Chapter 68
When Jira pulled into the Pattani Provincial Transport Station, it was busier than Harvath had expected.
He hadn’t been aware of how many people commuted into the city daily for work. Now they were all on their way home.
As coaches and minibuses idled under the outdoor canopy, travelers stood in line at the ticket windows, while others grabbed shade wherever they could find it.
Vendors worked the crowd, selling snacks and bottled drinks.
There were bags everywhere. If someone wanted a place where a bag wouldn’t draw attention and responders could be pulled into a parking area after a mass casualty attack, this was definitely it.
Jira pulled into a spot where they could see both the station entrance and the main lot. Harvath counted two uniformed police officers. That was it.
While Jira remained with the SUV, Harvath and Morrell got out to take a closer look.
They moved like a pair of predators, searching for anything and anyone that didn’t belong.
The lot was broken into sections for private vehicles, taxis, and the buses themselves. There were plenty of places for a bag to be left behind by accident and plenty more for one to be left on purpose.
So far, however, they hadn’t seen anything that looked like obvious trouble.
Walking down the concrete median that divided the bus bays, they noticed how many bags had already been placed in open cargo holds and left unattended.
If one of those bags had a bomb, the shape of the hold would only help send the force of the bomb outward and make it more devastating.
In Harvath’s mind, this was a nightmare waiting to happen.
As he got to the end of the median, his phone rang. Checking the caller ID, he saw it was Haney. “What’s your situation?”
“Airport’s crowded with uniforms. Cops, military, and airport security. They’re everywhere. Even in the parking lot. If this is the play, they’d need balls the size of church bells.”
“Stay on it,” Harvath advised. “Call me back if you see anything.” Then he disconnected the call.
“Haney?” Morrell correctly assumed. It was going to take Ashby and Palmer a while longer to get out to the train station in Khok Pho.
He nodded. “Sounds like the airport is locked down pretty tight. He doesn’t think it’s the target.”
“Then the odds just went up for us and for Palmer and Ashby.”
Two students in white shirts and black trousers sat on a concrete divider looking at a phone together. Near the curb, an unattended duffel sat beside a support column for three long seconds before a sweaty man in sandals hurried back to reclaim it.
Harvath clocked it all.
“Any reason this place would matter more than the others?” he asked.
Morrell continued to look it over. “Maybe not like dead schoolchildren, but it would send a message that southern Thailand can’t be controlled. That’d definitely erode confidence in the government.”
As they neared the front of the station, a distorted announcement crackled over the speakers of the PA system. Groups of people started making their way toward the buses.
That was when the first explosion detonated.
The sound landed like a giant fist punching through concrete. A second followed almost immediately, then a third, and a fourth—each one rolling over the rooftops in the same direction, close enough together that no one with any experience could mistake them as random.
For a split second, people in the bus station froze. Then heads turned and people began shouting all at once. A driver near the bus bays yelled something in Thai and started running toward the street.
Jira had already put the SUV in gear and was driving toward them.
As he raced up, he pointed east and said, “It came from the market!”
Just then, a fifth blast rolled in.
The shock wave rolled across Pattani and set off even more panic at the bus station.
As he and Morrell jumped into the SUV, Harvath took out his phone and called Ashby. “There were just five detonations,” he said when she answered. “Sounds like the market. Break off and head back to Pattani fast.”
Disconnecting, he immediately called Haney.
“We heard them too,” the former Marine said before Harvath could speak. “Definitely not the airport.”
“Get back into the city,” Harvath ordered. “Coordinate with Ashby and Palmer. Head for the market district.”
“What about you?”
Looking at Jira, Harvath asked, “Where’s the nearest parking lot to the market?”
The man shook his head. “It’s in the old part of the city. There is no parking lot.”
Harvath’s mind raced back through Tevy’s fragment of intel. Bags were the delivery mechanism. Responders would be dealt with in the parking lot. But if there was no parking lot near the market…
Suddenly it all came into focus.
The follow-on attack wasn’t meant to happen at the site of the primary attack. It was meant to be its own standalone attack at a completely different location.
“Pattani Hospital,” Harvath shouted. “Move!”