johnno. I need someone at the moment, and you seem to fit the bill. I'll pay you well."

 

"What do you have in mind?" Johnno was intrigued.

 

"I need a protector," Susie said, "someone who can look out for me for the next few days or so." She viewed Johnno's eyes below his thick, dark head of hair. They were as black as coal. She looked him up and down and scanned his muscular, athletic build. "You look more than capable of doing that."

Johnno scratched his chin with the fingers of his left hand. "Protecting you from what? Locals, like the one who was threatening you?"

"Maybe...that, and other things."

"I don't speak Malay," Johnno said, "but that local seemed to have a bit of a problem with you. What sort of problem would that be, Susie?"

Susie smiled. "I'm doing some financial business here and some of the locals take exception to foreigners doing business in their country." She brushed at her blonde hair. "I don't have any real problems. I just want some insurance, just in case."

"Well, I don't have much on at the moment," Johnno forced a smile, "I'd check my appointment book if I had one, but the fact that I don't own one probably means I'll be available for a while."

"Good. But I will need you to check out of this hotel and move into mine. It's not far away."

"My usual fee for protection is ten grand, U.S."

"Fine, no problem."

Johnno had pulled the figure out of the air and he now looked into the eyes of the young woman who sat before him with the intention of discovering her inner workings. He noticed for the first time her eyes were a bluey-green colour. He leaned forward towards her and spoke in a soft tone: "So, where are they coming from? Thailand?"

"What?" she asked. "What is coming from Thailand?"

"The drugs, I mean."

 

Susie opened her pink handbag and removed a silver cigarette case. She clicked open the case and chose one of the ten filters it contained. "Would you like one?" she asked.

"No, "I've just given up."

Susie smiled. "I'll bet by the end of the week you'll be smoking again. Do you want to go double or nothing on that?"

"Sure. Those odds are in my favour. I'm committed to being a non-smoker now. It will be twenty grand for me if I win, or nothing at all for you to pay if I lose, but I won't lose."

"You must be doing ok financially, anyway, if you can afford to stay here." Susie looked around the hotel. It had an English imperial feel. It seemed as if the building was leftover from the colonial past. She carefully lit her cigarette and took a deep puff. "But, yes," she whispered, "you're right, Johnno. The drugs are coming from Thailand in a few days time."

Johnno knew that drugs would somehow be involved. "How will you get them out of the country?"

"That's my business. I'm the business woman and you're just the hired help." Susie placed her elbow on the table and blew some smoke in his direction. "Let's not get our roles confused, ok?"

Johnno watched the smoke twirl passed his chin. "I understand. I understand completely."

 

Johnno checked out of his hotel that afternoon and moved into a shared suite with Susie on the other side of Georgetown. The suite had two adjoining apartments with separate bedrooms and she allocated him the smaller of the two. Despite a slight drop in quality, the new hotel was much the same as his previous accommodation: there were bars; a pool; dinning areas, and a similar plethora of smiling local staff. Much to his satisfaction, Johnno also found the rum punches to be largely the same. He noticed how the staff paid particular attention to Susie: they buzzed about her like bees as if she was a V.I.P. and should be treated accordingly.

"I have a meeting on tomorrow morning in Batu Ferringhi," she told Johnno that evening over dinner. "We'll catch a bus there."

"Who is your backer?" Johnno asked.

"What?" she asked.

"Your backer," Johnno repeated, "you seem to be very well looked after here. They must be in the, Mr. Big category."

Susie narrowed her eyes. They seemed at that moment to be more blue than green.

"You ask too many questions," she said with annoyance. "You're my protector, Johnno, and nothing else."

Johnno replied calmly: "To be able to adequately protect you I will need to know who I'm dealing with, Susie."

Susie's blue eyes moved rapidly in deep thought. "Fair enough. I'm sorry, Johnno, I didn't mean to treat you with disrespect."

"No offence taken," Johnno said.

Susie told Johnno she had a powerful Melbourne backer who was financing the deal. There were still a few loose ends to tie-up in Phuket, in Thailand, before the deal would go through and Susie was to liaise with a local contact in Batu Ferringhi, in Pulau Pinang, to finalise things. It transpired that once the drugs did arrive in Georgetown, the Malaysian airport officials had been sufficiently bribed to allow the drugs to be sent to Australia with relative ease.

Johnno was surprised how Susie was so willing to part with the information. She seemed to Johnno to be perhaps a little too trusting. He considered that she might have already done some checking into his own background.

"It's a dangerous business to trade in these types of commodities in this part of the world," he told her when they were back in their hotel suite.
"High profits entail high risks," she said, "but this will be my last trip."

"That's what they all say," Johnno said. "The last trip can be one's undoing."

"And that's why I've got you to look out for me," Susie said. "This will be my last trip, though, Johnno. Call it early retirement, if you like, but instead of going on the pension back in Melbourne, I'll be retiring at twenty-six."

 

The following day, they travelled by bus to Batu Ferringhi. It was an old hippy hangout in the nineteen seventies, but those days were long gone. The coast was now full of premier hotels where the wealthy, and not so wealthy, could escape from the western world's drudgery to live the lives of kings. Each hotel had its own private swimming pool: although the beaches of Batu Ferringhi remained pristine their waters were now so heavily polluted swimming was not an advisable option.

That part of the trip was uneventful as far as Johnno was concerned. Susie spoke to a Malayan businessman in a private suite at one of the luxury hotels for several hours before they made their way back to Georgetown on the same bus. Johnno could see that Susie spoke the language well and she seemed to be on good terms with the man. When they arrived back in Georgetown, however, the same local who Johnno had encountered when he first met Susie again accosted them. The local man had two other Malayan men with them and the three of them remonstrated with Susie when she and Johnno alighted from the bus. Susie said something to them in Malay and the first man looked towards Johnno, spoke to Susie and turned to leave with his two companions.

"What was that all about?" Johnno asked Susie.

"Nothing to worry about," she said. "It should be ok now. His name is Chi, and he and his friends are now working for the businessman we saw in Batu Ferringhi. That's the way things works in this country, Johnno, but I would still be careful about walking around here at night, if I were you."

 

That night, they avoided the hotel dining room and instead ordered room service of the local cuisine. They sat at a small coffee table in Susie's room and ate together.

"What do you know about me?" Johnno asked her.

Susie did not seem surprised by his question. "A little, I checked you out with my people in Melbourne." Her eyes narrowed. "I do know that you're supposedly dead."

"Well, that's a surprise to me." Johnno shook his head. "Who thinks I'm dead?"

"The authorities. Why else aren't they looking for you?"

Johnno considered her words carefully. "Well, if you know about me, Susie, you'll know that I'm no big fish. I'm just a simple career criminal. I've never hurt anyone, at least not badly."

"Simple, maybe, but successful, nonetheless." Susie lit a cigarette and her eyes narrowed once more. "Whose body was it in the car they found on that New South Wales highway? It obviously wasn't yours?"

"I didn't know there was a body, but I guess it all makes sense in a way." Johnno went to take one of her cigarettes, but he remembered at the last moment he had given up tobacco and so withdrew his hand. "I have no idea who it was. I just hope it wasn't someone I know."

Susie watched him with interest. "What will you do when this job is over, Johnno?"

"I haven't thought about it. I'll move on, I guess."

"Why don't you come to Melbourne with me? I could do with a partner. In a legitimate business," she added.

Johnno closed his eyes for a moment. "I'll get back to you on that." He rose to his feet. "It must be time for bed. What's on for tomorrow?"

"Just another meeting. Why don't you sleep in my bed tonight, Johnno?" Susie smiled. "It will be much more comfortable there."

They made love that night. Sweat dripped from their bodies as they writhed in pleasure on the double bed. It was the best sex Johnno could remember having for a very long time.

"Do you think that you should be bedding the hired help?" he asked as they lay together afterwards.

Susie smiled. "No, I don't think I should, but I like you, Johnno. You're a very different type of person. I don't think I've ever met anyone quite like you." She ran her fingers through his thick, dark hair and studied his black eyes. "Do you have a girlfriend back in Australia?"

"I used to. Her name was Rhonda. We broke up, but I sent her a postcard the other day - it was a postcard from Malaysia. I address it to, Rhonda, somewhere in the west of Tasmania, Australia." Johnno shrugged his broad shoulders. "I don't exactly know where she is now."

Susie laughed. "You're a very strange guy, Johnno."

"So people keep telling me."

 

After eating breakfast the next morning, they caught a ferry east to Butterworth on the mainland. Unlike Georgetown, Butterworth had very little to offer in the way attractions or amenities, but Johnno was also disconcerted by the man Susie met that day.

He was a short figure in well-fitting suit - a Chinese Malayan who went by the name of "Mr. Chin." He spoke fluent English as well as Malay but something about him left Johnno with a vague foreboding - it was a familiar feeling, a sixth sense that this man was not to be trusted.

Later that day when they returned to Georgetown, Johnno questioned Susie about Chin. She said that he was part of the Malayan syndicate and not as important as the businessman they had met in Batu Ferringhi. He did have influence at Bayen Lepos Airport in the south of Pulau Pinang, however, and so his co-operation was vital.

"He want's to up the price," Susie told Johnno. "I think he's a greedy bastard."

"What will you do?" Johnno asked.

"Give him what he wants...that's if my boss is agreeable."

"The more money, the more risk. Some risks aren't worth taking."

"Shut up," Susie said. "You're beginning to irritate me."

That night, after they had made love, Johnno left the bedroom and sat in darkness on the hotel suite balcony. He watched the hub of activity still continuing in the street below. He thought of Mr. Chin and how the short man had reminded him of someone in his past. He lit one of Susie's cigarettes and drew the smoke into his lungs. After a time, he reconciled his worried thoughts. He laughed to himself and returned to bed.

 

"It's all go," Susie said the next afternoon. "My boss rang me this morning and has agreed to the new price. The drugs will be delivered tomorrow to a warehouse near Swettenham Pier."

"What do we do now?" Johnno asked.

"Relax, and enjoy ourselves."

They wandered the narrow streets of Georgetown and shopped in its markets in the balmy heat. A strong smell of burning incense was everywhere as the locals were celebrating a festival of sorts. Bouquets of flowers coloured the street stalls and all of Georgetown's population of Malays, Chinese and Indians seemed united in the spirit of the occasion.

When Johnno and Susie found a quieter location in a corner cafe, Susie told him the drugs would be packed into crates and shipped to Australia disguised as a large importation of silk and incense. The custom officials had been bribed both in Malaysia and Australia and Susie would catch the same plane that was to carry the illegal cargo. She would take care of any paperwork that was required, safe in the knowledge that anyone who mattered had been sufficiently corrupted.

"I hate drugs," Johnno said. "I think I would rather the junkies in St. Kilda burn incense than stick that crap up their arms."

Susie's eyes flashed. "It's a bit late to start becoming part of the moral majority isn't it, Johnno?"

Johnno shrugged his shoulders. "I know you're only in it for the money, Susie, but I've seen the misery that stuff causes. I've seen the casualties and it's not a pretty sight. Some of my mates went down that road and never came back."

Susie grabbed for his hand. "Come with me to Melbourne, Johnno. It will soon be all over and we can live normal lives."

Johnno withdrew from her touch. "Thanks for the offer, but I like it in Georgetown. I think I'll stay here for a while."

"I'll miss you," Susie said. "Will you miss me?"

"I'll see you soon enough."

Susie frowned. "What account do you want me to transfer your money to?"

"Keep it." Johnno removed a cigarette from his shirt pocket and placed it in the side of his mouth. "Got a light?"

Suzie smiled. "The smoking bet was only a joke. It doesn't matter if you've taken up the habit again - I want to give you the money. I'll give you the full twenty grand."

Johnno removed the cigarette from his mouth "A deal is a deal, and a bet is also a bet. I started smoking again last night, Susie, and so keep that money and put it somewhere safe. Put it somewhere where you can get to it later, when you really need it."

They made love that night for the last time. The next morning, Susie prepared to leave for the airport. Johnno told her he would move back into his original hotel and he could tell she was angry with him. He considered that a pretty girl like her was most probably used to getting her own way, but he kissed her on her cheek and wished her well. She shed a tear when they parted and, in a way, Johnno felt as though he were a disciple betraying the one he worshipped.

 

***

 

Susie waited at Bayan Lepas Airport. The journey from Georgetown had taken some time and her plane was due to leave in under an hour. An airport official approached her and asked if she would move into the security area to attend to some forms: he said they needed to be completed to finalise the transportation of her cargo. She felt slightly nervous, but repressed her fears and followed him to customs and into an adjacent office. He asked her to sign the papers and then excused himself, stating he would, "be back in a few moments."

Susie stood at a bench and signed the papers without reading them as her grasp of written Malay was barely proficient. She then heard the office door open and turned to face the customs official.

She froze instantly when she saw it was now not the same official who had previously stood before her but the diminutive Mr. Chin.

"Miss Ray!" Chin exclaimed. "You have now taken sole responsibility for the cargo which is about to be loaded onto our government plane."

Chin who had entered the room with several armed soldiers spoke in perfect English. "I am a Malaysian police official," he said. "We will need to examine your cargo much more closely."

Susie felt suddenly sick. She began to shake in fear. Chin was supposedly part of the local syndicate, but he had now announced his true identity. It all seemed so surreal. Susie's heart beat rapidly and she gasped for breath in the thick humid air. For the first time in many years, she saw her own fallibility - she saw the end of her life rapidly approaching.

Chin calmly spoke again:  "The penalties in this country for transporting illegal drugs are very severe. To be convicted of shipping a large quantity of such substances carries a mandatory penalty of death by hanging."

Susie felt faint. She placed her hands on a nearby bench to avoid collapsing and felt a trickle run down her leg: she had urinated without knowing it. A thought entered her mind. It was something Johnno had said: Some risks aren't worth taking.

She momentarily lost consciousness and stumbled backwards. One of the policemen moved quickly and caught her body in his arms before she hit the concrete floor. Even in her daze, she still heard Chin's next words:

"Come, Miss Ray. It is time to view your cargo."

 

***

 

Johnno watched the morning sun skim across the calm sea. He had asked Eric from reception for the same room he had been given previously as he liked to be only one floor from the ground. It always allowed him a quick escape route from difficult situations.

His balcony faced north towards Thailand and, although Thailand was relatively close, Johnno felt it might as well be at the other end of the world.

 

Downstairs, below his balcony, afternoon traders went about their business as locals and tourists shopped at the busy seaside markets. As Johnno sipped on a freshly made rum punch, a light breeze sprang up from the sea and blew his thick dark hair over his eyes.

"I love Georgetown," he said to himself. "I bet Rhonda would have loved it too."

Johnno watched as the breeze intensified. It created small waves that rolled across the sea. They broke as they reached the shore and the water then retreated as quickly as it had formed. Behind him, Johnno suddenly heard his hotel door open and close with a sharp bang. Have to have a word with the Eric about that, he thought. Reception shouldn't be giving out my key. He then braced himself for the confrontation he knew was sure to follow.

 

"How did you do it, Johnno?" Susie asked him angrily. She walked onto the balcony and stood beside him. She was shaking with rage.

"I paid them to switch the cartons at the warehouse," Johnno said quietly. "I arranged it on our last night at your hotel. I went down to Swettenham Pier while you were asleep and dealt with the three Malayan locals." He scratched his neck with the fingers of his left hand. "They didn't take much persuading when I told them who Mr. Chin really was."

Susie looked as though she was about to explode. She yelled at Johnno: "You bloody smug bastard! How can you just sit there and look at the sea?" She slapped him on the side of his head with her open palm. She was outraged as soon as she had seen him, but somehow comforted at the same time. He had betrayed her, and she hated him for it, but in even in her rage she knew he had saved her life. "So, how did you know Chin was a policeman?" She momentarily checked her anger.

Johnno sighed. "It was a sixth sense. He just worried me at first, but I knew there was definitely something wrong. I've spent most of my life in gaol, Susie, and I can usually spot coppers a mile away. Prison was where I did all my learning, you see. I've used half of my current life-span life reading all the books in their libraries. That's what they say isn't it?  Go to gaol and get a good education."

Susie grimaced. "I appreciate you've probably saved me from execution, Johnno...either that or a lifetime in some Malaysian gaol. But where are the drugs now?"

"The drugs are safe."

"Why did you do this to me, Johnno?" Susie said angrily. "I almost had a heart attack when Chin arrested me. I was freaking out...that is, until they opened the crates and found they were full of silk and incense."

Johnno smiled. "I'll bet Chin was a little surprised by that too."

"Surprised isn't the word," Susie said angrily. "After that, he looked like he was the one who was going to have the heart attack. He actually had to apologise to me. We both thought the drugs were there, and I think it almost killed him"

Johnno raised the palms of his hands in the air as a gesture of appeasement. "I'm sorry I had to do that to you, Susie, but there was no other way around it. I couldn't take the risk that you might want to do things differently."

"Who has the drugs?" Susie demanded. "Is it Chi? Where are they, Johnno?"

"No, not Chi. He helped me re-pack the crates. Translating my request was a bit hard, but money and fear speaks all languages anywhere in the world."

 

Johnno paused to finish his rum punch. "He's got the money, Suzie, or at least some of it. Maybe, Chin has the rest, or the businessman you met in Batu Ferringhi." Johnno smiled. "I guess it all helps the local economy. It's a beautiful place, Malaysia. Don't you think?" Johnno stared out at the glistening water.

 

"Get a load of that sea, Susie."

"Where are the drugs, Johnno?" Susie asked again. She aimed to strike him another blow across his head but managed to restrain herself.

The water looks so peaceful," Johnno said. "It looks as if it could wash away any kind of evil humankind could ever invent."

Susie followed Johnno's eye line. She suddenly grasped his meaning. "Don't tell me you dumped them in the sea?"

Johnno attempted to smile but that brief smirk disappeared from his strong features as quickly as it had threatened to form. "I persuaded Chi to help me take them out by boat. By the time those drugs leak out of the crates they will be too spoiled to hurt the fish, but I hope I don't get charged with breaking any environmental laws."

"There are no fish there anyway," Susie said with a sigh. She ran her fingers through her short, blonde hair. "The pollution has killed them all." She lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. "Nothing but trouble will come from this. You're mad, Johnno, you must know that?"

Johnno smirked. "You're not the first person to tell me that, but at least I've saved those drugs from going up someone's arm. I told you before, Susie, big money means high risk and all those drugs do is cause misery. I've seen the misery and I couldn't let you send them to Australia."

Susie shook her head. "There's a lot more where they came from."

"Yes I know that, but I've done my bit." Johnno again looked out to sea. "I just did what I could do, that's all."

"You're such a bloody sanctimonious bastard, aren't you, Johnno?" Susie yelled. "What am I supposed to do now? What can I tell my boss?"

Johnno placed his hand on her arm. "Why don't you go back to see Mr. Chin and tell him you'll co-operate with the Federal Police against your Melbourne crew? The Feds will protect you. They'll give you a new identity and put all of those scum in Melbourne away for good." Johnno laughed. "I'd like to see how those big time business crooks handle prison."

Susie ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. "You make me sick. You actually think you're honourable, don't you?"

"I guess so, if there is such a thing as honour among thieves. But I'm no hypocrite, Susie. I've done a lot of bad things in my time. I just don't do drugs."

Susie let loose a deep sigh. "And what will you do now, Johnno? My boss will want you killed. What will you do when someone comes looking for you?"

"I'm a dead man, already, you told me that." Johnno smiled. "I was pronounced dead by the New South Wales Government and I think I can stay one step ahead of any gangster from Melbourne."

Susie stubbed out her cigarette and instantly lit another. "Will I see you again, Johnno?" Her anger had dissipated and she now looked worried.

"I'm not planning on disappearing from the world just yet." Johnno waved his hands to brush away the smoke from her cigarette. "Try not to breathe that thing over me will you, Susie?" he said with annoyance. "I'm trying to give up again, you know." He composed himself, kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear. "When you do see me again maybe you can be MY protector, Susie?"

She sighed. "I wish I could, but I should tell you that my real name is not Susie Ray. One day soon you'll definitely need protecting, Johnno, but I may not be the right person for the job."

Johnno laughed. "You're probably right there but I already know you gave me a false name. I checked out your details on the first day we met. Even though I'm a dead man, I still have some contacts."

Susie shook her head. "You always have to have the last word, don't you Johnno? But I don't believe you this time. I don't think you've checked anything out properly." She kissed him on the cheek and turned to leave. "I'll see you, Johnno."

"Yeah," Johnno said, "see you soon, Susie."

"Take care," she said.

"I always do, don't I?"

"Yes, but take extra care this time." Susie turned and kissed him again, this time on his forehead. It seemed to Johnno like a priest's kiss to a condemned man.

 

After Susie walked from his hotel room and closed the door behind her, Johnno removed an envelope from his pocket. It contained a fax from Sydney sent by a friend of his called Sylvio, a lawyer with connections to the criminal underworld. Johnno had placed a call to Sylvio requesting information two hours after he had first met Susie. Sylvio had sent his reply by fax to the hotel and Eric at reception had given it to Johnno when he checked back into the hotel. Eric was trustworthy - he and Johnno had an understanding. Johnno had not bothered to read the fax sheet as yet - he had not wanted to read it, but he now opened the envelope, unfolded the sheet of paper and read aloud:

 

Re: the woman you asked for the information on: Susie Ray - she's not who she says she is. Her real name is Samantha Waterman, and there's no money coming from anyone in Melbourne for any drug importation.

Be careful in your dealings with Samantha, Johnno. If you cross her, get out of the country as soon as you can!" 

 

Johnno walked from the balcony back inside his room, picked up the phone and dialled 9.

"It's Eric from Reception!" the friendly voice answered.

"This is Johnno from room 262, Eric. I want you to book me on the next plane out of Pulau Pinang. Book it under the name of Sam Bilson." Johnno considered that his old landlord would not know his name was being used overseas, though Sam would certainly be concerned to discover that Johnno held passports in several variations of his name. "I'll give you $200 U.S. later tonight, Eric. The booking, as usual, is just between you and me."

"Understood, as always, Mr. Johnno."

"Can you take me to Beyan Lapos Airport in the next hour? I'll meet you in the usual place."

"Sure! What country do you like to go, Mr. Johnno?"

"Get me a flight that connects to South America. Brazil would be nice. I've heard their beaches can be breathtaking."

"Will do, Mr. Johnno."

Johnno suddenly heard an unfamiliar noise outside in the hotel corridor. He calmly pushed his few possessions off the bedside table into a canvas backpack and moved to the balcony to make his escape. He stepped over the balcony railing, lowered himself to the ground, walked through the crowd of locals and disappeared into the night.