The Mystery of Yamashita's Map

by James McKenzie

  ‘I need to do this thing to make amends,’ he told her. ‘To try to do something good for once, to try and set things straight and put things right.’

  He stepped up to the Buddha and placed a hand on his head. He noticed that it rocked a little as if loose so inquisitively he pushed it, then rocked it, then pushed it some more. Eventually the head of the Buddha came loose revealing a hollow space inside that was filled with precious stones and gold coins. Joe darted a hand in and pulled out a fistful of them, letting them run through his fingers and fall back into the cavity. ‘There must be a million dollars’ worth in here,’ he said to Lisa. ‘And it’s beautiful, it’s all beautiful.’

  There was a snap in the trees that seemed to reverberate around the whole island and the group looked round in unison. There, standing above their heads on the ridge that they had climbed over the day before, stood three figures: Tanaka, Kono and the Japanese corporal.

  ‘It is indeed beautiful,’ Tanaka said, smiling and aiming his gun at the group. His eyes were flashing widely and the yellow of his teeth was clearly visible in the strong light of the early morning. ‘I do thank you for finding it for me and I thank you even more for bringing it out into the open.’

  The professor began to lunge forward but Joe grabbed him by the arm and stopped him.

  ‘Yes, it would be very unwise to do that, professor,’ Tanaka said. ‘After all, you are not a young man any more but you still have a lot to live for.’

  ‘Why are you doing this?’ Lisa implored. ‘At least allow us to take some of these things back to the museum or back to the monastery where they belong.’

  ‘Your words are admirable, my dear, but I’m afraid they are a little romantic for me. I am a simple fellow, you see, and I like to wrap things up cleanly and neatly.’ The group was stunned into silence. Lisa began to speak to the two men standing either side of Tanaka. ‘All we want is to take this back to the rightful owners. They come from poor communities that were raped and plundered by the Japanese army. It may have been war but it is a war that is over. There are no sides any more. There are no winners and losers, there is only right and wrong now.’ The corporal beside Tanaka turned his head at this. He looked at Lisa. ‘There are still orders to be carried out,’ he said brusquely. ‘There are no more orders,’ Lisa said.

  ‘Yamashita ordered,’ the corporal said.

  ‘Yamashita’s dead,’ the professor replied. ‘He died after the war. The war is over, time has passed and there is no fighting anymore.’

  The corporal looked stunned and opened and closed his mouth trying to find words.

  ‘There are no American planes any more – you must have noticed. There are no uniforms here, no spies.’

  Suddenly the truth of the situation hit the corporal and he fell to his knees. All of a sudden the one thing that had kept him alive now came crashing down around his ears. He began to weep softly into his hands, sniffing loudly and breathing more and more deeply as the tears stained his uniform a deep dark beige.

  ‘Get up, fool!’ Tanaka shouted and kicked him like a dog, but the corporal was a broken man. He rolled over and lay face down on the ridge, weeping into the ground.

  Joe went to pick up the jewels that flowed out of the golden Buddha, but Tanaka spun round and stopped him in his tracks. ‘I wouldn’t touch that if I were you. It could be very, very bad for your health.’

  Joe froze. He had been in this position a number of times in his life and he knew there were only two things you can do: you either stand still or hope that the other doesn’t kill you or you lunge at them . . . and still hope that the other guy doesn’t kill you. Either way there was a chance you would end up with a bullet in you. The ratio was three to two. Three times in his life he had lunged, twice he had stood still; he decided to make it three all and did not move. Tanaka was enjoying the power he had over the group. He shot into the ground near one of the village women and sent her running into the undergrowth. Tanaka laughed to see her run and gave her a final shot in the back dropping her to the ground. ‘That was a warning to you all,’ he said. ‘We are in the middle of nowhere, are we not? There is no law out here.’

  ‘Who the hell is this?’ Winthrope asked, but there was silence. Everyone was waiting for Tanaka to speak. They knew that he was in control now; they knew that he gave the orders.

  He nodded to Kono. ‘Go and pick up the gold.’

  Kono shrugged and sighed wearily then trudged down the ridge to where the boxes lay. As he got to the bottom his eyes met Lisa’s.

  ‘You don’t have to do this,’ she said to him, sensing the trepidation in his demeanour. ‘This gold should go back to the people it rightfully belongs to. You don’t have to go along with this.’

  Kono turned his face away as if her words were painful to hear, as if they spoke to something very fundamental within him. He picked up a box of gold and heaved it to the top of the ridge. As he got to the top Lisa shouted out to him, ‘You don’t have to do this.’

  Tanaka pointed his gun at Lisa. ‘Shut up!’ he shouted.

  Lisa stepped forward, all the time feeling the gun trained upon her. Joe clutched at her arm and tried to pull her back but she moved forward anyway, not caring for Tanaka or the weapon that he held in his hand.

  ‘You don’t have to rob the people of their history again. It was done once, don’t let it happen again. This is our chance to put right the wrong that was done to them. This is our chance to give something back and to make sure history is not repeated.’

  Tanaka scowled at her. ‘Shut up! Shut up or I’ll damn well shoot. Do you think I care who or what you are? Do you think I won’t shoot the whole lot of you?’

  Kono was making his way down the ridge again for more boxes of gold as Lisa implored him. ‘Take the gold if you want. Take it all but leave the Buddha. The Buddha is a sacred object, someone’s image of eternity; it should not be bought and sold on the market to the highest bidder. It belongs to the people who made it, who invested it with their thoughts and their prayers.’

  Tanaka spat on the ground. ‘Take the Buddha!’ he ordered. ‘Take the Buddha!’

  Kono closed his eyes momentarily and he was in the tunnel again; there was pain all around him and he wanted it gone. He didn’t care any more about the money, about the respect of his father, about Tanaka – he just wanted the pain to be gone. Then he saw her, the girl in the temple, her face as he had killed her. She was nothing to him, she hadn’t harmed him or done him any wrong and yet he had killed her because of an order.

  Kono heard a shot hit the ground near his feet.

  ‘Get the Buddha!’ Tanaka barked through gritted teeth and Kono bent down slowly to pick it up.

  ‘You don’t have to do this,’ Lisa shouted, and made a move towards him. Tanaka fired a shot over her head and sent her tumbling to the ground; seeing this Joe leaped forward and made a grab for the gun, only to hear the sound of it firing and feel the sting of hot metal hit him. He recoiled with the shock and suddenly everything was happening in slow motion. The clouds stopped moving in the sky, the jungle stopped breathing and the only sound that could be heard was the echo from the crack of the bullet that had struck him in the chest.

  He landed on the ground with a thud and the first thing he felt was Lisa’s hand on his head, stroking his hair and the whispering of her voice as it played gently in his ear. ‘Don’t die, Joe, don’t die.’

  The world was growing colder and seemed to be getting further away. In his head he saw the woman from his dreams motioning to him; he didn’t want to go with her but he knew he must. Everything in him wanted to stay with Lisa but he knew she was somewhere else now. She was outside of the room and he was inside – there was a wall between them now.

  Lisa was trying to stem the blood that pumped from Joe’s chest. She frantically held a piece of her own clothing over it to stem the bleeding but it was no good – the more she tried the harder it got until her hands were stained red and felt warm.

  Tanaka gri
nned and aimed his gun at Lisa. ‘I hate to see two people divided. Perhaps you should join your boyfriend.’ He pulled the trigger. But it slammed down to silence – the chamber was empty. In frustration he threw it away and barked an order at Kono.

  ‘Kill the bitch!’ he shouted. ‘Let her go with her boyfriend.’

  Kono dropped the golden Buddha and moved towards Lisa. As he looked up, he saw her kneeling by Joe’s body, covered in Joe’s blood, and for an instant was transported back to the temple and the girl. He closed his eyes, but the image would not go away. No matter how hard he tried the face of the girl came back to him – her eyes looking at him, her mouth opening as the last breath left her body and she died. He would not let it happen again. He could not let it happen again. There had been too many deaths, too much suffering, and now it was time to end it.

  Kono felt a strange revelation taking place in his mind; the spirits of the jungle were in him. With fire in his eyes, he ran up the ridge and grabbed Tanaka, who struggled lamely in his grasp. Kono cried out like an animal in pain as he lifted Tanaka off his feet and held him in the air; Tanaka kicked but found he was no longer able to reach the ground. He desperately struggled as he felt the last vestiges of air being squeezed from his body and his face turned a deep shade of purple. Tanaka made a last lunge at Kono’s neck but it was no use. Kono shook the other man and, with a crack that was clearly audible from several feet away, broke his back and let his body fall, like a crumpled pile of clothing to the earth.

  Joe felt himself in some other place, a place where he had been before. He recognised it from a dream he had once had. He knew he was safe here, he knew that he would be safe for ever. All the running he had done in his life was coming to an end and he knew that here was where he wanted to be more than anywhere else in the world.

  ‘We need to get him to the village quickly,’ Winthrope said. ‘We need to get him to the holy woman.’

  ‘The holy woman?’ the professor said. ‘What this man needs is a hospital and a doctor.’

  ‘Fine,’ Winthrope said mockingly. ‘You just call for one and I’ll stay here. Come on, help me with him, we need to get him there quickly.’

  Fraser and Kono picked Joe up and began to carry him to the village while the other members of the team sadly collected the bodies of the three unlucky women or hoisted some of the gold upon their shoulders and followed them. The rest would have to be collected later.

  The hut of the holy woman was a little way from the rest of the village and as they approached it the whole group began to feel nervous and afraid. Joe was still conscious and murmured to himself as they hoisted him over the threshold and lay him on the floor. The woman lit a pipe and began to chant. She blew smoke over Joe’s body and passed a hand just above his chest, intoning as she did so. Without taking her eyes off him, she spilled hot wax from a candle on to a silver dish plate. The drying wax seemed to take the shape of Joe’s face agonising in his battle between worlds, as the smoke seemed to engulf him and enter into his every pore, transforming his corporeal body into something dreamlike and magical. Lisa thought she could see his spirit desperately trying to free itself only to be caught by the smoke that surrounded him. Joe seemed to recognise this woman, she was vaguely familiar, like he had seen her before in a dream.

  It was a fight between life and death, between the forces that want to snatch a soul away and those that want to keep it on earth to feel, to breathe and to live. Lisa could see that Joe was fighting for all he was worth. She knew that he did not want to leave her now they had found each other; she knew he was desperately battling not for his sake but for hers. The holy woman blew more smoke and Joe began to feel a warmth around him. Suddenly there was a light behind his eyes and everything seemed alive again. Something was calling to him just like in his dream. He seemed to recognise this woman, not anybody he had met in the earthly realm, was she a vision, or was he dead? The woman reached forward and placed her hand on Joe’s chest; she closed her eyes, blew more smoke in his direction and violently pulled the bullet from his flesh. It was lifted up triumphantly and then dropped on to the floor where it sat, a harmless shard of metal.

  Joe began to feel his legs and his arms again. Something was pulling him back to life; something was making him swim against the tide. He opened his eyes and the light streamed in. Lisa reached over and kissed his forehead and the world had begun again. The holy woman smiled and said something to Winthrope, who translated.

  ‘She said you must rest for a few days but you will be fine. She said it was lucky it didn’t go in any further, or else she wouldn’t have been able to do anything at all.’

  Lisa hugged Joe’s head and cried a single tiny tear that fell onto his cheek and seemed to stay there.

  Chapter Nineteen

  After a few days’ rest Joe was up and about ready for the trek homeward. He emerged from the hut where he had been sleeping under the watchful eye of Lisa only to be greeted by Fraser wearing the typical garb of the villagers. Joe could barely contain his amusement. ‘You’re not taking that back with you, are you?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ Fraser replied.

  ‘That’s a relief. I would not want to go walking through the streets of Hong Kong with you dressed like that.’

  ‘I’m not coming back,’ Fraser said. ‘I’m tired of Hong Kong, of London, of New York. Those places are nothing to me anymore. I belong here, here in the jungle with my wives and Winthrope.’

  ‘But Winthrope’s not to be trusted. There are things about him that you don’t know.’

  Joe longed to tell Fraser about his experience of a few nights before but thought better of it. ‘Just be careful is all I am saying. Jesus!’

  Joe suddenly ducked behind Fraser. He had caught sight of Kono striding through the village looking for all the world like a giant. He strode up to Fraser and shook his hand.

  ‘The plane’s already packed with the bars and the Buddha.’

  Joe came out from his hiding place. ‘The plane?’

  ‘Yes,’ Fraser explained. ‘The plane Kono and Tanaka came in on; it’s over the other side of the island. They’ve been waiting for you to get well enough to be able to fly it back. You have Kono to thank that you’re still here at all. If it wasn’t for him you’d be dead out in the jungle.’

  Kono extended his hand but Joe, wary, recoiled. Fraser grabbed Joe’s arm and forced his hand into Kono’s, whereupon they both shook.

  ‘I guess I should say thanks.’

  Kono seemed a little embarrassed at this. ‘It’s nothing,’ he said. ‘Let’s just say it was all part of the service.’

  After packing what little things they had, the group prepared to say farewell to the village. Lisa hugged Fraser as they were about to leave.

  ‘Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?’ she asked, to which Fraser shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘Who knows?’ he said, and smiled.

  The corporal led the way through the jungle to where the plane was moored just off the beach. Joe climbed in and began to check the instruments. He noticed there was a thin sheen of blood on some of them.

  ‘Tanaka’s doing,’ Kono explained.

  ‘He was some guy, that boss of yours,’ Joe said.

  It was a squeeze getting the professor, Lisa, Kono and the gold into the plane but they managed it and the corporal shut the door, happy with the group’s promise to send another in a few days to pick him up and take him back to Japan. Joe started the engine and it started first time. They taxied along the water for a few metres and then began to pick up speed.

  ‘I have no idea if this tub is going to take off with all this weight,’ he said,

  ‘You’d better hold your breath.’

  The plane coasted faster and faster until, with one mighty push it was launched into the air and flew up off into the early morning sky.

  The trip out was, as is often the case, easier than the trip to the island. Kono kept everyone fascinated with tales of Tanaka and they laughed when th
ey heard how they had all been tailed for weeks in a blue Nissan before they had set off. As they landed at the small harbour waterfront at the old Kai Tak airport they breathed a collective sigh of relief; their trip was finally over and they were looking forward to getting back to what they thought of as their nice simple lives.

  Once they had taxied to the embarking area near the hangar where less than two weeks before had been the scene of their daring escape, they alighted and began to unload the plane. Kono disappeared and returned a minute later in the car that had once belonged to Tanaka and they busied themselves filling it with gold from the boxes and then gently placing the golden Buddha into the boot.

  ‘We should get that to the University first,’ the professor said. ‘Where we can conduct some research on it to find out exactly where it came from.’

  Joe looked concerned.

  ‘We’ll get it home, Joe. Don’t worry, we’ll get it home.’