Bangkok
S
teve Berntson signaled for his barkeep to serve another beer and a shot of the Thai whiskey the Aussie sitting next to him preferred. Toby Pease smiled his gratitude showing the gummy gap left by a long-forgotten barfight. Toby was in an expansive mood, but the wad of cash he’d been paid for his last seagoing job was running low after a week-long binge.
“You got another job lined up, Toby?” Bernie glanced at the man’s forearms splayed across the bar top. Sun-bronzed skin covered by a blaze of lurid tattoos was now slack and flaccid where it had once bulged with well-exercised muscle. It was a wonder that the man could do anything beyond bar-hop and drink these days. Still, Toby’s buddies claimed he’d just gotten paid off a lucrative trip.
“I’ll get me a berth somewhere…” Toby
