Overthrow (A James Winchester Thriller Book 2) (James Winchester Series) James Samuel (reading tree TXT) 📖

the room. Bloodstains soaked into the wood of the floor as the dead man disappeared.

He tried to calm his jangled nerves, but he couldn’t relax. In Sok’s corpse, he saw his own future. If he failed to carry out Beijing’s wishes, it would be his only future.

Chapter Fifty-Two

Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh Province, Cambodia

Days passed as James and Sinclair waited for the frenzy over Kravaan’s assassination to blow over. Kravaan’s death made the local papers and the national news. The reports said nothing about his real work, only that he was a soldier. Thankfully, nobody had managed to identify James, other than some vague reference to foreign involvement.

James took out a cigarette from a crumpled pack and lit it, taking a long drag as he did. These were supposed to be his days off, yet he thought about nothing but General Narith and Shao Fen.

Sinclair returned from the bar with two beers. He sat down on the terrace of the only Irish bar in the Doun Penh District. All the waiters spoke English and the speakers blared Western rock hits exclusively.

“Shao Fen knows who I am,” said James at last.

Sinclair rolled his eyes. “Do we have to talk about this now? On our day off?”

“This is not a holiday. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can leave.”

“So, you’re not enjoying Cambodia then?” Sinclair teased.

James took another drag on his cigarette. “Not particularly. Are you?”

“You’ve seen places ordinary tourists could never see.”

“Well, when I get a job with Lonely Planet, I’ll be thankful for it.”

“Oh, fine.” Sinclair guzzled half his beer in one. “What do you want to discuss?”

There were so many things on his mind. They’d talked through all the obvious subjects when James returned from Kravaan’s assassination. Shao knew his identity because of Dylan. They were no closer to killing General Narith. And Shao presented a much bigger problem.

“We need to start working on Shao Fen,” said James.

“Or General Narith.”

“No. Shao Fen. He’s the real power behind General Narith. If we don’t get permission to kill him, it’s like treating only some of the cancer tumours. They’ve both got to go.”

“General Narith is our job. Nobody else. Why should we waste our time on something that’s not our business? We should stick to our assignment.”

James took a long look at Sinclair. He didn’t understand. With his head buried in facts and analysis, he lived far away from the real world, content with his files and computers.

“I murdered a man in front of his daughter this week,” said James. “The least I can do is to try to make this country a better place.”

Sinclair shook his head. “That’s not what we do.”

“I want more than that. There has to be something positive to come out of this. Why can’t our efforts be used for the greater good?”

Sinclair narrowed his eyes at him. “Where has this come from? Are you getting soft on me?”

James sighed. “Maybe I just want our work to mean something.”

“Can’t we leave this for later and not have a moral crisis in the middle of a job?”

James grumbled under his breath, but he saw the logic. Anything but total concentration would get himself killed.

“So, Dylan works for Fen,” said Sinclair. “That’s what we know about him. I think his prior behaviour demonstrates that he’s willing to share.”

“Would Thom take Dylan’s words as proof?”

“It’s not enough to prove anything, and Dylan is just another foreigner.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“They don’t trust foreigners. Even if they like us, they’ll never trust us like they would one of their own.”

James folded his arms and looked out at the street crawling with all manner of sights. He watched a clumsy backpacker weighed down by his bags trying to find an opening in the relentless traffic. James started to feel like that, lost and confused. Shao was a part of this, and he had to kill him. He couldn’t just stick to the contract and let Shao simply choose someone else to carry out China’s takeover of the government. It wasn’t right.

“Then what are we supposed to do?” asked James.

“Kill General Narith and let’s get out of here,” Sinclair ventured.

James sent him a stinging glare.

“No? Well fine. We should speak to Dylan first.”

James ran his hand over his stubble. “You say he’s protecting someone called Song Wen?”

“Dylan sent me some information after he left, yes, he’s acting as a bodyguard for Song Wen.”

“Maybe we don’t need proof. Maybe we don’t need Thom to greenlight anything.”

Sinclair flicked his eyebrows and leaned in over the table. “Not again, James. We’re not risking everything by going beyond our brief. You remember the reaction from last time.”

James recalled it all too well. Gallagher had given himself an aneurysm in his fury after they murdered the last Blackwind client. Cambodia was meant to be their redemption.

“This is the key. All we need is Shao to react to something. Something that will link him to General Narith, then nobody can complain.”

Sinclair’s eyes widened. “To cover ourselves, you mean?”

“Exactly. If they wanted to make an issue out of it, it would bring Narith into it and blow open everything that’s been happening. They wouldn’t do that. Too many powerful people would find themselves trapped.”

“And what can we do to make Shao react?”

“Song Wen.”

Sinclair’s brow creased as he considered it. For a moment, James thought he wouldn’t agree to the idea. Careful and conservative Sinclair. Then, he surprised James by nodding his assent.

Shao Fen was on the list.

Chapter Fifty-Three

Blake hobbled around on his crutches. The bullet had torn through his ankle, an injury revealed to be more serious after the medics removed his boot. He would walk again after the surgery, but it