Come on, Noah. Damn you. You can’t go. Noah. Noah!
Then Noah coughed out salt water. And coughed again. He woke up to see a grinning Sam hovering over him as he inhaled revitalizing lungfuls of air. He smiled feebly at his young rescuer. “I knew you would come in handy someday.” He tousled Sam’s hair. “How’s everybody else?”
“There’s just you, me, Lisa and Master Wu… We lost Dr. Tang’s body.”
Noah sighed remorsefully. Dr. Tang had been Master Wu’s best friend. “Well, let’s get out of here.”
“Yessir.” Sam tried to start the engine but it wouldn’t catch. “It’s waterlogged, Noah.”
“Call somebody. My cell is with the snake,” ordered Noah.
Sam and Lisa checked their cell phones but neither worked.
“Nothing, Noah,” said Lisa.
Noah sat up, looked out to sea, then turned back to Sam and Lisa and smiled. “So we’re stuck somewhere between Hong Kong and Shanghai on a route that hardly anyone uses. We’ve got no food, drinkable water, power, medical supplies, communication devices, or an engine that works, but we’re alive. And all of us are going to stay that way.” He nodded at the insentient Master Wu. “Including the most important person in my life. We are going to get him to Heaven.”
Chapter 20
King watched his computer screen, angry and stunned. Within half an hour, he had lost a nine-million-dollar Apache helicopter and hundreds of his prized snakes. The fiasco was a huge financial hit. Although King made millions in the past few years, his costs were even greater. Developing infrastructure, lack of buyers for the building units, fronting the costs of the decrepit freighter, his snake habitats, research and maintenance were damned expensive. He needed the money Noah had stolen and he needed some of it fast to put a dent in the loans he had to take out.
He felt no remorse about the loss of staff. On every street corner, there was some tough guy wanting to make a name for himself or some ex-military person trying to make a few bucks now that the army or navy of whatever country they were a citizen of no longer wanted them.
Cheryl was a bigger loss. Not because of the sex, but because she was developing into a damned fine captain that knew how to keep the crew happy and illegals alive when they were being schlepped across the ocean.
But what really unsettled and pissed off King was the total lack of communication with Lisa. The last time he heard from her, she told him the modified drugs worked. Big deal. What about now? Without current intel, he had no idea how to assess the situation.
The Tao Princess sunk, the helicopter gone, and finding the right buttons to push on Noah or Master Wu was harder than he thought. Most would have broken with the barrage he threw at them, but he underestimated the wills of the Shaolin masters. He screamed, “Where the hell is everybody?”
The worst-case scenario—and unfortunately the most logical answer—was that everyone was dead and his inheritance was irretrievable. With billions at stake, he was determined to turn over every last rock.
He didn’t really have a choice.
On a day where not much had gone right, things went from terrible to disastrous. A sudden typhoon hit the Ever Ready, and it started floundering in the turbulent waters in the East China Sea. Sam, Lisa, and Noah bound themselves to the craft to prevent the powerful winds from blowing them overboard. Master Wu was tied to Noah, who covered the aged master from the driving rains that pummeled them.
For the next four hours, it was all they could do to stay on the boat, with wave after wave swarming the vessel and rain pounding them from above.
Gradually the storm dissipated. The seas remained choppy, but at least they were calm enough for Noah to assess the situation. The boat was entirely stripped of accessories as the water swept away everything that wasn’t tied down. Noah began a search. The boat wasn’t very big, and it took him less than five minutes to explore every nook and cranny. The only thing left was a paddle strapped to the side of the boat.
“Damn,” muttered Noah, waving the solitary oar in the air.
“Don’t swear at it. I saved your sorry ass with it on the Tao Princess,” said Sam. “Besides, what did you expect to find anyway?”
“Maybe some distress flares. Maybe some granola bars. Maybe some fresh water.” Noah shook his head as he stuck the paddle into the water.
Sam exhaled skeptically, “That’ll get us to Shanghai, no problem.”
“You got any other bright ideas, Einstein?” countered Noah.
Sam clapped his hands. “It’s not that hard to get to land. All we have to do is point the boat east and we’ll wind up somewhere on the China seaboard. Eventually.”
“‘Eventually’ is time we don’t have. I don’t care about us; we’re good. But not Master Wu,” said Noah. “He’ll die soon if he doesn’t get some kind of treatment.”
“He might die even if he does,” said Lisa quietly. “He was already in a bad way before we started. He was not responding to acupuncture or cupping. And almost getting drowned is not going to improve his health.”
The rains began again and Noah dipped the oar into the water, not to paddle with it, but to guide the skiff’s direction. The problem was he had no idea where he was or where they should go.
Chapter 21
King entered the room he had set up for his father to recuperate. The still-bandaged Chin struggled to sit up.
“Don’t bother getting up,” snapped King. “I won’t be here long. I need some advice and then I’ll go.” He cut to the chase. “I’m almost broke.”
“Money is not your problem,” slurred Chin. “Bang a few heads, sell more drugs, put a few more girls on the street… that will get you through.”
“It’s not enough. I need to get the money from Noah and Master Wu.” King inhaled, sucking the tepid air deep into his lungs. “But I don’t know where they are. I sent my best people to contain them, to control them and now they are all gone.”
Even through the bandages, Chin’s eyes bore into his son. “You’ve just stated the source of your problem. And the solution.”
“What’s that?”
“You said you sent your ‘best people.’ You never send anyone else to do what is most important. You send them to do flunky jobs. Anything important you have to do yourself.”
“They might have recognized me,” King protested.
“So what? Listen, for almost all my dealings, I sent my flunkies but, for anything important, I went myself. Never, ever allow an inferior to do what only you must do. If they foul up, you are lost. If they succeed, they will think they are important and treat you as if you owe them something. And not only will you owe them something, your situation is worse because you will need them.”
“So why did you trust Garret and Tommy?” asked King. “They betrayed you, which is why I have to solve your problem.”
Chin knew the answers but he would never admit them to anyone. He was barely literate and needed Garret to cut the deals and get them in order. He also needed someone with Tommy’s charm to be gregarious, the consummate PR person for his operations. That was definitely not him.
Biting his tongue, Chin gave a not-entirely-untrue answer. “There is one thing that I didn’t take into consideration. Love. Garret and Tommy were blinded by it, something I never thought of and still can’t accept now… But it proves my point. Never, ever rely on anyone. Never, ever be in need.”
Sage words but too late to be of use. “So what do I do now?”
Chin’s words were never sharper. “Analyze. Strategize. Maximize. Be prepared when the opportunity comes and never give up control.”
“And what if I don’t get that chance?” said King, despair ringing in his voice.
“You will if you attack on all fronts,” replied Chin confidently. “Look harder. Maybe you need to wait. No one is perfect. Someone will slip up. Someone will want some perk. Or you might just get lucky. Just be ready because you have no idea which door will open… Opportunity awaits preparation.”
/>
Chapter 22
The schizophrenic weather changed to calm again. Noah scanned the clear horizon, frowning. “Am I hallucinating, or are those islands?”
“They’re islands all right, but they’re so small,” replied Sam. “It doesn’t look like anybody’s on them. That’s no help.”
“They’re a miracle, that’s what they are.” Lisa’s eyes brightened. “Those have got to be the Senkaku Islands.”
“Can’t be. We were there when we radioed for help,” said Noah.
“I don’t think so. Did you see any islands? Think about who told you. I’m sure that was part of Cheryl’s set-up,” said Lisa.
Noah thought for a moment. “Maybe we can use the dispute to our advantage.”
“What dispute? Who cares about some dinky islands nobody lives on?” wondered Sam.
Noah explained, “China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan have been arguing over them for a hundred years. This uninhabited archipelago is situated in a strategic military and economic sea lane. Historically, they are fertile fishing grounds but now they’ve found huge untapped oil reserves. In other words, there’s money and power here. If their ownership is disputed, that means one or more of the countries is likely to have a vessel patrolling them.”
“But if they think we’re one of the bad guys, they’ll just finish what the helicopter goons started. Kaboom!” Sam jerked his head to add emphasis to his sound effect, then did a double take. “Hallelujah! The marines are coming!” He pointed at a large Japanese patrol vessel in the background, then waved his arms, gesticulating wildly, hoping to catch the Japanese ship’s attention.
Noah gave a sigh of relief as he saw the boat approaching. The soreness in his chest told him the snake likely cracked or, at the very least, bruised his ribs when it coiled around him.
However, hope changed to anxiety when the bullhorn of the Japanese vessel started blaring at them in Japanese.
All the passengers in the slight craft started waving their arms, trying to attract attention.
“What are they saying?” yelled Lisa.
“Damned if I know,” Noah answered.
None of them knew a single word of Japanese, but that wasn’t necessary. The angry, hostile metallic tone from the ship’s loudspeaker communicated everything.
When the vessel was fifty yards away, the trio shouted, “Help! Help!” but this was either misinterpreted or misunderstood. The Japanese boat continued to advance and the tone from the speaker grew more menacing.
Jolting everyone’s focus, the Japanese crew started spraying the Ever Ready with water from a high-powered water cannon.
“No! No! No!” screamed the trio. Instead of stopping, the water spray intensified. After ten minutes of constant aquatic bombardment, the Japanese Coast Guard left.
If the drenched, depressed passengers on the Ever Ready could understand Japanese, they would have discovered, according to the Coast Guard, they were illegally trespassing on Japanese territorial waters, the third such vessel they’d contended with in the past two weeks. They warned that continued disobedience of Japanese territorial laws could trigger an international incident, and even incite war.
But Noah, Sam and Lisa didn’t understand Japanese. All they knew was that their situation had worsened. They were tired, sick, waterlogged, famished and had one passenger with an undiagnosed illness who refused to wake up.
Not a very good recipe for productive travel with one paddle on a broken-down powerboat. With night falling, the only solution seemed to be to fall asleep.
Chapter 23
A day earlier, a typhoon rocked the Ever Ready. Tonight, there was a long series of mild earthquakes and tremors in the East China Sea. Mild, that was, unless you were a passenger on the Ever Ready. Noah, Lisa, and Sam were tossed about all night by the ravaging waves. It was all they could do to keep Master Wu and themselves from falling out of the boat.
But then, daybreak arrived. Miles of calm seas greeted the eyes of the bedraggled trio as they scanned for any kind of hope Finally, in the distance, Sam spotted another boat. The group looked at it with fear and hope. Fear that it was another Japanese patrol boat and hope that it was a friendly vessel from Taiwan or China.
This time, their prayers were answered. It was a small older fishing boat from the China mainland. It had no intention of stopping, but the captain saw the frantic waving of arms from a strange tall white man, a very pretty Chinese woman and some teenage kid. Curiosity piqued, the captain guided his vessel in to take a closer look at this odd trio. Surprised that the Ever Ready had no power, he pulled alongside to investigate.
“Ni hao, ni hao! Qing ni band women! (Hello! Please help us!),” pleaded Noah.
The captain was shocked to hear the Caucasian speak to him in sophisticated unaccented Mandarin. Noah explained to the skipper that, between the earthquake and typhoon of the last couple of days, they were happy to be alive, but they needed to get to Shanghai quickly. Not wanting to scare off his potential savior, Noah left out the part about the mutinous crew and a helicopter full of snakes and assassins.
Noah saw the captain was sympathetic to their plight. However, the degree of his sympathy was directly related to the amount of money Noah was willing to pay. Because all their purses and wallets were lost during their adventures, none had money to offer.
But Noah had one thing of value—the custom-made fifty thousand dollar engagement ring that was meant for Olivia. He kept it on his person because he didn’t really know what to do with it.
The Chinese captain knew he had Noah over a barrel and took full advantage. In exchange for the ring, Noah got five hours of labor from the ship’s mechanic to get the Ever Ready’s engine running again, a full tank of gas, an extra storage tank of gas to make sure they had enough fuel to get to the outskirts of Shanghai, a cooked meal of fish and rice, enough food to make another meal, five gallons of fresh water, a compass and fifty dollars cash. The captain didn’t have any electronic communication devices, no cell phones or radios, but at least Noah and company had a boat with a working engine and enough food and fuel to get them to their destination.
It was an uneventful ride for the next ten hours to Shanghai’s outskirts. No needles, no snakes, no explosions, no helicopters, no nasty people, no typhoon, no earthquakes. Life should always be so easy.
Noah’s biggest concern was whether or not Master Wu would survive. Noah was anxious to get the sifu diagnosed at a proper hospital. Yes, Lisa’s knowledgeable thumb and index finger pressed on key meridians to stimulate Master Wu’s qi, but there was no improvement in Master Wu’s condition.
Noah would have been freaked had he known what was going through Lisa’s mind. The poison should have worn off by now. Did I make a mistake in dosage? Did King and I rush the clinical trials? Did Master Wu ingest too much sea water? Was he brain dead?
The stakes were very high. If she couldn’t revive Master Wu, there would be no leverage with Noah. Being totally honest, if she failed with that, her relationship with King was over.
She redoubled her efforts.
Chapter 24
Master Wu’s eyes opened and he saw the aqua blue sky filling the heavens above him. His face felt the warm, salty ocean breeze. He turned his head to one side and began to tear up. Barely a quarter of a mile away, he saw something he hadn’t seen for over forty years—Jinshanzui, a quaint little seaside town south of Shanghai. He sat up and turned his head and saw Noah smiling at him.
“Good morning, Sifu.”
Master Wu forced a whisper, “Good morning, Noah.”
Sam, who had been steering, greeted the awakened martial arts master, shouting, “Hey, Master Wu, you missed all the fun. You slept the whole time.”
Master Wu puzzled, “I was sleeping?”
“Either that or you were temporarily dead,” remarked Noah. “You’ve got Lisa to thank for you being alive.”
“All I did was a little Tui Na,” blushed Lisa.
“Eight constant hours is not a littl
e,” said Noah.
Master Wu looked around and was perplexed to see himself in the middle of the ocean on a small boat. “How did we get here? I thought we were on a big powerboat. And where is that no-good friend of mine, Dr. Tang?”
Noah said quietly, “He’s gone, Sifu… we buried him at sea.”
Master Wu’s hands started trembling. “How? When?” sputtered the sifu in quiet disbelief. “He was healthy…”
“We were ambushed,” Noah said grimly. “I don’t know how we were tracked but someone is after us. Right now we’re sitting ducks.”
“But nobody’s chased us for hours,” said Sam optimistically.
Noah whistled. “That means that whoever is after us doesn’t know we’re alive or doesn’t know where to find us. I want to make sure it stays that way. No cell phones, no tablets, no electronic games, no using ATMs, or showing your identity. Even when we get to Shanghai. That way no one can trace us.”
“Are you trying to kill me?” moaned Sam.
“I wish.” Noah turned back to Master Wu. “And I don’t care how afraid of flying you are. Next time, we’re taking a plane.”
“You’re assuming there is a next time, Noah,” said Master Wu, his late friend fresh in his thoughts.
Without any tongue depressors, Lisa checked Master Wu’s tongue by pressing her fingers on it. Satisfied, she took his pulse with two fingers over his wrist. Diagnosis complete, Lisa announced her verdict. “You’re getting better, but you must take it easy. It will take time, and I need to get the right medicine for you.”
“We don’t have time. We gotta go for it!” Noah turned to Sam. “Let’s head to shore.”
The Noah Reid Action Thriller Series: Books 1-3 (plus special bonuses) Page 33