Operation Malacca (9 page)

Keilty clubbed the driver at the base of the skull and ripped the microphone loose from the dashboard. They got out of the cab and walked into the store as if they were ordinary shoppers. As the glass doors swung shut, Keilty saw another cab pull up and the two Chinese from the hotel cigarette counter get out. They looked up and down the street, then entered the store quickly, one going to a pay phone just inside the door.

'Trouble followeth,' Keilty grinned at the girl. 'Think you can stand a little fast walking?'

Tina stared up at him; she barely came up to his shoulders. Her brown eyes were wide and still full of fear but she smiled tremblingly and squeezed his hand.

`Good girl.' They hurried down the main aisle, Keilty looking for another entrance besides the front. They moved quickly between the various counters. He pulled the girl aside quietly, stepping back into a row of high bookracks. A Chinese, neatly dressed in a dark suit, stepped through the main doors and stood to one side, glancing around the store. Keilty risked a quick look behind, but couldn't spot the two following in the press of people in the store.

From somewhere above came the soft chiming of bells, and Keilty looked at his watch –five to nine.

'The store closes at nine o'clock,' the girl whispered. 'Perhaps we can mix with the people leaving.'

'No,' he replied. 'That's just what they will expect us to do.' He studied the man at the door for a moment. 'Look, you start towards the door. They'll be looking for us together, and know what I look like. But they don't know you. There's a drugstore just up the street. Wait for me there.'

Before she could protest, he pushed her out into the aisle and stepped back quickly around the bookshelf.

Tina went slowly towards the door, pausing to examine a display of jewelry, then walked past the Chinese at the door.

He looked at her, then made as if to step in front of her, but Keilty, head down and walking fast, came into view around the other side of the shelf. The Chinese stepped back and reached inside his jacket. The gun in Keilty's hand came up quickly from where it was hidden in back of his leg, and popped once.

The girl had already disappeared as Keilty ran past the falling body and pushed through the door. Once in the street, he turned left and walked fast towards the drugstore, keeping to the inside of the wall. A green American car went past him and stopped in front of the department store and several men got out.

The drugstore was half a block up thestreet and Keilty was inside minutes later. Tina was waiting for him at the magazine rack. Keilty moved casually to the other side, carefully searching the shop. The drugstore looked better suited to a large midwestern shopping center. Highly modern, full of gleaming plastic and steel. Even the bottles and lotions in the women's make-up section were the familiar shapes and brands. Satisfied that he hadn'

t been followed, Keilty moved around next to Tina.

• 'So far so good. But it won't take them long to get onto us. Is there any other way out than the front?'

'Yes,' Tina nodded almost imperceptibly. With the magazine, she indicated a narrow corridor leading back past the pharmacist's counter.

Keilty grasped her arm and steered her to the back of the store. As they started past the counter, a Malay in a white jacket stepped out of a side door, and surprised, stopped.

'I am very sorry, sir,' he smiled politely, 'but this area is for staff only.'

`Fine.' Keilty stepped forward, pressing the gun into the man's stomach. 'Let's go, hurry!'

The man gasped, his face paling at the sight of the silencer-stubbed automatic. Keilty leaned on the gun and he retreated. They passed a door leading to an alleyway and Keilty grabbed his shoulder and pushed him through. The door led to a small alley that ended at the store entrance. Along the open sides, garbage cans were stacked against a wall.

Parked against the drugstore wall was a white Volkswagen delivery truck with the name of the drugstore painted brightly in English, Malay, and Chinese.

Keilty glanced quickly through the doorway and clubbed the druggist with he pistol. He went down without a sound. Tina turned away as Keilty dragged him into a shadowed corner, then moved quickly to the end of the short alley. The entrance to the street was less than ten yards away and around that corner the avenue opened up, running down past the department store and ending at the square. Keilty could see two cars parked at the entrance and several men waiting outside the doors. A third car stopped opposite the store and three men got out and hurried across the almost empty street.

Keilty beat it back to Tina and hustled her inside the unlocked delivery truck. The keys were not in the ignition, and swearing, he jumped out again and dug through the unconscious druggist's pockets. He found a set of keys, but none with the circular Volkswagen crest. The druggist was beginning to come around and he left him.

Tina, sitting in the other seat, looked at him with a white face as he slid into the driver's seat and ducked his head under the narrow dash.

With her knife, taken from the Eurasian's pocket, he sliced the insulation off one side of the two ignition wires.

I hope to hell this works,' he muttered. 'I've never hot-wired a Volkswagen before.' He straightened, pressed the wires together, and the engine caught immediately.

The VW moved down the alley and turned into the street. When they turned onto the boulevard, Keilty breathed a deep sigh of relief.

He slid into the traffic stream, moving with it for several blocks, then pulled the truck over to the curb, into an empty parking space, and stopped.

Ènd of the line,' he announced gaily. 'Let's dump this thing before we have the police after us as well.

He hopped out and came around to open the door and help Tina out. They walked down the street a ways, Tina almost running to keep up with his long strides. They passed several cabs, but all seemed to be driven by Chinese.

`For God's sake,' he complained, 'don't they have any Malay cab drivers around here?'

`You don't think that the Communists have all the taxi drivers organized do you?' The girl laughed for the first time that evening.

Ì don't know, but we're not going to try and find out,' he said grimly. 'We've got to get off the street pretty soon, before they find us again.'

`Why are they after you? Are you a policeman of some kind?'

Keilty laughed quietly, turning to peer back up the street. `That's the last thing in the world I am, pussycat. What makes you think that?'

`Do you know who those men were who took us from your hotel room?'

`Sure, Communists.

`Yes, they were,' she said. Tina stopped and turned to face him. 'But they were more than that. The one who beat me told me who he was to frighten me. I was only a small child after the war, but I remember the power and the terror of the Chinese secret societies after the Japanese left. The British took a long time to stop them. The one who slapped me was a member of the Canton Tong. You have heard of it?'

Keilty grinned at her. 'Tong-war stuff; I thought the Reds cleaned them out when they took China ...'

`No,' Tina interrupted. 'They turned them to their own use. They are not Communists as much as they are gangsters doing the Communists' dirty work, and they are used in Singapore only when they want someone very badly. Now they are only gansters and work for whoever will pay them.'

`So. Things are beginning to clear up a little,' Keilty said thoughtfully. 'Well, this is your town – how do you suggest we get safe transportation? We can't go back to the hotel tonight ... but there is somewhere that we can go and we had better go fast.'

`You have the gun?' Tina said quietly. 'We can still take a cab.'

Keilty laughed again, kissed her quickly, and started walking to the cab stand ahead.

`How do you know so much about the tong?'

Èvery Chinese knows about the tong . . . and my parents still live in Canton. I visited them two years ago.'

They came up to the cab stand and slid quickly into the first cab.

`Hotel Metropoli,' Keilty said, leaning across the seat, 'and don't touch that radio.' He pressed the gun into the driver's neck. 'Move.'

Keilty banged on Rawingson's door loudly, then banged again. He heard shuffling, the click of a lamp going on, and muffled curses. The door opened a crack, then Rawingson pulled it all the way open.

`What the hell are you doing here

?'

Keilty pushed in and swung the door shut quickly.

`Howdy, Pete, bed so early?'

Rawingson wrapped his robe more tightly around him and planted his hands on his hips. '

What are you up to .. . ?'

`Never mind the small talk. We've got some pretty bad trouble.' Keilty flopped down on the couch, pulling Tina after him. She huddled into his arm and stared at the imposing figure of the white-haired admiral.

`First of all, pick up that phone and get some marine guards up here, fast.'

Rawingson, face incredulous, started to protest, but Keilty cut him off. 'We were kidnapped from my hotel tonight about seven – by the Communists.'

`What the hell!' Rawingson exploded. He didn't waste time in questions or disbelief, but crossed the room. The phone rang just as he reached to pick it up. He answered and listened for a moment, his face screwing up into a frown.

Àll right, keep it quiet. Not a word to anyone, or else. I have him here right now. Tell Commander Peterson I want the guard doubled around the building and I want four armed marines here at my suite in plain clothes – five minutes. No,' he said crossly, 'I'll explain to him later.' Rawingson hung up, opened the drawer and took out a .45 Colt automatic, checked the clip and dropped it into the pocket of his kimono.

He took the chair across the room and stared at the two on the couch.

'That was Operations. They just got a call from the consul's office. There is a warrant out for your arrest. Car theft and assault with a deadly weapon. What the hell's going on?'

Keilty laughed and crossed the room to the bar and mixed three stiff drinks. 'That, my friend, is a mighty long story.'

Briefly, Keilty ran through the events of the past hours. `So, Pete, there is either a leak somewhere, or else they want to get their hands on both Charlie and me.

'Huumph,' Rawingson snorted. 'Just you would be enough. Plenty of dolphins around.' He drained the glass and stared out the broad window morosely. `The only night I get a chance to get to bed early, and you have to come banging in here with some wild tale and every comic-strip oriental bandit in hot pursuit.'

`They are not comic-strip bandits, Admiral, they are very dangerous men,' Tina said quietly from the couch.

`She's right, Pete. I've got a bullet hole to prove it.' He opened his jacket; his shirt was stained red where the bullet had grazed his side. Tina jumped from the couch and was across to the bathroom before he could say more.

While Tina cleaned the slight wound and bandaged it, Rawingson made some more phone calls. When he finished and hung up the phone, a knock sounded on the door.

Both men were instantly on their feet, guns in hands. Keilty pushed Tina towards the bedroom.

`Yes,' Rawingson called.

'Sergeant Bennington, sir. Operations sent us'

`Just a minute.' Rawingson went to the door, while Keilty stepped back into the alcove where he would have clear fire on the door. Rawingson opened it a crack, then flung it open all the way . . . and sighed when he saw that the faces were American. The sergeant saluted and showed his I.D. Rawingson positioned the marines: one to the lobby, one to the end of the hall, and the other two outside the door.

When the door closed behind them, Rawingson turned to Keilty. 'I've set up the meeting for seven hundred hours. It looks like we had better shift into high gear. The dolphin will be brought aboard and the Vigilant will sail immediately.' Keilty was about to tell him that Charlie already knew where the sub was, when Tina came back into the living room.

Ì suggest,' Rawingson said, looking at the girl's worn face, 'that the young lady had better get some sleep.' He nodded at Keilty.

Keilty agreed and ushered the girl into the master bedroom. 'You're safe now, Tina,' he said quietly. 'Get undressed and get some sleep. I'll see that you're taken care of.'

She reached up and drew his head down, kissing him long and deeply, then leaned against him for a moment. He brushed

her dark hair back out of her eyes and kissed her on the tip of the nose. 'Sleep, sweetheart, and don't worry.'

He came back out into the living room, where Rawingson had fresh drinks waiting. 'We'

re not waiting for tomorrow. I've got Hallan and Hutchins both coming in an hour —

Washington wants us to move fast.

`Who is she?' He switched subjects abruptly.

`Who?'

`The girl,' Rawingson replied impatiently. 'Who is she and where did you meet her?'

Keilty grinned. 'Just a friend. I met her last night and she was waiting in my suite tonight when those thugs shoved me in the door. I told you.'

'Yes, but where did you pick her up is what I want to know.' 'I didn't. Not in that sense anyway. Peter Owterry, you remember him, the New Zealander ...

'Yes, go on.' Rawingson waved his hand impatiently. Ànyway,' Keilty continued, looking reproachfully at the

admiral, 'he introduced me to her and I took her out.' `Had you made a date for tonight?'

'No, but ...'

`That's what I thought. She goes into custody as soon as she wakes up.'

Keilty finished the drink. 'I was going to ask you to take care of her. It's for darned sure that she can't stay in Singapore.'

`Well, we'll take care of her for the time being and she'll be perfectly safe.'

The phone rang again and Rawingson picked it up. As he listened, his face turned red with rage. He swore furiously and slammed the phone down. Still swearing, he started to pace the room.

`Now what?' Keilty asked.

`They tried to break into the Military Mission building but they arrived just as the additional sentries came up.' Rawingson picked up the phone and dialed a number. 'They didn't get inside the building. Go tell the boys outside to pass Hallan and Hutchins through. We're leaving as soon as they get here.'