The GoldenCity

Something scurried up Doyle’s right arm to his shoulder. It was a small gray mouse with a long tail. Cautiously, the mouse crept up to the base of Doyle’s neck. Its little black eyes stared at the prisoner’s lips. Meanwhile a second mouse crawled up Doyle’s leg to the left pocket of his jeans. The quick movements of the two rodents made it appear as if Doyle was a large and powerful creature with little bits of life clinging to him.

“My pets,” Doyle explained. “The men here keep scorpions for fighting, but you can do more things with mice.” Doyle plucked the first mouse off his shoulder. Holding it by its tail, he let the animal swing frantically in the air. “You like mice, Mr. Boone?”

“Not especially.”

Doyle opened an empty match box and dropped the mouse inside. “You’re missing out on a lot of fun.”

Boone had never been scared of any kind of animal, but the mice made him uncomfortable. There was a demon inside Doyle’s head that wanted control over anything that was small and defenseless. Doyle winked at Boone and then plucked the second mouse off his lap. Holding its tail, he raised it up above his head and opened his mouth as if he were going to swallow the creature.

“Think I won’t do it? Huh? Pay me a couple hundred bhat and I will.”

Boone shrugged as if he received offers like this all the time. “Not worth it.”

“Just kidding…” Doyle opened a second match box and dropped the mouse inside. “So why does someone from Active Solutions want to talk to me?”

“We want to know if you would be interested in working for our company.”

“Sure. But if you haven’t noticed, I’m locked up in this shithole.”

“I think I could arrange for you to be expelled from Thailand and placed on a chartered plane. At the end of the employment period, you will be given a new passport and fifty thousand dollars in cash.”

“Great! I’m your man. Where do I sign?”

“You don’t have to sign anything, but you do need to be clear about the conditions of your employment in the United States. If hired, you will follow my orders without question and work with other individuals on the team.”

“What’s the job?”

“It would involve those activities that placed you in this prison.”

Doyle laughed. “All this was just a lot of bureaucratic bullshit. I overstayed my visa. No big deal.”

“I know why you’re here.”

“All right, I confess.” Doyle chuckled. “I screwed up and bought a fake passport stamp from this guy who promised me that-”

“I know why you’re here,” Boone repeated. “As do the police in the Khian Sa District.”

Doyle jumped up and knocked over the packing crate. The two matchboxes fell onto the ground. “And who the hell are you? A FBI agent? Some kind of cop? I’m not talking to anyone without a lawyer.”

“Sit down, Mr. Doyle.”

Doyle stood there, breathing hard, and then sat back down on the barrel. The four trustees were standing about ten feet away. They looked disappointed that they couldn’t use their whips and clubs.

“My company has been asked to run a somewhat unusual operation,” Boone said. “I don’t know all the facts, but I’m going to assume that it requires someone with your particular skills.”

“What the hell are you talking about? What skills?”

“My employers want to cause fear-and then panic-in a certain region of the United States. Your activities would help us achieve that goal.”

“Forget it. You’re just setting me up to be arrested.”

“That’s a false assumption, Mr. Doyle. It’s in our interest to protect you. The fear remains in the population only if you don’t get caught.”

Doyle started down at the dirt for a few seconds, his shoulders twitching. When he glanced at Boone, the demon was under control. “I’m not going to do this.”

“I hope nothing happens to your work as a translator.” Boone stood up as if he was about to leave. “Without the money, you’ll have to sleep on a concrete floor with someone’s feet in your face.”

“Hold it!” Doyle said. “Just-hold it.” Doyle’s hands opened and closed, again and again.

“I’ll do this if you get me out of here.”

“Do what, Mr. Doyle? And don’t tell me stories about passport violations.”

“It’ll be just like what happened in the Khian Sa District. I’ll make people scared-really scared-when their children disappear.”

No, you won’t. Boone thought. You’ll try to run away at the first opportunity. But there were ways around that.

“You’re now an employee of Active Solutions. Don’t mention this conversation to anyone. We’ll be in touch.”