by John Day
Walter and the others needed to be out to sea when this all kicked off.
***
Back on-board Lady Jane, the situation was getting worse by the minute.
The Major returned to resume his questioning, and his attitude had completely changed.
He dismissed his men and had the look of an interrogator who knew the incriminating answer, but wanted that same answer from them.
With an air of smugness, Perez pulled out a chair and sat facing the others around the table. “What were you doing in the jungle?”
Ellen and Alan looked at each other. Who was going to answer that question?
Ellen noticed something missing from the table. Something they left behind when they set off this morning. “Let’s not play silly games Major. You know perfectly well what we were doing.
“Your man has just given you a map.
“You are an intelligent man and have pieced together a theory. Your theory is that the submarine contained something of value.
“The four gold bars which you will have confiscated, and the map in your possession, suggest there is more gold to be found in the jungle. That is what we were looking for.
“Am I right?”
Perez smiled. “More or less Ms Fox.” He tossed their passports on the table, along with the map.
“Did you find the gold?” He was still smiling, like the joke was on them.
“Actually, we never got chance to see it. The cannibals grabbed us. The cave where it was supposed to have been hidden was walled up with stone. As we pulled the stone down, a grenade fell out and exploded.”
Perez nodded to himself in understanding. That piece fitted perfectly with what he knew.
He slid his chair back and stood up. “At dawn today, I will take my men to the cave and bring the gold back for transporting. It will be confiscated, of course. You will be expected to come with us and show us the cave, we will do the rest.”
Benny saw the gleam in Ellen’s eye when she disclosed the treasure. Now he decided to throw a new challenge into the Major’s plans. One that would use the man’s greed against him.
“May I respectfully suggest you prepare yourself for a shock” he whined. “According to our information, apart from a fortune in artworks, there is 10 tonnes of bullion there.
“You might want to consider your position in all this. Why confiscate it when you can keep it all?”
Major Perez thought about the suggestion. He had intended to keep it all, anyway, but now he had an image of the fortune within his grasp.
The concept of valuable artworks went in one ear and out the other, but the unimaginable value of that much bullion, lodged firmly in his debt-ridden brain. This was the perfect solution to his money problems.
All he had to do was take it and run. No one need know. His men followed his orders and reported only to him. These four foreigners could be shot while trying to escape from the jungle. They would never to be found, after wildlife had carted the bodies away and eaten them.
The Major’s smile widened to an insane grin and he had the distant look of a man forming a devious plan.
“We start at 6.00am, so be ready, you are all coming with me to the cave.”
Alan wondered about the outcome of the battle between Mendez and the cannibals. “Major, did you find out who won the battle, the men from the Celeste or the cannibals?”
The Major felt good inside and freely opened up. “We observed the cannibals in their camp. There was a heap of bodies, 20 of them were white, so I guess the owner and the crew of the ship out there, all died.
“I see no sign of life on the ship, no lights or movement, but we will go on board and check it out, when we have recovered the contents of the cave.”
With that, Major Perez hurriedly left the Lady Jane to prepare his men for the long hike ahead of them.
***
Seeing the soldiers leave the boat, Walter sneaked aboard and explained what he had been doing.
“As I see it,” he said, “by preventing the helicopters from flying far, the Major and his men will not get away with the gold.
“The artworks would be lost, but there might be a way of sailing away with something, on the Lady Jane.
“Remember, with communications cut off by the mountains, it will be a day or two before a search party arrives from the outside world. Until then, no one would know anything about what happened here.
“Just to be on the safe side, I will swim out to the Celeste and rig an explosion, so Perez and his men can’t take her.
“I will be back before dawn and bring you up to date…”
Surprise!
Walter changed into his swimming trunks and left Lady Jane. The sand was cool underfoot as he loped across it to the shore. He took one last look around and entered the black water. It felt warm and silky as he swam out across the lagoon to the towering black silhouette of Celeste against the star-lit sky. He knew there would be a convenient ladder to climb, it would not have been raised if no one was on board.
He found the ladder but had to dive down several metres, then swim up fast to rise high enough to grab the bottom rung. He hung there a moment to get his breath and let the water drain off his body. Then he eased almost silently out of the water.
Up on deck, he could see the soldiers around the camp fire. They seemed to be having a good time. The wouldn’t feel so energetic by tomorrow night, having carried a load of bullion down from the cave.
Walter started his search on the bridge. He found the key to the armoury on the chart table. Whoever was in charge didn’t care about safe practice. There were only two rifles and two semi-automatic pistols left, but ample ammunition.
He decided to take a colt 45 semi-automatic, a shoulder holster because he had no belt, and several attachable pouches containing loaded clips of ammunition.
Slowly and systematically he searched the ship for someone left on duty, but there was no-one having a snooze in their cabin.
When he reached a large equipment store, he heard voices conversing in normal tones. One voice stood out, it was that of Charles Henshaw.
Walter pulled his pistol, cocked it, and unlocked the door. Henshaw and the men inside were very surprised indeed to see Walter Norris standing there, pistol in hand…
The deal.
At 6.00am, the four friends, Major Perez and his soldiers, set off back up the trail to the hidden cave. This time, the trek was going to be particularly hard. Everyone was tired, having gone without a full night’s sleep for so long. The stifling humidity and dank smell of rotting vegetation didn’t help.
Forced to remain silent as they trudged on, boredom quickly set in. The cannibals might be nearby, hunting, gathering food or whatever else they did all day.
Even though the jungle noises of insects, birds and monkeys, was an unrelenting cacophony, the human brain can easily filter it out and detect voices.
There was certainly no longer a feeling of excitement, amongst the four. The treasure was about to be snatched from them, so actually seeing it would make their feeling of loss even harder to bear.
Alan, Benny, and Ellen were preoccupied with thoughts of their fate. Sarah naively thought that once Perez had what he wanted, he would just vanish, and they would sail away and go home.
Perez was glad everyone was behaving, he didn’t need a battle just now, he was busy planning on how he was going to spend all the money.
By 10.00am, they reached the plateau.
“Major Perez,” Alan said, pointing towards the cave entrance. “Behind those vines is a wall of rocks. The Germans built it to secure the cave entrance. As far as we know, the treasure is behind it. You will need to open it up to see inside.” Perez never replied to Alan. He immediately ordered his men to cut the vines away with their machetes.
As the vines dropped away, other men dragged them clear of the entrance. In minutes, the stone wall was exposed.
Alan wanted there to be another grenade or two to blow up in the soldiers
faces, but realistically, that would not help him or his friends. The sound would bring the cannibals and most of the soldiers would escape the blast. Also, with the cave exposed, anyone could then make off with the fortune.
“Major Perez, please remind your men that the wall will be booby trapped.” Again, he ignored Alan. He realised his mistake and barked a warning to the men who were dismantling the wall and clearing the entrance.
The soldiers found several more grenade traps, hidden amongst the inner barrier of large boulders.
Excitement was palpable as the last massive lump of stone was pushed out of the opening by four straining men. It wasn’t lost on the friends that they would have been unable to move that crucial stone, themselves, even with Walter’s help.
Alan and Benny approached the Major. “As you are stealing whatever is inside, from us, at least allow us to be the first to go in, and see what we have been searching for.”
Elated that all his troubles were probably behind him now, Perez saw no harm in it. “Grab a torch and we will go in together.” He snapped.
The powerful beams slashed the darkness like light sabres. Even so, it took a short while for everyone’s eyes to adjust, from the jungle gloom, to the pitch darkness deep inside the cave.
Nonetheless, the dinner plate sized discs of light picked out the dark brown shapes of old wooden crates, thickly covered with dust.
No one drew a breath or uttered a sound. They were in awe of their discovery. Cautiously and together, they advanced deeper into the cave. The combination of light reflected off the roof and walls, and their improving vision, revealed an unbelievable quantity of packages and boxes.
The familiar eagle wings and swastika emblem on the packaging was proof, if there was any needed. They were looking at Grupenfurer Franz Kaltman’s stolen German treasure.
The fragile and moisture sensitive artworks were stacked high on top of the pallets of bullion. Grupenfurer Franz Kaltman loved every piece of art and had taken every precaution within the limited options available to him, to protect and preserve them.
To Major Perez, the boxes and wrappings were just that. He had to see inside and roughly pulled down a large parcel off the top, that would contain a priceless painting.
Benny couldn’t contain his horror as the man ripped off the covering. The indignant Russian grabbed the partially revealed painting and tried to pull it away, in a desperate act to protect it from this barbarian.
His thin nasally whine of protest echoed around the cave. “Don’t do that, you are destroying a priceless piece of art. You, brainless ape.”
The frame became the centre of a desperate tug of war that poor Benny couldn’t hope to win. Perez struck the tearful art lover a vicious blow with a fist to the head. Benny folded without another sound.
Alan and Ellen rushed and grabbed him as he fell, trying to protect him from further injury. The man would be unconscious for a long time, hopefully he would not awake with brain damage.
Perez threw the painting to the ground in disgust. He had seen more attractive paintings in hotel lobbies. He had no comprehension of its worth, and even less appreciation of the damage that he had done, exposing it to the high humidity of the jungle. This was a restoration expert’s nightmare.
Sarah screamed at Perez. “That painting is priceless. Are you so ignorant and filled with greed for gold that you don’t realise it?” Perez back handed her, knocking her off her feet to land heavily, on the hard rock floor.
Enraged, Alan leapt on the Major, while Ellen punched Perez’s face and kicked him very hard between his legs.
Soldiers outside the cave heard the commotion and rushed in to sort it out. The darkness left them groping around. A vicious kick to the head from Ellen laid out the soldier who lunged at her. She and Alan proceeded to punch, kick, and cudgel the inrush of soldiers, but eventually they were overpowered and laid out beside Benny.
Now Sarah had three patients to attend to.
The Major ordered his men to move the artworks off the bullion crates, and stack them against the side of the cave, he needed to see the gleam of gold. The paintings and light weight crates could be opened later, when stored securely.
As more and more packages were lifted away, Major Perez realised just how big a haul he had to deal with. He rightly guessed it would fill two military flat-bed trucks.
With the artwork removed, the top layer of bullion was exposed. It was a mix of silver and platinum. In the poor light, he couldn’t tell what they were, but they weren’t gold. The good thing was, he thought, there wasn’t much of it,
Eventually, the first glint of gold caught his eye. The soldiers sampled each crate and pallet to be certain. Never in his life had he seen a real stack of gold, just photos of the inside of a bank vault. This was considerably more than in the photos, and it was all his.
His earlier imaginings as to how he would carry away the haul, were shattered. It also dawned on him, the reality of converting the four bars of gold he already had, into cash, were patently unrealistic. He was a soldier, a good one at that, but he knew nothing about criminals.
The drug lord with whom he had dealings, would buy the gold. Perez realised the crook would pay far less than its worth, particularly for bulk.
The fact he could live very well on whatever they paid him, was pushed from his mind. Greed had destroyed all reason. The thought of someone ripping him off filled him with blind fury. That and the pair of aching testicles he nursed.
The soldier who struck Ellen had fallen under her spell, just like every man in the troop. He had been torn between duty and stealing her away. In the heat of the moment, duty won, but the force of the blow was light. She soon came around and lay there as Sarah fussed over her. As Ellen sat up, she gave Sarah a peck on the cheek. “Thank you, Sarah, for tending to me.”
Sarah smiled back. “Nice to be appreciated, Ellen."
***
Ellen always grabbed opportunities whenever they occurred. She watched the Major and saw her way out.
She knew all the signs of greed, weakness in the face of temptation, and inability to reason. Perhaps she could offer herself to him, and get out of here alive. She guessed rightly that he wanted her. However, his waddling walk rendered that moot, just now.
She couldn’t appeal to his better nature. He hadn’t one, least of all now, with all this wealth.
Perez was like the child with its hand in the cookie jar. She knew how it felt to grasp the metaphorical cookie, but unable to pull it out, past the small opening. She either dropped the cookie and pulled her hand free or kept hold of it and remained the jar’s prisoner. Major Perez had that look about him.
Ellen called out, her voice submissive, but loud enough to be heard, above the noise of the soldiers moving around and talking in the echoing cave. “Major, I have something important to share with you.”
Perez glared at her, he still felt sick from the pain in his groin, and she had brought his thoughts back to the real world.
He snapped back, “What could you tell me that would be of any interest. Forget about pleading for your life and the lives of your friends, you will all die in this cave.
Ellen expected nothing less from him. He probably had a clever military mind, but she was about to work him like a glove puppet.
Her soft voice purred as he came close and stood over her. “I guess you have three interesting problems to solve.”
He snorted his derisive reply. “What do you mean? All my worries are over, you, stupid bitch. With all this gold, I have the power of a President.”
“That’s the start of your problems though, isn’t it, Major.” She sneered.
“It’s all yours, but it’s out here in the middle of the South American jungle. Not in a secure facility, out of reach of those who would crush you like a fly, for it.
“I can see you have realised this.
“You are wondering how you can transport it all, aren’t you?”
Perez sneered. “My men will carry
it to the helicopters and fly it where ever I want.”
Ellen smiled knowingly. Perez was hooked.
“Let’s just look at that statement, Major. The load far exceeds the capacity of your aircraft. Not only that, you have little range, beyond returning to base. Anyway, where would you fly to?”
He was thinking hard and made no reply. Ellen jabbed him again, viciously, in his panicking mind. “What will your superiors say back at base, when you fly off to collect the remainder of the load. Having refuelled and abandoned your men, what reason will you give?
“How will you convince them you are not corrupt and up to something?” By the downcast look on his angry face, she was getting through to him.
“Let’s assume you could magic the haul to some safe warehouse, in some dark corner of the world. Don’t forget, you will have your Government hunting you down. How are you going to silence your platoon of soldiers?
“OK, you could kill them. But seriously, do you think you can mow them all down on the beach, single handed, after they have lugged the gold there for you?
“They will have guessed you are planning to run with it. Just look at them, they are handling the gold bars like they own them. I bet every man is wondering how he can keep some, if not all of it, for himself.
“Do you honestly think they will let you take it without a struggle?
“Dream on Major. You might get a few shots off, but even with a machine gun, they will shoot back. You will have so many holes in you, that your wife could hang you as a net curtain.”
The Major’s mouth moved with retorts that died in his throat, before he could utter them. None were valid and he knew it.
Ellen knew she had his attention. Greed is a wonderful thing. Its power exceeds all other emotions and no one on this earth is immune to it, except perhaps a dying person. She pressed her arguments further, with this clincher.
“OK, you have killed all your men, and us, there are no witnesses. Oh, then there are the villagers on the beach. The heap of bodies is starting to mount high now. You have shipped all this cargo to somewhere safe. Now tell me, who will you sell it to?