The Land of Thieves
The beers at The Blue Bar were fifty cents and the margaritas two dollars. There was a nice pool with blue water and the sunbeds lay in the sun. Sometimes I went there after the gym for a swim and a draft. It was a convenient arrangement and I usually met people I knew there. Today Arthur showed up wearing a multi coloured shirt and a white hat that could have been a Borsalino. Hannibal Lecter wears one of those at the end of The Silence of the Lambs.
”I found it on the top of a garbage container on the street.”
”It looks brand new.”
”Yes, I think it is... Can I have a beer”, he said to the lovely waitress. She nodded a smile. Only a part of her face smiled. She had a stroke some time ago.
Kenny showed up and we moved to the comfortable chairs by the pool. Kenny had told me about his adventures in The Land and of Thieves.
I picked up on the subject because I knew Arthur loved a good story. Kenny was from Europe; he had lived here in Siem Reap for a few years now; most of his face was covered by a white beard reaching down his pot belly that would make Santa envious, and he was supporting himself on a stick after a motorcycle accident, that had also developed into a stroke. He had been a cook on different cargo and research ships for seventeen years, and he lived in what he called 'The Land of Thieves' for four years. It turned into to a disaster.
”What happens if you go back?” I asked.
”Then they will kill me”.
He told us the story, and after a few drinks Arthur said, eyes moist, that he had sixty-five flying hours and he was ready to hire a plane and go there on a rescue mission. Maybe it was the margaritas talking.
The more Kenny elaborated on the subject the crazier the story got; there were tentacles pointing in different directions, some of them leading up to high ranking officials and to the top of the Government. The story is so fantastic I don't know what to say. Anyway – this is what he told us, with his own words:
”I have a wife in The Land of Thieves and her ex-boyfriend, an Australian, was one of the top guys in a huge drug smuggling operation. Another top guy in the ring was the son of a very high ranking official. They were smuggling tons of ecstasy and they hid all the money in different banks around the world.”
”I thought they are against drugs?”
”Yes, but it's all about money. Now – the boyfriend had made an arrangement with my wife that she would have access to the money if something happened to him. So he set up a joint account.”
”How much?”
”Millions of dollars.”
”Did something happen to the Australian?”
”Yes. He was killed”.
”Who killed him?”
”Well...”, Kenny said with a dubious smile on his face; ”Somebody I knew. His brother was killed by the Australian so he wanted to kill the guy himself. But the Australian was trying to kill my wife in the first place, and he was also behind the killing of her bodyguards and also my wife's father! I celebrated for a week when I was told the Australian had been killed. He vas a real devil!”
”So, how is she doing?”
”Not so good. They have tried to kill her many, many times – poisoning her with all kinds of shit, cutting off the brakes of the car she was going with, alone or together with her bodyguards or the attorney. They have tried to shoot her three times so far. The first time they killed her attorney outside the house in the morning when they were on their way to the court. There are many attorneys that have been killed over the years and many of her bodyguards also. But they don't give up. She's been in jail several times, because they accuse here for all kinds of shit. They want the money.”
”Who?
”The drug lords. They have the Government backing them up and the police are involved too.”
”So she cannot leave the country?”
”That's right. If she does that she will have access to all the money. Her only chance is to go with the people from the Government to the different countries, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Cayman Islands, Spain – and give them the money. Then they will let her go. They will split all in half. At least they said so.”
”So why are they trying to kill her?”
”Because she knows too much. But if they kill her they lose the money. So they are keeping her in the country for now. I think they really don't know what to do. But they are tapping our phone conversations, they are reading her mails, and mine too.”
”Have you ever thought she might be a part of a scam herself?”
”Of course I have. But what would she gain by lying to me? No – I trust her. But she's stuck there and I can't go back, because they will put me in jail and then they will kill me and make it look like suicide. I know too much too.”
It was a hell of a tale and I just didn't know what to believe. I had known Kenny for over a year, we had long conversations over dinners and beers and he didn't strike me as someone who would make things up just for the fun of it. So, why would he invent a story like this?
He had also shown me emails from the guys – bad language with threats and insults, much in the style of some of the Nigerian scam letters I read in the past. Demanding money. And more money.
And what about all the killings?
This is when Arthur intervenes with his plans of a rescue mission, Rambo style: ”Let's go and take her out of the fucking country!”
I knew he was touched by the story but I had my doubts it would ever happen. As he was a savant I was always looking forward to his next outbreak.
”Kenny, in these emails they are demanding more money”.
”Yes. But I have nothing more to give them. My money is finished”.
”And when do you believe your girlfriend will be here?”
”She said tomorrow yesterday – and I talked to her today. She said maybe they'll let her go tomorrow.”
