The Adventurers

by Robbins, Harold

  The sweets and the wine were put down quickly on the small table next to the bed, then the two other wives turned to Jade Lotus. Slowly they drew the gown over her head and she stood completely nude. Then they turned to him and pulled back the sheet.

  Still she stood there, her eyes cast down modestly. "Come, my sister," one of them said softly. "Sit by your husband."

  Without looking, Jade Lotus delicately perched on the edge of the bed. He could see a tiny pulse beating in her throat and the soft puckering of the pink nipples on her breasts. He felt a stirring within him but still Jade Lotus did not look at him.

  "Look, my sister," the other wife said happily. "See how you please your husband?"

  But Jade Lotus still would not look at him. Impatiently one of the other wives took her hand and placed it upon him. The soft warm touch of her suddenly completed his erection. He reached up to turn her face toward him, and suddenly they were alone.

  For a moment her eyes looked into his, then she spoke. "I am afraid to look, my husband," she whispered. "I have heard that Western men are like giants in their parts."

  "Is that what the others told you?"

  She shook her head. "No, they are your wives, they would never be disloyal. They told me not to be afraid. They said the great size of your part only brought them greater joy and pleasure."

  A pleasant sensation came over him. Suddenly he felt strong and powerful. He had never thought of himself as heavily endowed, though he had heard that Orientals were smaller. "Look at me."

  She closed her eyes. "I am afraid."

  "Look at me!" This time it was a command she dared not disobey. She opened her eyes and slowly turned her face downward. Suddenly her eyes stopped and her breath caught. "I will die," she said, "it will reach into me and stab my heart."

  Suddenly he was angry. "Go then if you are still afraid. Send in one of the others."

  He saw the pallor spread over her face. He would never know the fear that ran through her at that moment. The disgrace that she would bring to herself and to her family if she allowed him to send her away. "No, my husband. I am no longer afraid."

  He laughed and reached up for her, but she stayed his hand. "I do not want you to strain yourself, my husband."

  Moving quickly, she suddenly straddled him, one knee on either side of his hips. Then slowly, her hand guiding him, she lowered herself. She was dry and penetration was difficult. Again and again she drew back as the pain became too pressing.

  He saw her eyes squeeze tight and the tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Stop," he said harshly.

  Her eyes flew open and she stared down at him. The fear in her eyes was too much for him. Gently he drew her down beside him. She seemed little more than a child.

  "Who told you to do it this way?"

  She hid her face in the pillow so that he might not see her shame. "My mother," she whispered. "It is the only way to absorb Westerners, she says, otherwise they will tear you apart."

  He stroked her long black hair. "That's not true. Come, I will show you."

  He began to kiss and caress her and when he was finally inside even he was surprised at the surge of her passion. And she had come to be his favorite because there was nothing she wouldn't do to bring him pleasure in her frenzy of excitement.

  Now she stood before him silent and pale as he sipped at his aperitif. "I will have my dinner and then go back to the casino. I have work to do."

  She nodded and left the room silently. A moment later he heard a wail from the kitchen, then the sound of angry words. He had just started for the kitchen when she appeared in the doorway.

  Her face was pale and there was a hint of tears in her eyes. "I apologize for the disturbance, my husband."

  He stared at her. "What the hell is wrong?"

  She didn't answer.

  "Well, if you won't tell me I'll find out for myself."

  Suddenly all his wives were in the room. They were all crying. Jade Lotus took one look at them and it was more than she could bear. She began to weep too.

  Bewildered, he looked from one to the other. "Which one of you will tell what is wrong?"

  At this the other wives began to wail even louder. Jade Lotus flung herself at his knees. "Don't go to the casino tonight. Don't leave the house."

  "Why not?" he asked angrily. "What the hell has got into all of you?"

  "The Tong Minh has already passed the word that you are a dead man."

  "What?" He was incredulous. "How do you know?" "This came." Jade Lotus got up and took a box from a closet and opened it. It was filled with white silk.

  "What's that?"

  "Enough silk to make four mourning dresses. It is the custom of the tongs, so the wife is not caught unprepared for widowhood."

  "When did you get this?"

  "This afternoon. A messenger came from Kuo Minh and left it at our door."

  A cold fear began to run through him. "I'll have to get out of here. I'll go to the police."

  "What good will that do?" Jade Lotus asked. "You will be dead before you get there. Already they have men watching the house."

  "There was no one outside when I came in."

  "They hid themselves. Come, look."

  He followed her to a window and peered out through the corner of the shade where she lifted it. A man stood in a doorway across the street, another down the block by the lamppost. He dropped the shade. "I'll telephone the police. They will come and get me."

  But the telephone was dead. The wires had been cut. Marcel felt a sinking despair. They had thought of everything. "It must be a mistake. Why didn't they kill me when I came home?"

  "Without giving your wives a chance to bid you farewell?" Jade Lotus' voice was shocked. "They are not savages."

  For a moment he thought he was going to be sick, then he pulled himself together. "There must be a way to get out of here."

  There was no answer. Angrily he turned and went back into the living room. He pulled open a drawer of the desk and took out the revolver he kept there as protection against prowlers. The cold metal was oddly reassuring though he had never even fired a gun before.

  His wives came into the room. Jade Lotus whispered something to them in rapid Chinese. One by one they nodded, then she turned to him. "There is one way."

  He looked at her, startled. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

  "We did not want to see you become a murderer," she said simply. "It is bad enough that the Tong says you are a thief."

  He couldn't meet the look in her eyes. "What makes them say such a thing?"

  "A letter came from the one who was at the casino before you. It claims you did not give them all the money you got for their poppy."

  Now it was clear to him. Why the Greeks were so sure that they would get the ships. They would be returned to the Japanese because of the unpaid balance after his death.

  "How can I get away?" he asked almost humbly.

  "We have been instructed to leave the house before ten o'clock. One of us will remain here. You will leave wearing her clothes."

  "Which one of you?"

  "I will remain," Jade Lotus said. "I am the number-one wife, it is my duty. Besides, I am the one nearest to you in size. I even walk like you."

  He stared at her. "But won't you be in danger? What will they do when they find you instead of me?"

  "I will be in no danger," she said quietly.

  But all that night on the little Portuguese smuggler taking him to Hong Kong Marcel would not allow himself to think about her. Or the expression on her pale face as she had watched him go out the door with the three other wives.

  It wasn't until late the next night, after the meeting with Hadley at the hotel in Hong Kong, that he woke in his stateroom feeling the throb of the heavy engines. He was on an American freighter bound for its home port in the United States.

  "Jade Lotus!" he cried out into the dark. He could see her face and the terrible knowledge in it. That leaving her in his stead had condemned her to
death.

  Many years later, when he was very rich and there had been many women, he would come to think of her only as the prettiest of the four Chinese girls whom he had bought in Macao.

  But that night he cried out her name.

  And he wept for the cowardice that had made him flee.

  And for her.

  CHAPTER 20

  "I'd like Dax to stay with us here in Boston until he finds a place of his own," Robert said when his sister came down to breakfast.

  Caroline hesitated. "But that means his man stays, too. The one who's always with him."

  Robert nodded. "Fat Cat."

  Caroline shivered. "That's the one. He sends chills through me. He's always watching."

  Robert laughed. "That's his job. He's been with Dax ever since he was a kid. Their president made him Dax's bodyguard that time when they were all out in the jungle."

  "They're not in the jungle now. Why does he still hang around? It's not as if he were a servant or anything."

  "He's part of the family, I guess. And since his father died, he's all the family Dax has."

  Caroline picked up her coffee and tasted it. She made a face. "God, this coffee's horrible! Will we ever find a cook who can make proper coffee?"

  Robert laughed again. "You say the same thing every morning. You forget that we're in America. Their coffee is different from ours."

  "I'm going to write Papa and see if he can't send us a cook."

  "Bon." There was a sound at the door and Robert looked up. He got to his feet as Caroline's house guest came into the room. "Good morning, Sue Ann."

  The pretty blond girl smiled. "Good mornin', Robert," she said in a softly Southern accent. "Good mornin', Caroline deah."

  Robert remained standing after Sue Ann sat down. "Then it's all right if Dax stays with us?" Caroline shrugged. "Why not? The house is certainly big enough."

  "He arrives in New York tomorrow. I think I'll fly down to meet him."

  Sue Ann looked at Caroline curiously after Robert had left. "That name," she said, "it's oddly familiar. I've heard it somewhere."

  "Dax is a friend of my brother's. They went to school in France together."

  Sue Ann picked up her coffee cup. "This coffee's delicious," she said absently. "Wait a minute! Isn't he the polo player, the one who became an ambassador when his father died?"

  "Yes. But not an ambassador, Sue Ann, only a consul."

  "What's the difference? I hear he's fantastic!"

  "Fantastic?" Caroline stared at her friend. There were times she didn't understand her friend at all. Why was it every man she was going to meet was "fantastic"? She had heard this phrase at least once a week ever since she had met Sue Ann.

  Dax has changed, Caroline thought, as he came into the house with Robert. A feeling of surprise came over her. He was grown now, he wasn't a boy any longer. He was a man. She hadn't realized that less than a year could make that much difference. The last time she had seen him was a few months before his father had died. She had come to America several months earlier than her brother.

  Now Dax saw her and smiled. She came forward and turned up her cheek for his kiss, French fashion. "How pleasant it is to see you again, Caroline."

  His voice was deeper too, she thought, and alongside him Robert looked like a schoolboy. "I'm so glad to be here to welcome you, Dax. How was your trip?"

  "Bon," he said, "until we landed. Then the reporters wouldn't leave me alone."

  "You see? We have a real celebrity on our hands!"

  Dax smiled deprecatingly at Robert. "Reporters are the same all over. If there isn't any news they will try to make some."

  Caroline felt oddly flustered. This wasn't the boy she had teased in the poolhouse. She had the strange feeling that she would never dare do that again. He raised his head, looking over her toward the staircase. Without turning she knew that Sue Ann had come down. A faint jealousy stirred inside her. The cocotte had spent all morning in front of her mirror, preening herself.

  Caroline turned as Sue Ann came toward them, honey blond and tan. Damn, Caroline cursed silently, why do all American girls have to be so tall? She turned to Dax. "I'd like you to meet my friend, Sue Ann Daley. Sue Ann, this is Dax Xenos."

  "Enchanted," Dax said, taking her outstretched hand and kissing it.

  Sue Ann flushed, then looked up at him. "I'm so pleased to meet you, Mistuh Xenos." Caroline had never heard her Southern drawl so pronounced. "I've already heard so much about you."

  Dax turned to Caroline. Instantly he knew what she was thinking. He felt an inward smile. Serves her right, he thought, she has had it too much all her own way. "Why didn't you write and tell me there were such beautiful women in America, Caroline? If I had known that I wouldn't have waited so long."

  "Women" was the word he had used, not "girls." Caroline noticed that immediately. He had grown up. Suddenly he seemed beyond her and she grew angry.

  "I would have," she said, hiding her feelings behind a smile. "But I thought you would be too busy."

  Dax looked past her at Sue Ann. "If I had only known," he said, "I never would have been that busy."

  Fat Cat came into the room while Dax was dressing for dinner. He stood there for a moment, then sat down heavily. "This country is nothing like I thought."

  Dax smiled. "No Indians? No gangsters?"

  Fat Cat shook his head. "Not any of those. And the accursed heat. One melts in one's clothing."

  "You're always complaining. In France it was the damp and the cold. Don't worry, in the winter there will be snow up to your ears. You will be cool then."

  Fat Cat looked at him. "How long are we to stay in this house?"

  Dax turned around. "Why?"

  Fat Cat shrugged. "The French one, your Mend's sister. She doesn't like me."

  Dax didn't answer. He knew better than to differ with Fat Cat's instincts. "Until we can find a place to live."

  "It had better be soon," Fat Cat said ominously.

  Dax turned back to the mirror and finished knotting his tie. "What makes you say that?"

  "The blond one looks at you as if already you are between her legs. And the French one looks at you as if she will kill you once you get there."

  "You think she's jealous?"

  Fat Cat nodded. "More than jealous. She is used to having her own way, that one, and she realizes she can no longer be with you as she was in France. Look out!"

  Dax went downstairs and found Robert in the library. "Where are the girls?"

  "Where else?" Robert shrugged. "Dressing. I have an aperitif for you."

  "Merci." Dax took the drink and tasted it. "Pastis. Ah. C'est bon."

  Robert smiled. "I thought you could use it."

  Dax settled back into his chair. "Tell me about America."

  Robert looked at him. "It's very different," he said cautiously. "I don't mean just different from home. I mean different from what we thought."

  "I guessed as much." Dax laughed. "Fat Cat is disappointed. There are no Indians or gangsters."

  Robert smiled. "I'll let you in on a secret. So was I when I first got here." When they had stopped laughing, he turned serious again. "What I'm talking about is the American people. Here at Harvard we meet people like ourselves. Aware of the world and of their part in it. But outside the classrooms, in the streets, they are very different. It does not matter to them what happens anywhere else. Their oceans isolate them from world events."

  "In a way they are right. They are big oceans, both the Atlantic and the Pacific."

  "They won't always be that big!"

  "What about school? Is it difficult?"

  "The classes? Not very. About the same as any other. It's the other part of school life that is difficult to understand. Their sports. Baseball and football. Basketball. The student who excels in these sports is more valued than the highest scholar."

  "It is the same at home. It was like that with soccer. And it was the same for me in polo. By the way, is there a polo team?"<
br />
  "I do not think so. I have received an invitation from friends to attend the polo games at Meadowbrook."

  "Meadowbrook?" Dax's brow wrinkled. "Isn't that the team Hitchcock plays for?"

  Robert nodded. "I believe so."

  "I would like to go at least once. I have never seen Hitchcock play."

  "It's on Long Island. We would have to take the train to New York or fly. It would make a nice weekend; they asked us to stay with them."

  "But they don't even know me."

  "That's the way Americans are," Robert said. "They think nothing of asking a complete stranger into their homes. Dinner, weekend, even to stay a month. It doesn't seem to matter to them."

  "They are a strange people."

  "That isn't the only invitation. I must have received twenty calls since you arrived. I'm afraid I didn't realize how much of a celebrity you are."

  "I'm sorry," Dax said quickly. "I didn't mean to intrude on you in this fashion. If it inconveniences you, I will be glad to move to a hotel."

  "I wouldn't hear of it. This is the first time since I left France I've had someone to talk to." He put down his drink. "It's almost like old times. The only thing that is missing is the big Russian."

  "Sergei?" Dax smiled. "I wonder where he is. I tried to call him several times before I left but he had moved out and left no forwarding address. I thought perhaps he had gone to join his father in Germany."

  "No, he's in Switzerland. Caroline had a letter from a friend who saw him there. He seems to have come into some money. He's driving a big red Mercedes and seems always to be in the company of rich women."

  Dax's eyebrow went up. "I guess our friend was more serious than we thought when he said he would marry a rich American!"

  Robert laughed. "He would do better here. You know Caroline's friend?"

  "Sue Ann?"

  Robert nodded. "She inherited at least fifty million dollars from her grandfather alone. He was the one who started the Penny Saver stores in Atlanta. She'll get even more when her parents die."