Taylor sang like a bird, spilling the details of his “arrangement” with Maddock and Bones. However, he switched around a few key details of the story, namely that Maddock and Bones were the ones who had come to him with the idea of making side money by selling the artifacts, particularly the cancelled stamps.
In the foliage, Bones whispered some choice words under his breath.
“Then we have to find these two men!”
“They must still be on the island,” Spinney said from his prostrate position. “You destroyed our boat and plane, so they didn’t use those to escape, and no one else has been here except you.”
“Where do you think they are?”
“They must be in the jungle. Outside of our camp, which you already saw, there are no other facilities on this atoll. Nowhere to hide.” Spinney looked right at the clump of undergrowth where Maddock and Bones hid.
“Then we will set the jungle on fire. Smoke them out!”
The man watching Spinney spoke once more into his two-way radio, then said, “The first phase of Mizuhi’s island development plan has begun. Are there any other secrets you’d like to tell me?” Spinney cowered under the Japanese man’s harsh gaze.
Another Mizuhi man came running up to his colleague and dropped a six-gallon red gas can at his feet. He said something in Japanese.
The Mizuhi leader turned and looked directly at the clump of plant life Maddock and Bones were ensconced inside before turning slowly away toward the end of the jungle. “The jungle begins there?”
“Yes,” Spinney said from his place on the ground.
The Mizuhi leader pointed to his man with the gas can, who promptly took it over to the jungle. He opened the lid and began to pour gasoline as he walked in around the periphery of the forest’s end. Then he calmly took a lighter from his pocket, first used it to light a cigarette, then torched the earth. The ground and leaves were wet, but with the accelerant the flames found the wood and took hold.
The Mizuhi leader pointed to two of his men. “Station yourselves at the other end of the jungle. Find those men. Find those crates. This is our island…this is our destiny!” His eyes took on a faraway look and Maddock admitted to himself that although he didn’t think it was possible to be more self-obsessed than Spinney, this Mizuhi guy was making a good run at it.
Then, to Spinney, the conglomerate leader said: “How much gasoline do you have?”
“Probably another hundred gallons.”
One of the Mizuhi men addressed their leader. “It will take all of our men to pour it around the jungle.”
“Use all of it!” the leader told his men. “No one hides from me!”
Already the smoke from the fire at the end of the forest nearest them offended their nostrils.
In the bushes, Bones had his dive knife unsheathed and was watching the situation unfold in front of them. The Mizuhi men all left, heading back toward the camp, leaving Spinney and Taylor behind, lying on the ground.
“Smell that?” Bones twitched his nostrils.
“Jungle is starting to burn.”
“Maybe we should have just stayed in the cave.”
“Clearing the forest would have made it easier for them to find the cave, though. And we can’t see the helo coming from there, if we ever do manage to make contact.”
“Is your glass always half empty, Maddock?”
“Only when I’ve been hunkering down in the bushes for hours with a large, cantankerous Indian…”
The banter continued, the two warriors nearly delirious from fatigue.
They cut the chatter when they saw the Mizuhi leader returning with three of his men, their weapons pointed at the prone forms Spinney and Taylor.
“On your feet!”
The EARHART group men turned their heads to look up at the armed Mizuhi men but otherwise made no moves.
“Where are we going?” Spinney pleaded.
“Get up. Now!”
The leader jabbed his pistol menacingly in Spinney’s direction.
“Look, Mr….” Taylor trailed off.
“You will call me Tomoaki.”
Spinney’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen your name on the lawsuits trying to claim salvage rights to the Electra.”
Tomoaki’s eyes narrowed. “Then you know I am serious about my goals. I will not give up.”
“And I will?” Spinney’s eyes seemed to bulge from their sockets.
Tomoaki shrugged. “If you wish to live.”
“You lost the lawsuit! You have no right to the airplane or anything else on this island!”
“As I said, Mr. Spinney, I will not give up. Legal recourse has failed me, so now I am left with no choice but to take what I desire by force. You can either help me, and live, or stand in my way and die.” He pointed his pistol at Spinney’s forehead. “Your choice?”
The EARHART leader looked up at Tomoaki as he lay in the dirt. “How can I possibly help you at this point anyway? My own people seem to be deceiving me.” He shot Taylor a look to kill. “I knew nothing about those crates until just now. I swear it.” His gaze bore unflinchingly into the eyes of Tomoaki. He went on before his aggressor could speak.
“And the plane? You blew it over the ledge down there with your stupid whale! It’s on the bottom of the abyss, probably broken up into little pieces from bashing around on the way down.”
But Tomoaki was no longer listening to him. As Maddock and Bones observed from the stand of foliage, he looked at one of his men and then pointed to the radio tent. The man nodded and then proceeded to walk into the tent with his machine gun at the ready. For the next few minutes they heard the sound of rapid gunfire and the shattering of plastic and metal. The destructive noise overshadowed Spinney and Taylor’s protests. In a symbolic act of finality, four of Tomoaki’s men cut the support cables for the antenna tower and toppled it to the ground.
In the bushes, Maddock and Bones exchanged worried glances. This development was not good for them, either. With no satellite phone and now no radio equipment, how were they going to make that extraction call?
Chapter 24
Maddock resisted the urge to swat a fly off his arm. The slightest movement of the bushes could tip off Tomoaki or one of his men, and they’d be finished. Two men, even SEALs, armed with only knives couldn’t hope to be a match for what looked like dozens of men with automatic weapons.
“We already issued our press releases and reports of criminal activity hours ago.” Spinney somehow managed to sound smug even while face down in the dirt.
“This atoll will be crawling with people any minute!” Carlson added, his voice shaky.
Tomoaki ignored them and beckoned one of his associates. He huddled in close conference with the man for a few seconds until his employee nodded and trotted off toward the camp. Then he pointed his pistol once again at Spinney’s head.
“Get up! Both of you! I will not say it again.”
Spinney and Carlson struggled slowly to their feet, Spinney slapping Carlson away once when their arms tangled.
“March! That way.” Tomoaki pointed with the hand not holding his gun toward the beach on the other side of camp.
“What are we doing?” Spinney’s voice had a demanding tone. He stood in place.
Maddock couldn’t hear the reply, but it was galvanizing whatever it was, because Spinney and Carlson started trooping down the path toward camp. They were flanked on either side by men with automatic rifles. Tomoaki looked around for a few seconds, taking in the destroyed radio tent, the burning jungle, his men leading the EARHART leaders away. Then he stared directly into the tangle of fern, myrtle, and fire plants, where Maddock and Bones hid. The two SEALs held their breath until Tomoaki turned around and strode after Spinney and Carlson.
Bones looked at Maddock. “Now what?”