Dying to Live

Chapter 23 - Doing the Business

"Success," she said. "I've just bought the most beautiful dress you've ever seen. It makes me look like an oriental princess."

The rest of the day was fabulous, no getting drunk, no tits, no bums, and no trouble whatsoever. I just couldn't shake the feeling that the banker had scammed me but Hazel didn't notice my concerned look, so that was okay.

We rounded the day off by making love before we fell into the deep sleep of the nearly righteous.

Hazel's phone alarm woke us. The hotel wake-up call came about five minutes after and made sure we didn't sleep through. Hazel finished packing our cases before we went down for breakfast.

Hazel had had a text from Mr Montri to change the meeting arrangements. Our get together had been moved from the Novotel to the airport. We both reckoned he'd always planned for an airport meet but he'd suggested the Novotel as a decoy in case we were considering anything dodgy. No one seemed to trust anyone in this business. You'd think some of us were criminals.

We planned to be ready to head for the meeting with Mr Montri at the airport with more than two hours to spare because that's the way Hazel wanted it to be. She was taking no chances. She was just right, this was too important to both our futures.

After we'd checked out, the concierge loaded our baggage into the taxi and I tipped him generously. We'd got the hotel to organise the cab because I certainly wasn't going to call James. I had no doubt he'd have fallen over himself to sort us out but he knew stuff about me which I didn't want to share. I'd got away with my Pattaya adventure, Hazel knew nothing about it and I wasn't going to let a loose word from James bugger that up.

We'd taken longer over breakfast than planned thanks to me and my desire for a special omelette. On top of that, the journey across town was slower than expected but we still arrived at the airport with just over an hour to spare. I scoured the concourse area for anything suspicious. I'd seen enough James Bond movies to know how the hero was supposed to act. We made our way to Starbucks Coffee and queued for our cappuccinos and scones, very British.

There seemed to be an inordinate number of people who looked as if they were doing business. Lone European men engrossed in conversation with single Thai men or occasionally a pair of Thai. Maybe this was the place where deals were done. I guess being in what seemed like the busiest place in the airport made it a prime spot for all sorts of business shenanigans; everything hidden in plain sight among hordes of people.

Hazel and I found a table at one end of the giant food court.

"Let's go over the plans just one more time," I said.

"If you want to make God laugh, tell him you've got a plan."

"John Lennon."

"No, I think you'll find that John Lennon said 'Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans.' Not sure who said the one about making God laugh."

"Let's pretend it was Paul McCartney then."

This sort of banter was one of the many reasons I loved spending time with Hazel. I knew I'd be happy to devote the rest of my life to her and that was my plan, although I hadn't properly shared the thought with her yet. Yes, we'd talked about making a fresh start together and stuff like that but we hadn't made any rock-solid commitments, at least none which I could remember. I just needed to make sure I didn't do anything to screw up the relationship.

We used our spare time to relax although I pushed her to run over exactly what we were going to do today. It was simple really, we'd do the transaction with Montri and then split up. We'd check in for our flight separately and not meet up again until we were on the plane and in the air.