May There Be a Road (Ss) (2001) (17 page)

"My apologies," Gavagan said. "That was insensitive." "He's been missing four years.

And there are probably many that share your opinion.." all of which is beside the point." She opened her purse and took from it a ring, a dragon ring made of heavy gold and jade. "Have you ever seen that before?"

Tom Gavagan fought to keep the excitement from his voice. "Then this was not in the collection when it was lost? It is the Han ring, of course."

"It was lost."

Somehow this was beginning to make sense. The Kuan-yin, the bronze owl, and now this. "So how--?"

"I bought the ring, Mr. Gavagan, two days ago in Pearl. I bought it for sixty dollars from a man who believed he was cheating me."

Gavagan turned the heavy ring in his fingers. If this ring had been in the collection when lost, yet had turned up for sale in Pearl Harbor, it meant that either all of the artifacts had not been lost, or all of them had been stolen.

From the moment he had seen the bronze owl, he had begun to grasp at the edges of an explanation. He had been sure he had heard of that owl, yet there could have been more than one.." there could have been many. Still... "Why did you come to me?"

"Because I believe you can help me. You know the people who understand such things, Mr. Gavagan, and I do not believe my uncle's collection was stolen before he was lost at sea."

"Come along," he told her, "we're going to see a man about an owl."

All was dark and still when the car drew up alongside the old pier where the Manoa was moored.

There was no light on the schooner, looming black and silent upon the dark water. "I hope he's aboard," Gavagan said, "or in the village.

Anyway, there's something here I want you to see. You should stay in the car, though, there've been some rough characters about."

At the plank, he hesitated. There was a faint stirring aboard the schooner. Swiftly, Gavagan went up the gangway. As his feet touched the deck, a man loomed suddenly before him.

"Kamaki?" It was too tall to be Kamaki.

Gavagan heard a shoe scrape as the man shifted his feet to strike.

Gavagan lunged forward, stepping inside the punch and butting the man with his shoulder The man staggered and started to fall, but Gavagan caught him with a roundhouse right that barely connected.

The hatch opened suddenly and Also Ribera stood framed in the light holding a pistol. "All right, Gavagan. Hold it now."

Tom Gavagan stood very still. The man he had knocked down was getting up, trying to shake the grogginess out of his head. Realization suddenly dawned on the man and he cocked himself for a swing.

"Stop it!" Ribera said harshly. "Don't be a damned fool. He can help, if he wants to live. The guy's an expert in this stuff."

Gavagan measured the distance to Ribera, but before he could move, the man he had hit was behind him and he had no chance. Ribera stepped aside, and Gavagan was shoved toward the ladder There had been no sound from Laurie Haven, and suddenly he realized they thought the car to be empty.

Kamaki was lying on the deck with his hands tied behind him. As Gavagan reached the bottom of the ladder, the Hawaiian succeeded in sitting erect.

Also Ribera came down the steps. There was another man, a Chinese with a scarred face whom Gavagan recalled having seen about town.

Three of them, then.." and Ribera had a gun.

Kamaki had blood on his face from a split in his scalp and there was a welt on his cheekbone. The stocky Chinese had a blackjack in his fist.

Gavagan was bound, hands behind his back, ankles tight together.

"What's the matter, AI?" Gavagan asked.

"Did your perfect crime go haywire?"

Ribera was not disturbed. "Crime? It's a salvage job. The skipper just wouldn't cooperate with his new partners. You ever been down in a helmet and dress?"

"The word is out, Ribera, those pieces are known.

They know where they came from and, soon enough, they'll know who you are."

"There's nothing to connect us with this! And for your information, when we get the rest of this stuff up we're not coming back. We took on enough provisions tonight to get to San Francisco."

"What about the ring?"

Ribera's head turned slowly. "What ring?"

"The jade and gold ring from the collection. Somebody peddled it."

Ribera stared hard at Gavagan, trying to decide whether this was a trick, yet as he stared, Gavagan could almost see his mind working. There was enough larceny in Ribera that he would be quick to suspect it of another.

Ribera turned to look at the big man Gavagan had fought with on the deck. The man's eyes shifted quickly, but he tried to appear unconcerned.

"Nielson, did you--?"

"Aw, he's lyin'!" Nielson declared. "There ain't no ring I know of."

Ribera's eyes were ugly. "Yes, there was.

By the lord Harry, one of you is lyin', and I'll skin the..." He stopped and motioned his men out of the cabin. "Come on, let's take this on deck."

They locked the door to the cabin, and Gavagan could hear footsteps on the ladder. "What's going on here, Kamaki?"

"Sounds like you know more than I do Pops found this wreck, we brought some stuff up. He called you and was asking around about the sunken boat when Ribera showed up. He knew all about what we'd found and wanted to cut himself in. When we said no, they took over.

They were going to force us to go back out. They let me go with the Chinese guy to get supplies. I guess that's when Pops escaped." He was quiet for a moment then.

"Almost escaped," he said.

"He had the Kuan-yin with him when he died,"

Gavagan said.

Kamaki shook his head, tears showed in his eyes.

"He wanted to give it to my wife.." to help us have kids. Can you believe that? He has a chance to get away but he takes the time to steal a hunk of ivory because he thinks it might help her. He got shot and he still carried it down the beach with him .... was There was no sound for a moment but Kamaki quietly crying.

Then the Hawaiian took a long slow breath.

"They are getting ready to cast off," he said.

"What!"

"The tide is turning, they're going to take the Manoa out."

Tom Gavagan heard feet moving on the deck, lines being let out, the slap of filling canvas. "Can these guys sail?" he asked.

"Yeah. The Swede and the Chinaman... the Chinaman can dive, too."

Soon enough they could feel the roll of the deep ocean, and Gavagan inched his way over to where Kamaki was tied.

"Let's figure a way to get loose. I don't fancy being tied up and I don't fancy going down in a helmet and dress with these guys running my lines."

"They took all the knives when they tied me up .. . even the one on the weight belt of the diving dress," Kamaki said.

"What about that?" Gavagan jerked his head at a long nail driven into the crosspiece just above the door. It was at least six inches long but had been driven into the wood only about an inch. "If we could get it out I think I could use it to get the knots untied."

"Yeah?" Kamaki suddenly grinned. "Watch me."

He wormed his way over to the bulkhead and maneuvered himself so that he was on his back with his legs extending up the wall. He arched his back until his weight was on his shoulders and his heels scooted almost a foot higher, closer to the nail. But the boat was rolling constantly now, and no sooner had he tried to hook the ropes binding his legs over the nail than the deck heeled over and he fell, his heels hitting the deck with a thud.

"Help me." Kamaki squirmed back into position. Gavagan soon got the idea.

He got to his feet and, leaning against the bulkhead, blocked Kamaki's legs from sliding to the right. A locker blocked them from going too far left.

Kamaki hunched, his powerful torso straining.

Hunched again.." he slipped one of the ropes binding his feet over the nail. Then he tightened his stomach muscles and fearlessly hung all of his two hundred and twenty pounds from the nail.

There was a moment where nothing happened. Then the Manoa listed, Kamaki's weight shifted, andwitha groan the nail pulled free from the wood.

Kamaki crashed to the deck. "You okay?"

Gavagan whispered.

"I'll pay for that later. I think they heard us." Kamaki tried to get back to where he had been as footsteps crossed the decking above them.

"Get down!" Kamaki demanded. But Tom Gavagan shook his head.

Also Ribera opened the hatch and came partway down the companionway, gun drawn. He saw Gavagan standing unsteadily at the bottom of the steps. You tryin' something?"

"Cut us loose!" Gavagan demanded.

Ribera laughed. "No chance." He leaned out and gave Gavagan a shove. Gavagan tottered on bound feet and fell to the deck. "That'll teach you to stay sitting down," Ribera smirked, and closed the hatch behind him. He never saw, or didn't pay attention to, the six-inch nail lying at Gavagan's feet.

Kamaki grunted. "You are one cool customer, Tom."

It took ten minutes of finger-numbing work for Gavagan to loosen the knots on Kamaki's wrists. Less than a minute later they were free.

Free but still locked in the cabin. Kamaki went to the small table protruding from one side of the locker.

He pulled up on it and removed the single leg underneath. The table hinged up and fastened against the locker. They now had a weapon.

Some sort of diversion was in order, but before they could discuss what to do there came more sounds of feet on the deck over their heads and then the sound, far off but approaching rapidly, of powerful engines. There was the crackle and squawk of a bullhorn announcing words that sent relief flooding through Tom Gavagan.

"This is the United States Coast Guard!

Drop your sails and heave to!"

There was no change in the motion of the Manoa.

Suddenly the hatch was thrown open. Before Kamaki could set himself there were footsteps on the stairs and Ribera appeared, gun in hand.

"Got loose, did you? Well, tough. Get out on deck, we need hostages."

Suddenly Kamaki swung the table leg. It hit Ribera's forearm and the gun went off into the deck. Gavagan rushed him, getting inside and hitting him with a right to the jaw. The man staggered back and Gavagan wrenched the gun away. The Swede stepped into the hatch, and Gavagan pointed the gun at him and forced him back onto the deck.

They were at sea and the Manoa had fallen away from the wind; she was pitching erratically in the troughs of the waves. Off to the port side a powerful searchlight cut through the night. Silhouetted behind it a Coast Guard cutter stood ready, the barrel of a machine gun picking up the edge of the beam.

Kamaki dragged Ribera, none too gently, up onto the deck, and Gavagan collected the Chinese. They waited as a boat from the cutter pulled up alongside. The third man off the boat after a Coast Guard lieutenant and an ensign was Art Roberts. The fourth person out of the boat was Laurie Haven.

"Well, Tom," said Roberts, "imagine meeting you here."

"Where are we?" Gavagan located a faint glow in the sky that must be the beginnings of dawn. "And how did you get here?"

"The middle of the ocean, it seems. It looked like you were heading for Molokini Island." Roberts had a faint smile on his face.

Laurie spoke up. "I took your car and went for the police as soon as the boat left the dock."

"With a little help from Lieutenant Cargill we caught you on radar," Roberts told him.

"Here." Tom Gavagan handed the policeman Ribera's pistol. "I think the chances are pretty good that ballistics will prove this is the gun that shot Teo." He took the pistol, produced an evidence bag, and dropped it in. "You will all have to come in to headquarters, there are a lot of questions that need answering. A Coast Guard crew will bring this boat back to port."

The sky was just going from gray to blue and the lights of the island were appearing in the distance when Tom Gavagan found Laurie Haven on the deck of the cutter.

"I haven't really thanked you for saving us," he said. "I haven't thanked you for finding where my uncle's ring came from. It's a relief just to know what ultimately happened to him. We all wondered for so long."

"With luck, Kamaki can recover much more from the wreck."

"I should pay you something I never dreamed I'd get such fast results."

"No need. But if you want to sell any of the Madox collection, I'd be honored to handle it for you." He glanced at her appraisingly. "There is a favor you could do for me... when the police are finished with it I would like it if you gave that Kuan-yin to Kamaki as a partial payment for recovering your uncle's collection."

Laurie looked puzzled. "I could do that, but why?"

"His father wanted him to have it, and I think his wife would appreciate it, too.." enough said?"

Laurie smiled and leaned into the wind as the cutter rounded the breakwater and turned into the harbor.