The Mystery of Yamashita's Map (43 page)

The two men walked back to their car, got in, and sped off without another word.

Joe sighed in relief as the monks said goodbye and went back to their work. The abbot lingered a little longer, as if he wanted to say something else to them, but then made an excuse and went back inside. Joe stared after him, smirking.

‘So what now?’ Lisa was smiling at him, clearly feeling the same relief that Joe was feeling.

‘What do you say about going back to yours?’

Lisa laughed while Fraser groaned in disgust.

‘I’m afraid I don’t have a home to go back to. My landlord kicked me out because I couldn’t pay the rent.’

Lisa grabbed Joe’s hand. ‘That’s OK, we’ll be homeless together then.’

Joe pulled another small bag out of his pocket and held it up dangling it in front of Lisa’s face and smiled.

‘Maybe I’ll just buy one of my own. Hell, maybe I’ll buy us all a new home. ’

‘The professor said nothing and got in the car, tired now of the adventure and wanting nothing more than to get back to his little home and his familiar bed.

The four of them got in the car, their minds on a million and one things. A hot shower, a cup of something strong and alcoholic, Kono, Die Glocke, Winthrope, the base in New Mexico…

Joe took the wheel, driving them out of the monastery, the huge Buddha statue getting smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror.

It would take a while to process everything that had happened to them over the last few days, but once they had – once they’d got it all straight in their minds, if that was even possible – then they’d have to make a decision.

Forget everything they’d done? Everything they’d seen? Everything they’d learned? Or find out more about it? Do something about it?

It would be a hard choice, but one way or the other, it needed to be made. Joe thought back to Dulce Base, the men in black suits, the doctors, the human-alien hybrid babies, the experiments.

He thought of the way Winthrope had transformed from and into that horrific reptilian alien, and how it killed Kono in just one stroke of its long, sharp claws.

He thought of the look on Winthrope’s face when he’d spoken of the hybrids making ‘the planet their own’. That look of mischief, of malice, of madness.

His mind raced. ‘How did the Nazis acquire futuristic technology?’

‘What was the Black Eagle Trust fund? Did the American government use ’Die Glocke’ to spirit away much of Yamashita’s gold. Who was Ram and what was his connection to the golden Buddha?’

He felt Lisa’s warm hand on his knee, and turned to see her smiling at him. One thing he was certain about; he didn’t want to lose the most valuable treasure he had found on this adventure.

He didn’t know about the others, but Joe knew which choice he’d make. Taking a deep breath, he slammed his foot once again on the accelerator pedal of the blue Nissan and headed back to the city, where for the first time in years, he felt glad to be back.

  The professor looked out of the window of the speeding car, the countryside seemed so peaceful, everybody going about their business unaware of the threat to their planet. ‘Probably best they don’t know.’ he thought to himself. He hadn’t noticed before but Hong Kong looked magnificent in the sunshine with its scenic islands, rolling hills and tranquil seascapes. He thought of the natural beauty of the Philippines, the lush jungles and the white sandy beaches, the warm and friendly Filipinos he met in the village. In some ways he could understand why aliens would covet Earth. He had a story to tell, but who would believe him? In fact it might be dangerous for him to even mention it.

Slumping comfortably into the back seat he noticed that Fraser had already fallen asleep. ‘If only I had a camera’ he laughed to himself as Fraser snored with his mouth wide open. Although professor Okada was a logical man, he was also a spiritual man and he truly believed that whatever power it was that helped them recover the golden Buddha and uncover a government conspiracy, would also protect humanity. With that last thought the professor drifted off to sleep, the drone of the car’s engine ensuring that he slipped deeper and deeper until he was totally unaware of his surroundings, his head resting on Fraser’s shoulder, the only movement was from his eyes. Joe looked through the rear view mirror and saw that the professor was experiencing, rapid eye movement, an indication that he was probably dreaming about something.  Joe turned to Lisa with a big grin on his face.

     ‘Let’s hope your uncle is having pleasant dreams this time. I’ve had enough adventure to last me a lifetime.’ Lisa laughed, it was the first time Joe had seen her really laugh since he met her.

     ‘He’s probably dreaming about the good time he had in the Philippine village’ Lisa joked. Joe smiled, ‘Probably.’ 

As Joe drove over the impressive Tsing Ma Bridge, leaving Lantau Island and entering into Kowloon, he felt, for once, complete. He had met his father, found the girl of his dreams and had some money to spend. There was no-one chasing him and for the first time he thought life was good.
 

About The Author

James McKenzie was brought up and educated in Aberdeen, Scotland. He has had a long career in the cinema industry as a scriptwriter, part-time cameramen and actor. His inspiration for this book came when he was working in the Philippines and first learned of the legend of Yamashita’s gold.  The book was featured on History Channel’s ‘Myth Hunters’ Series 3 in 2015
 

Acknowledgements

To Book Guild Publishing for originally bringing the story to print, Jessica Coleman for proof reading and to my Filipino family and friends who welcomed me into their culture, teaching me to believe the unbelievable.
 

References

WIKIPEDIA

Die Glocke
, German for “The Bell” was a purported top secret Nazi scientific technological device, secret weapon, or Wunderwaffe, associated with Nazi occultism and antigravity or free energy research.

Red
Mercury, 
is a substance of uncertain composition purportedly used in the creation of nuclear bombs, as well as a variety of unrelated weapons systems. It is purported to be mercuric iodide, a poisonous, odorless, tasteless, water-insoluble scarlet-red powder that becomes yellow when heated above 126 °C. Whether this actually exists is open to question but is wildly believed by scientists to be fictional or a hoax. 

Dulce Base
is an alleged secret alien underground facility under Archuleta Mesa on the Colorado-New Mexico border near the town of Dulce, New Mexico, in the United States. Claims of alien activity there first arose from Albuquerque businessman Paul Bennewitz.

The manananggal,
from Filipino folklore
, 
is described as hideous, scary, often depicted as female, and capable of severing its upper torso and sprouting huge bat-like wings to fly into the night in search of its victims. It is said to favor preying on sleeping, pregnant women, using an elongated proboscis-like tongue to suck the hearts of fetuses, or the blood of someone who is sleeping.

Aswang,
a vampire-like witch from Filipino folklore.

WIKILEAKS

The Black Eagle Trust Fund:
It is thought that the fund was set up by the shadow American Government to fund 'off the books' and actions. The Black Eagle emblem is taken from Hitler's Reichsbank. The Yamashita gold would become the cornerstone of the Black Eagle Fund, from which many covert operations of the U.S. intelligence would be funded. Under international law the gold should have been either returned to the countries from which it was stolen (as was done with the Nazi gold), or should have been incorporated into the U.S. Treasury. The U.S. Governments continued efforts to stifle news on this matter provides prima facie evidence that the confiscation of this gold was illegal. There is evidence that The Black Eagle Trust Fund has a critical relation to the 9/11 attacks. Conspiracy theorists believe that of the main reasons for the attacks was to cover up the laundering of over $200 billion in bonds from this secretive fund that were to come due the day after 9/11.