Hurricane Gold (30 page)

‘See you in hell,’ said Precious and they pushed off the edge.

There was a moment of falling through darkness and then they smashed into the water with a noise like a cannon going off. They sank to the bottom of the tank, which must have been about 10 feet deep, and their feet touched slimy stonework. They kicked up and broke the surface, gasping for air.

At least the honey and the ants and feathers had been washed away, but there was no time to enjoy the sensation. James had to move fast.

There was just enough light from the opening above to show that they were in a large square chamber. There was a shelf along one side and on it lay the huge, dark shape of an animal.

James guessed that the wall with the door must be opposite the shelf. He quickly swam over and started searching for the hole.

He wished he could see better, and scanned the wall frantically, squinting in the gloom.

‘Hurry, James,’ said Precious and he heard the animal shift on its stone ledge and give a guttural grunt.

James felt all over the wall with his hand.
Why couldn’t he find the hole
?

He heard the animal’s body scraping roughly along the shelf.

Where was it? Where was the hole?

‘There!’ shouted Precious, her voice echoing and slapping off the walls. ‘You’re looking on the wrong wall!’

James looked round to see her bobbing in the water and pointing to the left.

She was right
. He could just make out a small dark patch in the masonry.

He splashed over and reached up. It was the hole all right. He felt inside, treading water. There was the box of matches. He carefully closed his fingers around it.

If he dropped it in the tank they were done for.

‘It’s moving,’ said Precious. ‘Hurry. It’s coming.’

There was another grunt and the animal shifted ominously again. It sniffed and snorted and they could hear its claws rattling on the stones.

James gently pulled the end of the fuse until about 6 inches was showing. Then he carefully slid the matchbox open.

He glanced back to see the huge dark shape sliding slowly off the ledge into the water. He thought he might be sick with fear. He wasn’t going to make it in time.

He fumbled for a match, dropping several in his panic, but at last got one and struck it against the box. He had got it damp and it wouldn’t light. He struck it again.

Still nothing.

He could feel the water moving as the beast swam towards them.

He dropped the damp match and took out another one.

He struck it. It sparked. It flared. It lit the whole chamber brightly for a second and James caught a glimpse of a reptilian eye and huge snout drifting across the surface of the murky water.

He put the match to the fuse and it lit first time. The flame climbed up and disappeared into the hole. The chamber was plunged back into darkness.

‘Move away from the wall,’ James yelled at Precious, thrashing the water to try to ward the animal off.

As they floundered across the pool, James felt a long leathery body slide along his legs. He prepared himself for the awful bite, the jaws closing around his torso.

He could bear it no longer. He finally cracked.

He opened his mouth wide and started to scream.

The sound filled the chamber… and then there was silence.

It felt as if the whole building had been struck by a giant hand.

Time held its breath.

A tremendous shock wave passed through the water. James was stunned, unable to see or hear or feel anything. There was an awful pressure, crushing him from all sides. He felt as if his brain must be squeezed out of his ears.

Then the world erupted around him and he was in a maelstrom of churning water and flying rocks.

His senses returned like a slap. He was being tugged through the water towards the wall.

The beast had got him, then?

No. It wasn’t that. The water was being sucked out of the tank through a massive, gaping crack.

He lost sight of Precious as he was spun round and tossed about in the surging torrent. His head hit something. His ribs were pummelled, and then he realised he was in the sluice. It had worked. He was being flushed away like a spider being washed down a plughole. And there was Precious, sliding along just ahead of him, on the slick, stone slipway.

Had they really done it? Had they beaten El Huracán?

Not yet.

The Mayan gods were going to try for one last time to take James to Xibalba, the land of the dead.

One Death was not finished with them.

James heard a bellow and looked back to see a giant bull crocodile come barrelling down the sluice after him, its soft belly glowing a sickly greenish white.

James hadn’t thought of that.

He and Precious were escaping down the sluice, but so was One Death. And the crocodile was crazed with fear and anger. It snapped wildly with its ugly jaws and thrashed its head from side to side, roaring and screaming like a pig.

The sluice acted like a long slide. James could hear Precious shrieking as she was thrown about, bashing against the rocks and floundering in the rushing, filthy water. James didn’t know if he was more scared of being dashed to pieces on the rocks or being savaged by the crocodile.

The sluice veered sharply to the right and James was hurled against the wall. The wind was knocked out of him and he turned just in time to see the crocodile come slithering and slopping on top of him. He instinctively grabbed hold of it, and somehow managed to get his arms around its long snout. Then the two of them were sliding on together and James was staring into the animal’s mad yellow eye.

Its whole body was twisting and jerking, its short legs scrabbling to get a purchase on the sides and carving big gouges out of the soft rock. They rolled over. For a moment James was on top, then, as they hit another bend, he was rolled back underneath the crocodile and he was forced to let go. The animal was determined to get him, though, determined to kill the intruder who had blown its world apart. It arched its back and jack-knifed, snapping at James.

The sluice suddenly split into two, and James was taken one way and the crocodile another.

There were a few brief seconds of peace and calm, as James slid on down the algae-coated rock, and then the paths reconverged.

Was One Death ahead of him or behind?

An enraged bellow told him that the crocodile was behind. There it came, all mouth and teeth. James’s head struck the side and he was momentarily stunned. He didn’t know which way was up or down.

And then he was flying through the air. He opened his eyes to see, inches away from his face, the wide, gaping jaws of the crocodile. He could see its pink tongue and smell its awful breath. The two of them were falling together.

The crocodile lunged and James jerked away so that its teeth closed with a loud CLACK on nothing but air.

Then its massive tail whipped round and batted James away.

His unconscious body spun off into oblivion.

There was a small splash in the darkness.

31

The Figure in the Tower

James awoke to find himself lying on a narrow rocky ledge inside a sea-cave. Precious was stroking his face.

‘I’m getting used to fishing you out of the water,’ she said.

‘What happened to the crocodile?’ said James.

‘I don’t know,’ said Precious. ‘Maybe he swam off, maybe he’s dead, but the main thing is, he’s gone.’

‘So we made it, then?’

‘Looks like it. It’s been some day.’

‘And you’re some girl.’

‘I know.’

Precious bent over and kissed James lightly on the lips. They were numb and he felt nothing. It was like being kissed by an angel.

They waited there like that, saying nothing, James with his head in Precious’s lap, until they heard the sound of a boat and voices calling out across the water.

Precious called back and presently a motor launch appeared, piloted by a crew of El Huracán’s Indians.

James and Precious left their perch and climbed into the boat. The Indians looked at them as if they were creatures from another planet, and after giving them some blankets, they kept a wary distance.

The boat chugged out of the cave into the light. It was a glorious day. The sun glinted on the deep blue water. Seabirds swooped and dived after fish. Clouds scudded along on a light breeze. And for James and Precious it was made more glorious by the fact that they had cheated One Death, the chief lord of the underworld.

No day had ever looked so good. No air had ever tasted sweeter.

They motored round to the harbour where El Huracán was waiting for them.

He looked them up and down as they clambered stiffly off the boat, but it was impossible to read his face and tell what he was thinking.

‘You’re alive,’ was all he said.

‘I’m afraid so,’ said James.

El Huracán, shook his head, stamped out his cigar, turned and walked away.

Two days later, patched up and rested, James and Precious were back at the harbour, waiting to board the steamer that was going to take them over to the mainland. El Huracán had been true to his word. He had laid on a feast in their honour in the plaza. And he had sat at the head of the table and toasted them. But his good humour had been forced, and James noticed that he drank a lot, but ate nothing.

A group of musicians was also waiting for the boat, and one of them was strumming a guitar and singing a sad song. James didn’t know if it was the music, or the warm, sunny day, or the scent of flowers wafting across the island, but he felt almost sorry to be saying goodbye to the place.

Precious walked up the gangboard. James took one last look back and saw El Huracán walking towards the harbour, flanked by two of his guards.

He waited.

‘I wanted to make sure you got safely away,’ said the wily old Mexican when he arrived.

‘No tricks up your sleeve?’ said James, and El Huracán held up his hands and drew back his cuffs to show that they were empty. His mood seemed to have lightened since the feast.

‘No tricks,’ he said. ‘But I want to make a deal with you, James Bond.’

‘Go on.’

‘I want you to swear that you will not try and cause trouble for me. That you will not come back for Mrs Glass.’

‘Why should I agree to that?’ said James.

‘I agreed to let you go,’ said El Huracán.

‘You had no choice,’ said James. ‘You made the rules.’

El Huracán shrugged and took a cigar from his pocket. ‘You cheated,’ he said, lighting it.

Now it was James’s turn to shrug.

‘Listen to me, James,’ said El Huracán. ‘If I wanted, I could kill you now and that would be the end of it. Luckily for you, I am a sporting man, and I like you, despite all that you have done to me.’

‘I can’t make any promises,’ said James.

El Huracán became serious. ‘I have friends in the Mexican government,’ he said. ‘I pay them enough money to leave me alone. And, besides, once a dangerous criminal turns up at Lagrimas Negras, he never leaves. The island is still, in its own way, a prison. All these men and women will die here. Mrs Glass with them. I have done the world a favour taking her in. Mrs Glass has her punishment. You are free. You must leave it at that.’

‘I came here to get something,’ said James. ‘It’s bigger and more important than me.’

‘The stolen plans,’ said El Huracán.

‘Exactly,’ said James. ‘As long as you still have them, it’s not over.’

‘What do you intend to do about it?’ said El Huracán.

‘As you say, you’ve got a perfect set-up here,’ said James. ‘You are left alone. You are king of your own little empire. But how do you think the American government is going to react when it finds out, as it must do eventually, that you have the plans? And that you are going to sell their secrets to some foreign power? Do you think the Americans will leave you alone? The navy came here once before. They killed every man on the island.’

‘Except one,’ said El Huracán.

‘Except one,’ said James. ‘Who knows, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to get away like your father, but this place will cease to exist.’

El Huracán was silent for a while. He took his cigar from his mouth and blew on the glowing tip, thinking. Finally he looked up at James and grinned.

‘You have read my thoughts,’ he said, and clicked his fingers. One of his guards stepped forward and reached for something in a canvas shoulder bag.

James tensed. Was El Huracán going to kill him, after all?

Held in the man’s hand, however, was not a gun, but the leather pouch.

El Huracán tapped his brown fingers on the familiar US Navy insignia.

‘The Mayans used to talk of a cursed treasure called hurricane gold,’ he said. ‘They believed that if you held on to hurricane gold it would, sooner or later, bring your house down around your ears and bring ruin to you and your family.’ He passed the pouch to James. ‘This is hurricane gold,’ he said. ‘It has caused nothing but death and destruction and misery wherever it has gone. I am rich enough. I am giving it back. This is yours, James. See that it is returned to its rightful owners.’

James took the documents and shook the old man’s hand.

‘You’ve got a deal,’ he said.

‘Do you hear that?’ said El Huracán, nodding to a musician with a smile. ‘Do you know this song?’

‘No,’ said James.

‘It is very fitting. It is an old Cuban song called ‘Lagrimas Negras’, ‘Black
Tears’, the same as my island. It is a song sung by a lover who has been abandoned. But after all that he has been through he still loves the one who has done him wrong. I will always remember you, James. Perhaps you will always remember my island, and me. The one you left behind.’

‘It would be hard to forget you,’ said James.

El Huracán walked him up the gangboard towards where Precious was waiting at the ship’s rail. ‘Do you know how I bet on you?’ he said.

‘In your rat run?’ said James, and shook his head.

‘I bet on you to go all the way,’ said El Huracán. ‘To get to the last trial. To reach Xibalba, but I never expected you to get out alive. I said once that I would tell you the story of the Hero Twins. They were two boys who went down into the underworld to avenge the death of their father who had been killed by the lords of Xibalba. They passed many tests on the way, and when they got there they had to survive several terrible ordeals before defeating One Death and Seven Death, the two most powerful of the rulers of the underworld. I shall always think of you and Precious as the reincarnation of the Hero Twins.’

He clasped James by the shoulders.

‘I will ask you one last time,’ he said. ‘All of this could be yours. You could be a king here.’

‘I don’t want to be a king,’ said James. ‘I’m just a boy.’

‘
Adios
, then,’ said El Huracán with a wink, and he clattered back down he gangboard.

Presently the steam turbines fired up and as the ropes were cast off El Huracán called up to Precious from the quay, ‘I almost forgot to tell you, Precious,’ he shouted, waving his hand, ‘there is a surprise waiting for you on board.
Adios!
It has been interesting knowing you!’

They waved back at El Huracán as the ship steamed gently out of the harbour.

‘A surprise?’ said Precious. ‘Do you suppose it’s a nasty one?’

‘No. All debts are paid,’ said James, and he handed the leather pouch to Precious. For a moment she stared at it, not quite believing it was real. Then she burst into tears and threw her arms around James.

‘Oh, James,’ she sobbed, but was too emotional to say anything more.

When she had calmed down, the two of them stood there in silence, watching the harbour grow smaller. At the last moment, just before they passed a rocky headland, they thought they saw the figure of a woman, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, watching them from the lookout tower near the harbour wall.

‘Precious.’

The two of them turned at the sound of a familiar voice, and there stood Jack Stone, looking older and somehow smaller than he had when James last saw him.

‘Daddy?’

‘Sweetheart…’

Precious ran to him, leaving James alone at the rail.

Precious and her father were sitting on a bunk in a small cabin below deck. They had both been crying. The leather pouch sat on the blanket between them.

‘And JJ?’ said Precious. ‘Is he all right? Did they save his leg?’

‘They did,’ said Jack Stone. ‘He’s fine. A little weak, but he’s walking around, and talking. Boy, that kid sure can talk. All day long. And all he ever talks about is his big sister and that boy, James Bond.’

‘What happened to Sakata?’

‘He took JJ to the hospital and disappeared before anyone could ask him any questions. JJ owes him his life.’ Stone hugged Precious. ‘We’ll be together again, sugar, the three of us. I’m gonna change, just you see…’

Precious glanced down at the pouch.

‘First, you have to give this back,’ she said.

‘Sure,’ said Stone. ‘I was gonna, all along.’

Precious shook her head and turned away from him. ‘No more lies, Daddy. Not to me.’

Stone hung his head, rubbed his face and sighed.

‘I’ve been a fool,’ he said.

‘You will need to tell one last story, though,’ said Precious. ‘You’re good at that. You should find it easy. You’re going to take those papers to the government, or the navy, or whoever they belong to, and you’re going to tell them how an American woman called Mrs Theda Glass came to you and asked you to fly her to Argentina. They’ll know all about her. They’ll believe anything you tell them.’

‘Sure, honey,’ said Stone.

‘You never made it to Argentina, though, because you found out that she was a gangster and a spy and that she had some stolen documents she’d taken from an American naval officer. You landed in the jungle, there was a fight, you won. And then you set off back to the States to return the stolen plans. You’ll be a hero all over again. We’ll start a new life, just like you said.’

‘You sure have grown-up quick, princess. I’m proud of you.’

‘I used to be proud of
you
, Daddy.’

‘I was only trying to make a good life for you and JJ.’

‘But don’t you see, Daddy? If you do bad things, even for a good reason, in the end they will always catch up with you.’

James was still at the rail. He could just see the dark top of the island. He was thinking about Precious and her father. He would never have a father to go home to after an adventure like this, or a mother. He wondered if he would spend his life travelling, seeking out one new experience after another, knowing that there would be nothing and nobody for him at home.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Precious. She had an expression on her face that he couldn’t read. There was the hint of a smile on her lips, but a deep sadness in her eyes. ‘Your Aunt Charmian is waiting for you in Vera Cruz,’ she said. ‘She stayed to look after JJ.’

‘He’s all right?’

‘Yes. Thanks to you.’

‘In the end,’ said James, ‘it was a team effort.’

‘In the end,’ said Precious.

‘I wonder how different things would have been if I’d never turned up at your house that night in the storm,’ said James.

‘I think I’d probably be lying dead in a swamp somewhere,’ said Precious. ‘I’ll always love you for what you’ve done for me.’

‘And here I was thinking you hated me,’ said James.

‘I never hated you.’

‘You certainly acted like you did.’

‘Oh, boys can be so stupid sometimes,’ said Precious. ‘I think I’ve loved you ever since I first set eyes on you.’

‘What?’ said James. ‘You’re joking.’

‘I wouldn’t show it, of course,’ said Precious.

‘Girls can be pretty stupid sometimes too,’ said James.

‘The thing is, James.’ Precious was staring out to sea. ‘I’ve learnt not to give in to love. I’ve learnt to keep my distance from something I really wanted with all my heart, because, as far as I can see, everything you love gets taken away from you.’