Tainted Treasure (China Marine)

by Buzz Harcus

‘Has Harry hurt you? Did he do someting bad to you?” Sudden anger crossed his ruddy face. “If dat man has hurt you—”

  “No, Uncle Karl,” she cried out holding up her hand to quiet him. “Harry didn’t hurt me.”

  Dabbing at her tears, breaking into a smile, she walked up to him and suddenly threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “He proposed to me,” she whispered. “He vants me to be his vife.”

  “What!” exclaimed her uncle. “Harry proposed to you?”

  She nodded yes, beaming, squeezing him. “I’m so tankful you invited me on dis voyage. I haf met der man who vas meant for me.”

  “Dat—dat is vunderful,” Andress beamed. “Harry is a good man.”

  “I know.” She whirled about, dancing about her uncle. “I’m going to be Mrs. Harry Martin. Doesn’t dat sound vunderful?”

  “Yah.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. “After vat you’ve been trough vis your husband—to find a nice man like Harry, I’m so happy for you.”

  “Yes, und I vant to be married ven ve cross der International Dateline. It has special meaning for me.”

  “Yah, and at high noon!” exclaimed her uncle. “Yah. High noon.”

  They laughed and he pulled her close hugging her. “I’m so happy for you, Osa,” he whispered. “ I really mean it.”

  “So much to do before den,” she exclaimed.

  He laughed. “Und I suppose you’ll go on a cruise for your honeymoon.”

  His remark caused her to break into laughter. “Yes, where do you go for a honeymoon when you’re on a grain carrier in der middle of der Pacific Ocean.”

  Still laughing, her uncle said, “Maybe ve sail into some port along der vay so you can go shopping. I’m sure der crew vould understand. Dis is der best news I have heard in ages. I knew der vas something special about Harry ven he signed on. He has been der man of der hour twice ven ve vere under attack by dos who would sink dis ship. Yah, Harry is a good man.”

  “Und he’s good looking, too,” she added with a saucy look, which brought another guffaw from her uncle.

  “Vell, I must go und get ready to get under vay. Are you okay?”

  With a deep breath, she smiled at him. “Yes. I’m fine now. I vas vorried about how to tell you. Now I feel better dat you know.”

  “Good day, Mrs. Martin,” he said, doffing his cap and calling out, “Haf a good day,” as he left the store room.

  CHAPTER 4

  Storm Delay

  Harry and Sigmund were talking about his promotion when Captain Andress came onto the bridge. “I guess congratulations are in order, Harry,” Andress boomed. “You haf made a good choice. Osa is a vunderful girl. She vill make you a good vife.”

  Harry was caught flat-footed by the remark. His face went blank. He hadn’t told anyone. Hell, it had just happened last night. Osa! She had told her uncle! First Officer Sigmund Helmstrund, too, was struck by the news. He stood stunned at the remark. Osa. Harry. She would be his wife?

  Captain Andress was vigorously shaking Harry’s hand, slapping him on his shoulder. “Yah. Osa chust told me der good news. She vill make you very happy.”

  “Yeah—yeah, sure she will. She’s a wonderful girl,” Harry found himself saying as his hand continued to be pumped by the captain. And what else had she told her uncle about us, he wondered.

  Sigmund thumped Harry solidly on his back. “Yah, congratulations, Harry. Osa is a vunderful girl, a real lady. You are very lucky.”

  But he was already wondering thoughts about Osa and Harry. She was Swedish. Harry was American. Would they be compatible? They were from entirely different backgrounds. She had gone to a private girls school, had earned an advanced degree in home economics, had been a school teacher and now held a post as a professor of home economics at the University of Stockholm. If it hadn’t been for that stupid husband of hers and his philandering ways, she would still be teaching today. They were very fortunate that Captain Andress had prevailed upon her to sail as cook aboard the Nurad. The time away would help her to heal. When she got back to Stockholm, her job was waiting for her.

  And Harry? What did she actually know about him? All he knew was that the American was divorced and had worked as a carpenter back in Saginaw. That did not bode well for a marriage. No, he would have to look up Harry’s papers and check him out! And worse, would he steal her away to live in America?

  Another disconcerting thought nagged at Sigmund: what would he do when she was gone? During the course of the long voyage he had come to respect Osa. She brought a special aura to the ship. She had gone through such a bad time with the death of her husband of twenty years when he was killed in that car crash with that young prostitute. This voyage had been good for her; good for the men. They all knew the story and had gone out of their way to make her life aboard ship a happy experience.

  She is such a wonderful person, such a lady, thought Sigmund. He loved to tease her, loved to talk to her. She was beautiful in mind, spirit and body. Body, yes, and hadn’t he had thoughts about that body; intriguing fantasies about her, about them, about a time when they might share that special moment together. Dammit!!

  But he had seen the look in her eyes when Harry came through the food line, had caught the warmth in her eyes when she and Harry had come back aboard Nurad in Shanghai that night, even last night when they had come back from dinner at the Tivoli in Qingdao. She was like a giddy schoolgirl, but was it love?

  And he was still that nice young officer Sigmund Helmstrund. Damn!

  “Vat haf ve here?” Captain Andress said stepping to the window, looking astern. A black car roared down the dock splashing through puddles and stopping abruptly by the gangway. “Good. Mr. Ma has finally arrived,” he said. “Now ve can get undervay.”

  Harry choked on his sip of coffee. He walked quickly to the large rain-smeared window and glanced down. Mr. Ma? That sure as hell would be interesting to see.

  A young Chinese officer dressed in a black raincoat moved quickly up the gangway followed by Colonel Wen Pui. The officer stepped on deck, stopped and looked forward, then aft. Colonel Pui pointed upwards toward the bridge, and they continued up the ladder to the bridge.

  Sigmund had broken from his train of thought about Osa, and hurried to open the door. The two men quickly stepped inside. Sigmund spoke briefly to them, shaking their hands, then turned to Captain Andress.

  “Captain Andress, I haf der pleasure of introducing you to Mr. Shen Lee Ma. He is der adjutant to Mr. Ma, und his son. Of course you know Colonel Wen Pui.” Again, there was a quick exchange of handshakes.

  Shen Lee Ma had the black eyes of his father, the same stocky, muscular build, and short cut black hair. However, he stood at least four inches taller than his father.

  “Velcome, Mr. Ma. It is a pleasure to meet you,” said Captain Andress. “Is your father not coming?”

  “He is incapacitated at the moment,” said Shen Lee. His voice was soft, almost melodic, his English, perfect. “We expect him later today.”

  “That is Mr. Martin,” the Colonel interrupted, pointing at Harry. Shen Lee Ma turned his attention to look at Harry, his dark eyes piercing, eyes that threatened danger. He studied the American closely. “Yes,” he said after a moment, “My father talked about you yesterday. You were one of the United States Marines stationed here in Qingdao after World War Two, back when those despicable Nationalists were pillaging and raping our country.”

  Harry didn’t bother to respond to the remark. Thirty years brought another generation of Chinese who were not aware of what the Americans had done for China. Hell, he probably never saw an American in the last twenty years, no less a United States Marine.

  Too bad I don’t have time to fill him in on the role of the Marines coming back to China in the fall of 1945, Harry thought. Combat seasoned Marines arrived in north China from Okinawa, Guam, Iwo Jima and other bases to accept the surrender of thousands of Japanese soldiers. Thousands upon thousands of Chinese men, women and children, many
with make-shift American flags, cheered and greeted the Marines when they landed right here in Qingdao.

  Soon, Marines were stationed at Peiping, Tientsin, Tsingtao, Shanghai, Chinwangtao, Peitaho Beach, Taku and Tangshan. Along with repatriating the Japanese soldiers, there was another 300,000 Japanese civilians who also had to be sent back to Japan. The Marines were no nonsense in their treatment of the Japs. What Shen Lee didn’t know, nor probably didn’t care, was that there were savage times between 1945 and 1949 when brave Marines died for the cause of the Chinese.

  Harry sloughed it off; the kid had been brain-washed by the Communists. Let him think what he wants, I just want to get the hell away from this damned port.

  “A pleasure to meet you,” Harry said extending the hand of friendship.

  Shen Lee acknowledged the remark, grasped Harry’s hand in his, and crushed it momentarily, sending a signal that, like his father, he was a person of power.

  “Nurad cannot leave port today,” Shen Lee said sharply,

  dropping Harry’s hand and turning back to Captain Andress. “I’m sorry to report that at this moment there is a powerful storm sweeping down from the Gobi desert bringing freezing weather and strong winds which will shortly sweep down across the Shantung peninsula. In fact, there are three ships due in here soon seeking harborage from the storm.”

  Captain Andress stood speechless for several seconds before he responded to the news. “A powerful storm, you say?”

  “Yes.” Shen Lee smiled for his benefit. “It is spring in China. I’m sure you have major storms in your respective countries in the spring. China is no different. Where you have tornadoes, we have cyclones and tremendous thunderstorms. I advise you to secure anything that might blow off the ship.”

  “Yah,” replied Captain Andress. “Yah. Ve vill do chust dat!”

  “I’m sorry for the delay but I’m sure that by this time tomorrow, pending any other disaster,” and he deliberately looked at Harry, “you will be underway.”

  With that, Shen Lee gave a slight bow, grabbed the captain’s hand, shook it, then turned to Colonel Pui, saying, “We must go now, we have much to do.”

  And just as suddenly the two were back out in the rain, heading down the gangway and into the black car, and speeding off down the dock.

  “Shit!” exclaimed Captain Andress. “Shit!”

  “I’ll get a crew vorking topside immediately to double up on our shore lines und to make sure nossing is lying free on der deck,” said Sigmund, taking charge as a First Officer should.

  “Yah, und do it qvickly,” retorted Captain Andress.

  “Boy, the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it,” Harry offered. “Shen Lee is the spitting image of his old man”

  “Yah, but I tink he could be more dangerous dan his fadder.” Andress snapped. “I don’t trust him—or dat Colonel Pui.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Harry asked.

  “Stay right here. Keep an eye out for ships entering the harbor. Ve don’t need an accident. I’m going on deck to check tings out myself.”

  Harry poured a fresh cup of coffee and peered out the front windows of the bridge. Another night in port. Dangerous. Somebody could find the bodies—if they’re looking for them, and I’m really not sure of Shen Lee Ma or Colonel Pui, just the way those two looked at me. I think they‘re searching hard!

  He picked up a set of binoculars and focused on the harbor entrance. The rain had lessened but a low-lying fog had spread across the entrance to the harbor. Nothing. Setting the binoculars to one side, he poured himself more coffee.

  Shen Lee Ma. Boy, talk about nepotism; keep the good jobs in the family. And would he be like his father, or was he already a crooked politician?

  Like Osa, he, too, had been haunted by last nights events. It was tragic that it had come to the deaths of the two, but then, it did bring him and Osa closer, engaged as a matter of fact, which brought a warm smile to his face. I wonder how her uncle reacted when she told him? He’d find out later.

  The money. The damned reason he was in China! Blood money, that‘s what it is: tainted blood money! Thus far it had cost the lives of at least six people! And now he was saddled with it.

  Earlier this morning he had stuffed all the money back in the pockets of his jacket, sealed the pockets giving the jacket it’s bulky look, and then, just like any jacket, he had hung it in his closet. Hide it in plain sight and no one would suspect it if they were looking for it. The seabag was different. All the excess money, just over three hundred thousand, he packed away in the seabag pockets and sealed it. While he was trying to figure out where to hide it his eyes came to rest on the heat vent in his cabin. Why not? He used his special set of tools to unscrew the cover, then peered inside. There was more than ample room to hide the seabag inside the heat duct out of sight, and so he hid it and screwed the cover plate back in place. He’d tell Osa later.

  Just then he caught sight of the bow of a large ship coming through the fog and just rounding the lighthouse at the end of the pier. A large cargo carrier. A small pilot boat raced out intercepting it. Shortly, the vessel would be in the harbor where black and red tugboats would warp it around to nestle in behind the Nurad.

  Harry lifted the binoculars and checked the deck and bridge. It flew a British flag. Yeah, the one from Shanghai. As his binoculars swept along the dockside, he wondered if the old Japanese Compound still existed. He recalled it as a large walled-in compound with barbed wire and broken glass topping the walls, and many, many small storage buildings called “godowns.” The compound, located just inland from the dock area, had been the supply center serving the Marines stationed in north China. He’d spent his work days there in the godowns receiving fresh stateside supplies, storing them, and shipping supplies out to other Marine outfits in north China. Thinking back to those days, Harry recalled working with untold numbers of dirty ragged coolies each work day. At the end of the day, each coolie had to be searched, a loathsome task checking stinking, cruddy bodies, some with open sores. Ugh!

  Periodically he had to spend a night or two on guard duty at the Twelfth Service Battalion headquarters building located smack dab in the center of the compound. No problem guarding inside the building as he had a carbine and 45 pistol. Outside, after dark, the old Japanese compound was a war zone. Chinese thieves tried to come over the compound walls to steal anything they could get there hands on .The First or Third Marine guards made sure they didn’t. Often there was sounds of sporadic gunfire and then silence.

  Dinner time was the worst part of the job, having to walk down to the fire department located just inside the main gate for dinner. It was a fairly long walk, always good food and a chance to shoot the breeze with the fire department guys, getting caught up on the latest scuttlebutt. But the walk back to the headquarters building was another challenge. He usually walked back at dusk. Harry recalled loudly singing popular songs, whistling, and immediately stopping when challenged by trigger happy guards. He was always glad to get back inside the building where he could lay his hands on his own weapons.

  Marines stationed in north China were involved in a lot of serious activities: guarding railroad bridges, riding coal trains, keeping an eye out for Communist and bandit activities, especially the Communists as they would tear out sections of rails to de-rail trains. Trains moved slowly. When a section of rail was found missing, the train stopped and crews searched for the missing section or sections, then replaced them, and the train moved forward again. Many times the crew and train came under fire from the Commies. Marine guards killed a lot of them, took a number of bad hits themselves.

  Captain Andress came onto the bridge. “Vell, I see vun ship, der same ship dat vas behind us in Shanghai. British.” He grabbed up the binoculars, fitted them to his eyes and searched the murky harbor entrance. “Here comes anudder vun,” he muttered. “I guess ve are in for a blow.”

  Sigmund entered just at that moment. “I’ve had der lines doubled. Der vind is picking
up. I talked to dat young Mr. Ma down on der dock. He said ve can expect vinds up to tirty miles an hour vis gusts up to fifty.”

  Captain Andress nodded. “It vill probably blow out as fast as it comes in.”

  He raised the binoculars to his eyes once again. “Did you two see dat rusted old schooner on der reef just outside der harbor ven ve came in Friday? Dat vas a German student training schooner dat ran aground tventy years ago. A squall hit just as it vas about to enter der harbor, drove it right up onto der reef. Let dat be a lesson to be in control of your vessel at all times.”

  Harry recalled seeing the old rusted relic hung up on the reef. Probably had been a three or four masted trader way back around the turn of the century before becoming a training vessel. Now it was just a rusted hulk, a reminder to sail a safe course.

  Setting the binoculars down, Captain Andress added, “I still plan on leaving first ting in der morning.”

  “Aye,” said Sigmund. “I tink ve vill all be happy to get under vay again.”

  “I say amen to that,” Harry interjected. “I’m ready to go.”

  CHAPTER 5

  An Unexpected Night Visitor

  Gale force winds howled through the night driving sheets of rain that swept across the city and harbor rocking, rolling and testing ships straining at their mooring lines. Anything left loose on deck of any vessel was lost overboard. Tiles suddenly ripped from dock building roofs, sailed through the night as deadly missiles shattering against ships and breaking into thousands of jagged shards. Thunder rolled incessantly, sharp angular flashes of lightning crackled across the sky. Wind shrieked a wailing sorrowful tune through the rigging. Deck lights remained on through the drenching rain allowing crew members to keep a sharp eye out for damage and for possible boarders, not that there was anything to steal, but that someone could possibly sneak aboard, perhaps hide away trying to escape from their oppressive domineering Communist government. Harry came off duty at 2000 hours. Even in the shelter of his cabin, he felt the rocking movement of the vessel. Doffing his work clothes, he took a long hot shower, then shaved and pulled on clean skivvies. Sack time he told himself. It had been a long nerve shattering day.