Dying to Live

Chapter 20 - Ben to the Rescue

They had no more shots of me until I reappeared from behind the lockers carrying the briefcase. My grip on the handle tightened. Shit. They were going to take the briefcase to see what was in it. Shit. They were going to call the police. Shit. Arrested twice in one day, what sort of a dick was I?

The operator pushed a few buttons and the screen went blank. Silence filled the room, no one spoke. My heart thumped in my chest, I could hear the blood rushing through my ears. Were they waiting for me to explain what I had been doing? Did they expect me to open the case and show them what was inside?

"We wipe," said the operator.

"Sorry?" I said, unsure of what he meant. Then it came to me. "Oh, do you mean you'll erase the footage of me?"

"Yes, we wipe."

This was going to cost me. I remembered reading an Internet article entitled 'Top Ten Thai Myths Busted'. One myth said you could always buy your way out of any trouble. It didn't seem like a myth to me now.

"How much will that cost me?" I asked, hoping that my willingness to play his game wasn't taken as some admission of guilt, although the CCTV footage was evidence enough by itself. My stupid head started to think about having new business cards printed – 'Dave Murray, as seen on CCTV.' Stupid head. I needed to focus if I was going to get out of this mess unscathed.

"Two hundred US Dollars," he replied.

Why was everything dodgy in this country charged for in US Dollars? Having said that, I couldn't believe my ears. Two hundred dollars to make this problem disappear? That was the bargain of the century.

"Okay," I said.

"Each," he told me. Had I answered too quickly? Did I make him think he'd been too cheap with his opening ask?

I grunted a bit and ahmmmed a little, as if I was thinking about it. I wasn't going to make the same negotiating blunder twice.

"Okay," I said, "but I want to see you wipe the footage." I knew I wouldn't have a clue if the guy was going to wipe everything, there could be backups or copies but I had to try and sound assertive.

The operator fiddled with a few knobs and tippety-tapped on his keyboard.

"All gone. No record you ever here."

"And what about when I leave? You'll have new footage of me."

"No. We make sure you not on camera when you go."

I nearly opened the briefcase to grab a fistful of dollars but good sense stopped me in time. If they saw how much cash was in the case they might want to renegotiate their fee. Instead, I pulled my wallet out and counted out eight one hundred-dollar bills; bills I'd got from Matt's document holder. I handed the cash to the guy who'd brought me there. He handed it straight back to me as if it was a hot potato. What the hell was the problem?

"Two hundred dollars each," he said holding out his hand.

Did these guys not trust each other or was this some sort of weird Thai tradition? I didn't care, I just wanted out of there and back to my 'friend' James in the taxi. I handed each man two hundred dollars and that seemed to do the trick. They all bowed as I was led out of the control room. Those guys had certainly carved out a nice little earning niche. How many guys a week did they scam? Who knew? Who cared?

I was feeling good. I'd negotiated my way out of another problem and I had a case full of cash in my hand. On top of that, if Matt tried to buy access to the CCTV footage to find out who'd nicked his money, and he surely would, there wouldn't be anything there.