Hidden Sun

by John Campbell

  “How will you liquidate your share?” asked Hendrick.

  “I have some contacts that can do that for me,” replied Loh with a smile. “I’ll do Wong’s share as well, then give him the money.”

  Hendrick nodded. “We have some people waiting in the States to liquidate our share. I made a quiet deal with them before I went out to salvage the Awa Maru.”

  Wong pulled his boat up to the pier behind Loh’s boat and in his excitement bumped both the boat and the pier putting a dent in each. Loh yelled something in Chinese, which Hendrick imagined to be that the damage would come out of Wong’s share. Wong looked over his shoulder and gave Loh a sheepish grin. Loh laughed at his cousin - he couldn’t be angry for longer than a few seconds under the circumstances.

  Hendrick jumped to the pier and took the line thrown to him by Malik. In seconds he had Wong’s boat firmly secured to the pier. Hendrick pulled the camouflage net away from the aft deck of Loh’s boat then returned to Wong’s boat. They each grabbed a drawer and marched over to Loh’s boat to load them on board. Hendrick was the first to jump down to the aft deck of the boat, but as he turned to walk forward, a figure appeared in the doorway to the cabin.

  Hendrick’s eyes focused quickly on the nine-millimeter handgun in the man’s hand. His eyes darted up to the man’s face. It was covered with a silk scarf except for his eyes, eyes devoid of any emotion. A flicker of recognition ran through Hendrick’s mind.

  “You must be Stephen Hendrick,” said the Oriental man pleasantly.

  The man’s deep, resonant voice clicked in Hendrick’s memory amid a swirl of shadows and harsh light. This was the man who had boarded his boat many months before in the Taiwan Strait looking for the treasure from the Awa Maru.

  The Japanese man’s face turned to stone under the scarf material. “You are Hendrick, are you not?”

  Hendrick pressed his lips together and said nothing. There was movement behind him as someone else came up to the doorway. Another person stepped into view and pointed a handgun at Hendrick.

  “Oh yeah, that’s Hendrick all right,” said Maggie Ramsey.

  CHAPTER 26

  Boats and Bullets

  NIUSHAN DAO

  Hendrick stared coldly at Maggie as she slowly pointed her weapon at each of them in turn.

  “I don’t believe this. Not again,” said Hendrick through grinding teeth. “Is it loaded this time?”

  “Yes,” she replied sweetly. “Want a demonstration?”

  “No, no,” answered Hendrick. “This time I believe you.”

  “You can really pick ‘em,” muttered Malik to Hendrick. He gave Malik a sick look over his shoulder.

  Hendrick eyed her Japanese companion. “You boarded my boat in the Taiwan Strait last year and threw a lot of threats around.” He looked back at Maggie. “You keep some real shitty company.”

  “I have my reasons, Hendrick,” she said. “Meet Masaya Konaka.”

  “I told you I would wait until you had recovered the treasure from the Awa Maru then take it from you,” replied Konaka.

  “How did you know where to find me?” Hendrick asked Konaka and then glared at Maggie.

  “Don’t look at me. I didn’t tell him,” said Maggie in a miffed voice. “I just wanted to tag along to see you get put down a notch or two.”

  Konaka remained mute. Hendrick raised his eyebrows at Maggie’s incongruous remark, then gave Konaka an annoyed look.

  “Spies all over, right?” he asked.

  Konaka seemed amused. “Just a lucky guess.”

  Hendrick wondered how he could have been so wrong about Maggie. She was one surprise after another. She gave him a coy look.

  He turned back to Konaka. “What’s with the scarf over your face? Are you that ugly?”

  Konaka refused to react to Hendrick’s provocation, the terrorist’s eyes growing harder and more devoid of emotion than before.

  “What’s in the case?” Maggie asked quickly to blunt the confrontation.

  Hendrick dropped the case on the deck with an ear shattering crash, splitting a corner seam. They could see the gleaming contents through the crack. Maggie bent down and stared at the sparkling stones in amazement.

  “My God, it’s diamonds!” she exclaimed. “You really did it, Hendrick!”

  Konaka bent over and took several quick glances at the ruptured metal drawer. He straightened, his eyes reflecting satisfaction.

  “I knew that you would come through for me, Hendrick,” said Konaka. “Now very carefully reach down and take out the knife you have strapped to your leg and throw it over there.” He indicated the base of the cabin wall. Hendrick slowly complied, being careful not to make any sudden moves. “All right, now that the amenities are over, you and your two friends will bring over the rest of the cases and stack them up on the deck of my boat which is on the other side of that hill,” said Konaka, pointing into the distance.

  Hendrick gauged the distance between Konaka and himself and knew he would never get to the austere Japanese in time. He would die halfway there. Movement caught his eye. Two more men walked up behind Konaka, their assault rifles pointed at Hendrick and the others.

  Hendrick, Malik, Loh, and Wong saw no other course but to comply. They lugged the cases two at a time from Wong’s boat over the hill into the next inlet where Konaka’s boat was tied up. Konaka and his thugs were near them every second but far enough away to prevent any daring moves by Hendrick or the others.

  Two trips were all that was needed to transfer the twelve drawers filled with precious stones to Konaka’s boat. When they had finished, the four captives, filled with dread, stood on the shore next to Konaka’s boat.

  “What happens now?” asked Hendrick.

  Konaka lifted his weapon higher and pointed it directly at Hendrick. “Now I’m going to fulfill my promise.”

  “Wait a minute, Konaka,” said Maggie with determination in her voice. “I saw him first.” Konaka looked at Maggie questioningly. “He raped me, and now it’s my turn.”

  Hendrick did his best not to react to Maggie’s blatant lie, but surprise crept across his face. Konaka stared at her, then the hard lines around his eyes took on an amused glint.

  “We’ll march them back and tie them up,” said Konaka. “Then you can do anything you want with them.”

  Maggie nodded grimly and motioned with her weapon for the captives to get moving. Hendrick turned and slowly trotted up the hill toward the other inlet and Loh’s boat, but for the first time he had hope. What did Maggie have in mind?

  They walked back down the other side of the hill under the watchful eye of Konaka and his handgun, which at times looked like a hand-held cannon. Hendrick constantly looked for a chance to escape, but Konaka and his men gave him none. He glanced at Malik who shrugged slightly. They boarded Loh’s boat, and Konaka ordered his men to tie Hendrick and the others up.

  Konaka gave his men a short order. Hendrick saw Maggie give her face an uncomfortable twist. Seconds later, they heard the sounds of wood splitting under the impact of an ax.

  “Act quickly,” said Konaka. “This boat will sink in a few minutes.”

  “I only need two minutes with this guy,” she replied. “Why don’t you get the boat ready, and I’ll catch up to you.”

  Konaka grunted assent and was gone. Maggie knelt next to Hendrick and pulled her switchblade from an ankle scabbard. She immediately went to work on his ropes. His hands came free, then he took the knife from her and cut his legs free. Hendrick ran over and quickly freed Malik, Loh, and Wong. Loh jumped to his feet and yelled something to Wong who immediately ran over to his own boat.

  “We’ll patch the hole in the hull,” said Loh.

  “Good. And we’ll get after Konaka and get the diamonds back,” said Hendrick. He looked at Maggie. “I was beginning to wonder which side you were on.”

  “He came to me and wanted some information about you,” replied Maggie. “He knew you were up to something, maybe recovering more of the treas
ure. Apparently he had you under constant surveillance, and picked up on your trip out here. I convinced him that I should tag along. It’s a good thing that I did.”

  Hendrick picked up Maggie’s gun off the deck where she had laid it and looked it over. “All right, let’s go get our diamonds back.”

  “Uh … Steve,” said Maggie timidly. “There’s something I should tell you.”

  Hendrick looked at her questioningly, then he realized what she wanted to tell him. He released the clip, yanked it out, and looked at the end where the bullets should have been.

  “I thought you said it was loaded,” he said in frustration.

  “I lied,” she said.

  “All right, give me the damn bullets. I’ll load it myself,” he replied with his patience nearly gone.

  “What bullets?” she asked and appeared to be genuinely perplexed.

  “You know. The little round things that make the gun go bang, bang,” he said in exasperation.

  “I, uh, don’t have any,” she said, expecting a blast of anger from him.

  “You don’t have any? What the hell good is a gun without bullets?” he shouted.

  “It worked on you, didn’t it?” she said and sniffed.

  “If you will recall, it did not work on me,” he said. “Not in the hotel room and not now. I was deterred by Konaka’s gun. I’ll bet his was loaded!” Hendrick shook his head. “You brought a gun and didn’t bring any bullets?”

  “I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” she replied in a quiet voice. “Especially you.”

  Hendrick shoved the empty weapon into his belt and waved Maggie along. “Come on,” he said in a resigned tone. “Maybe we can throw rocks at him.”

  Maggie grinned at him and joined up with him and Malik as they ran up the hill to get to the inlet where Konaka’s boat was anchored. Hendrick glanced at her from time to time, and she grinned madly at him the entire way. He finally shook his head and started to laugh. She was a real character.

  They reached the top of the hill and were afforded a view of the inlet. Hendrick stopped and stared at the water below. Konaka was gone. He looked around quickly and spotted Konaka’s boat a few miles off, speeding toward the open sea.

  “That bum!” shouted Maggie. “He stood me up!”

  “Stood you up?” said Malik. “He’s got the damn diamonds!” Hendrick just winced.

  They both turned and ran for Loh’s boat. When they returned, they found Loh on the aft deck setting up a bilge pump with its discharge pipe extending over the side. Hendrick quickly told Loh about Konaka’s escape, and they immediately prepared to give chase. Loh and Wong had gotten the leak just about stopped, and the bilge pump would keep the hold from filling up with water.

  Malik cast off the lines and jumped back aboard, while Loh gunned the engines. He expertly wound his way around the narrow waters and soon they were in the open sea. Loh shoved the throttles wide open and his craft leaped ahead. Loh centered his bow on Konaka’s distant boat and turned to Hendrick.

  “I have some weapons in a storage locker below,” shouted Loh over the engine noise. He fished in his pocket, producing a key, which he gave to Hendrick.

  “Bullets too?” asked Hendrick facetiously.

  Loh nodded, but he was clearly puzzled.

  Hendrick turned to Maggie. “He has bullets.” He pointed at Loh. Maggie rolled her eyes around and gave him a nobody’s-perfect look.

  Hendrick went down below with Maggie and Malik following him closely, and the three of them opened Loh’s storage locker. Hendrick’s eyes immediately locked onto the most capable weapons in Loh’s small arsenal, three AK47 assault rifles. Hendrick picked up one assault rifle with Malik grabbing the others. They both slung clip belts over their shoulders. Maggie took a handgun, a bolt-action rifle, and several boxes of ammunition. Together they ran back up on deck.

  Loh’s boat was marginally faster than Konaka’s craft, and Hendrick saw that it would take some time before they caught up to Konaka. He tried to relax but couldn’t, knowing that in the near future they would be in a fight with Konaka and his men. Malik handed an AK47 to Loh who gave up the wheel to Wong, and they all quickly loaded their weapons. He glanced at Maggie who quickly and familiarly loaded the handguns and the rifle.

  “So you do know what to do with bullets when you have them,” said Hendrick with a chuckle.

  “Watch it, Hendrick. These guns really are loaded this time,” said Maggie, a smile tugging at her mouth. Hendrick smiled back.

  “What kind of weapons does Konaka have?” asked Malik after a while.

  “Nine millimeter automatic and the assault rifles were the only thing I saw, but he could have more hidden away,” replied Maggie.

  Konaka’s boat abruptly changed course and Wong followed suit, causing the boat to roll from upright to a firm port list. An object rolled out from underneath a bench and hit Maggie’s foot. She reached down and picked up the cylinder.

  “What’s this?” she asked.

  Hendrick gently took it from her hands. “Probably nothing.”

  “What’s that? Russian letters?” She looked over the tube as Hendrick slid it out of her grip. “What does it say? You know Russian.”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t really looked at it,” replied Hendrick. He took the cylinder and slipped it into his belt bag. He was still in his wet suit from his dive earlier in the day.

  The day, which had been murky gray from the constant cloud cover, was now rapidly turning to night.

  “He’s heading almost due north,” said Loh over his shoulder as he stood near Wong.

  “North,” mumbled Hendrick, his face falling.

  Maggie looked at him in surprise. “What’s up north?”

  Hendrick stared straight ahead and Joe Malik just shook his head.

  “There’s Tung-yin Tao, an island about thirty miles off the coast of China,” replied Loh. “Maybe he’s headed there.”

  Maggie stared at Hendrick. All his previous bravado was gone.

  “There’s something else,” she said to Hendrick. “Isn’t there?”

  Hendrick gave her an agonized look but said nothing.

  “The Han Gao is there, a few miles from Tung-yin Tao,” whispered Malik.

  Maggie suddenly understood. “Your brother.” Her voice was sympathetic.

  Hendrick turned away. Maggie realized that Hendrick was reliving the experience and facing the fear again. She stood next to him and squeezed his arm. He put a hand over hers and stared ahead.

  The face flew through his mind once again. He had turned it into a nightmare image of horror and death. Probably not at all what the actual man looks like, he thought grimly. Would I even recognize him if I were face to face with him? He shook his head imperceptibly. Another murderer gone unpunished.

  Loh finally caught up to their fleeing adversary when the day turned into deep twilight. Hendrick looked Konaka’s boat over for some method of slowing him down. The engines were inboard and didn’t present a ready target. He took the AK47 and aimed at the boat’s cabin. He squeezed off half a clip’s worth, shattering some Plexiglas windows and sending some pieces of wood flying into the air. Konaka changed course abruptly but continued on unabated. Wong changed course to keep with him. Konaka’s men returned fire, sending slugs into the bridge bulkheads.

  Hendrick turned to his companions. “Fire for the water line. He’ll slow down as he takes on water.”

  Malik, Loh, and Maggie nodded, and all four of them began to fire at the fleeing craft where the starboard side met the water. They fired for several minutes with Loh, Malik, and Hendrick putting clip after clip into the side of the boat and Maggie keeping up a steady rate of fire from the bolt-action rifle. Konaka’s men returned fire in fitful bursts. Loh caught one of Konaka’s men with a burst and the wounded man slumped to the deck.

  Konaka’s boat began to slow down as the gunfire began to take effect. Hendrick could imagine the hold of his boat awash with seawater.

  Konaka’s b
oat suddenly went dead in the water, and Hendrick knew they had him.

  “Pull alongside!” he yelled to Loh. “I’m going on board.” Maggie gave him a quick look of concern and opened her mouth to say something, but then she decided against it.

  “Damn it, Steve!” shouted Malik.

  “You just keep their heads down,” he shouted back. Malik shook his head with real concern.

  Hendrick thoroughly looked the boat over as Loh cautiously pulled near it. When the two boats were ten feet apart, Hendrick tensed his body to get ready to jump, but Maggie grabbed his arm and turned him around. He gave her a surprised look.

  “Come back to me, Steve,” she said in a whisper and kissed him in an anxious, desperate manner.

  He pulled her close with one arm and kissed her back passionately. After pulling his face away from hers, he looked her in the eye. “I’ll be a helluva lot richer when I come back.” He turned away and jumped the few feet left between the two craft. Maggie watched him disappear into the gloom, a feeling of dread rising within her.

  “I don’t care about the money,” she whispered to no one.

  When he was in midair, Hendrick saw something fly outward toward Loh’s boat from the cabin of Konaka’s boat. Hendrick hit the aft deck and immediately crouched down brandishing his assault rifle out in front of him. He heard something metallic hit one of the metal plates, which Loh had attached to his boat to avoid the Chinese radar, and then heard a splash as the object fell into the water.

  Seconds later there was an underwater explosion and a resulting geyser of water, which sent spray over the two boats. Grenade! thought Hendrick. I have to get to him fast before he blows up Loh’s boat. He thought he was up against only two men.

  He boldly made his way toward the cabin as he heard Loh’s engines rev up to get away from Konaka’s vessel. Hendrick got to the cabin’s aft bulkhead and eyed the ladder that led up to the bridge on the second level. He half expected Konaka to peer over the edge, then send a volley of gunfire in his direction. He looked around for signs of Konaka’s companions, seeing only one body near the stern of the boat. There were no signs of either Konaka or his other man. He gritted his teeth and climbed the ladder.