The Betrayers mh-10

by Donald Hamilton

  I said, "And that's what you're really working for? You're not protesting against the war we've got; quite the contrary. You're trying to promote a bigger and better one. You figure on sinking a U.S. transport with Red Chinese equipment and having the body of a Chinese technician found on board the boat that set off the explosion. You figure that will force Washington's hand. We'll have to retaliate somehow, and there'll be counter-retaliation, and what you're really hoping is that it will build up-escalate, to use the jargon-to a nuclear payoff. Is that it?"

  He smiled. "You underestimate me, Eric. I've made sure of forcing Washington's hand. There will be found on board the boat not only a Chinese technician, but a cowardly American peacemonger fairly high in government employment. Don't forget yourself, my friend. Why do you think we were so careful to lure a man out from Washington, hoping for a fairly senior agent who, unlike the kids we'd hired for show, couldn't possibly be called a dupe or a catspaw. As Irma said, you played right into our hands with your pacifist cover. Your body found on the boat along with the Chinaman's will discredit both the pacifist groups and the wishy-washy government that tolerates them. There'll have to be action, real action, to quiet the national uproar that will follow."

  I glanced at Irma. "And supposing you get your war, what part will her people take?"

  Monk said, "They will fight with us. They'll have to. They have just as much to lose as we have."

  "That'll be the day," I said.

  "We fought together to defeat the Germans, didn't we? This is a greater danger than Hitler."

  I said, "Suppose they just stand by rubbing their hands gleefully while the two largest nations they share the world with kill each other off, after which they simply move in to pick up the pieces." I didn't look at Irma, but I was aware that she'd stirred minutely, as if I'd touched a sensitive nerve. I said, "You're dreaming, Monk. I won't argue with your premise; I don't know that much about Asiatic politics. But I don't trust your allies."

  "They'll have to fight," Monk said stubbornly, his eyes hard and bright. "They know as well as we do that the fate of the white race is at stake."

  It startled me. I mean, I'm not particularly tolerant, and I don't really believe that everybody's equal. Depending on what I need him for, I'll judge a man by his 10, or the score he makes on the target range, or the speed at which he can take a car around a track; and anybody who tries to tell me that some people aren't brighter than others, or better shots, or faster drivers, is wasting his time. But except for recognition purposes, I've never found the color of a man's skin to be of much significance in our line of work, and the idea of killing off a bunch of people just because of a slight chromatic difference seemed fairly irrational to me.

  But what really startled me was hearing it from Monk. Not that he'd ever been particularly tolerant, either, back when I'd worked with him, but he'd subscribed to no special racial theories that I'd been aware of. But now it appeared that he'd bought the old yellow-peril package complete with paper and string, and I had a hunch I knew who'd sold it to him, although I was careful not to look toward the tall blonde girl in the muddy white jeans. I had certainly underestimated her, and by the looks of things I wasn't the only one.

  Well, it was bound to happen. Somebody was bound, sooner or later, to take advantage of that strain of fanaticism that I'd always mistrusted in the Monk.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  DURING THE LONG AFTERNOON that followed I had plenty of opportunity to consider what I'd learned, in all its worldwide implications, but I didn't really take advantage of it. My job is a practical one and I don't feel comfortable in the rarefied atmosphere of theoretical international politics. I do hold a few private opinions about world affairs, fairly moderate ones, but I'm perfectly willing to admit they may be all haywire.

  Hell, racial theories aside, maybe the Monk was right, and we should blast the Chinese off the face of the earth. Maybe we should have used the bomb on the Russians way back when we had it and they didn't. Maybe we should use it on them now, regardless. Maybe we should obliterate Castro's Cuba, or just Castro. We might even, while we were at it, do a little something about other troublesome parts of the American continents, not to mention odd areas of Africa, Asia, and Europe, if those people didn't straighten up and fly right. There were all kinds of interesting possibilities, once you started considering the idea of fixing up the world by armed force.

  I wasn't qualified to say that all of them were wrong- considering my profession, I'd look silly objecting to a little judicious force-but I didn't really think the Monk was peculiarly qualified to say that one was right, not when the evidence indicated that his decision had been strongly influenced by people-one person, at least- whose motives I had no reason to trust.

  In any case, it wasn't his decision any more than it was mine. I was glad I wasn't the man or men whose decision it was, but I was reasonably certain that it could be made without the help of any spectacular fireworks off Honolulu harbor.

  My job wasn't to judge a political policy, it was to prevent an explosion and incidentally save a few lives-although strictly speaking, as Monk had pointed out, we're not a great, humanitarian, life-saving agency like the Red Cross or the Coast Guard. It's not, let's say, our primary objective. As a matter of fact, I recalled, my primary objective was to deal with a traitor. I concentrated on trying to figure Out how to manage this, tied hand and foot on the floor of a guarded tent. I came to the conclusion that I was going to need a little luck. Well, one generally does.

  I had company in the tent, of course, and presently I heard the man beside me come around to consciousness once more. His breathing changed, and he stirred briefly, testing his bonds. Having determined the nature of the predicament in which he found himself, he sensibly saved his strength and lay still.

  I suppose I should have talked to him, pumped him, appealed to his pride and his sense of self-preservation, and made some kind of deal to insure his cooperation, but I didn't. I couldn't think of anything he could tell me that I needed to know at the moment, and he was too bright, I figured, not to cooperate if it seemed to his advantage to do so-and probably too unscrupulous to stick by any deals if it didn't.

  Toward evening, Irma entered with food and water. I was interested to note that she'd exchanged her artfully tattered shirt for a whole one, equally gaudy. The guard stood by at the open tent door with his carbine ready while she untied the hands of Mr. Soo, let him eat and drink, and lashed him up again. Then it was my turn. She got a good deal of innocent fun out of my clumsy efforts to absorb nourishment with my feet still tied and my fingers stiff from bondage. Afterward, Monk came in to check the knots.

  I said, "Aren't you afraid of spoiling the evidence, Monk? Regardless of how you set up the actual killing, bodies full of rope burns and bullet holes aren't going to look very convincing, no matter how you plant them."

  He said, "Hell, you know better than that. I remember a case where a man was found shot in a hotel room without a gun anywhere near him. Absolutely no firearm within blocks. But he'd lost a lot of money that wasn't his and written his wife a despondent letter, and the police called it suicide anyway, as I'd figured they would. Set it up right, and they'll believe what they want to believe, and to hell with the so-called clues. I've set this one up right, believe me. All that's required is the bodies." He looked down at me. "Anything I can do for you, friend? A drink, a smoke, a pillow for your head? Always happy to oblige."

  He really meant it. He'd won; he could afford to be generous. Well, it was nice dealing with someone who felt no need to slug and spit in the hour of victory.

  I said, "Well, I could use a nice sharp knife."

  He laughed. "Good old Eric. It's a long way from Hofbaden, isn't it?"

  I grinned. "It's also a pretty long way from Honolulu, amigo. You aren't there yet."

  "That's right, keep the old courage up," he said cheerfully. "I'll see you in the morning, early. Sleep well."

  I tried to settle myself com
fortably on the hard floor.

  After I'd achieved the best compromise possible, I heard Mr. Soo's voice, puzzled, from the growing darkness beside me.

  "He speaks like a friend."

  I said, "Friend, enemy, what the hell? He's hated me a long time. He's feeling nostalgic; he's going to be a little sorry to end all those fine years of hatred by killing me tomorrow. It will leave a hole in his life until he finds somebody new to hate, and he knows it."

  Mr. Soo said softly, "Incomprehensible people!"

  I said, "Hell, you folks would be lost if you couldn't shake your fists at the U.S. twice a day. You ought to know what I mean."

  Mr. Soo said, "I will not discuss politics. I suppose you have no clever plan for escaping tonight."

  "No," I said. "Do you?"

  "Unfortunately not. I will sleep. Good night, sir."

  "Good night, Mr. Soo."

  He said, "My name is not Soo. No matter. Soo, for purposes of reference, will suffice. Good night."

  They didn't give us much sleep. Monk had trained them well. They came in almost every hour with flashlights to check the ropes. Even so, I managed to doze off between inspections. But suddenly I found myself wide awake and sweating, although there was no man bending over me. Something had changed. The trade winds weren't blowing any longer.

  Particularly on the windward side of those islands, you get so used to the steady murmur of the wind-even in a few days-that when the trees fall silent and the little breezes stop, you look around uneasily, expecting something terrible to happen, and of course it does. At least so I'd been told. The temperature rises, dogs run mad in the streets, men jump out of high windows, and lovers part, never to meet again-until the trades start blowing once more.

  This didn't concern me, but I was thinking of a wounded woman in a small sailboat. Straight downwind to Kalaupapa, I'd said, but now there was no wind.

  Without the steady, driving trades it could take her days to make it, if she lasted that long.

  Well, there was obviously nothing I could do about it, except count her out as far as the assignment was concerned. It had been a forlorn chance, anyway. Picturing what she might be going through out there wouldn't help anybody, so I put it out of my mind, or tried.

  In the morning they came for us well before daylight. It was hot and still. We were untied and led down to the inlet in the dark. Both boats had been brought out of cover and were lying against the bank, quite motionless. Soo and I were put aboard the larger one, which had a motor box in the stern, and a funny sort of propulsion unit sticking out behind the transom that looked like the sawed-off lower end of a giant outboard. I was used to the old-fashioned type of motorboat, where the power plant shared the cockpit with you and drove a propeller by means of a shaft running through the bottom of the boat, and the steering was done by a simple, old-fashioned rudder. Maybe this rig had advantages, but I wasn't seaman enough to spot what they were.

  The bow of the boat was taken up by a tiny cabin. The rest was cockpit, at the forward end of which, to starboard, were the steering wheel and other controls. To port was a kind of electronic box with switches, buttons, and dials that could have been a navigating device of some kind, but I was reasonably sure it wasn't. There were seats for six people, two at the forward end of the cockpit facing forward, two back-to-back with these facing aft, and a couple more just in front of the motor compartment, facing forward again.

  Mr. Soo and I were placed in these rearmost seats, and our ankles were lashed to the chair legs-if that's what they're called at sea-which were bolted to the cockpit floor. Then, since there was no space for our arms behind us, our wrists were tied in front of us with the same strong, heavy fishing line. It was a little gain. It's easier to do something about your bonds if you have them where you can look at them. Irina jumped aboard and sat down facing us, gun in hand.

  "Later you will be put in the cuddy, forward," she said. "However, Monk doesn't want you to spend too much time alone. You might be bored. So for the present you'll ride out here where I can entertain you."

  Monk was standing on the bank beside the other boat, a somewhat smaller and stubbier craft boasting two huge outboard motors on the transom. At least they looked enormous to me. I guess the one I remembered from boyhood must have been Ole Evinrude's little pilot model or a very near descendant. Monk was giving instructions to a couple of men. I could hear enough to know that he was arranging a rendezvous, but not enough to have any idea where it would be.

  Irina looked annoyed when Monk dropped aboard our craft and immediately used his flashlight to inspect our wrists and ankles.

  "I have already checked," she said sharply. "Can't you trust me to do anything right?" She caught herself, and mopped her face, and said in the humble voice I'd come to know, "I'm sorry, Monk. I didn't mean.

  This damn kona weather!"

  He grinned. He was in a good mood. "Check and double-check is my motto, kid," he said, patting her on the shoulder. I couldn't help wondering what their relations were and how they'd spent the night, but they weren't lovers now. His touch and voice were casual and preoccupied. "Well, don't put any more holes in the specimens than you have to. Here we go."

  He went down the aisle between the seats, picking his way past the clumsy-looking water skis stowed there, and paused to take off his damp Boy Scout shirt and throw it into the little cabin. He sat down behind the steering wheel. When he turned the key, things began to rumble and vibrate behind the seats to which Soo and I were tied. ~

  A man on the bank turned us loose. Monk maneuvered us around in the narrow channel, using, I noticed, a husky lever for a throttle and three colored buttons to work the gears: apparently the boat was equipped with an electric or hydraulic shift of some kind. I watched him carefully. I mean, I'm an automobile man at heart. A fine twisty mountain road and a good sports car is my idea of traveling. After my recent experience in the Pailolo Channel, I'd resigned myself to the fact that I'd probably never be a true sailboat sailor; and I wasn't really yearning to test my motorboating abilities, but I might have to.

  So I watched him closely, by the instrument lights, as he worked the boat back and forth until he had it heading out. Then he shoved the throttle lever smoothly forward. The rumbling and burbling behind me increased in volume. The trees slid past, and some grass and sand. We slipped through a final opening and Monk gave another shove to the throttle. The boat seemed to rise and level off, planing. He switched off the instrument lights, and we headed out across the glassy dark sea. I didn't spend much time looking around. If Isobel was becalmed out here somewhere, there was nothing I could do for her and certainly nothing she could do for me.

  The trip was, I figured, more than three times as long as the one we'd made from Maui to Molokai, and we made it in less than a third of the time, which shows what the internal combustion engine can do for you. As the dawn broke behind us, Irma, facing into the sunrise, put on a pair of dark glasses from the pocket of the garment she was wearing this morning: a short, sleeveless muu-muu that, except for its bright colors, looked like the kind of starched smock they used to put on very little girls.

  We came up on Oahu at thirty knots-or miles per hour. From the rear of the cockpit I could read the figure but I couldn't read just how the nautical speedometer was calibrated. The fact that there was such a thing at all was a surprise to me. It was daylight when we rounded Diamond Head. There were many more boats out than usual, I noticed, including a good many catamarans with bright sails that didn't seem to be doing very well without wind. I could see the hotel where I was still paying rent on a room and the beach where I'd first seen Irma. Monk threw the engine into neutral, glanced at his watch, and came aft.

  "Okay, get them below while I rig your towline," he -snapped at the girl. "Hurry it up before somebody comes too close; it looks as if every boat in Honolulu is heading out to welcome the Lurline." He was feeling some strain now, and his voice showed it. "I hope you've got your bathing suit ready under that pinafo
re."

  Irma laughed. "Really, Monk…"

  "Don't really-Monk me. Just get them out of sight and get overboard where you belong. And remember the instructions. I'll make one pass. Don't forget to laugh and wave at all the nice boys. We'll go right down the side of the ship and swing off to port. At a quarter of a mile, I'll hit the firing button. You let go and fall when it blows, but not before. Make it look natural, as if you were knocked right off your skis by the concussion. I'll swing around to pick you up. By the time I've got you and the rope aboard, there should be so much smoke and confusion nobody'll be paying any attention to us.

  •.. That's it, tie them up good, there."

  Irina, lashing my ankles, gave an extra yank to the cords. She already had Soo hog-tied on the other bunk in the tiny, wedge-shaped cabin. She paused in the opening to regard me for a moment; then she smiled slowly and took off her sunglasses and dropped them into the pocket of her smock. Still smiling, she reached back to unfasten the garment and, with the same graceful movement I remembered-which she was obviously remembering too-she slipped it off with her sandals and dropped it into the cabin beside me tauntingly, like a stripper parting with a strategic tassel. She stood there for a moment in her white bikini, slim and tanned and blonde and beautiful.

  Monk said, "For Christ's sake, Irma, stop posing and get back here! There's a ship putting out now… Yes, there she is, right on time, the General Hughes. Over you go. Get those skis on and give me the word."

  – I heard a splash. Through the open cabin door, I saw Monk return to the controls, looking back impatiently.

  Then the door slammed shut, but I heard Irina's voice: "Put her in gear… All right, hit it!"

  The boat surged ahead and hesitated briefly, fighting the resistance of girl and skis; then it was up on the step and planing, but I wasn't really paying attention. I'd been waiting for a break and I'd got it. I remembered clearly telling another girl, in a different place: There are times when a bit of broken glass can come in very handy.