The Chair (15 page)

She was a tall brunette and looked fairly formidable with an impressive muscular figure, one of those bloody health nuts. I would need my wits about me and take her by surprise. One thing I surely didn’t want was to offer myself as a target for that new weapon of theirs. I waited for a bit till she turned her back on me then approached her from behind. I stuck my pistol in her ribs. “Don’t you bloody move sister, unless you want to end up a martyr for the cause; drop that weapon.”

She dropped it to her side and I immediately picked it up to examine it. Sticking the other pistol in my back pocket I marched her back into the conduit. After taping her mouth and hands I then went back to the elevator and up to the tank level. As I had surmised, there were several of Ara’s security people locked up.

“You again!” one of them shouted out.

“Yes, it’s me again, We’re going to have to stop meeting like this. Is everyone alright?”

“Yeah, most of us are but a few of us were shot in a fight yesterday and they put the rest of us in here. Man, they’ve gone berserk out of their heads, and they all wear these―”

“I know, armbands; they call themselves Nazi’s and they now have a growing and powerful following from a far country called Germany.”

One of them came up grabbing the bars with both hands. “What in hell is their game? What do they want with us?”

“They want to take over this island and turn it into a base of operations for their maniacal and insane ideals. Does anyone know if Eric Dorn is still alive?”

“Yes, Eric got away in the shoot out we had with them but we’re not sure where he went and he might have been wounded.”

“I’ve got to find him. There is a ship anchored off shore getting ready to bring large guns to the island. They have Ara tied up and drugged on that ship. They’re going to try and get information out of her before getting rid of her out at sea when they return to Japan.”

“Let us out and give us weapons so we can help.”

“Hold on, we need to find a way to gain control of the island again. Anders has distributed this new type weapon to his people which make them much more dangerous!” I handed it to one of them through the bars. “Keep it with you, but don’t use it yet until the time is right.”

“How will we know it’s the right time?”

“Stay here, keep cool and have patience for a little while, believe me it won’t be long!”

Leaving them in the tank, I took the elevator back down to the conduit. I walked in toward the female guard I had immobilized but before I could reach her, the barrel of a gun pushed into my back.

“Very slowly drop your weapon to the floor and get your hands up.”

How could I have been so stupid and careless to get caught so easily I thought to myself.

 “Now slowly turn around.”

With my hands up, I slowly turned and― “Dorn?”

“Richard! Where in hell did you come from?”

As he stepped closer I could see his clothing was torn with blood stains. “I’ve been waiting in the tunnel for the right moment to spring on one of these goons. They have a new type of pistol.

“It’s called a Mauser and yes, their very nasty. I was just about to go looking for you; are you alright? I heard there was a shoot out with those traitors!”

“Yea, I guess I’m alright. A bullet grazed my arm but it seems alright and the bleeding stopped for now.”

“Did you hear about the ship that Ara is being held captive on?”

“I…I’ve seen the ship but I didn’t know Ara was being held on it. ”

“We have to get her off that ship as soon as we can before they try and harm her for information they need.”

Dorn spoke up. “If they harm one hair on her head they’ll have to deal with me after you. We can go back out the cave entrance and down the beach to get a good look at the ship from a great vantage point.”

“Good, let’s do it.”

CHAPTER

 TWENTY ONE

W
e both left the cave entrance without being seen by any other guards. It was getting dark as the tide was coming in and the moon was a misty slice resting just over the horizon.

Dorn walked ahead and looked around. “It’s not far from here, just a little further up and around that shoal.”

We took our boots off and waded out and across the shoal to a rocky outcropping then sat down for a minute to catch our breath.

“We need to climb this cliff to the top and we’ll be overlooking Hayman’s Cove.”

“Don’t tell me, Hayman’s Cove is named after one of the originals landing on the island, right?”

“Yeah, he was one of the original naturalists from the Oceanus that I heard died of some strange disease way back when; soon after he passed on, they named the cove after him. The top of this rock cliff should give us a good view of the cove and that Japanese ship.”

“Perfect. We need a good vantage point to find a way to get to Ara without giving ourselves away.”

We climbed to the top of the jetted rocky cliff, stood at the top and there it was. You could see the ship clearly sitting in the cove just off shore, truly a commanding view of the cove. She looked like a small heavy duty ocean liner, converted into a supply ship, with the name Yusen Maru. There was a good sized barge hanging from a crane off the side of the ship which they would probably use to ferry the heavy guns to shore.

Looking down at the beach we could see a small skiff type craft with its running lights on. It appeared to be tied to a rock with two armed guards standing next to it. That little skiff would be Ara’s ticket off that ship. Somehow after dark, we had to appropriate it and get to the ship without being noticed. Both Dorn and I had our weapons ready as we began to hike down the rocky crag. It was getting darker by the minute which would help to cover our approach.

“Each of us is going to have to take one of those guards, but no gunshots unless it is absolutely necessary, right Dorn?”

“Right, we’ll need to put them to sleep the quiet way.”

Dorn seemed more than determined to get Ara off the ship and I was sure he still had something going for her, but I didn’t want to say anything that would jeopardize our concentration. By the time we reached the bottom of the cliff it was completely dark, the moon having long since disappeared over the horizon. We slipped down in back of a large rocky outcrop about fifteen feet away from the guards. From there we had to creep up on them carefully. One misstep was enough to give us away and I knew they would be shooting first and asking questions later.

I tapped Dorn’s shoulder and whispered. “We need to make sure we hit them hard enough to knock them out. Then we can tie and gag them together with the anchor line from the skiff.”

“Yeah, my thought exactly Richard, but don’t forget I’m a security person. I know a thing or two about restraining the enemy; don’t treat me like your kid brother.”

“Yeah, I guess you bloody well do, don’t you? Well, let’s get on with it then.”

 Both of the guards were facing the same direction and we made our way around to their backside. After this, I thought, they would learn to face in opposite directions. Quietly moving, we slowly made our advance toward them while they seemed to be absorbed in conversation speaking Japanese. Since we couldn’t understand a word they were saying, we converged upon them quickly striking them both over the head with our pistols.

I don’t know what exactly knocks someone out, but I’m pretty sure it’s more of the shock of getting hit rather than the actual force of the blow; anyway they were out cold.

We found the anchor line and put it to good use lashing them securely; then, utilizing some small round floating ball markers, we stuck them in their mouths as gags with more cut off pieces of line. As we got in and pushed the small craft out, I glanced back at them one more time admiring our handy work. They would be immobile and out of commission for a while; long enough for us to finish rescuing Ara off the ship. We took their rifles, laid them in the skiff and shoved off toward the ship using only the two emergency oars. The ship now appeared as a dark silhouette sitting in the cove with one blaring security light on shining down on the deck.

As we quietly approached the ship trying to limit any splashing with the oars, we could see two more guards up on the main deck doing rounds on either side of it. The water had been almost like glass with very little undulations and the wind was slowly picking up. There was a long boarding ladder held up by ropes half way up the side of the ship, about twenty feet above us and out of reach. We had to find another way to get onboard and continued paddling carefully to the rear of the ship.

“Look, another light around the rear, it must be for access to the ship from there.”

“I see it and it must be another entry point. Keep the weapon safety off; no telling what we will find, might be another guard.”

“There!” I whispered loudly, “a small landing platform for the skiff with a boarding ladder up the back of the ship. Quiet now.” I whispered, as we pulled alongside the back of the ship to the platform. It was lit with only a small light and we had to be extra careful not to be spotted. We tied the skiff alongside the platform and climbed out. The narrow ladder going from there up the rear of the ship was entirely made of rope. It looked pretty sketchy at first, but I was sure it would be sturdy enough to hold us.

Dorn went first and I followed him closely up the ladder. Leaving the dimly lit platform, it grew darker and darker ascending up the back of the ship.

He peeked over the edge and whispered, “I count only two guards on deck, both with rifles.”

“I’ll take the one on the left, and remember―”

He gave me an agitated stare. “Yes, I remember, no shots unless needed.”

I replied. “Yeah, right.”

We both stepped onto the deck and quickly hid behind several wooden crates. I then cautiously advanced to the guard on the left side of the ship Dorn would get to the guard on the right first as he was much closer and already walking toward the rear of the ship. I quickly moved around a storage area to get a good view of Dorn in action and was amazed at how speedily he put the guard down. He grabbed him around the neck in a tight headlock holding him there till he passed out. I thought I would do the same. Moving back to my position I noticed the other guard, now also heading back to the rear of the ship. I waited till he got within reach and then I quickly grabbed him and put him in a headlock; but not before he managed to yell out ‘Tasukete!’ which I assumed was help, in Japanese.

He twisted and turned around just enough for my arm to graze across a piece of loose sharp metal strapping slicing my wrist, but I was bloody well determined to keep a tight hold on him in the headlock until he finally passed out. We tied and gagged them both, then dragged them behind some crates. It was now a matter of finding the location that Ara was being held captive in. We both knew even if we found her, there was no telling what condition she would be in.

We carefully made our way below decks and the odor of fish mixed with steam was permeating the passageways, fitting I thought for a Japanese ship. Both Dorn and I looked at one another to see if the other was taking in the same pungent fishy aroma, while a sound of voices below seemed to be increasing. We kept moving stealthily down the passageways and heard laughing which sometimes erupted from their normal conversation; it sounded as if the crew were taking part in a game of cards or some such thing.

There were no other guards in the passageway to the second level down below decks and we continued on. Ara could be in any one of these compartments and we began checking everyone of them out.

Dorn finally stopped me and motioned down a smaller passageway. “Richard, down there.”

I carefully looked around the corner down the smaller passageway and there was a single guard sitting in front of a compartment leaning over his weapon, his head down looking half asleep. We backed off and I made a tapping sound that the guard was sure to hear. At first there was no response, so I made another rattling sound and this time we could hear him heading in our direction.

As soon as he rounded the corner Dorn punched him squarely in the face and he went down like a rock. We grabbed his weapon and dragged him into another compartment looking for rope of some kind but instead found a roll of wide tape and used it to tie and gag him. I quickly walked to the compartment he was guarding and looked through the porthole window of the door. There was Ara, eyes closed on a table with a tube going into her arm. Two women wearing hospital clothing were moving about, apparently getting ready to administer some type of injection.

Dorn came over to the door and looked inside. “Let’s get in there now and get her.”

“Alright, we go in but no shooting. We can still get her out of here quietly without the rest of the crew being the wiser.”

We prepared ourselves, pulled out our weapons and pushed through the door.

CHAPTER

TWENTY TWO

T
he two women were startled dropping the hypodermic needle as we broke into the compartment. One of them attempted to reach a wall alarm but I stopped her and held both of them at bay as Dorn quickly began removing the tube from Ara’s arm. She was barely coherent but opened her eyes looking up at Dorn.

“Eric, Eric is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me Ara. Richard and I came to get you off this tub and back to the island!”

She smiled and reached up putting her arms around Dorn, kissing him and he kissed her back.

 She tried to prop herself up on her elbows. “Thank god you’re here!”

I don’t think she saw me. She was drugged, half out of it and must have been showing her thanks to
whoever
was standing next to her, it just happened to be Dorn; that was surely all there was to it, or was it? He unbuckled the straps holding her down, put his arm around her and helped her up off of the gurney type bed. All the while, she kept smiling at him. I searched for a roll of wide tape and some gauze pads using them to tie up and gag both of the women. At this point we had a trail of bound and gagged ship’s crew, with most of them in one of the compartments playing cards totally unaware of our presence.