No Use For Rules: Tuk Kae Series

By Elliott Trevor

When Professor Rupert Scott refuses to accept an unexpected funding offer from Waleed Alghamdi, a Saudi diplomat with links to the richest oil producers in the world, things quickly turn nasty. The offer of huge funding is dependent on Scott abandoning his work to develop new applications for his late friend Mr Sato's super conductivity discovery- work which will help the world breaks its addiction to oil. Instead Alghamdi wants Rupert to adopt an 'oil friendly' research programme funded by a shadowy group of superrich Saudi oil men whose wealth means they believe they have no use for the rules by which everyone else must live.

With the professor refusing to cooperate they decide to increase their leverage by kidnapping Rupert's fiancé Helen Childs. When Helen goes missing enroute to Cambridge Rupert is desperate and turns to Helen's brother police commissioner Tom Childs. Although Tom shares Rupert's concern, he admits that Alghamdi's diplomatic status means officially his hands are tied. With Helen missing and no idea what happened, Professor Scott turns to Tuk Kae and she flies to England to help find her friend..

The quest to find and save Helen starts in Cambridge then shifts to Italy and finally to a mafia stronghold in the remote Sicilian mountain town of Gangi. Here Helen is being held in a remote mountain top property guarded by Giuseppe - a giant of a man who has a rare genetic condition which means he feels no pain. Giuseppe is fiercely loyal to his mafia boss who is working with Alghamdi and his group of oil producers and would die before failing his Don.

Tuk Kae is faced with the challenge of locating Helen and then wresting her from the clutches of someone who she can't hurt and who won't back down.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elliott Trevor
• Release date: Aug 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223725466

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Oh shit, I think it’s a bug, exclaimed Rupert.

Is it poisonous? responded Tuk Kae.

No not that sort of bug, a fucking listening device – Oh excuse my profanity, Rupert continued.

Professor Rupert Scott stood in his office at Cambridge University holding the framed Japanese print that his fiancé Helen Childs had given him on their engagement. He realised that Tuk Kae, his friend could not see the item in question as she was seeing the front of the picture. He turned the frame around and pointed to the innocuous centimetre square attached to the back of the frame. Tuk cautiously examined the bug as if it was a deadly insect, then realising that it may still be functioning pointed to Rupert and mimed that they should replace the picture on the wall and go into Rupert’s P.A.’s office next door.

CHAPTER 2

A few days earlier Jarintip Mookjai, known by her Thai nickname Tuk Kae, had been packing to catch a flight from Chumphon to Bangkok to stay at her apartment and do a secret shopper survey of the main retailers of her Cooperative’s dried fruit (pol lamai hang) and coffee products. Normally she would meet her close friend Helen Childs who was a Director of the Thailand branch of Susan Boyd Evans Associates, an international antiquities business. Helen who had spent many years in Japan knew Tuk Kae’s mentor the late Dr Sato very well and had helped Tuk Kae set up the Kazumi, Sato, Tuk Kae Trust to administer the peaceful deployment of the Doctor’s last and greatest discover – superconductivity and room temperature. This technology had the potential to revolutionise low-cost power generation and distribution and break the oil industry’s stranglehold over both the developing and developed world.

However, Helen Childs would not be in Bangkok as she had flown to London to attend the Antiquities Company’s AGM., after which she would travel up to Cambridge to spend a week with Rupert Scott. They had been in love for some time, but their respective careers kept them 9,500 miles apart, at least for the foreseeable future. Spending a week with Rupert in Cambridge where he was Professor of Applied Physics at Peterhouse College in Cambridge University was, therefore, a major bonus from her business trip to England.

Three hours before her flight to Bangkok Tuk Kae received a fraught call from Rupert who asked if she had heard from Helen. Tuk Kae replied that she had not spoken to her friend since the morning she flew to the UK. I thought Helen was coming up to visit you in Cambridge as soon as her AGM was finished, questioned Tuk Kae.

So, did I, Rupert responded. Tuk Kae recognised the tension in his voice, and he started to blurt out the story of how Helen had left London to catch a train to Cambridge but had never arrived. He had waited at the station and when she did not get off the train he had called, texted, and messaged her mobile phone but received no answer. He then contacted her employer’s head office and they confirmed she had attended the AGM, had dinner with the Chairman and as far as was known caught the 8.00 am train from Liverpool Street to Cambridge the next day.

I don’t know what to do Tuk Kae. Helen seems to have disappeared without a trace. I have spoken to her office in Bangkok, and they have heard nothing for twenty-four hours.

Without hesitation, Tuk Kae replied, Keep trying the conventional routes until I arrive. I am on my way to Bangkok this evening and will pack a larger bag with warmer clothes and catch the morning flight to Heathrow. I will ask Jose Campbell from Helen’s London office to meet me and sort out the carnet arrangement so I can bring my kunai. With luck, I can catch a train and be in Cambridge on the same day. I will message you en route to let you know when I expect to arrive. Perhaps you could book me a hotel room.

Are you sure? That’s a fantastic gesture and I can’t think of anyone I rather have to help me but it’s a major change in your plans, Rupert replied.

Helen is the sister I never had, and I will do everything to ensure she is safe. Have you spoken to her brother Tom? asked Tuk Kae.

No, I’ve tried but have not succeeded in speaking to him. I’ve left a message with his office, but they would not say if he was contactable at the moment, Rupert explained. I’ll keep trying whilst you are in the air and thank you, my friend, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

They said their goodbyes and Tuk Kae quickly booked a first-class ticket to London for the following day as there were no seats in business or economy. She flinched at the cost. Although thanks to the income she received from the Trust she was one of Thailand’s richest women, she had not forgotten her humble origins and knew the money spent on the ticket would feed poor families for a month. She packed as she spoke to Rupert adding warm clothes and removing silk dresses and blouses that she needed in Bangkok. Glancing at her watch she saw that there were thirty minutes until her taxi arrived so she called her brother, Ton who managed the day-to-day operations of the dried fruit and coffee cooperative she founded, to explain that she would be out of the country for an indefinite period, but he should contact her with any urgent Cooperative problems by email or Skype.

Finally, she emailed Jose Campbell at Helen’s London office and explained she was on her way to the UK to find her friend and it would be helpful if she consulted the Bangkok office to raise the carnet for her kunai. These traditional throwing knives along with a short jo (staff) were Tuk Kae’s weapons of choice. Before his death Sato had a master sword maker in Japan produce twenty-five identical kunai to be given to her after his funeral. Helen had devised a method by which the weapons accompanied Tuk Kae as antiquities without attracting undue customs concern. She requested that someone either meet her off the plane or book her a taxi from Heathrow to Liverpool Street railway station, adding she was waiting to fly to Bangkok to catch a flight to the UK the next day. Apologising for the short notice Tuk Kae asked if the Bangkok office could deliver the paperwork and the travelling box for the weapons to her apartment that evening, and she would arrive early at the airport to ensure she obtained the necessary customs clearance and then hand the box to the shipping agent as she was prohibited from taking the kunai into the cabin and custom’s checks on her luggage might prompt questions. Fortunately, her reputation and standing in the local community meant that all she had to do on the domestic flight was hand her kunai to the cabin crew, and then collected them again on arrival.

Tuk Kae did not wait for replies but headed for Chumphon airport to catch the short flight to Bangkok. When Tuk Kae arrived at Don Muang airport in Bangkok she immediately received emails from both offices of Susan Boyd Evans Associates confirming that arrangements were in place for the delivery of the paperwork and her onward journey to the UK. Jose Campbell who she had previously met, would meet her at Heathrow, collect the kunai from the agent’s office and take her to the railway station.

Tuk Kae had a restless night worrying about her friend then caught the midday flight to the UK. Twelve hours after leaving Bangkok she walked through arrivals and was greeted by Jose jumping up and down excitedly. Also, with Jose was her boss, Simon Cartwright. It had been more than a year since the three had met, the last occasion involved them helping Tuk Kae escape the clutches of a corrupt police inspector who was in the pay of the Yakuza.

Jose shouted and waved to Tuk Kae, and they all hugged, before heading for the car park. Simon confirmed that they had obtained a rail ticket to Cambridge and given reasonable traffic she should catch the train and be with Rupert by late afternoon. On the way out of the airport, they made a short detour to the shipping agent and collected a set of three kunai. With a voice full of childish excitement Jose admitted that she would love to accompany Tuk Kae to Cambridge and be involved in the search for Helen as her working life was rather predictable and boring. She added that following their last meeting she had enrolled on a karate course and had recently gained her green belt. I suppose you are a black belt or better, Jose enquired.

No, I wear a white belt. Mr Sato trained me, and I did not seek grades. His approval was all I wanted, explained Tuk Kae.

Jose fell silent a little embarrassed at her boastful claim. Sensing her mood Tuk Kae reassured her that she was an exception to the rule and Mr Sato had gained a black belt second dan as a young man in Tokyo. At first, I had assumed I would train for grades, but my mentor explained that when you face an opponent, grades mean nothing. What you have learnt through constant practice and training and the inner strength that brought was what would win the battle.

But you must keep training and striving to improve. Grades are a milestone on your journey, so can be particularly useful, Tuk Kae added reassuringly.

Road woks, a multi-car accident and wet weather meant it took nearly two hours to reach Liverpool Street station, but Tuk Kae still managed to share a coffee with her friends before catching the train. She messaged Rupert with her arrival time, and he replied that he would meet her at the station adding... ‘Please be careful. I have lost one person I love I don’t want to lose a second.’

Tuk Kae had travelled by train to Cambridge on her first trip to the UK. Although she had started from Kings Cross station, the route and stations were mostly the same. In an ironic coincidence, she had also disappeared on the journey to Cambridge when thugs working for the Yakuza intercepted, drugged, and kidnapped her a few stations from her destination. That started a dangerous series of incidents in which she had to kill for the first time. Even now, this lay heavy on her mind and although her kidnappers were ruthless Yakuza, she still regretted their deaths.

As the guard announced they were approaching Shepreth station, the location of her previous kidnap from the train, she did feel a twinge of concern and maintained a vigilant watch to ensure there was no repeat of her previous encounter. However, nothing occurred and twenty minutes later her train pulled into Cambridge and as she alighted, she heard Rupert call her name.

CHAPTER 3

Two days earlier, following a successful AGM, Helen left her London hotel early having skipped breakfast and headed for Liverpool Street station excited at the prospect of being with Rupert.

She arrived early and grabbed a coffee and baguette for the journey, then checked the departure board to identify the correct platform for her train. As she stood looking at the board an announcement came over the public address requesting that Miss Childs should go to the East Information Booth to take an urgent call. Surprised and concerned she checked to see long before her train departed then stopped a passing railway employee asking where the East Information Booth was located. She hurried in the direction he had indicated and arrived at an anonymous set of doors with no identifying labels. As she paused to look for the booth a young man approached her saying, Are you, Miss Childs?

Helen said, yes and he motioned her to follow him as there was an urgent telephone call for her. They walked to the end door, and he opened it and beckoned her inside. Helen walked inside and the guy followed her closing the door behind him. The room was empty except for a second man holding what looked like a gun. Helen turned to escape but was blocked by the first man. Without thinking, she struck him across the bridge of his nose with a painful Uraken Uchi and he folded grabbing his face. All the hours of training with Tuk Kae had paid off enabling her to respond with force to a dangerous situation. As she turned to tackle the second assailant he raised his weapon – a military-grade taser - and fired. A massive 50,000-volt shock stunned Helen sending her body into convulsions. Unable to control her body she slipped to the floor still convulsing as the shock coursed through her body.

Contrary to popular TV and film portrayals no intermuscular administered drug can immediately incapacitate a person. Finding a vein in a struggling victim to administer an intravenous sedative was not practicable but the taser in the hands of a trained operative was the ideal solution. The risk to a healthy person was minimal and limited to the victim striking his/her head if they fell or badly biting a tongue whilst convulsing. However, these were professionals and whilst Helen had caught one momentarily off-guard, they had secured their captive within a busy station without attracting unwanted attention.

The man she hit in the face was cursing and holding his bloodied nose as the men hoisted Helen into a wheelchair and gave her an injection of Valium. The dose, provided by their employer who planned every detail of the operation, was carefully calculated for her body weight. The man who fired the taser was an ex-army nurse and competent to keep Helen sedated without risk. He smiled and pointed to his friend’s nose saying, Well she was a bit more than the posh English lady we were told to expect. That was a legitimate karate strike she used and judging from the bend in your nose I’d say she broke it.

Yeh very funny, his compatriot responded. Let’s put the bitch in the van so I can go get this fixed and you can go collect our money.

They left the room and wheeled Helen quickly to a waiting SUV driven by Jumah Saleh, where they lifted her out of the chair and slid her onto the rear passenger seat. The guy with the taser slid in beside her and buckled her into the seat. He placed a box next to him with another hypodermic and more Valium in case Helen came around during the journey. The dose should see them to the airport, but he did not want her waking up and shouting blue murder just as they reached the airport perimeter. Having stowed the wheelchair in the rear of the SUV, it immediately drove off leaving the accomplice to contact a doctor they knew who would fix his nose without asking awkward questions.

Seventy-five minutes later the SUV was driving to a rear gate at Stansted airport where an executive jet waited. Ground staff, generously paid to look the other way, believed that a rich sheikh was taking his estranged wife back to the Middle East following a fling with a lover.

Helen was extracted from the SUV and wheeled to the plane’s steps where a giant of a man picked her up like a doll and carried her inside.

Ten minutes later the jet obtained clearance and took off -not for the Middle East but southern Italy.

CHAPTER 4

As Tuk Kae’s train pulled into Cambridge station, much to the annoyance of the ticket collector, Rupert vaulted the barrier and ran to take Tuk Kae in his arms. He took her case and they walked to the barrier receiving a shake of the head from the ticket collector. Rupert told Tuk Kae that he had taken the liberty of booking her into the guest room of his university apartment rather than leaving her in a hotel. I hope that is OK. I appreciate it is a little presumptuous but if you prefer, we can find you a hotel room, added Rupert.

Tuk Kae took Rupert’s arm and replied, No that’s perfect. We won’t waste time travelling to and from a hotel and can revisit what we know this evening.

Great. I need to call in at my office and then pick up a visitor’s pass for you at the gatehouse, Robert explained.

Fifteen minutes later they were walking down the corridor in the Physics faculty that led to Rupert’s office. "I am afraid my P.A. Rose Greenslade will not be in the office today as she