Slocum and the Celestial Bones

by Jake Logan

  A vault door lay on the floor, torn from its hinges by brute force. A quick glance inside showed that all the contents had been removed. With the smoke making his eyes water, Sir William started to leave, then noticed a leg poking out from under a table. He pushed the overturned table away and saw a dead Chinaman.

  A dead Chinese sailor. It took him a few seconds to understand what this meant.

  “Lai Choi San, you are my last chance to get the jade crown back.”

  With hope burning bright again, Sir William headed for the docks.

  27

  “I do not want the crown,” Ah Ming said. The fury in her dark eyes burned Slocum as if she had thrust a branding iron into his guts.

  “You can swap it for your pa’s bones,” Slocum said, holding the crown out to her. He had felt a twinge of guilt for a few minutes after watching Sir William and Tess drive off. He had switched the real crown for a box of artifacts from the museum that were about the same weight. Sir William would be disappointed, but Tess might not care if she convinced the explorer that he loved her and they married eventually. For her that would be a prize beyond any Chinese emperor’s crown.

  “The Sum Yop are scattered throughout the city,” Ah Ming said.

  “You’ll stand a better chance of finding Little Pete and giving him the crown in return for—”

  “You fool!” Ah Ming’s towering rage caused Slocum to take a step back. “The Sum Yop headquarters has been destroyed.”

  “The bones will be left,” Slocum said. He had seen men struck by lightning and their skeletons remained. No fire in a city could match that for pure destructive power.

  “They are gone,” Ah Ming said, her anger becoming a colder rage that worried Slocum more than her hot fury. “I saw with my own eyes that the Sum Yop vault was looted and completely empty. My father’s bones were not there.”

  “Little Pete,” Slocum began. He paused to think on the matter. If the Sum Yop leader had looted his own vault, he would have taken whatever gold and other valuables were there. Even if his hatred for the On Leong leader was the sole driving force in his life, keeping the gold would take precedence so he could maintain power over his hatchet men. Without control of the killers following him, he was nothing.

  “If he took them, it’s all the more important that you trade the crown,” Slocum said. He held it out. Ah Ming’s eyes did not even flicker in the direction of the box.

  “He did not. He is hiding. Little Pete was ambushed before he returned to his fortress. There were dead sailors.”

  “Lai Choi San?”

  Ah Ming said nothing, but Slocum read the answer on her face. He tucked the jade crown under his arm as he considered all the possibilities. This might be working out better than he had thought.

  “I’ll be back soon with your father’s bones,” Slocum said.

  “If you are not, you will die. I will personally drive a knife through your eyes and feed your worthless, blind carcass to the rats.”

  Slocum did not doubt Ah Ming meant every word.

  “Is the dock area clear now? The marines were shooting anything that moved there.”

  “The soldiers are everywhere, killing anyone Chinese they see.”

  “Then they won’t think twice about taking a shot at me,” Slocum said grimly. If Captain Johnson had barricaded the docks, there might be no way to get out to the junk anchored once more in the harbor. Slocum knew he could not swim such a distance in the cold water, especially not carrying the crown. If he had no other choice, he would hijack one of the navy boats and force the crew to take him out there. If Lai Choi San did have the bones, she might not keep them long since they meant nothing to her.

  Slocum made his way through the darkened streets and avoided two military patrols before reaching the Embarcadero. There he found several buildings on fire and workers milling about as firemen worked to put out the blazes. He ignored the obvious places where he might find a boat and went down to the shoreline, hunting for shanghaiers. It took him less than ten minutes to find two of them struggling to get a burly sailor into their boat. The sailor had been drugged but fought strongly enough to make one shanghaier wonder aloud if they ought to cut his throat and go find another victim.

  “Dump him,” Slocum said, six-shooter pointed at them.

  “You ain’t cuttin’ in on our trade,” one said. Slocum shot him in the leg. The man screeched like a barn owl and then began cursing. Slocum shifted his six-gun to center on the other shanghaier’s chest.

  “You got any complaints?”

  “Naw, this one was more trouble ’n he was worth.”

  “Into the boat,” Slocum said.

  “What? No, no way! You ain’t sellin me to—”

  The man paled under his tanned leather skin when he saw that Slocum would kill him on the spot if he disobeyed.

  “Look, we kin make a deal. Him and me, we got a sweet plan for collectin’ them ‘recruits.’ We kin cut you in. Make you a partner.”

  “Recruits,” Slocum said, shaking his head sadly. A recruit volunteered. These men were slavers peddling human flesh they did not even pay for. “Into the boat.” Slocum stepped into the stern and sat, his pistol never wavering. “Push off and start rowing.”

  “Lars, help me,” begged the man at the oars.

  “You’ll be back inside an hour,” Slocum said. “I’m not doing to you what you’ve done to dozens of others.”

  “Hunnerds,” Lars grumbled. He whimpered a little more as he tried to stand. Slocum reckoned he had broken the man’s thighbone.

  “Row me out to the junk, and you can come right back,” Slocum said. “Your partner’s going to need a doctor to fix him up or he’ll lose the leg.”

  “Ain’t no big thing, that,” the man in the boat said. “Might actually be useful havin’ a peg leg. The salts see it and want to hear the tale. Then they gets themselves Mickey Finned and—”

  “Stop planning, start rowing,” Slocum said harshly. He cast a final look at Lars. The man had collapsed onto the shore. Whether he had passed out or not, he was no longer a problem.

  “The junk? The one what’s captained by the Chinese bitch?”

  “That’s the one,” Slocum said. He tucked the box holding the jade crown under his left arm.

  “What business you got with her? We ast and she don’t want no more crew. Word is she’s lost quite a few but won’t take on more, not even chinks.”

  “She’s certainly lost her first mate,” Slocum said, remembering how he had shot Sung. The man could not have survived. “Maybe you’d be interested in signing on? I can put in a good word for you.” Slocum laughed as the man rowed faster.

  “You tellin’ the truth when you said I could leave right away? I don’t want nuthin’ to do with them dragons.”

  Slocum grew increasingly anxious as they approached Lai Choi San’s ship.

  He lowered his six-shooter so it was at his side and out of sight of the lookout high in the rigging. Shouts in Chinese were passed from the lookout to Lai Choi San on the main deck. She leaned against the rail, watching Slocum’s approach.

  “Why should I not shoot you out of the water?”

  “I have the crown,” Slocum called back. Even in the dark and at a distance he saw her reaction. Lai Choi San stood upright and began barking orders to her crew.

  “You weren’t joshin’ ’bout knowin’ her, were you?” The shanghaier looked as if he would be sick to his stomach at any instant. “Look, you tell her we didn’t mean nuthin’ by grabbin’ those two from her crew. They was struttin’ ’round, actin’ all high and mighty. It was a challenge, it was.”

  “Shut up,” Slocum said.

  The rowboat banged against the side of the junk. Ropes came snaking down. Slocum secured the rowboat with a rope and turned to the shanghaier.

  “Come aboard or swim for it.”

  “My boat! I need it!”

  “Your choice.”

  The man never hesitated. He dived overboard and began sw
imming amid thrashing arms and legs that produced more froth than speed. Slocum never gave the shanghaier a second look. He made his way up a rope, hanging on to the box as he went.

  “Is that it?” Lai Choi San pointed the instant his feet hit the deck. Slocum held out the box with the jade crown.

  “A trade. I think you have something I want in return.”

  “I have the contents of Little Pete’s vault. He thought to trade me the crown for a shipment of arms.” Lai Choi San snorted in contempt. “I never planned to steal the weapons, only the crown. Give it to me.”

  “The bones,” Slocum said, squaring his stance and letting his right hand rest on his belt buckle. In this position he could whip his Colt Navy from the cross-draw holster and get off one shot—at Lai Choi San. The rest of her crew would kill him, but she would pay if she tried to take the box without swapping. Or she could play it square.

  “Such a bag was found in Little Pete’s vault. Those belong to the On Leong leader?”

  “They do. Ah Ming wants the bones for a proper burial.”

  “In China?”

  “I reckon so.”

  Lai Choi San called out to a pirate sitting with his feet dangling down into an open hatchway. The man straightened his body and vanished from sight. Slocum heard his feet hit the lower deck and then scamper off. In less than a minute, the sailor returned with a rattling burlap bag filled to overflowing with bones.

  Slocum started to hand over the crown when he heard the distinctive sound of a six-shooter cocking behind him. He froze.

  “You blighter,” Sir William cried. “You would give the most valuable artifact ever taken from China to a pirate? To a pirate?”

  Slocum saw that Lai Choi San was as startled by Sir William’s sudden appearance as he was.

  “I had to do it, Sir William. It’s a matter of a promise I made. My reputation’s at stake.”

  “You’re a thief. You switched boxes at the museum.”

  “How long did it take for you to find out?”

  “Three of Little Pete’s hatchet men stole the box. I tracked Little Pete down and all he had was a box of worthless trinkets. If he didn’t have the crown, I knew it would end up on this pirate ship eventually. I was right.”

  “She’ll kill you,” Slocum said. “She doesn’t care a whit if you kill me, but you shoot and her crew will slaughter you.”

  “I’ll take my chances,” Sir William said.

  Slocum handed the box to Lai Choi San.

  The pirate captain took the box but did not rip it open to examine the contents as he had expected.

  “You are a brave, foolish man,” she said. Slocum didn’t know if she meant him or Sir William. It hardly mattered. From the corners of his eyes he saw her crew slowly forming a ring around them. Even if both he and Sir William started shooting, there was no chance they could escape with whole skins—or at all.

  “Finding the crown was the pinnacle of my career. I will not give it up.”

  “Perhaps you will not have to,” Lai Choi San said.

  “You’re giving me the bloody crown, just like that?” Sir William sounded skeptical. Slocum didn’t blame him since he knew what the crown meant to Lai Choi San. She would do anything to free her husband from the emperor’s dungeons.

  “I cannot,” the pirate said. “I need the crown to ransom my husband. The emperor is holding him prisoner and will execute him if I do not return with the crown.”

  “But how—?”

  “I have no love for my emperor. Once, you stole the crown. Together we can do it again.”

  “Together?” Sir William said in a hushed tone.

  “Together with my husband and me,” Lai Choi San said. “There are vast treasure ships sailing the South China Seas. Much of the cargo is worthless to us. For you, it might be valuable.”

  “Why, yes, it would. You would not try to stop me from stealing the jade crown back?”

  Lai Choi San said nothing.

  “I could sail with you?”

  “You are an adventurer, a brave man, intrepid,” Lai Choi San said. “See what life on the sea is like for a pirate. It would make a fine chapter in your memoirs.”

  “Bloody hell, that’s a capital idea!”

  Sir William pushed Slocum aside as he came around and thrust out his hand. Lai Choi San shook it, then bowed slightly.

  “Welcome aboard, Sir William.”

  “When do we sail? The sooner you hand over the crown and get your husband returned, the sooner I can steal it back.”

  “With the morning tide,” she said.

  “Then there’s no reason you’d want to keep these?” Slocum held up the bag of bones.

  “I wish only to return to the Flowery Kingdom for my husband,” Lai Choi San said. She bowed a little deeper in Slocum’s direction.

  “Damn me, Slocum, this has worked out quite well.”

  “What happened to Tess?”

  “Miss Lawrence?” For a moment it seemed that Sir William could not place her name. Then he brightened. “Why, she is still on the train bound for Boston. She will find it a far better place than San Francisco, I am sure.”

  The explorer was probably right. Tess was a lovely woman with just enough touch of larceny in her soul to do well wherever she was. Boston would be her oyster to open and devour. And, Slocum had to admit, she was better off not pining after Sir William. He already had a mistress with whom no mortal woman could compete. The lure of adventure was more powerful than sex or opium.

  Hefting the bag of bones, Slocum silently bid good-bye to Lai Choi San. The pirate captain bowed again in his direction and a sly smile curled her lips before she turned her attention back to Sir William. The two deserved each other.

  Slocum got his leg over the railing and then jumped, falling into the rowboat. The bones of Ah Ming’s father rattled as he tossed them to the bottom of the boat and then set about rowing back to shore. Ah Ming would have the bones by dawn, and Slocum could be on the trail away from San Francisco soon after.