Chapter 2: Slave Birth
(Thanks to techsan)
We went down to the street. Mr. Seal's Mercedes and driver were waiting for us. Gen. Subiyat made an appointment with Hollywood for that evening. We had a nice lunch at Mr. Seal's hotel. Later that evening we all drove to Hollywood Joe. Gen. Subiyat walked in like he owned the place; well, he may have owned a share. Hollywood Joe was supervising the torture of Elaine. He said to the Gen., "She thinks that she can out stubborn me but I have broken better before. The market for top line farang concubines is worth much baht every night."
Gen. Subiyat took Joe into a secret conversation. Suddenly Joe roared, "That American fucker might cost me my club and give me a rest cure in the lumber camps. I will gut that fucker and throw him in the klong."
I said to both of them, "Let me call the Senator and suggest that the Thai government would take an interest if he politely requested assistance."
Gen. Subiyat said, "You do that, Mike. In the meanwhile we need to videotape the woman for some profit. She won't be badly damaged, and who knows? She might have some new fun. After all you didn't leave her a virgin, did you?"
I said, "I'll make the call right now. Mr. Seal, may I make an overseas call?"
Mr. Seal said, "Just this once, Mike, because I love you."
I called and got the Senator's aide, Maurice. I told Maurice, "I know the Senator doesn't want to speak with me, but Elaine is in serious trouble in Bangkok."
Maurice asked, "What sort of trouble could Elaine be in? And why is she in Bangkok?"
"As to why she is here, I don't know or care. The trouble seems to be that she was sold by her husband into the Bangkok sex trade," I answered with a grin.
Maurice responded, "I can't believe that. In this day and age, no, that cannot happen."
I threw back at him, "Well, if you don't believe me, call her husband and have him get Elaine on the phone."
"I'll do just that. When Elaine talks with me, I will give her your phone number so she can chew you out personally." There was a click as he hung up the phone.
He called me back in ten minutes. Maurice said, "Aran said she was having a massage and would call in about an hour. I told him his credit cards are canceled if we don't speak with Elaine right then and he should carry the phone to her. He hung up on me and would not pickup again. What should I do?"
I suggested, "Tell the Senator to call Aran or the embassy. Did you find out what hotel they were staying?"
Maurice hung up without responding.
Joe gave me Elaine's visa and passport. He announced, "Won't somebody buy this farang bitch?" He edgily said, "No one buys her soon, I must throw her in the klong along with her good-for-nothing husband." He added, "No evidence is good evidence."
Gen. Subiyat called police headquarters to get the errant husband found before he left Thailand. Gen. Subiyat got a phone call back in a hour, saying that the idiot had over-consumed some purple heroin and was as dead as last year's sewage.
We now had a serious problem. If I had not notified the Senator, we could have just let Elaine suffer for the next few months until she overdosed on the local chemicals. But now with a dead husband, the Senator was going to believe that we had kidnapped his daughter.
Maurice called me back in two hours time, "I can't find Aran or Elaine. She hasn't checked into her hotel."
The Senator got on the line, "Mike, is this one of your stunts? I can make your life hell, you know."
I said, "I didn't put Elaine in this mess. The muscle bound idiot you let out of jail did. I'm actually trying to help." I added to him, "I will continue to hunt for Elaine but only you can motivate the Embassy personnel to action."
The Senator said, "Don't you worry, those little tight pants pussies will get my hot iron up their butts until they start moving. How are you going to hunt for Elaine and how did you know about Aran selling her?"
I answered, "I'm a businessman in Asia. To make money I listen and follow up on anything strange. And you have got to agree this is strange. A senator's daughter being sold into prostitution doesn't happen more than once a year around here."
The Senator asked, "How often does some husband sell his wife around there?"
I told him, "This sort of thing goes on all the time in Bangkok with foreigners. It's divorce without alimony paradise, if you know what you're doing. But nobody would do it to a Thai woman. The bar owners wouldn't buy. She could escape too easily and her family would be honor-bound to collect vengeance."
The Senator sobbed and hung up without saying anything else. I almost felt sorry for him, but then remembered that he let Aran out of jail to marry Elaine. That made him partly responsible for the mess she was in.
We watched the training of Elaine. She really got excited when the electrodes were attached to her earlobes. When the current was turned on, she almost broke her attachments to the shoes. Elaine was learning lessons much faster than she learned in college.
The embassy contacted me the next morning. Apparently the Senator had made a great annoyance of himself and they had to appear that they were doing something. Since they didn't seem to care about Elaine or any other lost wife, I suggested, "You look in the Soi Cowboy area." Since this was the other side of Bangkok they would never get close to us.
Elaine was getting quite exhausted. Joe said, "Now is the time. Her suggestibility is very high."
Joe suggested that I reimburse him for all his costs. I asked, "What have you spent so far?"
