The evening was full of laughter and of families spending the end of their long day together. Fathers helped sons, and mothers laughed with daughters. Neighbors shared jokes and laughter, and the visitors were included in some of these exchanges just as if they could understand everything that was being said or discussed. Jack and the others were reduced to their lowest forms of response; they nodded and smiled enough times to look like bobblehead idiots.
“Shiloh to Collins,” came the radio call.
Jack stood, and as a small blond-haired villager smiled and jabbered about something that Jack was sure the man thought he understood, he happily nodded and acted as though he had indeed understood the joke, or was it just a story? He didn’t know but smiled and bobbed his head and then moved away to take his radio call. Everett joined him.
“Collins,” he said into the radio when he was a few feet away from the boisterous villagers.
“Colonel, I have Professor Gervais here, and he wishes to speak with Master Chief Jenks,” Captain Johnson said from the deck of Shiloh. “He seems really agitated about something.”
Everett got the attention of Jenks, who had a small child on his lap and was teasing her by making her think he had just pulled her nose from her face. The girl giggled and squealed with laughter when she discovered that the nose he had pulled off was actually his thumb that he wiggled in front of her. Jenks made eye contact with Carl and then easily sat the girl down and then joined the two officers. Jack explained who was calling and then handed the radio to Jenks.
“Jenks here,” he said and then popped a cigar into his mouth. He waited a moment and grew frustrated. “Who is this?” he asked, looking at Jack.
“Supposed to be Professor Gervais.”
A look of knowing came onto the master chief’s rough countenance.
“Press the damn button on the side, Professor. Jesus.”
“Oh, oh, I see. Thank you.”
“Okay. What’s up, Doc?” Jenks said and then smiled at his small Bugs Bunny joke. He saw that Jack and Carl only stared at him, and then he removed his cigar and then spit. “Goddamn humorless pukes.” He turned back and then looked at the radio. “Come on, push the button on the side every time you want to speak. Don’t they teach you anything over there in Putin land?”
“Oh, again? I see,” came the voice over the radio as Jenks was sure Captain Johnson was explaining the transmit switch on the radio to the old professor. “Master Chief, we have activity on the phase shift equipment that is quite fascinating.”
“And that is?” he asked into the radio as he removed the cigar once again as he looked at Jack and spoke in low tones. “And we were afraid of Russian science all these years, and they can’t even operate a radio.”
“But yet they still came up with phase shift technology,” Everett said, raising his eyebrows at Jenks.
“Smart-ass.”
“The equipment seems to be powering up once again. Low output, but we are detecting a ramp-up by 0.1 percent.”
“Come on, Professor, that could be anything. It could just be residual energy being disbursed by the equipment to static electricity buildup. You are in a ship constructed of steel, you know.” Jenks rolled his eyes at the Russian professor’s naïveté.
“Yes, I have figured that into the equation and have found no evidence of that. Therefore, I will monitor the phase shift system until you return, but there is now another concern about a changing situation that I will let Captain Johnson explain.”
There was silence once more as Jenks handed the radio to Jack. “Here. Navy officers give me the galloping trots.”
“Hey!” Everett said with a mocking tone.
“Present company included, of course.”
Everett’s eyes narrowed, but the master chief just shrugged.
“Colonel, Johnson here. It seems that when the professor first detected the buildup of energy from that machine on the Simbirsk, we started getting interference on the Shiloh’s and Peter the Great’s radio band frequencies we have just repaired. Were you or any of your landing party using a radio at that time?”
“Negative. We were invited to dinner by our hosts. Thus far, this is the first call.”
Carl nudged Jack’s arm, and the colonel looked up at where Everett was nodding. Salkukoff was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Henri, for that matter.
“Noted, Captain. Inform the good professor that Master Chief Jenks will return to the ship momentarily. Out for now.” Jack lowered the radio and then gestured for Carl and Ryan to find Salkukoff. “Jenks, stay with me.”
Before anyone could move, a shrill scream echoed through the bright moonlit night. The scream could be heard from some distance away. Around them, women gathered up their children, and the men, much to Jack and his team’s surprise, started running for the large hut where they had seen the village’s weapons stored.
“Oh, this don’t look good,” Jason said as he watched the frantic activity. As he studied the scene, he nudged Jack on the arm and then pointed.
Jack turned and saw what was being indicated. In the clearing where the baskets of whatever the villagers had been mining had been lined up, a place that had been unguarded since they all had moved into the next communal clearing for their evening meal, the baskets had mysteriously vanished.
Before Collins could comment, they saw one of the women, a larger, more rotund one with streaming long and braided blond hair, gesturing wildly in the center of the village. It looked as though she were frantically looking for someone. Jack saw that it was the same mother who had gathered up the child that Jack had given the saltwater taffy to just three hours before. Several of the armed village men confronted her, and she was crying and waving her hands wildly. Then the men, along with thirty others, broke from the group and started to run for the jungle surrounding the village.
“Jason, you and Jenks find Henri and that damn Russian. If the Frenchman already fulfilled his mission, we could be looking at a whole lot of trouble with the rest of the Russians. Get them back here.”
“Right,” Jason said as he and Jenks left the center of the village.
Jack pulled his nine millimeter as did Everett. They both started to follow the menfolk of the village. They ran past a startled Kreshenko and Dishlakov, and Collins waved for the Russian Navy men to follow. They were unarmed, but Jack wanted to keep an eye on them also. With Salkukoff missing, he wasn’t taking any chances.
The group of close to thirty-five villagers and guests sprinted into the low underbrush surrounding the large village.
They had gone about eight hundred yards from the village. Jack and the others were having a hard time catching up with the fast and agile natives. They jumped over tree stumps and bushes just as if it were bright daylight and they could see perfectly. Jack heard the villagers stop up ahead, and then he saw why. They had circled around something on the grassy floor of the trail. Several of the small men turned away, and they could hear the moans of despair coming from them. Collins approached slowly, easing his way past the circle of villagers, who, for the most part, stood there with spears dangling from limp arms, their heads bowed. Jack felt Carl and the Russians next to him. A man was on his knees crying and reaching for something in front of him. The small man was pulled away from whatever it was by the elder of the clan. It was the same man who had greeted them upon their arrival. As he led the man away, the elder caught Jack’s eyes, and the look was not only one of sadness but, strangely enough, also one of resignation. Collins holstered his handgun and leaned down to see.
“Oh no,” Second Captain Dishlakov said as he saw what was there.
Crumpled in a heap was the small blond girl with the golden smile Jack had shared candy with earlier. Collins went down to one knee, and he felt the sadness invade his soul like a virus striking his system. He checked the broken girl for a pulse but found none. A familiar anger filled his mind as he lowered his head.
“Why would someone do this?” Kreshenko said as he looked around the darkness.
“It looks like she was taken right from the gathering. Look.” Jack shined the light on the girl’s exposed wrist. It was red and discolored as if she had been pulled. All eyes also locked on the same thing Jack had seen. Clutched in the girl’s right hand was the melted, softened piece of saltwater taffy. The child had never eaten her candy. She must have admired the color and its softness too much to waste by eating it. Collins swallowed the lump in his throat. “She must have at least been free enough to scream, and then whoever did this plunged this into her,” Jack said as he retrieved the spear from the ground at his feet and easily tossed the long shaft over to Carl. “Look at it, Swabby.”
Carl did as he was asked and examined the long spear. The differences were noticed right away. The bloody tip was not flint or any other kind of natural material. It was iron.
Immediately, the newcomers started looking around them. They now knew there was danger here facing these native villagers in this tranquil place.
Collins moved the flashlight around the clearing, and he saw that a long line of perpetrators had used the trail recently. The underbrush was trampled, as whoever it was had headed toward the opposite beach from the side of the island that they themselves had landed on.
The Americans and Russians were eased aside by the villagers as they gathered around the still form of the covered body. They easily picked up the small bundle, and they moved off with it. Kreshenko and Dishlakov started to follow the slow and sad procession out of the jungle.
“No,” Jack said as he clicked off the flashlight.
The Russians stopped and turned to face the American with a questioning look.
“Let’s get the others and get back to the ships and leave these people to grieve in their own way. I don’t think they’ll think us rude or anything like that. As a matter of fact, it worries me that they almost seemed emotionless or maybe even expectant of what happened. We’ll leave them alone for now and get answers tomorrow.”
“Colonel, you are thinking deep thoughts, and as a captain of a capital warship, I have come to learn the signs of a man who has something on his mind.”
Collins looked from the retreating forms of the villagers and faced Kreshenko.
“Yeah, Captain, I do have something on my mind.”
“What is it, Jack?” Everett asked with the spear still in his hand. He noticed the weapon and then easily snapped it into two pieces over his knee and then angrily tossed it to the ground.
“These people just had a child murdered by something or someone. But their reaction was one of resignation. It’s like they experience this all the time. I think they originally thought the child may have been taken by an animal, maybe a big cat or something, and that was their intent, to kill or stop whatever it was. Then they saw what had killed her, and they all became not angrier but frightened or even resigned to the situation.”
The night became stiller than it had been earlier, or was it that the newcomers had just felt the night close in around them far more than it was before they found the murdered child?
“We’ll learn more tomorrow. We’ll expand the search of the surrounding seas and see what else is out there. Right now, we need daylight,” Jack said as he started to move away.
“Yes, in the daylight,” Dishlakov said as he eyed the dangerous world around him.
* * *
In the bush only a few feet away, the bright green eyes with black pupils watched as the men moved away. The long-fingered hand reached out from the brush and grasped the broken spear that Everett had just discarded. The eyes blinked, and the creature stood erect. The eyes watched, and its recessed ears, buried deep into the sides of its head, listened. It hissed, opening its mouth, exposing the clear, small, and very sharp teeth of the predator.
The creature moved back into the darkness and was engulfed by the night.
* * *
Jenks and Ryan found Charlie Ellenshaw, who was lurking behind a tree. They thought the crazed cryptozoologist was still back in camp, but here he was in the middle of what was fast becoming a dangerous jungle. Jason eased up behind Ellenshaw and tapped him on the back, which made Charlie yelp in fear as he fell forward, thinking that whatever was out here had come upon him. He looked up and then exhaled a pent-up breath.
“Jesus, Captain, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“Come on, don’t be a wimp, Nerdly,” Jenks said with a chuckle.
“What in the hell are you doing out here, Doc?” Ryan asked.
“Following Colonel Farbeaux. He looked very determined to get somewhere.”
“Damn,” Jason said as he looked at Jenks. “I hope he hasn’t done anything yet.”
“Done what, Commander Ryan?”
They turned and saw Henri standing only feet away from them. Jenks grabbed his chest and yelped just as Ellenshaw had just done a brief moment before and cursed the Frenchman.
“Where’s Salkukoff?” Ryan asked pointedly, almost afraid of the answer.
“Right over there,” Farbeaux said with a gesture of his head.
“Why did he vanish?” Jenks asked.
“I don’t know, but he was speaking with someone on the radio.”
“I thought he didn’t have one,” Charlie said, confused by the inquiries being made.
“He wasn’t issued one by us or the Russian captain. Their equipment wasn’t working when we left. Our radios were shielded, at least the handheld radios were.” Ryan looked around and tried to catch sight of the Russian. “Who was he speaking to?”
Farbeaux kept his gaze on Ryan. “All I can say is that the language returned was Russian.”
Before Jason or Jenks could ask another question, they heard the underbrush being parted and footsteps as they approached. Colonel Salkukoff stepped out in his expensive bush clothing. The only thing that was missing, the Americans had joked earlier, was the pith helmet seen in old Tarzan movies.
“Out for an evening stroll, gentlemen?” the arrogant man asked as he pushed by the group. He stopped and faced the Frenchman and the others, including Ellenshaw, who was just now standing up. The Russian’s eyes took it all in. “Or were you on a spy mission sent by your clever Colonel Collins?”
“Yes, they were.”
Everyone turned and saw Jack, Carl, and the two Russian Navy men. They were standing there silently, listening and watching.
“I see, so all pretense of trust is now gone?” Salkukoff asked with a large smile.
“No, not at all, Colonel. There never was a pretense. We never trusted you.”
The smile grew even larger.
“Colonel Salkukoff, after you vanished from the meal our hosts were generous enough to lay out for us, you came up missing. Now we have a small child murdered. Coincidence?” Jack asked as he stared at the dark-haired man.
“I will not stand here and be interrogated by you, Colonel Collins. I won’t answer to your ridiculous and dangerous insinuations. I don’t kill children.”
“But yet you do. I saw your gentle nature in the Ukraine, Colonel. So, I know that you do, most assuredly, kill small children,” Henri said as his blue eyes never left those of the Russian.
“We’ll discuss this later. Right now, we have to get Master Chief Jenks back to the Simbirsk.”
Salkukoff started forwar
d and then stopped in front of Farbeaux.
“Very soon, Colonel Farbeaux, we are going to have a serious disagreement.”
“I look forward to it,” Henri answered as Salkukoff stepped by him.
“But for now, Colonel Collins has suggested that we return to the ships. Captain Kreshenko, Second Captain Dishlakov, join me, please.”
With a bow of his head toward Jack and the others, the Russian captain and his XO reluctantly fell in beside Salkukoff.
“What do you think, Jack?” Carl asked.
“Again, I think our Russian colonel knows far more about this place than he’s telling.”
“Does anyone want to know what I think?” Jenks asked as he slowly and deliberately lit a fresh cigar.
No one asked, and Jenks accepted that.
“Well, if you are interested, I think our French thief here should have placed a bullet in the head of that murderous son of a bitch while you were out here in the dark.”
Most heads turned and looked at the master chief. He smiled back at them.
“But no one asked me, so let’s get the hell back to that ghost ship and try to get out of here before this Salkukoff asshole turns the tables on us. Because in case you didn’t notice, gentlemen, that bastard has had a plan and an agenda long before we arrived here.” Jenks snorted, puffed on his cigar, and then moved by the others toward the beach and the boat ride back.
Collins lay back as the others joined Jenks. He stepped up to Henri, who had been rather silent the past few minutes.
“I was afraid you had killed him already,” Jack said when he was sure no one was in earshot.
The Frenchman shook his head and placed the small .30-caliber handgun away. He had been hiding it behind his back the entire time he was facing off with Salkukoff.
“I would have, but when I came upon him and his secret radio, I found this. He must have stepped right over it. It was on the beaten track made by the attacker or attackers. I assume more than one by the way the brush was trampled.” He reached into his pants pocket and then held out a small object. “Remember, Colonel, the power source enhancers we used for the Wellsian Doorway?”
Beyond the Sea--An Event Group Thriller Page 21