by Nick Elliott
‘They’re moving fast,’ I said. ‘These deals have all been concluded within the past six weeks. In relative terms this is an avalanche. And no-one’s standing in their way.’
I walked over to the mini-bar and poured us both a Scotch adding a splash of water to each. Claire took a cautious sip of hers and set the glass down gently on the coffee table. ‘There’s worse, Angus.’
‘Go on.’
She hesitated, uncertain of where to begin. ‘Have you ever heard of VX?’
‘I presume you’re not referring to Vauxhall Cross.’
‘VX is an incredibly toxic organophosphate nerve agent. It makes sarin look like cough mixture. It’s ten times more toxic and it’s classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the UN. Ishikawa believes Dark Ocean has access to old stockpiles of the stuff. It’s reckoned to be by far the most lethal of all chemical weapons. It works by inhibiting the production of an enzyme in the nerves; creates a storm of constant activity in the nervous system that overwhelms the body and kills within minutes. Death is caused by paralysis of the diaphragm muscle – so by asphyxiation. And it can be dispersed as a vapour over large populated areas.’
‘How the hell did they get hold of the stuff?’
‘That’s what I asked. Back in 1969 there was a leak of chemical weapons from a secret depot on Okinawa. The Americans were storing stockpiles there. A big row erupted between the Americans and the Japanese government. The Yanks were forced to remove the stuff and dispose of it off some Pacific atoll. The removal operation was known as Red Hat. What Ishikawa’s discovered from his Defence Intelligence people is that some stocks of VX were diverted to another island in the Yaeyama group down towards Taiwan. Dark Ocean has some kind of logistics base there, all under cover of a legitimate freight forwarding company.’
‘You’re not telling me they’re planning to use this stuff are you?’
‘The PSIA believe it’s a threat, the ultimate sanction if you like. The worry is that these people are fanatics. They are committed to their cause. They’ve already shown they’ll kill with impunity haven’t they.’
She paused taking another sip of her drink. ‘Not only all of this,’ she went on, ‘but Ishikawa says he has reason to believe there are those in the Japanese government who are acquiescent, or at least turning a blind eye to Dark Ocean’s activities, because they see them as a means to foil China’s hegemony in the South China Sea. You remember he referred to this yesterday but he seems to be verifying it now.’
‘So where is the VX now?’
‘Ishikawa is working on that. But I’m afraid, Angus. You’re planning to get aboard the Toyama Maru. I know you have to find Zoe but for God’s sake watch out for yourself too. They’re killers: Alastair, then Ronnie…’
I stayed with her that night. At five-fifteen next morning Nya Wang called. ‘Go to the old Sham Tseng ferry pier in Tsuen Wan now. Ah Sun is on his way and will wait for you. You will go aboard with him.’
‘Okay, Nya Wang. I’ll be there within an hour.’
Claire held onto me, no longer case officer but anxious lover.
‘Don’t go, Angus. We can get others to do this: there are SBS assets in the region. It’s not part of your remit.’
‘You know I have to do this,’ I said gently untangling myself from her.
When I came out of the shower I could see she’d been crying. I went over to the bed to comfort her. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘Go. Just take care.’
Chapter 26
The weather had worsened overnight. Signal 8 was up and the streets were more or less empty as rain squalls swept across the city’s landscape.
Ah Sun and Nya Wang were waiting at the pier. Ah Sun had been sent ashore to buy provisions from the chandler and engine parts from a local repair shop. A scruffy-looking sampan was bobbing up and down a few metres offshore in water littered with oil-stained polystyrene and stinking of raw sewage. As we spoke a white van arrived, the sides painted with the name Ah Fai Ship Chandlers. The sampan came alongside the jetty and they began man-handling boxes of fruit, vegetables and canned goods aboard. The last item was a wooden crate containing parts for one of the ship’s generators.
Ah Sun was supervising the operation. I called him aside. ‘Ah Sun, tell me about the girl. Have you seen her?’
‘They keep her in the hospital, locked up. They give her drugs.’
‘What drugs?’
‘To keep her sleeping. Then give her food once a day.’
‘Do you have a key to the hospital?’
‘Yes, have key.’
‘What does she look like?’
‘Very beautiful. Gold hair. But ill, not well.’
That was as much as I could glean from him. It sounded like Zoe but I couldn’t be sure until I’d seen her.
‘Okay, Ah Sun. Between us we must get her off and to safety.’
He looked at Nya Wang for confirmation.
‘This man is helping us, remember?’ Nya Wang said. ‘And with his help we can return our great Buddha to Ganlanba. He deserves our help too. Do as he says.’ That was enough for Ah Sun.
I asked him about the ship chandler. Would he be able to prepare another crate like the one they’d just loaded? He spoke to Ah Fai who said he could and would be back with it in half an hour.
Then Ah Sun spoke rapidly to the sampan’s coxswain pointing at me as he did so. He took out a wad of hundred Hong Kong dollar notes, peeled off a few and handed them over. ‘He will help us,’ he said.
The chandler returned within twenty minutes with an empty crate the same size as the one containing the generator parts. We loaded it onto the sampan’s deck and I squeezed inside, knees against my chest as the top was nailed down.
The sampan was rolling heavily in the swell from the approaching storm and took the best part of an hour to reach the Toyama Maru. Peering through a narrow slat in the crate’s side I could see she had now been renamed and painted grey above the waterline. Her port of registry was still shown as George Town. It was a thin disguise.
Some ships give you a feeling of confidence straight away but this wasn’t one of them. I thought of Alastair suffering the first agonies of the arsenic poisoning; now of Zoe’s incarceration, locked up, drugged and fed once a day like an animal in a zoo. I thought of Nakamura and his tattoos and his missing finger. And I asked myself, not for the first time, what the hell I was doing caught up in this business. What was I trying to prove? It wasn’t just about the money. Neither could I argue I was simply a hapless victim of circumstance. I didn’t have a ready answer, but I knew one day I would have to come up with one. In the meantime I fought to prevent a sense of fear from creeping over me.
The sampan came up against the ship’s side with a thud and Ah Sun called up to attract the attention of crewmen on deck to help transfer the stores. The ship’s gangway was lowered and two men came down to help. The hook of a small deck crane was lowered to lift the heavy crates including the one I was cooped up in. The crate swung wildly as it rose up and over the ship’s rail before landing hard on the hatch cover. Ah Sun was speaking with the Filipino crewmen in his broken English. ‘Get stores to pantry and tell second engineer his parts arrive. I open crates.’
‘Okay, okay,’ came the reply.
After a moment I heard him prising open the top of my crate. ‘Out, quick,’ he whispered. I climbed out and ducked down beside the hatch coaming before the engineer with two of his ratings came to collect the engine parts. They didn’t bother to ask about the empty crate I’d been in.
Once they’d gone we made our way to the accommodation. Now that the crew had brought the stores and spares in there was no sign of life. It was just past midday but almost dark. Great gusts of wind swept the rain across the deck. Lights were on in the accommodation but the weathertight doors were shut against the storm. Ah Sun opened the portside door and we entered cautiously, closing it behind us. The hospital was one deck up. Still there was no-one around and we reached it without being seen. Ah Su
n unlocked the door.
I had had little time to think what condition I would find Zoe in although Ah Sun’s account had given me warning. The hospital was a cabin-sized room with medical equipment lining the bulkheads and an operating table in the centre, from which Zoe now arose. But she was not the same ebullient young woman I knew. Her time in captivity, and for all I knew her mistreatment at their hands, had changed her dramatically and I could see she was vague and confused from the effects of the drugs they’d given her.
As she lowered herself from the operating table she stumbled. I reached forward to grab her and she collapsed in my arms. I pulled her to me to hold her upright. She was sobbing, softly at first but as I held her the sobbing intensified until her whole body was shaking uncontrollably.
‘Zoe, it's okay,’ I said. ‘We’ll get you out of here. Go with Ah Sun. He'll take care of you.’ She just clung onto me.
‘Oh, Angus,’ she moaned.
‘You're safe now, don't worry. We’ll have you home soon. It's over now.’ I carried on comforting her, holding her and stroking her dishevelled hair until Ah Sun tapped my shoulder.
‘Time to go.’
I tried gently to pull Zoe away from me but she only clung tighter, her sobs reaching a hysterical pitch. Ah Sun read my mind. He went over to a metal cabinet and started searching. Within a few moments he came back with a syringe and jabbed it straight through the fabric of Zoe’s top and into her arm. I was becoming seriously impressed by Ah Sun’s resourcefulness.
It took a while but eventually Zoe just slumped against me. I lifted her into my arms like a sick child. We went along the passageway, back down and out onto the deck to signal the sampan. I knew this was where things could get difficult and they did. The Toyama Maru’s regular Filipino crew were one thing but the two guys who came out from the other side of the accommodation were something else: tough looking security guards, Koreans I guessed. I knew that if we didn’t deal with them quickly and quietly we’d have others joining them. Ah Sun obviously had the same idea.
I laid Zoe gently onto the deck in the shelter of the hatch coaming and crouched down beside her. Ah Sun knew these guys. He was part of their team. I watched guardedly as he walked over to them nice and relaxed. They weren’t sure what to do but it seemed they hadn’t seen Zoe and me. He spoke easily gesturing to the wind and rain whipping around us. One of the thugs laughed at something Ah Sun said.
Zoe was collapsed against the hatch coaming but then without warning she sat up and started talking in Greek, her words slurred but clearly audible. I pulled her down holding my hand over her mouth but it was too late. One of the heavies came loping across the deck towards us. He’d heard Zoe but he hadn’t seen us. I waited until he was virtually upon us, stood up and grabbed at him awkwardly. He was my height but heavier, and a trained fighter as I was to discover. Almost straightaway he had me in a choke hold, his right arm round my throat, his left hand pulling on his right to further tighten his grip. I leaned forward lifting him off his feet. We struggled but he still wasn’t loosening his hold. The deck was slippery with the rain. I pushed back to throw him off balance. We crashed into the corner of the hatch coaming and fell to the deck. He was underneath me now but still his grip didn’t relax. I was having difficulty drawing breath and could feel myself weakening. But my arms were still free. With what strength was left in me I reached forward and grabbed the boot of his right foot in both hands. Then pushing backwards into his body I wrenched hard twisting his knee upwards towards my chest. With a scream he released his grip on my neck. I kept twisting his knee upwards while still lying back across his body to prevent him getting free.
We were at an impasse and not knowing what my next move should be but having the advantage, I released his foot, turned and grabbed at his head with the idea of smashing it onto the steel deck. The bastard was quick and had the same idea. Now he was straddled on top of me, his hands at my throat trying again to choke me. But he’d made his mistake. I brought my left knee up into his groin with all the force I had left in me. He shrieked in pain and released his grip long enough for me to push him off me. This time I took my opportunity and leaning over him, slammed his head against the deck. He lay still.
Zoe had stood up, still looking vacant. I pulled her back down telling her to stay where she was. Ah Sun was grappling with the other thug now. How long did I have? I grabbed Zoe and rushed her to the ship’s side where the gangway was still down. Lifting her in my arms again I struggled awkwardly down towards the sampan where I could see the coxswain was watchful and prepared. As he saw us he brought his craft neatly alongside the gangway and despite the swell slamming the sampan’s gunwale up and under the foot of the gangway, we managed to get Zoe aboard.
‘Go!’ I yelled. He needed no further encouragement. The little boat disappeared into the rain squall, Zoe standing in the cockpit staring back at me.
I climbed back up the gangway to be confronted by Ah Sun and behind him, the thug holding a pistol to his head.
‘Hands up!’ he shouted. I didn’t argue. He hustled the two of us back into the accommodation. His mate was still lying on the deck where I’d left him.
Chapter 27
We were back in the same saloon I’d been taken to on my previous visit, only this time I wasn’t offered a drink. The ship was rolling gently in the swell which had reached into the sheltered anchorage of the harbour. The lighting was low and there was the smell of alcohol and cigarettes in the air. As the minutes passed the goon who was minding us began prodding Ah Sun in the chest with his gun, goading him into having a go. Ah Sun didn’t react. There was just the three of us in there. Was there an opportunity for the two of us to take him on, if I could divert his attention? I was sure Ah Sun was thinking the same, but then the door opened and in walked Nakamura.
He was dressed not in a suit and tie this time but tan-coloured chinos and a black cashmere sweater with the sleeves pushed up to reveal a solid array of coloured tattoos on both arms. And he too was holding a gun.
‘What a disappointment you are - both of you.’ He spoke softly, with a note of regret. The man was an enigma. His squat physique, the tattoos, the missing finger - none of these matched the soft-spoken eloquence of his manner.
‘Ah Sun, can you explain yourself?’ he asked.
Ah Sun’s cover was blown. He had betrayed those who thought him a loyal servant. He didn’t reply, so I did.
‘You and I are going to make a deal,’ I said to Nakamura. ‘You’re going to release him and you can keep me. I have the information you need, and a whole lot more besides. I can help you. Now you decide.’
He smiled. ‘I expected better from you, Mr McKinnon. You promised to deliver the wreck’s coordinates and we hear nothing from you.’
‘You kidnapped the girl. Did you think I’d ignore that?’
‘She was foolish. She interfered in our business.’ He was referring to the passenger list Zoe had obtained from her friend, Fotini. It had been the breakthrough we’d needed in making the connection between Black Ocean and FOAS.
‘We had to keep her silent. Now it seems she is gone. But if you think you can trade the coordinates for this man’s freedom you are wrong. We already have them.’
This threw me. Was he bluffing for some reason? If he wasn’t how could he have obtained them, and from whom? The only people who knew the coordinates besides myself were Claire, Amber Dove, Ben Wood, Randolph Carvill and Tim Younger. Had one of them revealed them and if so, deliberately or in error? Had Nakamura got hold of the Admiralty chart on which I’d marked them? I was about to challenge him to show them to me, if only to buy time, when Ah Sun made his move.
Having the gun had made his minder complacent and Ah Sun saw his chance. His arm shot out, the flat of his hand chopping down onto the thug’s arm. He didn't release the gun but he’d been caught off guard and Ah Sun had planned the outcome. In one fluid movement he turned to face his opponent and, using his bulk, drove him back hard against the wooden p
anelling of the bulkhead. Holding the man’s gun hand high above his body he slammed his arm against the panelling splintering the wood. The gun went flying across the carpeted deck as Ah Sun felled the man with a chop to the side of his neck.
I went for Nakamura but he fired his own gun twice before I could stop him. I felt a searing pain at the top of my right arm. I managed to grab Nakamura round the neck with my left arm but his gun hand was still free and he fired again. This time he hit Ah Sun who fell heavily to the floor. He lay there doubled over in a foetal position, moaning as he clutched his stomach. It had all happened in seconds: three shots, the sound still ringing in my ears.
I let go of Nakamura and moved towards Ah Sun.
‘Leave him!’ shouted Nakamura. Blood was already seeping through Ah Sun’s fingers and onto the carpet. The minder had staggered across and retrieved his own gun and was covering me with it.
Nakamura spoke. ‘He is dying. You cannot help him.’
I knelt down beside Ah Sun. He was alive, breathing in shallow gasps, his face contorted in pain.
‘He needs morphine’ I said. ‘You must have some in the dispensary. Please.’
‘He has betrayed us. Let him die in pain.’ He was standing with his back against the panelled bulkhead, the gun pointing down at us.
I stood up and faced him. ‘Until I have verified the coordinates you cannot be sure of finding the wreck. Do you want to take that risk? I don’t know who gave them to you but can they be trusted? There’s been plenty of false information put about over the years. Are you really sure of your source?’
He hesitated, then spoke rapidly to the minder who left the saloon.
I grabbed a waiter’s cloth from the bar and knelt beside Ah Sun. Rolling up his shirt sleeve I tied the cloth as a tourniquet round his arm. Gently I pressed on the skin above the vein in his arm to help draw it closer to the surface. He was groaning loudly now but I could see the vein I was looking for and placed a finger over it pressing up and down. Gradually the vein began to protrude. After a couple of minutes the minder lumbered back in with a tray and a box of syringes.