The Riddle (A James Acton Thriller, Book #11) by J Robert Kennedy Read Free Book Online

correct?”
    “Yes,”
replied Laura.
    “Then
you may go, but please do not leave without permission.”
    “Of
course, and we’ll need Miss Trinh to accompany us as I’m sure you’ll
understand,” said Laura as she rose from her chair. “She’s our guide and also
our ride. You wouldn’t want us to get lost in your lovely city, would you?” She
laughed, Acton joining in, Nguyen doing a chuckle-grunt.
    “Of
course.”
    He
opened the door and bellowed an order, clearly not having a problem looking
strong in front of his men. As they walked out of the room, Acton still biting
his tongue, Nguyen held out his arm, directing them down a hallway. They began
to walk, two of Nguyen’s men in the lead, the Captain bringing up the rear.
    A door
opened farther down the hall and Mai appeared, makeup smeared, cheeks flush
from crying, her hair a mess.
    And her
nose bloodied.
    Acton
looked at Laura out of the corner of his eye and could tell she was about to
erupt. He took her hand and squeezed it tightly.
    Let’s
just get out of here!
    Laura
squeezed back indicating the message had been received then took Mai by the
hand when they reached her, saying nothing. They were led out of the building
and to the parking lot where Mai’s car and driver, supplied by the museum, were
waiting.
    Laura
helped Mai into the backseat then climbed in after her, Acton squeezing in
beside her. Nguyen looked inside. “Don’t leave the hotel.”
    He
slammed the door shut before Laura could say anything.
    “Take us
to our hotel, please,” said Acton. The man nodded, apparently understanding
English, and they were soon off the museum grounds. Acton fished a clean handkerchief
from his pocket and handed it to Laura who began to clean up a still terrified
Mai.
    “Crack a
window, would you, dear? It’s stifling in here.”
    Acton
rolled his window down about halfway, the din from outside remarkable. The
noise seemed distracting to Mai and her face was soon cleaned up, but it was
obvious she was going to have two black eyes tomorrow. Acton found one of the
bottles of water they had been offered earlier rolling on the floor. He stopped
it with his foot and reached down, cracking it open. He handed it to Mai who
smiled gratefully then winced. She drank then took a breath.
    “I can’t
believe they let us go. Not that quickly, at least.”
    Acton
squeezed Laura’s leg. “You can thank my wife for that. Her smooth talking
convinced Captain Nguyen we weren’t involved.”
    Mai
frowned, fear returning to her eyes. “You mean it was his decision, not
headquarters?”
    Laura
nodded. “Why? What difference does it make?”
    “Nguyen
is nothing. He’s like the first officer on the scene. It’s his supervisor that
we need to worry about.”
    “What do
you mean?” asked Acton, suddenly becoming even more concerned than he already
was. “He said not to leave the hotel, which I guess is sort of like saying
‘don’t leave town’ back home, but he seemed to realize we couldn’t have had
anything to do with it.”
    Mai
shook her head furiously. “No, he’s nobody. This isn’t over. I highly recommend
you ignore what he said and get out of the country as soon as you can.”
    “If we
flee won’t we look guilty?”
    Mai
grabbed her face with both hands. “What am I going to do?”
    Laura
put a hand on her shoulder. “You stay with us until this has blown over. Once
they realize the man in the photo had nothing to do with it they’ll know we had nothing to do with it.” She patted Mai. “Who knows, maybe by the time we
get to the hotel they’ll have caught the guy who did it!”
    Acton
frowned as he looked out the window.
    Vietnamese
troops were surrounding their hotel.
     
     

 
     

    Gandhara Kingdom
Modern day Myanmar
401 BC, four months after the Buddha’s death
     
    Asita hugged Channa as they both realized someone had survived
whatever massacre had happened here. Someone had gathered the bodies, someone
had cremated them, and with the