by J. R. Rain
“Maybe,” I said, still trying to sort through her latest statement. “But, you said so yourself that Badri is unaware of anyone other than you and your commune presently sharing the island with him.”
“I never said that,” she corrected me. “What I said was it was fortunate the plane left as early as it did. But, Badri is like a warlock. He didn’t rise from humble beginnings to become the feared criminal he is today by accident. He sees like I see...only he uses his gifts for wickedness only.”
“By seeing you mean...?”
“Into the spirit world, Mr. Caine.” She focused her consider stare onto me. “And into the hearts of men.”
This was getting better all the time. I said, “A waste of time, sister. There’s nothing but blackness in mine.”
“You speak flippantly, Mr. Caine,” she said, smiling. “But we both know better.”
I swallowed uncomfortably, not entirely sure what she was getting. I recovered nicely, though, and said, “Anyway, what if we try my idea first, and if it doesn’t pan out, then we—”
“No!” she interrupted me. “Our discussion is finished.”
She left us standing there, and didn’t bother to look over her shoulder to see if I’d pursue her to try one last time to make my point. Such an idea was quickly nixed once her guards had their guns trained on my Tawankan companion and me.
For better or worse, we’d do things Norema’s way.
* * *
After feeding us an unknown species of fish cooked in a local berry juice that wasn’t half-bad, we learned that our captors had retrieved our supplies of water, dry goods, and rum. Sadly, Ishi and I were only allowed a thimble-sized serving of rum after dinner. Torture at its finest.
Norema did allow for a slight compromise in our plans for the next morning, agreeing to embark on our trip to the pirate-infested side of the island just before daybreak. It took awhile to fall asleep that night. Something about Marie’s behavior shortly after we landed the plane on the beach and set up camp nearby the evening before kept me awake. It was a subtle thing, and yet now startlingly clear as I reflected on the previous night’s events. I silently berated myself for not picking up on it sooner.
The island was remote enough to abort any thoughts of accessing the Internet or any other modern communication convenience. Yet, a brief transmission or some other message somehow made it to her cell phone before we moved out of range. Her phone had chirped, and I recalled clearly the way her expression had changed upon viewing the screen. Her facial features had gone from surprise to painful recognition. It was as if she’d been given an unpleasant task to take care of. What the task could be was anyone’s guess. But, despite the loving smile she offered me when I asked her what was wrong, she was a different Marie from that moment until she disappeared. At least she treated me differently. Boisterously excited about our upcoming treasure hunt at one point, she became unusually reticent. Her mind was someplace else, which she managed to brush off to me as “tiredness after a long flight.”
Marie’s secret was dire enough for her to desert Ishi and me without any forewarning. And now a different woman who made me think of her would soon continue the journey I’d looked forward to sharing with Marie. But two questions I should have asked her days ago now begged to be put to Norema, although discreetly.
Would she betray me, and if so, when?
Chapter Five
Morning arrived sooner than expected. Sooner than I expected, anyway.
“Get up, Nick Caine,” Norema whispered from nearby.
It was still dark, although faint light along the horizon outside the hut’s doorway announced the dawn was on its way. The strong scent of cinnamon wafted toward me...almost like cologne, and yet I knew it wasn’t. But it definitely emanated from Norema. I could only see her silhouette in the dimness, but she smelled invitingly delicious. Probably not a good idea for her to linger any closer...
“I’m up. Just give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready to go,” I said. “I’ll wake Ishi.”
“He’s already awake,” she said, her voice low and much more alluring than I recalled from yesterday. “We are all ready to leave, and I have one of your cereal bars and a bottle of water for you from your campsite.”
Cereal bars weren’t the first thing that came to mind. I had a strong urge for sustenance of a physical kind...
Down boy. “Thank you,” I said, forcing a bright smile that I doubted she could see. At least not clearly. Just as well, as the smile was quickly replaced with a grimace. After all, I felt like I’d only recently fallen asleep. Maybe three hours worth of shut eye.
She slipped out of the hut, and I watched her hips perhaps a little too closely.
I sighed. What I wouldn’t give for a bottle of rum and my last pack of menthols that had been left behind at our camp. I’d been rationing those suckers to last as long as our other supplies, thinking Ishi and I might be dead within a week or two. Now, it might be even sooner—especially if Norema’s prediction about Badri was wrong and the bastard saw us coming once the sun came up.
I needed something to get my inner motor going, and perhaps some folks might assume the chance to rescue Norema’s kid would kick-start my pulse. Not that I’m a cold-hearted snake by any means, but as much as I wanted to bring peace to a mom who spends her days worrying about her boy’s welfare, it was the looter in me that held sway on a much stronger level. The fantasy of first beholding and later laying claim to ancient pirate gold was what got the adrenaline flowing and prompted me to rise from the straw rug and get moving. Saving Aafreen was the carrot dangled before my nefarious need to plunder.
“You look wart-hogged and wet,” said Ishi, as I stepped out of the hut—one that we both had been relegated to the previous night. He was sitting near a pair of lit tiki torches.
“It’s supposed to be ‘you’re looking rode hard and put away wet,’” I said, yawning. Ishi never met an American idiom that he couldn’t completely destroy.
“Either way, you look like shit, kemosabe.” He grinned. Obviously, the bastard had slept well and was looking forward to the latest chapter in our ongoing pursuit of adventure and illegal riches.
I ignored him. “So, whose idea was it to change last night’s plans for today?”
“It was determined by our council that we needed to visit the island’s main lagoon on the way to the other side,” said Norema, stepping into the glow from the torch’s flame.
She looked as radiant as she had smelled up close. Ishi looked uncomfortable, perhaps from the fact she had obviously bathed, and the two of us...well, it had been two heat-filled days since either of us had enjoyed that luxury. Hell, when exploring the jungles of South America we’d be lucky if either of us took a bath for weeks at a time. But that meant just us having to deal with each other, and when looking for forgotten buried treasure neither one of us could give a crappola about hygiene.
But that perspective has never worked well in mixed company.
A dozen women from the village soon emerged and, like their leader, all appeared to have recently bathed. Some had removed the bindis from their foreheads, and wore light makeup—something none of them had done the previous day. It was as if they were all ready to go shopping at an upscale fashion boutique, and wore the best apparel they had to their name. Even the cholis, lehengas, and saris were much more colorful than what even Norema had donned yesterday afternoon.
“What the devil does taking a side trip do to save your son?” I asked, not liking the extra event added to the previous plan for today’s search and rescue mission.
“You will see...it will make complete sense once you are there.” She motioned for the girls guarding us the previous afternoon and evening to resume their positions behind Ishi and me and at our sides. Norema then handed me an unwrapped granola bar and one of the bottled waters that Marie had left for us. “The lagoon is not that far, and we will be there before the sun has fully risen.”
I had a sinking feeling inside.
The lagoons on remote islands are often beautiful and make great attractions for tourists. But getting up early and taking a side trip to start the day seemed like a very bad idea—and something we would surely regret.
“You can eat your breakfast on the way there,” she said, eyeing me knowingly, as if she had a clear view of my most recent thoughts. “Mr. Caine, I have no doubt this will all make sense to your keen mind very soon. But for now you will have to trust me.”
“Little lady, I hate to break it to you but, if you’ll take a look around, you’ll see that if anyone has trust issues it’s you,” I advised, pointing to our armed entourage. “Is this really necessary?”
She nodded thoughtfully, allowing a slight chuckle to escape her mouth. “Perhaps you are right...but until we arrive at the lagoon, I prefer to keep the guns on you both,” she said, still smiling. “Perhaps I will feel safer around you after we take care of our business there.”
Okay, now I was intrigued. What the hell did she mean by that?
Unlike the previous sweltering afternoon, the pre-dawn jungle bore a coolness that was refreshing. Soon, I heard a waterfall. It was straight ahead, and even though the rising sun provided welcome illumination, I couldn’t see an end to the vegetation ahead of us. Obviously, we were above the waterfall, and I assumed the lagoon lay below it.
“Watch your step as I pull aside the last of the palm fronds,” Norema advised. “You both need to be careful when you approach the edge.”
The edge of what?
It was a silent question I should’ve voiced. Norema pulled the fronds aside and motioned for us to step out onto the ledge. I believe both Ishi and I were surprised by the gorgeous waterfall view across from us—so much so that we never anticipated what was coming next. In fact, I was in mid-sentence of stating my admiration for the magnificent sight of the dawn’s light dancing upon the bluest lagoon I’d ever seen when it happened.
Someone shoved us from behind...down into the lagoon.
Chapter Six
Nothing like a chilled bath to get the day going.
Soon after Ishi and I fell yelling into the brisk, deep blue water that we later learned was fed by a spring from the colder depths within the earth, Norema threw two small imperfect green balls at us. They were the size of golf balls, except these floated in the water.
“You must lose your western odor as well as be clean!” she called down to us. Her companions giggled like young schoolgirls as they watched us splashing about in the water. Ishi was gasping for air from the cool water’s shock but, like me, he can swim well enough to keep from drowning. Far from ideal for taking a pleasure dip, the water’s temperature was likely in the sixties. “Badri’s guards will smell you coming and will cut you and us down before we reach his cave.”
“I thought you said Badri wouldn’t be here!” I yelled back up to her. In fact, she had specifically said Badri and his band of pirates would be doing just that—pirating ships. I was tempted to tell her and her gang of merry women to go to hell...until I remembered they were all really just desperate mothers. Damn my moral compass.
“If you’ll trust me and use the soap to wash yourselves, within the next hour we should have my son back safe with me, and you’ll be standing in a room filled with treasure taken from the great sultans who once ruled this region!”
The promise itself sounded dubious...but the urgency in her voice gave me pause.
“So, you threw soap at us?” I laughed, plucking one of the floating balls. It was almost scentless. “And, here I thought a good Hindu is allergic to soap of any kind.”
“We’re not Hindu...we answer to no one but to the life-force within us all. The soap is made from a tree root that grows here on the island,” she said. “I knew you wouldn’t bathe willingly.”
“Oh? So, now I’m a stinking slob?”
“Yes...I mean, no,” she said. “But the longer you delay this, the worse our chances become of sneaking into the cave as a group of innocent Island women.”
“Say again?”
“The plan is simple, Mr. Caine. You will dress as one of us.”
“There’s no way in hell Ishi and I could pass as women...well maybe Ishi could. But that’s not the point—”
“Hey,” said Ishi, frothy suds dripping from his nose. He’d already began lathering up. This was the first—and last—time I would bathe with my friend.
“We’re running out of time!” she shouted down at me, and I detected a note of playfulness in her voice, despite the seriousness of the task. She casually motioned for two of the girls to train their weapons on us, which they did perhaps a little too eagerly for my taste. “I would hate to shoot a man who hasn’t at least washed himself, but I will.”
I grumbled and stripped off my shirt and went to town on the soap. Norema grinned as she watched us. My feet touched the bottom, with the water coming up to my chest. That I had a captive audience of all women should have been exciting. It wasn’t. Not when two of them still had weapons aimed at us.
My life is weird, I thought.
“Glad to see you’ve come to your senses,” she said, when I was good and lathered. She offered a warm smile that might’ve seemed stunningly gorgeous if I hadn’t wanted to smack it off her face. “See? I can be a real sweetheart, Nicholas Alexander Caine, if we’re playing by my rules.”
My mouth opened, along with my eyes, which turned out to be mistake. The soap stung like hell and had me rubbing them furiously. Ishi chuckled nearby. “How the hell did you know my middle name?”
“We all have our secrets, Mr. Caine.”
First the gun and now this. Some strange shit’s going on, I thought. Yes, I was born Nicholas Alexander Caine. I wasn’t even the first, as my grandfather on my father’s side was also named Nicholas Alexander. Anyway, I’ve never reacted well to bossy women. It’s especially true when such headstrong females insist on getting their way for stupid shit. Bathing in a chilled lagoon at dawn on a remote island in the Maldives served as a qualifying event in my book. As we bathed, the women worked their way down a side trail although, I noted, a couple of rifles were still pointed our way.
Once finished, I shivered almost as badly as Ishi...but at least we were clean by Maldivian standards.
We approached the beach with our soaked clothing wadded up and positioned just below our waists for modesty’s sake. Norema and her firing squad were waiting for us when we stepped out of the water. Two other girls brought us our new outfits, which consisted of matching dark cholis and non-pleated lehengas to wear, along with leather sandals that must’ve belonged to men no longer part of this village commune.
At least the saris were as beautiful as those worn by our armed escorts. Yeah, that’s just me blowing off a little steam with some good old-fashioned sarcasm.
They watched us dress, and it wasn’t the fantasy one might envision. I could feel the probing coldness of their stares, making me wonder how I measured up to their Indian partners, so to speak. Then again, Leo Da Vinci’s Beretta was still strapped to my left inner thigh. Maybe that’s what drew the lingering looks below my waist. Looks that came with pursed lips and furrowed brows. But no one said a word about the gun—not even Norema. Probably a moot point since the water-logged gun was undoubtedly worthless.
“There...now you’re ready to be introduced to Badri’s guards as part of our entourage,” said Norema, smiling at getting her way. I wondered briefly if Aamir, her murdered husband, had, in fact, chosen the firing squad option more willingly than she had described yesterday. Another wry grin spread across my face. But she was too busy studying our attire to notice. “There is one more thing you’ll need...something the two of you must wear to conceal your faces.”
From inside her sari, she pulled out a pair of hoods to put over our heads and a pair of scarves for our faces. Once she finished helping us put them on, she gave an approving nod.
“Do not remove the hijabs until we are no longer in the guards’ presence,” she advised. “Come, foll
ow me.”
She and the others began moving toward the waterfall. Without the distractions of undressing, bathing, and donning women’s clothing at gunpoint, I finally had a chance to look around. The area was pristine, with trees, shrubs, and flowers I was unfamiliar with. The white sand just beyond the shoreline seemed to extend up the hillside to the spot we were pushed from, roughly thirty feet above us. I assumed we were walking through some sort of depression in the earth, since to my prior knowledge the highest point in the Maldives was just over seven feet above sea level.
The waterfall’s source was a powerful stream—which was another aspect that shouldn’t be present on any of the Maldives islands. It cascaded down the side of what looked like a volcanic rock formation from eons past. It was more like something we would see in the Hawaiian Islands, or those along the Mexican and Latin American coasts. I doubt that Ishi considered the same thing, since he only did a cursory review of the brochures the night before about the two hundred Maldivian islands that cover nearly thirty-five thousand square miles.
“This entrance to the cave system is largely unknown,” said Norema, as she motioned for us to climb onto a ledge just below the waterfall. I could see a deep shadow behind the rushing water, and assumed it was the entrance. “Some of the chasms we will pass through are fairly narrow, and you will need to follow my lead closely while watching where you step. The good news is it should only take twenty minutes to reach our destination.”
“And the bad news?”
Yeah, I know...asking for trouble, right? On the contrary, any looter worth his salt will know the full parameters concerning whatever endeavor he is about to embark on.
“The bad news?” Norema smiled. She eyed me mischievously. “The bad news is what you already know. As long as we get through without confrontation, or minimal hand-to-hand conflict, I will get my son and you will get your gold. Otherwise...slavery and death await us all.”
