The Atlas Murders (53 page)

 “It’s unbelievable that any
government could do such a thing.”

Kerstin asked him to come
outside onto the deck she showed Juan the wetsuits and the bottles.

 His demeanor changed dramatically.
“Yes they’re hers. There is more I must tell you about Mr. Tukola.”

 “Before you go on, I must
ask you do you recognize this young girl.” Henry showed him the photograph of
the young girl he’d got from the police in Castries. “That young girl in the
middle, she was younger, only fourteen; she was sixteen when she went missing,
her name is Mariola Devadas.”

 Juan took the faded photo
and a look of recognition showed in his eyes. “Yes I do know her. She worked
with me at the hotel, a very lovely pleasant girl and exceptionally pretty. I
was of no help to her father when he came looking for her. She went to Caracas
with Mr. Tukola. She was so excited to be going home. Mr. Tukola took her on
his launch and left her in Caracas but she never arrived home. That’s why her
father came looking for her. Mr. Tukola told her father how many of the girls
go on yachts; they try to get to the U.S. to find work. Mr. Tukola told me he
let her off the launch at Maiquetia when they arrived there, saying she didn’t want
to go with him to Caracas. He also told me lots of the girls he brings back
never go home to the slums and poverty, but instead, go into prostitution in
Caracas. I would never believe this girl did any of those things - she was too
excited about seeing her family again.”

 “How many crewmen are on the
Windsong?”

 “There are only Mr. Tukola
and ChenYun. It’s a power driven launch and one man can handle it.”

 “Yes,” said Henry “I see her
she’s docked just down the pier so you must be careful going ashore not to be
seen by that Chinese man. Tell me; are they due to go on one of their trips to
Caracas again?”

 “I don’t know for sure but
it could be very soon because he seldom brings the launch here. Not unless he’s
getting ready to go to Caracas.”

 “I’ll have to be getting
back to the hotel. Are you coming Kerstin, you’re invited to the party? Annabel
is fifteen today Henry, and I’d love you to come but it would be too much of a
chance for you to take. He’d surely recognize you.”

 “Of course you’re right. Try
and find out when they are going again to Caracas. We’d want to know a couple
of days in advance.”

 “I’ll do that, but should I
call you, father?”

 “I think maybe Henry would
sound better.”

 Back at the hotel, Kerstin
mingled among the guests and Annabel thanked her for coming and accepted the
birthday card with a sum of money as Kerstin explained she wasn’t sure what to
buy as a present. Juan came out with the big birthday cake. The guests gathered
around and Annabel blew out the candles to a loud rendering of happy birthday.

 Kerstin didn’t get to speak
to Juan while the party was going on. She went to the bar after dinner hoping
she might catch him on his own for a few minutes. She felt she had achieved all
she could at the hotel, so would be going to go back to the yacht the next day.
She saw the two middle-aged guests come in and decided not to give them eye
contact; one evening listening to them was enough, she mused. The bar began to
fill up as the evening looked threatening with heavy rain clouds lying over the
sub-tropical forest that rose on the sloping hills. The garden was cleared of
sunshades and guests moved indoors. She caught a glimpse of Juan as he busied
himself in the reception welcoming new guests. When he was alone she went up to
him and made sure no one was watching, she asked him to meet her in her room at
midnight.

The knock on the door
startled her. She opened her eyes and saw Juan standing inside the room.

“Hello Juan thanks for
coming. Let’s make this brief in case your boss is around. What I want to know
is if you’ve managed to find out about his next trip to Caracas, and will he be
taking any of the girls?”

 “Yes. I think he is going in
two days’ time and is taking one of his house girls back to her parents; the
little one who came looking for him when Chen Yun was sick.”

 “Tell me, does he always
dock in Maiquetia on these trips?”

 “Yes, that is their usual port.
I think he could have a house near there. However, I’m not totally sure; he
tries to keep these trips secret. I was lucky this time because I overheard him
discussing it with Chen”

 “I’ll be leaving here
tomorrow, going back to the yacht, and I want a contact number for you.”

 “Just ring here at the hotel,
it will be ok. I get calls all the time so no one will be suspicious.”

 “Right, I’ll do that and
I’ll let you know what we’re doing when I go back to Henry tomorrow. So goodnight
until I see you next.”

 “Goodnight Kerstin and keep
me informed.”

 Henry was apprehensive about
what way to proceed when Kerstin told him about Tukola’s plans. “We have no
alternative now but to sail to Maiquetia and wait for him to arrive; we’ll have
to tail him while he’s there and see what his movements are.”

 Kerstin who had predicted
Henry’s response was already at the chart table. She drew in a course and
measured the distance. “It’s over four hundred miles so with a fair wind it’s
going to take us two days.”

 “Right, let’s get underway.”

Chapter
Forty-One

They sailed and picked up a
fresh north easterly breeze that pushed them along at ten knots. Henry was
steering and Kerstin was busy reefing sail to get every last puff of wind into
them. They cleared the harbor at nine hundred hours and had hopes of being well
ahead of Tukola with his powerful launch. Kerstin estimated his trip at twenty
knots and showed it would take him twenty hours, so they were hopeful they
could be there before him. The wind held and they were halfway by next morning.
At ten hundred hours they passed the small island of Blanquilla as the sun
scorched down from a clear blue sky.

Kerstin came to relieve Henry
at the wheel. “What are we going to do when we get there? You were saying
something about following him, how are we going to go about it?”

 He laughed for the first
time in almost a week. “A couple of bicycles I suppose. How are you with the
cycling?”

 She smiled. “Would you
believe it I can’t remember the last time I threw my leg over a bicycle, I must
have been eighteen, when I was throwing my legs over lots of things!”

 He looked at her
admonishingly. “You were quite the naughty girl back then. Seriously though, I
think we will have to hire a car.

 It was almost midday when
they arrived and tied up at the pier in Maiquetia.

“This is one place I’ve never
been, it looks beautiful, and the old fort like buildings gives it a sense of colonial
days. I’m sure it changed hands between the great powers numerous times.”

 “Yes, it’s quite something. I
suppose we better venture ashore now.”

Within a few minutes’ walk
from the harbor they found a car hire company.

 After filling in forms and
signing various pieces of paper, Henry was handed the keys to a shiny, nearly-new
Volkswagen Beetle.

Kerstin was delighted with
the little car, as she peered in through the window. “I didn’t know they still
made these,” she said, somewhat surprised.

Yes, they still make them. I
think the factory’s in Mexico.”

They drove into Caracas and
toured around, getting the feel of the place.

 “My goodness what a
sprawling city; how many people did you say, Henry?”

He turned to her keeping his
hands firmly on the wheel. “Six million, are you enjoying this little baby?”

 “Yes, I have a passion for
this ugly little creature. If I could I’d take her on the Witch with us, I
certainly would.”

 “Just as well we can’t,” he
laughed, “but I promise if we ever make ourselves a home port I’ll buy one for
you.”

 She jumped round in her seat.
“I’ll hold you to that.”

 That evening they sat on
deck and before they saw it, they heard the loud drone of a big launch’s
engines. They stood up and saw the Windsong come alongside the pier about
thirty yards up from them. Henry looked at Kerstin. “We’ll have to watch her
now and see who goes ashore.” He went and got his Panama hat and donned it and
putting on his dark glasses he said, “well, how do I look?”

 “Perfect, your own mother, God
rest her soul, wouldn’t recognize you. But why the disguise now; what are you
intending doing?”

 “We have to see if that
young girl is brought ashore and if so, find out where they’re taking her.”

 “Right Henry, if they leave
without the girl, you follow them in the beetle and I’ll stay and look around
the launch to see if she’s ok.”

“That sounds the best way to
go. I’ll walk up near the car and keep a watch.”

 A half an hour passed and
Henry thought they must be staying on board for the night then he saw Tukola
and Chen come onto the pier. Henry was inconspicuous in the shadow of a small
hut, they passed about ten feet away from him and he waited before following
them. To his surprise, they got into a big black limousine which was parked at
the end of the pier. He ran back and jumped into the Beetle. He followed slowly
behind them and they turned onto the main road to Caracas. Chen was driving and
he never broke the forty mile an hour barrier. Just as well thought Henry
because he wasn’t sure how fast the Volkswagen would go. They drove on to the
outskirts of the city and turned into the shanty town area.  Henry wondered
what business they could they have in an area like this. They turned into a
side street with pot holes that nearly shook the Beetle to pieces. Then the
limo pulled in between two large shacks and Henry saw the lights go out. He
parked and turned off his lights and got out of the car. There was no one
around except a few children who were playing with a mangy dog further up the
street. It was dark now, there was no street lighting just that what came from
the dim lights of the shacks. The limo was empty.

He stood outside the bigger
of the two shacks and heard voices, so he stealthily moved to a high window
which was open. He had to stand on his toes to peer inside the dimly lit room.
Tukola was standing stern faced. “Bring them in. I hope they’re better than the
last lot of trash you showed me.”

A withered old crone
accompanied by two younger women brought six young girls into the room. They
stood there in the half-light; young undernourished waifs, no more than
thirteen years old any of them. He inspected them and pointed to one. “Her,” he
barked, “take her clothes off.”

 The old crone lifted the
flimsy dress over the child’s head and she stood trembling naked with her hands
trying to hide her modesty.

“Is she a virgin? The last
ones were all deflowered, so I hope this one is a virgin.”

The old crone answered in a
croaking voice scratching her head. “Yes, she is a virgin.”

 She put her dress back on
and he said in a lecherous voice. “I’ll take her.”

 The old woman walked up to
him and took the wad of dollar bills he handed her. “You are generous, will you
take another one? It costs too much to feed all these.”

“One is enough this time,
I’ll be back again soon.” He grabbed the trembling girl by the hand and with
Chen in tow, took her to the car. Keeping out of sight, Henry ran back to the Beetle
and followed them.

They drove back onto the main
road and continued for a couple of miles. The houses around this district were
a bit smarter than where they’d just come from. The limo turned off, drove up a
leafy avenue and parked across the road some distance from a big house. Further
back, Henry pulled into the side and got out. Keeping well in the shadows, he
crept up to the entrance of the house and saw that Tukola had gone inside and
left Chen Yun with the young girl.

 He crept into the garden and
went to the back of the house. He was only about ten feet from the building and
could hear voices. Then a man came out and went to a shed; opening the door he
turned on a light and Henry could see a lot of glass tanks. The man who was
wearing leather gloves, remove the lid of a tank that was full of water; then
he put in a rod and pulled it out with a snake wriggling on the end, and took
it to the house.

Henry crept over to a semi-opened
window and peering in from behind thick shrubs, he could see Tukola inside with
the snake man and a woman. She had a glass vial and she was milking the snake’s
venom into it. After she had finished, he heard the woman telling Tukola about
the extra potency of the water snake.

 “The venom is the strongest
of all snakes and so deadly if you get it in the blood you will die. You make
sure you have no open skin,” then hesitating, she added, “but you know all this,
you have been using other types of venom for many years now.”

 Tukola stood gazing at the
small vial.

“With this powerful venom you
will experience sexual arousal like you have never known, and it will last for
several hours,” she laughed. “If you have pretty girls, they will squeal with
delight.”

 The man came back with
another snake, and the procedure was repeated.

Tukola paid her, carefully
picked up the vials and left.

By the time Henry had got
back to the Beetle they had gone, so he decided to head back to the yacht.

 Back at the harbor, he saw
the limousine was already parked up. It was near midnight and Kerstin was
sitting out under the awning sipping a cold mineral water.

She jumped up to greet Henry.
“I was so worried; I imagined everything from the hire car breaking down to you
being mugged or Tukola’s henchmen catching you.”

 He gave her a peck on the
cheek. “Thank you for being so concerned, come on below and I’ll tell you all.”

 “Now who goes first?” he
said.

“I will,” Kerstin said, as she
closed the cabin door and pulled the small curtains. “Don’t mind me, just a little
dose of paranoia. Henry, I went on board the Windsong and had a good look
around. There was no young girl, although I couldn’t get into the main cabin, I
could see through all the ports. I did see clothes which definitely belonged to
a young girl. They were strewn around one cabin. I don’t know just what to make
of it. Did he bring a young girl from Kingstown I wonder, and if he did, what
became of her?”

Henry shrugged his shoulders,
but inside he feared the worst as he began to tell her what he had witnessed.

 “Kerstin please brace
yourself for what I’m going say.”

 She listened with intensity
and as the whole scene unfolded, her face creased with horror as she imagined
the plight of the girl Tukola had brought back to the launch.

“What’s with this venom Henry?
I really don’t understand. How does he use it?”

“I’m sorry, I should have
explained, he drinks it. Apparently, it’s an aphrodisiac like a super charge of
Viagra.”

“Oh my Lord Henry, this is
unbelievable! what can we do? If he took a girl from Kingstown she must be
gone. Oh no, could it possibly have been Annabel?”

Henry showed a fear and helplessness
for the first time as he spoke with overflowing emotion. “That young girl he
has now will never see Kingstown. We’re going to have to save her.”

 Kerstin was crying. “I’ll
kill him with my bare hands, Henry what can we do?” she pleaded.

“I’m going to stow away and
sail on the Windsong. I will stop this murdering bastard once and for all”

 “Do you think you can do it without
them knowing you’re on board?”

“I’m not sure. You know a bit
about launches, where do you think would be the best place to hide?”

 “There’s a pair of double
doors aft of the main after deck, that’s the entrance to the engine space. I
think that would be the only place to hide and I’m sure they never go into that
space; I bet it’s only opened for scheduled maintenance.”

“I see.”

 She squeezed his hands. “Do
you realize he’ll probably have a weapon; a gun or guns on board, so what are
we going to use against him.”

 He let go of her hands and
stood up. “Did I hear right, did you say, ‘we’ just now, meaning both of us?”

 “Why yes of course I meant
both of us. How do you think you could overpower both of them? I’m not letting
you go there alone. What would I be doing anyway? Just following on in the
Witch and I wouldn’t catch up for two days. By then you’d probably be shark
food.”

 He placed his hands on his
head. “Kerstin, I’ve gotten you into enough of this, how could I live with
myself if anything happened to you?”

 She stood up and put her arm
around him. “We’re in this together and there’s a young girl’s life at stake
here and how could I live with myself if I did nothing and let her be murdered.”

 “Of course you’re right, now
we better organize and plan some kind of campaign.”

 She picked up a piece of
paper and pencil. “Ok, you start and I’ll write.”

 “Weapons. what have we got?”

 She opened a drawer and
pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “We have these.”

 “I’ve never seen them, where
did they come from?”

 “Don’t ask because I haven’t
a clue. They were here when I joined, must have been the previous owners. It’s
unbelievable what some of these so called decent people could be up to, but
never tried it myself though!”

 “Never mind you’ve plenty
time yet!  We have one decent knife.” Henry got it and laid it on the table.
“Now, if I use that, will you use the carving knife here?”

 “No, I couldn’t use a knife.
I’d surely stab myself. Get me that crowbar from the engine space.”

 He went and brought back a
two foot crowbar and handed it to her. “Try this for size.”

 She waved it about and laid
it on the table. “Yes, just right if I get near him with this he won’t know
what hit him.” She rounded up a flashlight, two large bottles of water, some
chocolate and a few cookies. She placed them in a bag with the rest of the gear
and looked at Henry. “Can you think of anything else?”

 “No, that seems to be it.
Now, how do we get on board? Do you think we should go there tonight while it’s
dark?”