Badge of the Death Game

Chapter 035

Mark spread the documents across the table and began talking.

"The Voss family is one of the most established Chinese families in Bangkok. Their holdings cover a significant portion of the city: hotels, casinos, entertainment venues, and a handful of other operations that don't get listed anywhere official." He tapped the floor plan of the Crownline Royal Hotel. "This place is one of their primary revenue sources."

He paused to touch the bruising along his jaw, winced, and kept going.

"Julian, the one we met yesterday, his full name is Julian Voss. He's the only son of Warren Voss, the current head of the family. The man has a reputation. Arrogant, unpredictable, and from what people say, he had a violent streak when he was younger. There are rumors he's killed before, and not cleanly. The police never had enough to move on him, though most people think it wasn't really about evidence. The Voss family carries enough weight in this city that the department simply chose not to look too hard."

Hank listened without expression. Evan had stopped pretending to look at his laptop.

"Warren eventually ran out of patience with him," Mark continued. "Put him in charge of this hotel to keep him occupied and out of trouble. That was a year or two ago. When I used to come here before, someone else was running the floor." He shook his head slowly. "Since Julian took over, this place has been a different operation. Illegal lending, unlawful detention, those are just the things people talk about openly. I'm not the first person to end up on the wrong side of it."

He hesitated, then added, "Honestly, I've been thinking about whether money was even the main reason they came after me. I was in Bangkok two days ago for a legitimate business meeting. There's a wealthy businessman from the Crown Dominion coming to Bangkok next month. His industry puts him in a sensitive position, and he's made enemies. He doesn't trust his own country's security firms, so he's looking to hire local protection. My boss somehow got us in front of his manager, and I had an interview lined up for next week." He gestured at his face. "Showing up looking like this, I'd be lucky if they let me through the door before throwing me out."

"So the Voss family also runs a security company," Hank said. "This could be commercial interference."

"It's possible. They do have a security operation, but from what I know, it mostly serves the family internally. They don't usually take outside contracts." Mark shook his head. "I'm speculating."

Evan looked at Soren, who had been quiet for several minutes, studying the floor plan and the documents spread across the table. "You've been staring at those for a while. Any ideas?"

Soren nodded slowly, then tilted his hand. "Some. But nothing solid yet. This hotel is large. Six separate entry and exit points. With three people on the ground, we can't cover the building and hit a target at the same time. The geometry doesn't work."

Mark cleared his throat. "Can I ask something? What exactly are we going in for? Getting back what you paid out yesterday, or are we talking about something bigger?"

Hank and Evan both turned toward Soren. They had been wondering the same thing.

Soren didn't look up from the floor plan. "We're going in for money. I don't like losing what's mine, and I don't let it go without collecting interest. We take back what I paid, and then some." He finally looked up. "As for killing people, I'm not in the business of shooting anyone who isn't in the way. But we're walking into a building full of armed security, so let's be honest about what that means."

It meant there would be blood. Everyone at the table understood that.

Mark let out a quiet breath. Something in his posture loosened. "As long as we're not specifically going after Julian, I can work with that. And actually, I have an idea."

Evan raised an eyebrow. "What kind of idea?"

"Think about the scale of that casino. Even on a slow night with no high-stakes private games, the daily take runs into the tens of millions of baht. Most of it moves through digital transfers now, but there's always a portion in physical cash, and some players settle in jewelry or other valuables. That volume doesn't sit in the hotel building indefinitely. They move it. If we can figure out when and how they transfer the cash, and where the route goes, we intercept it in transit. Clean, contained, and away from the building."

Mark sat back with the quiet satisfaction of someone who had just surprised himself. He had spent years in security and enforcement, and it had apparently given him an instinct for the other side of the equation. He was beginning to wonder if he had been working in the wrong profession.

Soren frowned. "If we're not operating from a fixed location, we lose our ability to model the police response. We can't predict their deployment speed or the size of what shows up. An ambush on a moving cash transfer is functionally the same problem as robbing a bank mid-route. Unless you have a way to get the transfer schedule in advance."

Mark's confidence deflated slightly. The idea had come to him quickly, and the details had not kept pace. "That part I haven't worked out."

The room went quiet for a moment, everyone thinking.

Then Evan said, "What about a drone?"

Soren looked at him.

"I saw an ad while I was reading the news earlier. If we had a drone running aerial surveillance, we could track movement in real time. Watch the hotel, watch the streets around it, follow the cash if it moves. We'd know where the police are coming from before they get close."

Hank nodded. "That's a good idea."

"It could work," Soren said. He looked at Evan. "Find one and buy it. Practice with it. If this comes together, you're our drone operator."

Evan grinned. "On it."

Before anyone could say anything else, Soren's phone buzzed on the table. He checked the screen.

"It's Cody." He picked up. "What's going on?"

"Mr. Soren, I need money. Right now."

Mark drove. It took them twenty minutes through Bangkok afternoon traffic to reach the address Cody had given, and before they had even turned into the approach road, Mark frowned at the sign above the entrance.

"Kingfisher Medical Center. That's a private hospital, Soren."

Soren looked at him without comment.

Hank filled in the gap. "Private hospitals in Sunvale charge considerably more than public ones. Kingfisher is near the top of that list."

"I thought healthcare here was free," Evan said.

"Free for citizens. Foreigners need insurance, and most people don't bother getting it before they arrive."

They parked and made their way into the inpatient building, following the directions Cody had sent. They found him outside on a bench near the entrance to one of the wards, sitting alone with his elbows on his knees, staring at the ground. He looked up when he heard them coming, and the expression on his face was something between relief and exhaustion.

He stood quickly. "Mr. Soren. Thank you for coming."

Soren looked past him at the building, then back at Cody. "Tell me what happened."

Cody exhaled slowly, the sound carrying more weight than a simple breath.

"It's..." He paused, searching for where to begin.