Hendrick turned to his right to vary his direction in an effort to confuse his assailants. Branches slapped at him and vines curled around him all in a conspiracy to slow him to meet his doom. He looked over his shoulder to see where his closest attacker was. All he saw were the shaking leaves and bending branches where he had just been.
Hendrick turned and ran with renewed vigor until a thick vine slapped across his chest. He strained against it, feeling it give way as he flung himself through the next clump of brush. He burst through the undergrowth to brilliant sunlight and the blue sea over a hundred feet below. Hendrick desperately tried to halt his progress, but his feet skidded on the wet, slimy jungle floor. He began to fall over the edge of one of the island’s highest cliffs which jutted up from the water’s edge.
He twisted frantically and swung his arms out to grab something, anything to arrest his momentum which was taking him over the cliff. He got hold of a thin branch and pulled in a panic, ripping the branch free from its painfully thin trunk. His hands flailed about, dropping his handgun, which bounced off the edge of the cliff and sailed outward to its watery grave a hundred feet below. He finally closed his hands around the vine that still lay across his chest. He gripped the vine, praying that it would hold him long enough so he could scramble back from the brink.
Hendrick pulled frantically on the vine and felt it give. He teetered for an instant, then slipped over the edge of the cliff.
CHAPTER 18
The Deal
ITBAYAT ISLAND
Steve Hendrick frantically pulled on the vine that was his only hope of avoiding being smashed on the rocks below. He fell a quick ten feet, then the vine tightened around the trunk of a tree, nearly jolting itself from Hendrick’s panicked grip by the downward momentum of his body.
Hendrick hung swaying below the edge of the cliff with simultaneous relief and alarm flooding through him. He swung his legs around in an effort to grip the vine with his limbs but found that the vine was too short. Only an iron grip saved him from a quick death.
He saw movement, desperate movement above him. He heard a gasp of disbelief from above, then a body flashed by him along with a shower of small rocks and jungle debris. Hendrick watched him fall until he was about halfway down then looked away to start the laborious hand-over-hand climb up the vine.
Hendrick had just begun a prayer that the vine would hold together long enough when he heard a sickening thud from his assailant’s impact on the rocks below. He paused with the fleeting thought that, but for the vine and the grace of God, there would have been two bodies at the foot of the cliff instead of just one. The victim hadn’t uttered a sound except that one breathless gasp as he flew by Hendrick. He thought that the movies had it all wrong with people screaming as they fell to their death. Maybe they were too scared, or too surprised to scream. Hendrick scrambled up with strong hand-over-hand movements and with his feet alternately grabbing then slipping off the side of the cliff.
He hauled himself over the edge and crawled quickly back from the precipice. His breath came in gasps of relief as he lay among the dense foliage trying to recover from his brush with death. With any luck, he thought grimly, the other two will fall over the edge as well.
The sounds of the brush being roughly parted came to Hendrick through the thick jungle and snapped him alert. He strained his eyes toward the sound, thinking he saw a patch of green move between the leaves of the vines, bushes, and trees. The movement wasn’t ten feet from him. Hendrick reached instinctively for his handgun and immediately found an empty holster. The vision of the weapon dropping to the sea below flashed through his mind. He froze, held his breath and listened to the sounds move off parallel to the cliff.
It looks like they won’t fall into the same trap as their other unfortunate friend, thought Hendrick. Too bad. I can’t confront anyone without a gun. Time to leave while they’re headed the wrong way. He dragged himself to his feet and staggered off inland to see what was happening to Joe Malik and the rest of his shipmates.
He tried not to make noise, but just the motion of his body against the leaves and vines seemed to send up a racket. Periodically he stopped and listened intently to determine if anyone was following him. He heard only the sounds of birds, insects, and the muffled rattle of gunfire from the war that was still raging over the fortune in gold they had recovered from the Awa Maru.
Halfway down the hill he had so recently traveled, he stopped to listen again. After a few minutes he parted the branches in front of him and almost walked into the barrel of a gun. He gasped with surprise and immediately turned to run. The rifle barrel smashed into the side of his face, sending him stumbling over a loose rock and falling heavily to the ground. Hendrick’s eyes flicked up to the man standing over him. The man was a very large stranger.
Another smaller man stepped out of the brush and muttered something in Chinese to the larger man. The big man nodded and gave him a deferential reply. Hendrick stared at the small man and knew he had seen him before but couldn’t remember the circumstances.
The big man turned his attention to Hendrick. He reached down with one huge hand and grabbed Hendrick by the front of his shirt. With one movement he dragged Hendrick to his feet. The two Chinese men looked him over then smiled at Hendrick and each other.
“Thanks,” said Hendrick sarcastically. “Do you speak English? I forget the Chinese word for thank you.” He grimaced at his rapidly swelling cheek.
“You are welcome,” replied Xu to Hendrick’s surprise. “But you may not thank us a few minutes from now.”
Hendrick gave him a wary look and sized up the big man to see if he could take him if need be. He didn’t like his conclusion. “Why?”
“You are going to have the privilege of meeting Lord Chang,” replied Xu.
So that’s where I saw him before, Hendrick thought with a sinking feeling.
A few minutes later, the two remaining pirates joined up with them and had an intense conversation with Xu. The small Chinese man shrugged and waved them to go in front of them. Hendrick thought that that was the leader’s way of dismissing the fate of one of his men.
Forty-five minutes later after a short walk through the jungle and a truck ride down the one road on the island to the southern coast, Hendrick, Xu, and Lin were on a small boat headed out to Chang’s yacht. The other two pirates were left to keep up the pressure on Malik and the sub crew. Chang’s boat was about two miles off shore, halfway between Itbayat’s southeastern coast and Diogo Island. The sounds of intermittent gunfire between Chang’s men and Hendrick’s friends were drowned out by the roar of the powerful outboard engine on their boat.
Hendrick continually searched for an escape route, but the big man kept his weapon trained on him and his eyes never left the American. The one person he did not want to meet was Chang. The pirate would undoubtedly kill him for shooting up his men and his boats almost a year ago in the Taiwan Strait. He started to eye his chances of jumping overboard, but Lin caught on and walked over to stand a foot from him with the barrel of his handgun two inches from his face.
Xu observed it all with amusement. “One can never tell about these things. Miracles have happened before. Perhaps my Lord Chang will think of you as a formidable enemy and respect you for it. He has pardoned men in the past.” He gave Hendrick a small smile.
“Fat chance,” said Hendrick.
The boat pulled up to the large yacht and positioned itself alongside a ladder that led up to the weather deck. He could see four men brandishing assault rifles waiting for them to come aboard.
Once aboard, Xu went to report to Chang, and Hendrick was brought to the top deck of the superstructure. He climbed the ladder under the watchful eye of a man with an automatic weapon on the top deck and a man with a similar weapon below. A twitch on his part and he would be shot.
The yacht’s powerful engines awoke from idle and rumbled into gear, propelling the ship forward with significant acceleration. Hendrick had no doubt where they we
re going. Gold attracted more insects like Chang than dogshit in summer, he thought.
Hendrick saw a woman’s feet as he climbed the ladder to where the deck was at eye level. His eyes immediately went up her body to her face, but she was standing with the sun at her back, and her features were lost in the sun’s intense rays. She was wearing something loose and filmy, making her look exotic and incredibly sexy. His eyes returned to her ankles, and he noticed she was shackled with a chain leading over to the railing.
He climbed the rest of the way with his heart beating faster. He sensed her identity before his eyes could confirm it. Lin, the big Chinese, got in between them, and his bulk shielded her from him. Her voice came to him around the massive flesh of his guard. It was sad and surprised, simultaneously depressed and hopeful.
“Steve,” she said softly.
Lin dragged Hendrick over to another section of railing and passed the chain linking a set of handcuffs underneath the brass rail then handcuffed Hendrick’s hands together. Lin stepped back, but Hendrick paid him no notice. He gaped at the woman across the deck from him.
“Steve!” Maggie said again, this time with a tone bordering on annoyance and devastation. She had been counting on Hendrick to rescue her, and now he needed rescuing himself.
“Maggie? How -” said Hendrick, then was lost for words.
“It’s a long story,” she said.
Her face reflected desire for him and the sweet agony of having him near but knowing that he was doomed. He sensed her feelings, and his heart nearly burst with emotion for her. His mind rushed with the details of what would be her fate, and he jerked the handcuffs with all his strength. Lin walked quickly toward him with a massive hand raised to strike him, but Maggie stopped him with a word.
“Lin, no!” she screamed.
Lin stopped and looked at her with surprise. He looked back toward Hendrick, and a huge smile crept across his face. He tilted back his head and laughed heartily. Lin walked back and sat down in a convenient chair.
“Ha, ha, ha, you big maggot!” said Hendrick.
“Looks like our big secret is out,” said Maggie.
“What’s that?” asked Hendrick.
“He thinks we’re lovers,” said Maggie with a disgusted look at Lin who still had a smile on his face.
“I wish we were,” said Hendrick then instantly regretted his presumptuous remark. He looked away trying not to see what he thought would be her rejection of him, but caught Maggie’s sharp look of surprise. He immediately began to examine the railing. Was it my imagination, he thought, or did the railing give slightly when I yanked on it just now?
“Do you have something going there?” she asked in a low voice. She knew Lin and the guard with the assault rifle did not understand English.
“Maybe,” replied Hendrick.
Maggie reached out for him, but they were at least ten feet apart. This set Lin to laughing once again.
“I can’t even touch you,” she said.
“Give it up,” said Hendrick.
“What did they do to you? You have a lump the size of a Buick on the side of your face,” asked Maggie.
“It was fat boy there,” said Hendrick, indicating Lin. “Looks like everybody’s after the gold.”
“You did it then? You actually got some gold from the Awa Maru?” asked Maggie.
Hendrick nodded solemnly. “But it looks like I’m not going to live to enjoy it.” He studied her again. “You look well. Are you all right?”
“They’re pampering me beyond belief. They’re going to sell me to some warlord in the Sulu Sea.”
“How much?” asked Hendrick.
“How much? How the hell should I know how much?” she shot back. “Who the hell cares how much?”
“Maybe I want to be in on the bidding,” replied Hendrick. He gave her a short smile.
Maggie’s mouth popped open with surprise, an amazed smile crossing her face. Voices from below suddenly got louder, causing her to glance in their direction then look desperately at Hendrick.
“Listen, if you should get away, get to Taipei and call three, six, one, nine, zero, zero, five,” she said in a rush. “You’ll get an answering machine. Leave a message and say that there is no time left. Leave your phone number. They’ll get in touch with you.” She repeated the number. “Do you understand?”
Hendrick gaped at her, realizing that there was a lot more to Maggie than he ever knew. He repeated the phone number back to her and tried to commit it to memory.
Maggie looked at the top of the ladder, and she grew panic-stricken. “What languages do you know?” she asked quickly.
“Uh, Russian,” he said even more puzzled than before.
“Russian? Oh, God. I only know how to count to ten in Russian,” she said then abruptly stopped as a woman climbed onto the deck from the ladder followed by a tall man and two small men, one of whom was the man who had captured him in the jungle. The woman, who was dressed similarly to Maggie, immediately went over to her, checking her ankle for chafing. The tall man looked at Hendrick and smiled, then took up a position to introduce the two men with him.
“You must be Mr. Hendrick,” said the tall man in near perfect English. “It is my great pleasure to introduce my Lord Chang, the Tiger of the Orient. And I am his most obedient servant, Mr. Yum.”
This was the first time Hendrick had gotten a good look at Chang. He had expected the pirate leader to be tough and formidable looking, even though he knew he was short in stature. Chang was only about five feet tall, and Hendrick estimated his weight to be about one hundred ten pounds. He had a dark, weather-beaten face from the many years of being in the tropics and had the largest mouth he had ever seen. When his lips parted he could see stained, irregular, protruding teeth.
“Chang certainly is unique looking,” said Hendrick. “Where did he get that big mouth? His head looks like a Pez dispenser.”
Yum did a masterful job at stifling a laugh. Chang said something in Chinese to the tall man who nodded deferentially then launched into a long explanation. He looked at Hendrick. “My Lord Chang has asked what you have said. I told him that you said that it was a great honor to meet him and that his reputation was known far and wide, even in the United States.”
“What a crock of shit,” said Hendrick in disgust. “You’d better hope that the little bastard doesn’t get wise to you, or he’ll do double to you what he’s going to do to me.”
“Fortunately one can be skinned alive only once,” he replied with a smile. Chang spoke again and Yum quickly gave the pirate leader all his attention.
“My Lord Chang has come up with an inventive new twist to your demise,” said Yum after Chang stopped speaking. “He will have all of the major bones in your body broken, and he will even break a few of them himself! Then the standard stuff after that, you know, flogging until your whole body is a mass of shredded flesh, then throwing you to the sharks.”
Hendrick glanced at Xu who was following the conversation with amusement. “So much for Chang respecting me for being a formidable enemy,” he said to Chang’s lieutenant. Xu’s smile grew broader.
“Tell the little asshole Chang that I hope the sight of my entrails swinging in the breeze makes him barf his guts out, and that I hope someday a shark bites his nuts off,” said Hendrick with a short bow in the direction of Chang.
Yum immediately translated, and Chang looked at Hendrick curiously, then nodded curtly but said nothing further.
“I obviously translated it with major modifications,” said Yum in a low voice. Hendrick nodded.
“So how do you know English so well?” he asked Yum.
“I studied in the States as an exchange student, then rather than go back to China, I escaped but didn’t get far,” he said in a low voice. “My Lord Chang thought I could be useful.”
“And useful you are,” said Hendrick. “Listen, do me a favor, huh? Unchain the girl.”
Yum looked at Maggie quickly, then glanced back at Hendrick. �
�Not a chance. She has the unfortunate tendency to fall overboard especially when you are in the vicinity,” he replied referring to Maggie’s escape during the last battle Hendrick had with Chang and his men.
“I want to look her over,” said Hendrick.
“I’ll bet you do,” replied Yum.
“I want to bid on her,” said Hendrick.
Yum looked at him with surprise, and the woman who was attending to Maggie gave Hendrick a startled look. Chang said something that sounded like a question, and Yum immediately translated Hendrick’s remark to him. Chang’s face broke into a wide smile and spoke again to Yum.
“Lord Chang asks what you would use for money,” said Yum.
“I’ve got a few tons of gold on the beach,” replied Hendrick.
“Ah, but you are in the process of losing it to us,” said Yum and looked forward at the two craft that were rapidly approaching. The two boats formed up on Chang’s yacht, and the three vessels sailed toward the landing where Golubev’s submarine was tied to the rickety pier. Hendrick looked over the other two boats, and he saw with satisfaction that some of the bullet holes from their battle last year were still visible.
Hendrick peered into the distance and could hear gunfire still coming from the jungle directed at the submarine. The rattle of Golubev’s AK47 floated to him over the water interspersed with the thumping of an individual handgun from either Joe Malik or Ian Howard on the sub. They were still holding out against Chang’s forces. He glanced around and saw that for the moment all eyes were looking at the submarine, except for Maggie who was trying to get his attention. She desperately wanted to tell him something. Why had she asked what languages he knew? She glanced at Lin who was studying her intently then she gave up for the moment.
Hendrick slowly took up the slack in the chain between his handcuffs and put a strain on the railing. He felt it move again slightly and surreptitiously glanced at the screws holding it to the deck. They appeared to be in disturbingly good condition. The vertical post that supported the railing had a hollow horizontal tube on the top of the post through which the railing was passed. He looked for the splice in the railing and saw it only five feet away. He pulled sideways on the railing and saw the splice move just a bit. The screws that held the splice tube over the two ends of the railing were loose. He had a chance, not much of one, but it was something at least.
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