We settled at fifteen. Then Jana held out her hand for the money. I took it in mine, patted it understandingly, and laughed in her face. “You bring the man with the pesos to me,” I told her. “Somehow I don’t see myself handing over five hundred dollars to you. It’s so dark in here you might not be able to find your way back.”
“You are too suspicious.” Jana said with an injured air. She went off to find the money-changer.
Just as she left, the dancer on stage finished her act. A third spot joined the two which had been highlighting her bosom and pinpointed her shaved charms. Everything went black for a moment, and then the lights came up. The joint was lighter than before, although still pretty shadowy. I was deep in these shadows, and pretty much concealed from view. Across the room from me, the outer line of tables was more clearly illuminated under the vari-colored overhead lights which had just been activated. At one of these tables, I suddenly spotted a familiar face.
It was the Lorre-ringer, the sneaky steward from the Luzona Maru. He was seated at ringside, one of his hands inside the blouse of a plumpish blonde. He was squeezing her breast with an almost detached air, the way a housewife squeezes vegetables to test their consistency before buying. With his other hand he was wiping the beer-suds from his chin.
I watched him, safely concealed by the shadows, until Jana returned. The man she brought with her was a tall, middle-aged Oriental in an immaculate ice-cream suit. He was all business. He made the exchange quickly, didn’t try to conceal it when he gave Jana her cut, and left us.
“Thanks for the favor,” I said drily as Jana tucked the bills he’d handed her deep down in her bodice with the coconuts.
“You’re welcome, Steve.” Her smile said I really shouldn’t mind, that it was only business and a poor girl had to get along as best she could.
I let it pass. I had other things on my mind. I squinted across the room again to see if the steward was still there. He was.
“What are you looking at? ” Jana asked.
“I thought I saw someone I knew.”
She followed my glance. “You mean Otto? I know him too. How nice that we have friends in common. Shall I ask him and Bertha to join us?”
“No! No, don’t do that!”
Jana got the wrong idea from my hasty refusal. “Ah! You would rather be alone with me,” she said. “I understand. And it is so very sweet, Steve. But perhaps you would prefer more privacy than this? It can be easily arranged, you know. Only one hundred pesos, and we can have a room in the back all to ourselves.”
“Not just yet,” I told her. She was determined, I realized, to separate me from as much of my moola as she could. In this setup, that was understandable, of course. But I wanted something for my money, and the something wasn’t sex. I wanted information. There was a chance that Jana might be able to supply some of it. I took that chance. “Tell me what you know about this Otto,” I suggested, sliding a few peso notes across the table.
They quickly disappeared between the coconuts. “He’s a sailor on a Portuguese cargo ship,” she told me. “I believe he’s the steward.”
“Thanks for nothing. I know that. Now what else can you tell me? ”
She gazed at the ceiling as though trying to dispel a mental block.
I dispelled it for her. This time I tucked the pesos deep in the quivering palm-fruit myself. Immediately, Janas memory improved.
“I have seen him with ‘Baby’ Torres a few times.”
“Who’s ‘Baby’ Torres?”
She told me.
“I think our paths may have crossed,” I said. “Describe him.”
Jana described him.
“Does he travel around with three hoods? One a Spanish type with a Jerry Colonna moustache?”
“Who’s Jerry Colonna8 ? ”
“A handlebar moustache,” I amended.
“Yes. That sounds like one of ‘Baby’s’ men.”
“Now I’m sure our paths have crossed. What would Otto have to do with him?”
Jana shrugged. I watered her coconuts with some more pesos. Still she didn’t say anything.
“Come on! Tell me what you know,” I threatened, “or I’ll begin retrieving my investment.”
“It’s dangerous to talk too much. It might be better for me to give you back your money.”
“You don’t want to do that.” I banked on her avarice.
“No.” She sighed. “Very well, then,” she said in a very quiet voice. “Otto is mixed up with ‘Baby’ in some sort of smuggling operation. Bertha, the girl over there with Otto, is a friend of mine. She says that Otto brags that he will get a lot of money for this trip he has just finished. It has to do with a cargo that the “North Dock Gang” will hijack from the Luzona Maru tonight. It has to be tonight because the authorities are supposed to check the cargo in the morning. It will be put aboard trucks and taken out of Manila.”
“Where is it going?”
“I don’t know that. Otto didn’t tell Bertha. It may be that he doesn’t know himself. Probably only ‘Baby’ and his top men know. Otto was only the in-between man between somebody on the Luzona Maru -- perhaps the Captain himself -- and ‘Baby.’ But it must be big because Otto expects to be paid very well for his service.”
“Then Otto won’t take part in the hijacking itself,” I mused.
“I don’t think so.”
“What time is the hijacking supposed to come off?”
“I’m not sure. Sometime after midnight, probably.”
I glanced at my watch. It was eleven-thirty. “Jana,” I said, “you're a pretty chick. Working here, you must know the docks pretty well. How can I get to the Luzona Maru without being spotted? ”
“That would be very dangerous to try. Probably the simplest way from here would be to cross over from the south dock. But you’d run the risk of being gunned down by either gang. And Torres probably already has guards around the pier where the Luzona Maru is anchored if he’s planning to hijack it. I don’t know what your involvement is, Steve, but I’d advise you to stay out of it."
“I can’t do that.”
“Then please forget where you got the information. If Torres ever found out I’d told anybody about one of his operations, he’d have me killed like that!”
“Jana, how would you like to make a hundred pesos?”
Her dark eyes got every wide. “That’s a lot of money, Steve. What do I have to do for it?”
“Help me reach the Luzona Maru tonight.”
“That’s a lot of money, but it’s not enough to die for.”
“Two hundred pesos. And I don’t intend for either one of us to die.”
“Two hundred and fifty.” She looked frightened, but she wasn’t too frightened to haggle.
“Done.”
“All right,” she sighed worriedly. “I’ll meet you outside. I’ll leave now. You wait about ten minutes and then follow. Go through that hallway to the men’s room.” She pointed. “There’s an exit door at the end of it. I’ll be waiting outside it.”
I dig as she said and found myself in back of the International Club at the rear of the south dock. Jana took my hand and led me into the darkness. It swallowed us up as we picked our way between rows of packing cases and hand-trucks.
The breeze off the Philippine Sea grew stronger as we emerged from between the rows of crates into a clear space. At the other end of the clearing a man casually pointed a tommygun at us. “Stop right there!” he warned.
“South Dock Gang,” Jana whispered. “Let me handle him.”
She put her hands up, smiled teasingly, and moved toward the guard, wriggling her hips as she went. “Surely” you aren’t going to shoot me, Manuel, are you?” she asked in a throaty voice.