The Atlas Murders (55 page)

“Don’t worry, Chen will sing
like a bird in about six hours when it’s time for his fix.”

 “Good thinking my beauty,
how right you are.”

 “I know because the young
girl came to Tukola asking him to come to the house, Chen Yun was sick - he
needed his fix, Tukola used him like a willing slave because he controlled his
drug habit.”

 “And we can control him the
same way by withholding his fix. Then he’ll tell us how to make the drop. He
will be so desperate for his fix, he’ll tell us all we want to know.”

 “Here Henry take her and
I’ll go down to Ayola and prepare some food. She’s steering zero four eight.”

“Zero four eight, skipper.”

 Kerstin and Ayola ate lunch
and they both came up to the controls to relieve Henry. The young girl was
already clinging to Kerstin, who had a few words of Spanish and both were
conversing successfully. Henry ate and then went and looked into Chen, he
didn’t offer him food or water. He noticed a look of desperation creeping into his
dark eyes. Then he went to the safe where Tukola had taken the venom from and
found four more vials from different species of snake; he also found a large
wad of U.S. dollars. “I know where they are destined for,” he muttered to
himself. He also saw Chens little bags of powder - a full box of them.

Chapter
Forty-Two

Kerstin kept the engines
running at about half speed and she was keeping a good lookout for traffic; she
was apprehensive but she didn’t know why. Then she saw a launch appear off the
port quarter and it seemed to be closing on them. She got the glasses and saw
it was a powerful vessel. “Oh shit! maybe it’s one of the American coast guards
disguised as a fishing launch.” She shouted down to Henry, “up here quick,” as she
put the engines on full power; the vessel was doing at least thirty knots now.

 “What is it?” He was
breathing hard. She handed him the binoculars.

 “Look there, you see that
launch?”

 “Yes, she looks something
like this one and she seems to be going at speed.”

“You’re right on both counts
Henry. I reckon she’s one of those American ‘coast guards’, but really CIA
launches, posing as a fishing charter. If they catch us with this haul of drugs
we’ll have some explaining to do. We could end up in Guantanamo, a notorious
U.S. base in Cuba. It’s unofficially being used for jailing drug smugglers. I’m
serious; you don’t know these guys, there’s no law out here. It doesn’t matter
how much we try to convince them, they’ll just think you’re a washed up ex-detective
trying to make some easy cash for your retirement fund…”

“I suppose that could
possibly happen, but whether they believe us or not, we need to shake them off
so we can catch Lilja’s killer.”

“You’re right, Henry.”

“Do you think we should get
rid of the stuff?”

“We’ll wait and see if we can
outrun them, Henry. I think with this launch we just might. Go below and switch
on the radar and set it to forty mile range, put the range marker and cursor on
the echo and we’ll track them for half an hour.”

 “Aye-aye skipper, I’m on my
way.”

 He switched on the radar and
saw the pursuer was twenty miles away. He put the markers on it and went back
up to Kerstin.

“Twenty miles distant.”

 “Right Henry, we’ll give it
half an hour and see if they’re catching up.”

 “Take her for a few minutes,
I must go below and check something.” She studied the chart and marked in their
position and the pursuing launch and wondered if the CIA had been watching the
Windsong. The agents ashore could have radioed the launch to intercept them. She
scrutinized the chart to see if there was anywhere they could run to. The
island of Blanquilla was close and they might be able to shake them off there.
The chasers daren’t try too much in Venezuelan territorial waters. Yes, she
thought, they hadn’t much options open to them. She went back up to Henry.

He looked anxiously at her.
“Any more ideas?”

 “We have an option if we
can’t outrun them, we can jettison the drugs. But we’ll never catch Juan’s
wife’s killer. Or we can dodge them around the island of Blanquilla which is
not far away now, it belongs to Venezuela. It’s uninhabited but there’s always
a lot of fishing charter vessels about. It’s my guess they won’t want to cause
a stir by boarding us if there are too many witnesses.”

 “I’ll go along with anything
you say. However, it would be great to go the whole way with the operation and
catch the entire gang. But if we dodge them will they be waiting for us when we
try to make a run for it?”

 “They will. But I have a
plan. Take her now for a while and I’ll check if they’re closing on us, we are
doing about thirty knots and I don’t think we’d get another one out of her. Look,
the revolution counter is just touching the red zone.”

 She went below and checked
the radar position of their pursuer. She calculated they were catching up at
the rate of two knots an hour. This meant they would catch up just as they
reached Milligan Cay. So dropping the drugs and catching Juan’s wife’s killer
would be out of the question. And going straight into Kingstown where the CIA
might have tipped off the customs was also not an option. It seemed a no win
situation. However, she had another plan she thought might just work.

 Back at the controls she
told Henry to head straight for the island. Then she spotted the chasing launch
as it altered course to follow them.

 The island was looming close
and they could see a number of charter launches with tourists snorkeling and
fishing on the reefs. “Get us in among them. I must hoist the Venezuelan
courtesy flag and our own flag at the stern.”

 Henry shut down the engines
and let the Windsong drift near to the charter boats - they could do nothing
now but wait.

Kerstin took the binoculars
and scanned them.

“Looks like they’re going to
wait it out.”

 “If they stay there what
will we do? Follow the chartered boats back to the island of Margarita?”

 “No, they could demand the
local authorities there do a search of us. If they persist we’ll beach the launch.
They won’t follow up on the beach, their boat is U.S. property and they
wouldn’t risk getting her impounded by the Venezuelan authorities. We’ll wait,
I reckon they’re going to go back out to sea and set a trap for us; they know
our original destination and speed so they think they hold all the aces.”

 “By the looks of it they not
only hold all the aces but the court cards as well. Tell me, if they try to
board us and we refuse to stop, would they use force?”

“Yes of course; they’ll have
enough weapons on board to start a small war!”

 “I don’t want either you or
the child to get hurt so we have to rule out doing anything foolish.”

 Kerstin looked at her watch;
it was four o’clock, she knew the chartered launches would be heading back with
their clients soon. Something flashed a reflection of sunlight. “They’re moving
out, they’ve decided to trap us out at sea. Henry, please go below and track
their course and see if they go past the forty mile range; they know we can
track them up to forty miles.”

 They held their position as
they watched the charter boats power away.

Henry came back up. “They’ve
just gone out of the forty mile range.”

 “Give her slow ahead and
steer three three zero. I’ll be back in a few minutes, I have to check
something below.” Going to the chart she penciled their position in and laid
out a course to take them north-west and out of range of the CIA launch. She
knew they’d wait on their course to Milligan Cay and try to intercept them.

She went back up to Henry.

“Here’s what I intend to do.
They know our top speed and have our expected course, so they’ll sit and wait
for us to show up and try to forcibly board and arrest us, before probably taking
us and the launch to Puerto Rico where I think they’re based. Now we are sure
to face the severest rigors of U.S. justice; maybe forty years in jail.”

They stood looking at one
another, fear and anxiety etched on their faces.

“Kerstin, we’re going to stop
this nonsense. We’ve achieved what we came to do let’s get rid of this stuff
and stop putting your future freedom in jeopardy.”

 She squeezed his hands and gave
a nervous wry smile. “We could tell what we know to the authorities in
Kingstown.” She spoke slowly, emphasizing the serious nature of this decision.
“Chen would fill in the blanks. But by the time they’ve got the full low-down, they
would never catch the people responsible for Lilja’s murder.”

 “What do you intend to do?”

 She saw the island starting
to recede astern as they slowly cruised on their course, “I’m going to take a
north-westerly course until we are on the same latitude as St Lucia, then we’ll
sail east to the northern tip of the St Vincent and around to the east side
down to Milligan Cay. Hopefully, unnoticed by the CIA, who, if we’re lucky,
will be waiting for us on the southern tip of St Vincent.

 “It sounds good, but I’ll do
something I haven’t done in years.”

 “What’s that?” he kissed her
on the forehead. I’ll “pray!”

 “Give her full ahead, I’m
going below to the radar to check are they still out of range.”

 Henry felt the boat come to
life under him as he opened her up to full speed.

 By the evening they had made
good progress. Kerstin told Henry not to put on the navigation lights and make
sure no cabin lights were showing from the launch. Using the radar to monitor
their position, they powered on in darkness. “You go and have your dinner
Henry. I left some food to bring to Chen.”

After Henry had eaten, he
took water and some sandwiches to Chen. His hands were handcuffed in front of
him and his legs and body firmly tied. Henry handed him the water and he gulped
it down, but he refused the sandwich. Henry noticed the tremble in his hands
and the desperate stare in his eyes. “Get me some stuff.”

 “What stuff are you talking
about?”

 “Mr. Tukola kept it in the
safe and gave it to me when I needed it. Get it for me please.”

 Henry reached in his pocket.
“Is this what you’re talking about?”  He held up the plastic bag of white
powder.

“Yes, yes, give it to me.”

 Henry closed his fist over
the bag, moved away and sat on a chair. “Right, start at the beginning and tell
me all you know about Tukola.”

 Chen’s pleading eyes were
opening and closing, his voice a whine. “I know nothing.”

 “You know Tukola is dead, so
you talk and save yourself from jail. How long have you been working for Tukola?”
Henry showed him the cocaine and went over to the basin and pouring out half
the power, he turned on the water and washed it away.

Tears began to flow and
spittle ran down his chin. “Please give me some.”

 “Talk or I’ll dump it all!
Including the stash in the safe.”

 “I worked driving the launch
for ten years, I only drive.”

 “Yes, but you saw what he
does with the girls?”

 “No, I never see that, I
only drive boat.”

 “How many girls has he
killed?”

 “I don’t know, I never count
the girls. Please give me some, just a small bit.”

“How many girls did he kill
since you started?”

 Sweat came in beads on his
face, his body trembled and his clothes were wet and clung to his light frail
body.

“I helped to throw the bodies
to the sharks, that he make me do.”

 “How many did he kill?”

 “Give me a drink.” He put
his trembling hand out for the water and spilled most of it down his front as
he tried to drink.

 “Tell me now before I go.”

 “No, don’t go. Please give
me some. I’ll tell you now. Every time we go to Maiquetia and Caracas where he
pick up the girls, sometimes he would bring a girl to go home and stop on the
way.”

 “You mean he’d stop to kill
her and throw her to the sharks.”

 “Yes.”

 “How many times has he done
that and does he go the place for the snake venom every trip?”

 “Yes, he goes for that and
that makes him crazy, and he kills the poor young girls. We go many times.”

 “How do you drop off the cocaine
at Milligan Cay?”

 “Give me some stuff.”

 “Tell me or I’m going to
leave,”

Henry got up to walk to the
door. Chen screamed like a trodden on cat. No…no…no, I’ll tell you now! The man
on the rock, Johnny Pedros, he will signal with a lamp at night or a mirror at
day. We signal back and then we drop the coke. Now you give me some.”

“What does he do then?”

 He swim down and ties them
to anchor blocks at the sea bottom.”

 “Then what happens, who collects
them?”

 “I don’t know, someone comes
in a fast launch like this and gets them. He stays on the rock until they come
to get the coke.”

 “Right, here’s your stuff.”
Henry pulled out a fresh packet and gave it to him. “Eat your sandwiches and
I’ll bring you tea later. You’re going to help unload the cocaine to Johnny
Pedros. Do you hear?”

 “Yes, I’ll unload for you.
And you give me my stuff again; don’t let me have to wait and beg.”

 Henry went up to Kerstin and
reported his progress with Chen. She was keeping a good lookout. Every light
she saw she got a little apprehensive thinking it could be a CIA launch. She
didn’t want to unduly worry Henry but now she felt she better relay her fears.
“I’ll have to leave you here while I go below with Ayola and get her settled
down for the night, I’ll keep an eye to the radar while I’m below. Henry, she
said, her tone becoming more serious, “I think when the launch that followed us
realizes we have taken a different course they’ll contact some of their other
boats in the area to look out for us. So I think we will both have to stay on
watch all night.

 “You know my dear, you’re a
wasted talent. If Captain Langsdorff had you on the Graf Spee during the Battle
of the River Plate, the ship might have escaped!”

 “You really know how to
flatter a girl, but we’ll have to be careful.” She looked at her watch it was
half past ten. “We’ll be altering onto our new course at one hundred hours and
hope to be in sight of the northern tip of St Vincent at ten hundred hours,
fingers crossed. She’s still on three three zero.”