There was a loud clank of metal behind them. Ozzie turned away from the light to look. A small door hung open in the raised belly of the dragon. A man dressed in what looked like white pajamas tumbled out. He reached back inside the statue and pulled out a rifle.
Ozzie smiled. Well played, Prince.
Aboard Indonesian Fishing Boat
Natuna Besar
November 24, 2012
Elijah ducked as the pirogue slapped into a wave and salt spray flew back over the occupants of the boat. Irv was sitting next to him on the wooden bench seat, and the old man swore as he wiped the water off his face and neck. Elijah kept his eyes on the ribbon of blue water between the overhanging green jungle banks. The wind was blowing straight down the estuary inlet, creating wind waves that hit them as soon as they’d left the dock. He was determined not to let the old man know how nauseous he felt.
Benny had left their hotel in Ranai before dawn to go out on the fishing boat they’d hired to intercept the woman’s boat. He’d called over an hour ago to say he had succeeded and would meet them as planned at the anchorage on the west side of the island.
Elijah had spent the morning with Irv making certain that he would never again consider stealing property that belonged to the Enterprise. Elijah hadn’t wanted to stress the old man’s weak heart—especially when he knew how soft it was. Even as remote a place as Ranai had prostitutes. Turned out it wasn’t even necessary to cut the woman. The threat had been enough to have the old man begging for another chance.
Elijah had put himself into this situation of being overreliant on someone. He would fix it as soon as they had the documents and the old man had provided them with the location. Irv said he had stolen the documents and sold them because he wanted to retire and disappear. It was time for Irv to train his successor, and then Elijah would be happy to make him disappear.
When the green banks fell away and the bay opened up, Elijah saw the brightly painted fishing boat towing a sailboat less than a mile away. The boat was much bigger than the pirogue. He guessed that the boat’s driver was just inside that back cabin looking out the windows across the front. He turned around and motioned to their boat driver, a brown little man who squatted in the stern next to the pirogue’s ancient motor. The driver nodded and pointed at a sheltered cove just ahead. It looked like the fishing boat was headed that way, too.
Elijah recognized Benny moving among the others on the deck of the boat. They were rigging an awning to cover the foredeck that was piled high with nets, equipment, and plastic fuel drums. As their pirogue closed on the fishing boat, Elijah could hear the loud put-put of the engine. He wondered how the fishermen could stand it.
The bigger boat slowed and as the sailboat coasted up to it one of the fishermen jumped aboard. He threw off the towline and prepared to anchor the sailboat. The pirogue driver pulled his boat alongside the fishing boat just as it dropped its anchor a hundred feet away from the sailboat. The fishing boat captain shut down the noisy engine.
Benny reached down to give Irv a hand as the two men climbed aboard. “Perfect timing,” he said. “She’s just starting to come around.”
Elijah followed the older man, and he was struck by the overpowering stench of fish, gasoline, and body odor. And the heat. Now that he was no longer moving through the water, the air was absolutely still. He already felt his shirt was damp under his arms.
“What do you mean?” Irv said. He had already taken his hat out and was fixing it on his head. The odor didn’t seem to bother him at all.
“I shot her with a dart,” Benny said.
Irv’s hands stopped moving. “What?”
“It’s okay. Nothing deadly. Just something to knock her out.”
Elijah saw the young woman lying on the pile of nets in the shade of the canopy they’d rigged. She looked like she was sleeping.
Irv walked up to Benny and stuck his chin up toward the Malay. “Was that necessary?”
Elijah put his hand on the old man’s arm. “Irv,” he said. “Enough.”
“Yeah, it was,” Benny said. “She got one of the men here with some kind of poison spray. He still can’t see. They’re going to take him to the hospital, so we’ll be a man down.”
One of the crew was helping the injured man into the pirogue that had brought them out.
Elijah pulled his bolo tie off and began to unbutton his shirt. He felt as though he couldn’t breathe on the filthy fishing boat and the pirogue was his tie to the far shore. “That’s our boat,” he said, pointing at the pirogue. “How are we going to get back ashore?”
“Don’t worry. He’ll be back.”
The young woman on the nets moved her bare legs and groaned. She was only wearing shorts and a white tank top and her skin looked tan and firm. Although Caucasian women usually did not interest him, Elijah decided he was going to enjoy this. He took off his shirt, folded it, and placed it on top of a fuel drum.
“Get a bucket of water,” he said. “Wake her.”
As the pirogue pulled away and headed back up the estuary, Benny took a white plastic bucket attached to a rope and dropped it over the side. He retrieved the full bucket and threw the water at the woman.
The response was immediate. She sat up gasping for air, her hair dripping around her face, her white shirt turned semitransparent. She glowered at Benny.
“Our common friend here sold you something,” Elijah said, “and we need it back.”
She swung her head to look at him. “Who are you?” she said.
“You don’t ask questions here.” He turned to Benny, making sure that the woman and the fishermen would be able to get a good look at the dragon on his back. “Again.”
Benny refilled the bucket and threw the water on her. She pushed to her feet and lunged at him. Elijah pulled his boot knife, grabbed her by her dripping hair, and yanked her head back. Her eyes widened when she saw the knife.
“Hawkes! Stop!” Irv yelled.
Benny backhanded the old man, then said something to the Indonesian crew.
“I would advise you to cooperate,” Elijah said, his face inches away from hers. He looked for fear in her eyes, but saw only defiance. He let go of her hair and shoved her down and she fell back half on the nets, her bare legs splayed across the wood deck.
At Benny’s direction, the Indonesian fishermen dragged Irv over to a fuel drum, picked him up, and sat him on top. Benny reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. One of the fishermen pointed to the drums and shook his head. He said a word that sounded like benzine. The Malay put the cigarettes away.
“I understand you had help when you evaded my friend Benny there back in Bangkok.”
She looked away.
“Who do you work for?”
She didn’t answer.
He threw the knife and it stuck into the wood deck a fraction of an inch from her bare foot.
Irv yelled, “Hawkes, enough!”
She lurched forward for the knife, but Elijah grabbed her wrist before she got it. He twisted her arm and she winced, but she didn’t make a sound.
“You will tell me. You’ll tell me who your friend is and how to find him.”
Her head was turned away from him, her wet hair hanging down, now hiding her face.
“Look at me!”
“Go to hell,” she said.
“You don’t want to make me angry.”
She swung her head around to face him, her wet hair flying out of her face, and stared at him. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should be.” He turned to Benny and nodded toward the girl.
The girl was still glaring at Elijah so she didn’t see him coming. In seconds Benny had flipped her over onto her stomach and straddled her, holding her arms behind her back.
“Get her up.” The sun shone on Elijah’s back and he reveled in the burning, tingling sensation. He stretched his shoulders back and rotated his head until he heard his neck crack.
Benny dragged the girl to he
r feet. She struggled and the Malay yanked her arms higher, causing her to arch her back, thrusting her breasts forward. Elijah could see the outline of a white bra through the wet fabric of her shirt and the twin dark shadows of her nipples. He stepped closer and pressed the tip of his razor-sharp knife to her chin. He saw a droplet of blood appear on her skin. He pressed harder and the bubble grew.
“I want my property back.”
She stopped struggling and stared at him with those fearless eyes.
“And I want to know who else knows about this. We know you bought it from the old man,” he said, and he removed the knife from her chin. The blood ran down her chin, dripped into the crevice between her breasts, and disappeared inside her shirt.
“Where’s my boat?”
“I told you not to ask questions.”
He laid the knife flat against the bare skin of her shoulder and slid it under the straps of her tank top and bra. The skin on top of her shoulder was mottled with scar tissue. “And if you don’t tell me where it is, you’re going to have some new scars to add to your collection.” He turned the knife and pulled and slit through the straps. The front of her shirt fell forward, exposing her breast almost to the nipple.
Elijah heard noise. He blinked and turned his head.
Irv yelled, “Hawkes! Put me on her boat. I’ll find it.”
“Shut up!” Elijah yelled. The old man was spoiling his concentration.
He laid the knife flat and slid it under the other strap. He would make her fear him. “After I am finished with you, no one who knew you before will be able to recognize you.” He slit the other straps. When the other half of her shirt fell open, he saw a little more of the red line the blood had traced between her breasts. He lifted the knife slowly, his eyes locked on hers as he prepared to follow the trail of blood with his knife and slice open the front of her shirt.
He heard a thud behind him and then footsteps trotting across the deck.
Elijah whirled around and in two seconds he had his knife at the old man’s throat. “I said shut up, you fucking fossil.”
“Don’t hurt him,” she said.
“Give me an axe!” Irv shouted. “I’ll tear her boat apart, and I guarantee you I’ll find it.”
“You don’t shut up, you son of a bitch, I’ll cut your tongue out.”
“Stop it,” she said.
Elijah turned back to look at her, but she hung her head. She wouldn’t look at him.
“You can have it,” she said. “I’ll show you where it is. Just don’t hurt him. Take me over there. I’ll get it, and then I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
Irv said, “I’ll go with her to make sure it’s the real thing. I’m the only one here who’s seen it.”
Elijah turned to Benny. “Take them both. If she doesn’t cooperate, cut the old man’s tongue out.”
Benny nodded and the corner of his mouth pulled up in a half smile. He grabbed the old man’s arm and walked them both aft to get into the fishing boat’s dinghy.
Elijah watched as Benny rowed them across to her sailboat. The girl sat huddled in the boat, her arms across her chest holding up what was left of her shirt.
He was about to get what he wanted, so why did he feel disappointed?
Aboard Bonefish
Natuna Besar
November 24, 2012
Benny, the man who had shot her with the blowpipe, sat on the center thwart of the dinghy at the oars. He told Peewee to get in the bow. Riley slumped in the stern with her arms crossed to hold up her top. She knew she could take him while he rowed and she wanted nothing more. But on the fishing boat, one of the local men stood on deck with a rifle, watching them.
Ever since she’d awakened with water in her face, she’d been reacting, trying to figure out what was going on. That muscular monster with the dragon on his back was a madman. She was doing her very best right now to appear conquered and cowed. Let this guy think she was terrified, broken. Maybe he would drop his guard. It was time for her to stop reacting and figure out how she was going to get out of this mess.
Benny was much stronger than her. She’d learned that on the boat. And he wore a nasty-looking knife in a sheath on his belt. The handle looked like it was made of bone, and from the shape of the sheath, the blade was more than seven inches long. She was certain, after her experience with the one they called Hawkes, that this one also knew how to use his knife.
If she leaned a little to one side, she could see her boat anchored not far from the fishing boat. She wondered how they’d got it there. Had they sailed it? Judging from the mess the mainsail had been left in, they weren’t sailors. Perhaps they’d towed it. Her eyes searched her vessel from stem to stern, looking for signs of any damage. She didn’t see any.
These guys had a fast powerboat. Even if she did overpower Benny, she’d never outrun them in her sailboat. If she was going to escape, she would need to disable their boat somehow. But how?
Benny told Irv to get out of the dinghy and climb aboard first. She followed.
“Stay where I can see you,” he said.
She climbed into the cockpit and stood still. She saw the flare gun lying on the cockpit floor. She considered picking it up, but the rest of the flares were in the ditch bag in the aft cabin. The gun was no good without ammunition.
While Benny was tying off the dinghy, Peewee whispered, “I’ll help you. I’m on your side.”
She acted as though she had not heard. She didn’t know whether or not to believe him.
She looked down into the cabin and it took some effort not to react. It was a mess. They’d searched her home and torn her things up. Books, clothes, food, and pots and pans were strewn across the cabin sole. But they hadn’t found what they were looking for or she wouldn’t be here. There were so many places to hide things on a boat.
When Benny climbed into the cockpit, he said, “Where is it?”
“In the forward head.”
“Okay, go down slowly. Keep your hands where I can see them.”
“I’ll need to get a screwdriver,” she said. “It’s behind an access panel in the head.”
“Okay, wait till I’m down, too.”
Riley went down the companionway stairs. She pointed to a drawer by the chart table. “There’s a screwdriver in there.”
He descended the stairs. “Okay.”
Riley got the screwdriver out of the drawer just as she had said. He was all ready for her to try something. When it didn’t happen, she hoped he’d relax just a little.
Walking below was difficult with all her belongings scattered on the floor. “I need to go up there.” She pointed toward the bow. “I might stumble. It won’t be on purpose.”
Benny pulled the knife from its sheath. “I’ll be right behind you,” he said.
He stayed less than a foot behind her as she made her way through the main salon and into the forward cabin. She could smell cigarettes on his breath. “There’s not room enough in the head for both of us.”
“You know I won’t hesitate to kill you.”
She nodded. “I do. I’m going in here now.”
She stepped into the head, slid open a locker, and removed the vitamins, cough syrup, and aspirin. That was all that was left in the cabinet. Then she unscrewed the panel that provided access to the ship’s wiring. The prayer gau was there, wrapped in the piece of silk. She unwrapped it and placed the gold object in the center of her palm.
“I’m coming out now. I have it in my hand.” With her hand in front of her she stepped out of the head.
Benny snatched the object from her. Then he turned around and stepped into the main salon. “Irv, is this it?”
While his back was turned, Riley felt under the pillow for the crossbow. It was right there where she’d left it. In their search, they’d lifted the mattress, emptied the drawers, but they hadn’t looked under the pillows. She pulled out the crossbow, spun around to be free of the door, and aimed it at Benny’s back.
“Yeah,
that’s it,” Irv said.
Then she saw Irv lean over sideways and peer around Benny. She saw his Adam’s apple twitch as he swallowed.
“Uh, Benny?” he said, and he pointed at Riley.
“Don’t move,” Riley said, “or you’ll take an arrow through the heart.” She saw Benny angle his head and look at her out of the corner of his eye.
“You know this is never going to work,” he said.
“Drop the knife and put your hands in the air.”
“All right. I don’t need a knife.” The knife fell onto a pile of clothes and disappeared into the folds of cloth. He raised his arms. “I’ll enjoy it more with my bare hands.”
“Irv, you’ll find ropes in the cockpit locker.”
The old man climbed the steps and began searching the seat locker.
“Now, turn around slowly,” she said. “And put it on the table.”
He turned around to face her. His mouth was smiling, but his dark eyes were humorless. “Put what?”
“You know. The gold artifact I just gave you.”
Peewee came back down with one of her fifty-foot dock lines. Benny just stood there staring at her.
“Put it on the table,” she said. “I know that you and your friend Mr. Hawkes do not plan to let me live, so shooting you right now would be an act of self-defense. And that way we won’t have to bother with tying you up. It’s your call. Give it to me, I’ll tie you up and you live; don’t give it to me, and I’ll shoot.”
Benny reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the prayer gau. He set it on the table.
She nodded at Irv.
That was when Benny made his move. He spun around to grab Irv. He planned to get the old man between him and the crossbow. What he hadn’t counted on was the heavy stainless-steel winch handle Irv had brought down with the dock lines. Benny deflected the full force of the blow that probably would have cracked his skull, but even the glancing blow made him stagger and fall. Irv had let go of the winch handle and Benny was pulling him down, going for his neck. Riley set the crossbow aside. She couldn’t get a clear shot as the two men wrestled. From the floor by her foot, she lifted up her cast-iron Le Creuset rice cooker and swung it at the back of Benny’s head. He collapsed on top of Irv.
Dragon's Triangle (The Shipwreck Adventures Book 2) Page 22
