Lost Empire fa-2

by Clive Cussler

  THEY RETURNED to the mouth of the inlet, where Sam used a dead line to catch four small red snappers, then they returned to the lagoon and waded ashore to the beach. Remi, who had the better filleting skills, cleaned and prepped the snapper while Sam collected wood for the fire. Before long the fillets were sizzling and, as the sun dropped behind the coconut palms, they were eating.“You know, I think I like roughing it,” Remi said, flaking off a piece of fish and putting it in her mouth. “To a degree, that is.”

  “I understand.” He did. Remi was a trouper; she’d never withered before a challenge and had stood side by side with him in mud and snow, under gunfire and pursuit, and she rarely failed to find a bright side. For all that, however, she also loved her comforts. As did he. “Once we get things settled with our mystery bell, we’ll head over to Dar es Salaam, get a suite in the Royal, drink gin and tonics on our balcony, and bet on the cricket matches.”Remi’s eyes lit up. The Moevenpick Royal Palm was Dar es Salaam’s only five-star hotel. She said, “You’re singing my song, Sam Fargo.”

  “But first,” he replied, looking at the sun and checking his watch, “we need to get ready for our guests.”

  WITH THE ARRIVAL of nightfall, the lagoon came alive with the trilling of crickets. In the trees along the shorelines and in the shrubbery atop the floating islands fireflies winked at them. Sam had steered the Andreyale between two of the bigger floating islands and dropped anchor with the bow facing west. The sky was clear, a black backdrop sprinkled with pinpricks of light and a half-moon surrounded by a hazy, prismatic ring.“Could rain tomorrow,” Sam observed.

  “Does that wives’ tale apply to the Southern Hemisphere?”

  “Guess we’ll find out.”

  They sat on the afterdeck sipping coffee in the dark and watching the insect light show. From their position they could see both the mouth of the lagoon and the beach, where they’d erected a makeshift A-frame tent from a canvas tarp they’d found in a storage locker. Behind the canvas came the faint yellow glow of a lantern, and, a few feet outside the tent, was a small bonfire. Sam had enough coconut palm logs to keep embers glowing all night.Remi yawned. “Long day.”

  “Go below and get some sleep,” Sam said. “I’ll take the first watch.”

  “You’re a doll. Wake me in two hours.”

  A peck on his cheek, and she was gone.

  THE FIRST TWO WATCHES were uneventful. Nearing the end of the sixth hour, shortly before three A.M., Sam thought he heard the faint rumble of engines in the distance, but the sound faded. Five minutes later it returned, this time louder and closer. Somewhere to the north. Sam scanned the mouth of the lagoon through binoculars but could see nothing save ripples on the water’s surface where the current surged through the inlet. The engines faded again. No, not faded, Sam corrected himself. Died. As if they’d been shut down. He lifted the binoculars to his eyes again.

  A minute passed. Two minutes. And then, at the four-minute mark, a shadow appeared in the inlet. Like a bulbous shark’s snout, the object seemed to float a few feet above the surface. Moving at less than a walking pace, the Zodiac raft glided noiselessly from the inlet and into the mouth of the lagoon. Thirty seconds later another Zodiac appeared, followed by a third. In single file they drifted for fifty feet before turning in formation to starboard and entering the lagoon proper.

  On flat feet, Sam ducked down the ladder, stepped to the bunk, and touched Remi’s foot. Her head popped up from the pillow. Sam whispered, “Company.” She nodded once, and within seconds they were back on the afterdeck and sliding over the gunwale into the water. On impulse, Sam reached back over the side and grabbed their only possible weapon, the gaff pole, from its bracket.

  Having already rehearsed their plan, it was a short ten-second breaststroke to the nearest floating island. With Remi in the lead, they wriggled their way between the exposed mangrove roots and picked through the maze until they reached a hollow in the center. Their earlier inspection of the cavity showed it to be three feet in diameter and almost eight feet tall, rising to the underside of the earthen mushroom cap. Around them, rattail roots and vines drooped and curled. The air was heavy with the tang of mold and loam.Through the tangle of roots they could see the Andreyale ten feet to their right. So close they were almost hugging, Sam and Remi rotated themselves until they could see the mouth of the lagoon. At first, there was nothing. Dark, moonlit water and silence. Then a faint, almost imperceptible hum.

  Sam put his lips to Remi’s ear. “Zodiac rafts with electric trolling motors. Moving very slowly.”

  “Zodiacs probably mean a mother ship,” Remi whispered back.

  Her point was well made. While Zodiacs could manage Zanzibar’s coastal waters, most trolling motors had limited range and a top speed of four to five knots. Whoever their visitors were, they’d launched from somewhere nearby. Remi’s guess of a larger boat seemed the most likely scenario.Sam said, “You left the goodies out for Santa?”

  She nodded. “They’ll have to look around a bit, but everything’s there.”

  Two minutes passed before the first Zodiac appeared, two hundred yards away and to their right. The second appeared, at the same distance but to the left. A few moments later, the third slid into view, coming down the center of the lagoon. None showed a speck of light, but in the gray moonlight Sam and Remi could see a single silhouetted figure sitting in the stern of each raft.Three Zodiac rafts, traveling in a line abreast with neither a spoken word nor a flashlight among them . . . These were not tourists on a nocturnal water safari.

  “You see any weapons?” Sam whispered.

  Remi shook her head.

  For the next few minutes they watched as the trio of Zodiacs weaved their way between and around the floating islands until they were fifty yards from the Andreyale. The figure in the middle Zodiac raised his hand, made a strange gesture, and the other two Zodiacs responded by coming about and converging on the Andreyale.Sam tapped on Remi’s shoulder to get her attention, then jerked his thumb downward. Together they submerged until only their eyes and noses were above the surface.

  The middle Zodiac-the leader’s boat, it seemed-reached the Andreyale first, gliding up to the bowsprit, and the leader grabbed onto the rail with one hand. Now in profile, the man’s face was visible. The gaunt face and hawkish nose were unmistakable. Here was the mystery man from the Yulin.

  As if flying in formation, the other two Zodiacs slid down the port and starboard sides of the Andreyale and came together at the stern. Within seconds both men were over the rail and standing on the afterdeck. The one closest to Sam and Remi’s hiding spot reached up to his shoulder, grabbed something, and lowered his hand. Moonlight glinted off steel. A knife.Remi’s hand found Sam’s underwater and squeezed. He squeezed back. In her ear he whispered, “We’re safe.”

  The two men disappeared into the cabin, then reemerged a minute later. One of them leaned over the gunwale and signaled to Hawk Nose, who gestured back, then pushed off, brought his Zodiac about, and headed for the beach. Once there he too drew a knife. Moving slowly but steadily, he padded up the beach to Sam and Remi’s lantern-lit tent. He peeked inside, straightened up, then scanned the beach and the coconut palms for half a minute before returning to the Zodiac. Two minutes later he was aboard the Andreyale with the other two.

  For the first time, one of the group spoke. Hawk Nose muttered something in Spanish, and the other two ducked back into the cabin. The Andreyale began rocking. Cabinet doors opened and slammed shut. Glass broke. Through the portholes came the glow of flashlights moving about. After five minutes of this, the two men reappeared on the afterdeck. One of them handed Hawk Nose a small object, which he examined briefly before tossing it back down the cabin’s ladder. It pinged down the steps. The second man handed Hawk Nose a yellow legal pad. Hawk Nose studied it, handed it back. The other man produced a digital camera and flashed a picture of the page in question. The legal pad was tossed back into the cabin.In Remi’s ear Sam whispered, “Hook, line, sinker
.”

  Hawk Nose and his companions climbed back into the Zodiacs and pushed off. To Sam and Remi’s surprise the group didn’t head for the inlet but rather began a search of the lagoon, starting with the shorelines. Flashlights skimmed over the banks and through the trees. As one of the Zodiacs drew even with the bell’s hiding place Sam and Remi held their breaths, but the boat never slowed and the flashlight never wavered.

  Finally the trio reached the mouth of the lagoon and finished their examination of the shoreline, but instead of heading for the inlet they turned again, formed a line abreast, and started checking the floating islands, flashlights scanning each mangrove buttress before moving to the next.“This could be bad,” Sam muttered. “Very bad,” Remi agreed.

  The drawn knives had told Sam and Remi everything they needed to know: Whoever these men were, they had no compunction about using violence. Had Sam and Remi been either aboard the Andreyale or in the tent, they would be dead now.“Head back to the Andreyale?” Remi suggested.

  “If they decide to board her again, we’ll be trapped.”

  “I’m open to suggestions.”

  Sam thought for a moment, then said, “How about two birds with one stone?” He explained his plan.

  “Risky,” said Remi.

  “I’ll make it work.”

  “Okay, but only if there’s no other way.”

  “Agreed.”

  They watched the progress of the Zodiacs. If they continued on their current paths, the one to their right would reach their hiding spot in less than two minutes. The other two were ahead by half a minute. With luck, they’d finish their searches first and turn back toward the mouth.“Cross fingers,” Sam said to Remi.

  “Already there,” she replied and kissed him on the cheek. “For a little more luck.”

  Sam ducked underwater and pulled himself back through the root system and into open water. Doing his best to keep all three Zodiacs in view, he maneuvered himself around to the back side of the roots. Thirty seconds later, to his left, Hawk Nose and his partner slid into view. Each man scanned his final floating island, then turned and headed back toward the inlet. The last Zodiac was still on course, forty feet away.“?Apurate!”

  Hawk Nose called. Hurry up!

  Sam’s target raised a hand to acknowledge the order. Thirty feet away . . . twenty feet.

  Sam kept moving, pulling himself clockwise around the mangrove roots. He stopped, peeking around the edge. The Zodiac was ten feet away. Sam watched, waited until the nose of the Zodiac disappeared around the opposite side, then glanced back up the lagoon. The other two Zodiacs were a hundred yards away and still moving.

  Sam took a deep breath, ducked under with the gaff pole, kicked twice, pulled himself around the roots, and let his eyes pop above the surface. The rear of the Zodiac was five feet away, moving slowly, the driver sitting with one hand on the motor’s throttle as he leaned sideways and scanned the mangrove with his flashlight. Sam did a half kick with his feet and closed to within a foot of the Zodiac. He reached out, gently placed his left hand on the rubber side, then raised the gaff from the water, cocked it back, and flicked it forward as though casting a fishing lure. The gaff’s steel tip caught the man on the side of his head, just above the ear. He let out a gasp, then slumped over the side, his head drooping in the water. Before Sam could make another move, Remi was there, lifting the man’s head and rolling the body back into the Zodiac. Sam looked over his shoulder. Hawk Nose and his partner were two hundred yards away now.“Yaotl!” Hawk Nose’s voice echoed over the water.

  “Hurry,” Sam said to Remi, then climbed aboard the Zodiac and took a seat at the motor. “Stay on the port side. I’ll drag you back to the Andreyale.”

  Remi swam around and grabbed the oar hook with two fingers. Sam revved the motor, and the Zodiac glided out from behind the mangrove. Sam found the man’s-Yaotl’s-flashlight where it had fallen, picked it up, and aimed it at the other two Zodiacs, which come to a halt. Sam flashed the beam twice and raised a casual hand, praying it would be enough. He held his breath.

  Nothing from the Zodiacs. Ten seconds passed. And then the double wink of a flashlight followed by a raised hand. “Yaotl . . . ?Apurate!”

  Sam guided the Zodiac to the Andreyale’s stern, using the length of the boat to hide their movements. Remi climbed aboard, and together they rolled Yaotl over the gunwale. He landed with a thump on the afterdeck.“Now what?” Remi asked.

  “Tie him up, hands and feet to the cleats, and search him. I’ve got to catch up with my new friends.” Remi opened her mouth to protest, but Sam interrupted: “I need my mask and the binoculars.” She went into the cabin with both items and traded them for Sam’s gaff. “Don’t worry, Remi, I’ll keep my distance.”“And when you can’t any longer?”

  “I’ll have a terrible mishap.”

  He gave her a wink, revved the engine, and motored away.

  HAWK NOSE and the other man had continued on. By the time Sam reached the midpoint of the lagoon, they were turning west into the inlet. Sam mentally recalled the twists and turns of the inlet, did a few quick calculations, and kept going. Fifty feet from the entrance, he slowed to idle and listened. No sound of the other motors. He revved up, kept going, and made the turn. A hundred yards ahead the other two were moving single file through the inlet. Beyond them, about a half mile away, Sam could see the inlet widening into Chumbe Island’s shoals. He lifted the binoculars to his face and scanned the channel. Nothing was moving, and no lights were visible within ten miles-save one. A mile to the southwest, a single white light hovered thirty feet off the water-the international signal for a boat at anchor. The boat itself was bow on, rake stemmed, with a gleaming white superstructure, clearly a luxury yacht. The mother ship, perhaps?

  Hawk Nose and his partner veered left and disappeared from view momentarily. Time to prepare for the mishap: Sam throttled down, veered left, and let the Zodiac ground itself on the sand. A quick glance around gave him what he needed: a dagger-shaped rock. He grabbed it, shoved the Zodiac back into the inlet, jumped aboard, and took off again.

  So far Sam’s luck was holding. Aside from a few backward glances to make sure “Yaotl” was following, neither Hawk Nose nor his partner slowed to let him catch up. The remainder of the transit took ten minutes, and soon enough Sam could see the other two Zodiacs jostling as they moved into the shoals.“Come on, guys, show me where you’re going,” Sam muttered.

  Now clear of the shoals, Hawk Nose and his partner veered left and headed toward the yacht. Two minutes later Sam was himself in the shoals, but he put on a few more degrees left rudder, steering the Zodiac nearly parallel to the bank in which they’d found the bell. Onshore, landmarks began looking familiar. He was within twenty yards of the precipice. It was time.

  He grabbed the rock from between his feet, leaned over the side, stabbed the tip into the rubber sidewall, and heaved backward. He repeated the process twice more until he’d created a ragged eight-inch gash. He tossed the rock over the side and checked the progress of the other two Zodiacs: they were a few hundred yards out into the main channel and still heading for the yacht.

  It took only twenty seconds for Sam’s sabotage to take effect. The Zodiac began slowing, shuddering and wallowing as water gushed into the sidewall. He gave the throttle one last twist, then let out what he hoped would sound like a panicked scream, then rolled over the side.

  He ducked underwater, settled the mask over his face, blew it clear, then clamped the snorkel’s mouthpiece between his teeth. He went still now, floating with just his eyes and the tip of the snorkel above the surface.

  His scream had done the trick. Hawk Nose and his partner had reversed course and were heading at top speed toward the rapidly deflating Zodiac, which was now drifting twenty yards to Sam’s left-and directly over the precipice. When the rescuers were fifty yards away, flashlights blinked on and began scanning the surface.“Yaotl!” Hawk Nose called. “Yaotl!” The other man joined in.

 
Sam had been hyperventilating his lungs for the past minute. Now he took one final deep breath, ducked beneath the surface, and finned toward the bank. He was there in ten kicks. He turned so Hawk Nose and the other were on his right, then begin finning north along the bank, occasionally glancing back to check the location of the flashlight beams. Both Zodiacs had converged on the remains of the third.“Yaotl!” Sam heard through the water. Then again, this time more strident: “Yaotl!”

  Sam kept swimming. Behind him, the deflated raft was being dragged from the water and into one of the Zodiacs. Sam stopped, held still. He felt the ache of oxygen depletion in his lungs and a tingle of panic in his neck. He quashed it and remained still.After what seemed like minutes but was no more than thirty seconds, the Zodiacs revved up, came about, and headed back into the channel.

  Sam finned for the surface.

  CHAPTER 7

  ZANZIBAR

  TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER WHEN SAM CLIMBED BACK ABOARD the Andreyale, he found Remi sitting in a deck chair casually sipping a bottle of Kenyan Tusker beer. Their guest, Yaotl, lay like a defeated game fish on the deck, back bent, wrists bound to his feet, these in turn knotted to the nearest cleat. He was still unconscious.“Welcome back,” she said, handing him a beer. “How’d the mishap go?”

  “They seemed to have bought it. How’s he?”

  “Bad lump on the side of the head, but he’s breathing fine. Aside from an ugly headache that’ll last a day or two, he’ll survive. He was well armed. She nodded to two objects lying at her feet: one was the knife they knew about, the other a semiautomatic pistol. Sam hefted it.“Heckler and Koch P30. Nine millimeter, fifteen-round magazine.”

  “How in the world do you know . . .”