I grimaced. Suddenly it wasn’t funny after all. “I wished you hadn’t been that straight forward. You might as well turn around. We’ve got to go back.”
“What? What are you doing now?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea, but I think when Wong reads the final pages, all hell will break loose. I’ll have to get that document back and make amends, otherwise I’ll never get Lihua or the homicide suspect.”
“I screwed up again, eh?”
“I think so, Jenny, but I’m getting used to it.”
She made a few turns and soon I could see Mia’s Coffee Shop a block away.
I recognized Wong as he stepped from the curb and into the rear seat of a black Cadillac. “Stop. Wait until the car pulls out. We’ll follow him.”
The Cadillac drove onto Nimitz Highway headed toward the airport. Over my shoulder, I saw Rex directly behind us. Shit! Behind him, at least three brown Ford Falcons brought up the rear of the convoy. Passing the airport, we continued on Kamehameha Highway and pushed into the lower hills. The Waianae Mountain Range rose on my right. I couldn’t believe it as Wong’s Caddy led us onto Kunia Road and toward Schofield Barracks. Since Lihua was an insignificant pawn and he knew I followed, Wong’s reasoning baffled me.
The Cadillac spread a cloud of dust as it pulled off the road and into a drive. A few yards from the pavement, a field shack with a grass roof nested behind a growth of bushes and trees. These structures had been built as a shelter for field workers, and the grass roof looked picturesque to the tourists.
Jenny’s shaky voice asked, “Pencils, what should we do?”
“Pull up behind him. Wong knows we’re here. You stay in the car while I talk to him.”
After the dust settled, I opened the door and stepped onto the powdered soil. Slowly, I approached the Cadillac, the Navy Colt nestled in my waist band. In my right pocket, my gift for Wong rubbed against my leg with each stride.
The rear door opened and Wong stepped out. I continued forward, watching every move the oriental bastard made. He stood at the opened door, not smiling for once.
“You look as if you have forgotten something, Pencils.”
“Yeah, I thought it over and decided I should keep the documents until I get paid.”
He cocked his head. “What makes you think I will pay for something as worthless as those papers?”
“Worthless? What’s wrong with them?”
“I finished reading in the car. Whoever wrote that trash was not a very nice person.”
“I told you I didn’t know the content. What do we do now?”
“We are back to the beginning. Lihua will die before dark, and you will probably see death within minutes.”
I squared myself in my most defiant pose. Seeing I was not intimidated, he arched an eyebrow.
I didn’t hesitate. “I don’t think so, Wong. As you commented before, I am not a fool. We are armed and a platoon of Marines will come down that road in minutes.”
Finally he showed his condescending smile that annoyed the hell out of me. “Look around you. Do you see any of sign of your Marines? I’m afraid your military people may have lost their way in Honolulu. They were involved in an accident with a truck load of pineapples. While you are looking about, count the cars, Pencils.”
“How about if I just shoot you. I’m sure the rest will scatter.”
“Don’t you remember what I said before? I have no fear of dying, and I do have someone who is capable of directing my men.”
“Where is he?”
The smile broadened and his eyes closed like a sleepy cat’s then opened again. He lifted a hand to gesture beyond me. I pivoted to face Jenny and her Tommy gun pointed at my chest. Over her shoulder, the blue Chevy had been surrounded with dark-skinned giants. Their uniform of the day seemed to be open Hawaiian shirts and Thompson submachine guns.
I looked into cold blue eyes. “Jenny, you and Wong planned this all along, didn’t you?”
“Yes, and I typed those things in the document to warn Mr. Wong that the papers were fake. Since we will never see the real document, Mr. Wong has no more use for you. Do you have any last requests?”
“Would the name of the sailor be too much to ask for?” My mind frantically searched for some way out without Rex and Brutus suffering for my stupidity.
Wong’s laugh interrupted my thoughts. “Let’s not shoot him in haste. I did promise that he and Lihua could die together. I am a man of my word. There’s a small closet in that old house where we can lock him and his friends until Lihua gets here. With such a large group to keep entertained, why not have a ho’olaule’a tonight during their execution? You could organize that, couldn’t you, my dear?”
Jenny’s laugh almost cracked my calm. To keep from spitting on her, I faced Wong. “Is she the person you said will take over?”
“Yes, a charming surprise, don’t you think?”
She walked around me and stood next to the asshole with the big glasses.
I looked directly into her eyes. “Why Jenny? The money?”
“Know any better reason? Do you remember me saying I fought a lot of cowboys? After my parents died, I lived hand to mouth in a stinking little mining town. The only money I could make was rolling miners and ranchers. I beat jail by joining the Navy. Fortune smiled on me when I met Mr. Wong. Now, I haven’t a worry in the world. You should’ve listened to Mister Holcomb. You could’ve been rich and worry-free, too. Who knows? We might have been sharing a bed together instead of out here.”
* * *
If Brutus had been normal size, we would have fit in the closet without difficulty. The dark space quickly heated up with our three bodies pressed against each other. Since we had no room to sit, we leaned back against the walls. The hammer pounding nails into the boards across the door finally stopped, but our ears still rang from the vibration. Wong’s last minute decision had been to board up the door so they wouldn’t have to post a watch. I wasn’t fooled. I knew men had been left in the room, men who wanted an excuse to kill us. Their patience and our time were running out.
I whispered to Brutus, “Do you think you could break out?”
“I ain’t got room to move my arms, no leverage,” his deep voice grumbled.
Rex moved an elbow into my ribs. “Look up, Pencils. You recall seeing the roof to this place?”
“Yeah, it’s grass. Why?”
“You think either you or I can get out through the ceiling?”
I considered the alternatives. “Okay, I’ll try. Let me climb up on you, Brutus.”
I really had to bend my leg up to step in his cupped hands. I thought for a minute my pants would rip. Effortlessly, he propelled me up as I reached over my head and contacted a hard surface. “It feels like plywood. I don’t think I can bust through it.”
Rex asked, “Got anything in your pocket?”
“No, they even took away a present I was saving for Mr. Wong. What are you thinking about, Rex?”
“Nothing . . . just trying to get ideas.”
Brutus said, “I got a cigarette lighter.”
“Possibility there. Rex, Do you think we’d suffocate from the smoke before we could burn our way out?”
“Suffocate shit! This whole closet would go up in flames before we could move.”
Brutus lowered me back to the floor.
“We know what’s up,” I reasoned. “How about down. Let’s rub our feet around. Maybe the floor’s rotted or we can find something on the floor.”
Rex offered, “This house would have a three foot crawl space under it. Sometimes a trap door would be placed in the closet.”
“You’ve been watching too many movies,” I snapped.
Brutus grunted then said, “There’s a metal bar at my feet.”
I pushed my foot near his obviously size 20 shoe. “Yes, I feel it. It must have fallen. It was probably used to hang clothing on it. Let’s see if we can use it to pound off the ceiling.”
“Who the hell said y
ou were smart, Pencils? The goons out there will hear us.”
Brutus whispered, “Let me do it. Maybe I can just push up with it and not do any pounding.”
Seconds later, we felt fresh air coming from above. Without even a grunt, Brutus pushed off the ceiling. Only a brief whine of a protesting nail broke the silence. I stood in Brutus’s hand again and pushed the plywood aside. I felt rafters about a foot and an half above the closet. Reaching, I pulled myself up and straddled a rough two by six board. My palm brushed over tar paper above me. It felt old and cracked. After poking a hole into it, I blinked as sun light filtered through the coarse, stiff grass of the roof itself.
Chapter 16
The cross boards, secured to the rafters and across the aging tarpaper, held the bundles of grass to the roof. The only advantage we made in removing the closet ceiling was to make our prison bigger. As Rex and I sat on a beam, contemplating our next move, Brutus remained in the closet. Not only his size prevented him from joining us in the attic, but he made mumbling noises every couple of minutes to let our guards know how cramped and uncomfortable we supposedly felt in our tight quarters.
Rex moved to one end of the building and began using finger-nail clippers in an attempt to remove a gable vent. I stretched myself across the joists, listening for sounds below us. I wanted some idea of how many men Wong had outside. Everything seemed quiet, too quiet. Was it possible no one remained there? Wong had mentioned organizing a ho’olaule’a. Would the perverted bastard actually be doing that?
Brutus whispered loudly, “Pencils, I don’t hear nothing. Do you think anyone’s there? If not, I’ll kick this door out.”
I crawled closer to the hole to whisper back, “If someone’s in the room, he’s going to have a Thompson submachine gun.”
After a moment of silence he said, “Maybe I should wait.”
A voice outside the door boomed, “You guys shut up in there or I’ll put in air vents for you.”
Brutus returned an obscene comment as I slid back to my previous location. Now, the only sounds came from the guard and the big guy below me. Their exchanges reminded me of school boys bragging about who was stronger. At least it was entertaining.
Brutus laughed at a question, “You’re damn right. Even if I had both hands tied behind me, I sure as hell could kick your ass.”
The man in the room pounded the door. “Ha! I’d like to see you try, you Navy Pussy. As soon as you get out of there, I’m taking you on, you son-of-a-bitch.”
“What are you afraid of? I’ll take you on right now, you little candy-assed pineapple.”
“What did you call me? You want me to shoot your ass? This gun can put holes through that door like it was paper.”
Brutus’s laugh turned into a donkey’s bray. “You chicken-ass son-of-a-bitch! You ain’t no man. I thought I was talking to a man who wanted to beat my ass, not shoot it.”
The sound of wood ripping from the door activated both Rex and me. We attempted to lower ourselves into the closet, didn’t make it in time. Sunlight from the large room filled the space where Brutus had been. We dropped to the floor and stared at the broken door hanging in pieces from the hinges. As the two of us peeked out, a dark-skinned man in a Hawaiian shirt flew through the air then crashed through the front window. His body disappeared beyond the pieces of flying glass and debris.
Gun fire erupted from outside. Rex and I dove to the floor. Looking up, I saw Brutus crawling towards the closed front door. When I glanced back across the room, I spied the gun dropped by our guard just outside the demolished closet. As I scrambled for it, I noticed the raging hippopotamus still headed for the door.
“Brutus, where the hell are you going?”
“To kick some ass while I’m still in the mood.” He kept crawling.
“They’ve got guns, lots of guns out there! We’ve got one. Stay here Brutus! The odds are against you.”
He scowled at me. “Pencils, you use the damn gun. I want to break bones.”
In one continuous motion, I grabbed the barrel of the Tommy gun and dived to the large hole that had been the window. Popping up, I counted six goons in the clearing, their weapons sweeping the house with gunfire. A quick second look told me everyone else had departed, even Jenny.
When I rose to my knees the third time, a steady squeeze of my trigger finger took away the resistance. Brutus, like an escaped bear from a cage, barged out the door. Finding no one standing, he picked up a lifeless body and threw it anyway. Rex quickly checked the other bodies for signs of life. Of course, there were none. We dragged the corpses into the bush, arranging them alongside the one Brutus had thrown.
Rex found a rag near the front door of the house to wipe the blood from his hands. Head shaking, he turned to me. “I need a drink and the closest place I know is the Pearl City Tavern. You want to meet me there?”
Looking toward the highway, I answered, “No, we can’t leave yet.”
“Why?”
“Wong should be returning any minute with Lihua. Let’s leave the cars parked where they’re at and wait in the house. Now, we’ve got plenty of fire power to welcome him.”
“Pencils, I’m not good at killing. I save lives, remember? You and Brutus can stay here and kill all you want. I need to get drunk. I’ve seen enough death for one day and I am not having a good time like the two of you!”
Rex had been a trusted friend for a long time, and I respected his decisions, but I could not allow him to leave and put our lives in jeopardy. With a hint of authority in my voice, “You may be right. We have seen a lot of killing, but . . . I have to save Lihua and I will stay here until Wong shows up. I’m not allowing you or anyone else to screw things up. You can hide in the house, if you wish. Cover your eyes and ears even, but stay the hell out of the way while I do what has to be done to finish this job.”
Turning, I noticed Brutus had removed the duffel bag from the Roadster. I remembered Jenny’s inventory, including the dozen hand grenades. The thought of Jenny turned traitor nagged at me. Why did she bring extra guns if she knew Wong would kill me?
Brutus interrupted my thoughts, “Pencils, where do you want this?”
“In the house. We’ll wait in there.”
“Oh by the way, I found a grenade on one of the goons. I think it belongs to you. He was the one who took the stuff out of your pockets.”
“Thanks, Brutus. That’s a special one. I’ve been saving it.”
* **
For an hour I watched Rex fidgeting in a corner of the house. We hadn’t said much to each other. He didn’t look angry, but I knew he wanted nothing more to do with my personal revenge on Wong. Brutus stood near the damaged window, keeping a lookout for the enemy. A man after my own heart, he wanted to tear something apart and didn’t care what or who.
Lihua flashed into my mind. I would never forgive myself for placing her in danger. I felt responsible for freeing her. I even understood her safety would take priority over my investigation, over learning the name of the murder suspect. Now, I began to fidget. So much for loyalty to the Navy!
The black Cadillac came first and then a brown Ford Falcon. The rear door of the Cadillac opened before it came to a complete stop. Jenny stepped out dragging the bound Lihua by her hair. An Army hospital gown covered the girl’s slender figure. Jenny took hold of her shoulders and stood her up. Lihua staggered but regained her balance. Both cars soon emptied. Where in hell is Wong?
Jenny kicked the house door open and pushed Lihua through. The slender girl stumbled across the room and fell on her face near the far wall. Jenny stepped in. I jammed the butt of the submachine gun into her stomach. The edge of my right hand hit the base of her skull at the back of her neck. She went down without a sound.
Rex dragged her away as I closed the door. Brutus and I went to the window and counted six men standing near the Cadillac. Apparently, they hadn’t witnessed the coup.
Brutus whispered, “Can I mow them down, eh, can I?”
“No, wait
. I want to find Wong.”
Rex called out in a low voice, “Pencils, Lihua’s okay. Jenny is coming around, so I tied her hands.”
While Brutus kept guard, I went to Lihua. Her round eyes stared back at me in confusion. “Lihua, are you okay?”
“Yes, you stupid bastard. I told you didn’t I? Why didn’t you let me die in bed?”
“I’m not letting you die at all. I promised I would get you out of this.”
“You’re doing a rotten job so far. Are you going to guard over me for the rest of my life? Even when I turn old and fat?”
I studied her face, my mind quickly running with what she said, especially the old part. My eyes followed the curves of her body showing through the flimsy hospital gown. I knew someone that pretty would never grow old and fat. Maybe the beautiful face would add a few character lines, but never would it grow ugly. With a cough, I said, “I’ll . . . I’ll be with you as long as you want me.”
“I’ve been telling you, again and again. I don’t want you. Let me go back to Wong and get this over with.”
“You’re crazy!” I screamed.
Another female’s voice took me by surprise. “Your little whore’s dead, Pencils and so are you. You’ll never escape Wong’s men.”
Stepping away from Lihua, I looked down at Jenny. The Navy dungarees fit snug, outlining her well-formed body. “You look like shit, Jenny. A traitor should never be in uniform. Why did you wear it?”
“You want to take it off me?” she sneered.
“No, I wouldn’t touch anything loaded with putrid shit.”
Her slight smile turned into a nasty frown, but her eyes never lost the artificial sparkle of a drug addict. Why hadn’t I noticed that before? She twisted herself into a sitting position, viciously yanking against the clothesline rope at her wrists. Breathing hard, she said, “I don’t give a shit how you feel, Pencils. You may hate my guts, but there’s one thing you will have to do.”
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