The Mark of the Golden Dragon (16 page)

"Liam!" I call through all the confusion. I see that the pirate ship carries a small boat—probably the same one that carried Sidrah and me to this awful ship. "Get the pirates into that boat and cast them off. Hurry!"

He looks dubious, but he does it. The boat is lowered and the pirates prodded into it and then shoved off. Amazed at their luck in not being immediately killed in horrible fashion, which is exactly what they would have done if the situation were reversed, they quickly ship oars and pull for the shore.

As they pull away, some of them, now secure in the knowledge that they will live through this day, make rude gestures and shout threats back at us. I just smile at that, for I think I remember that very shore on which they will land. I believe it is the one that Ravi and I landed on after the great storm. Yes, I believe it is. Somehow the hungry alligators of Key West come to mind.
Hmmm...

When all is accomplished, Liam comes up next to me and says, "Do you think that was wise, Jacky, to let such as them live so that they might again do evil in this world?"

Sidrah, having seen the other captives taken below and settled, appears on deck to stand by my side, her face glowing in her newly regained freedom.
Oh, Sister, it is so good to see you again!

"Liam," I say, my arm about Sidrah as we look toward the retreating boat and the rather forbidding shore beyond. "I know you have seen many old sea charts showing lands and seas through which modern sailors have not yet traveled...?"

"Aye," he says, rather mystified. "I have. They are old, but we still must use them if we are in uncharted waters. What are you getting at, dear?"

"Well, then you will remember, Father, that on those charts were fanciful drawings of sea serpents and such, with 'Here There Monsters Be' penned under them?"

Liam chuckles. "Aye. I have seen those maps. At the university, last year. In Dublin. Warnings about 'falling off the edge of the world' and all that."

"Well, Captain Liam Delaney," I say, pointing with my finger to the dark, tree-lined shore. "Here there
real
monsters be—striped monsters with big yellow fangs and great appetites. Believe me, I know, firsthand. I do not think our brigands will do any more damage in this world—except maybe to upset the digestion of several honest and well-meaning tigers."

Is that deep hungry growling from the jungle?
No, prolly not—we're too far out to hear that, but still...

Liam laughs, the sound rumbling deep in his throat. "Well, serves the buggers right, then."

"You are right, Liam," I say. "And as for right and wrong, who is good and who is bad, I say, 'Let God sort 'em out!'"

We bring the
Nancy B.
about and set her on her new course. I stand on my quarterdeck with Higgins beside me, and we watch the pirate ship slip out of sight beneath the waves, leaving only a greasy slick to mark its grave.

"Too bad," says Higgins, watching the final bubbles come up from the murky depths. "We might have sold that ship. I was going to inform you a bit later, but we are very nearly out of money and supplies."

"It was a spongy, worthless tub, weak in all its knees, else it would have not sunk so quickly," I say. "But, don't worry, John. I know where to get some money. Tell Liam to set course north ... for Rangoon."

I'm walking slowly down that same street where Ravi and I were first nabbed by that thug Ganju Thapa. My long cloak is pulled up to my neck, but my head is uncovered. I look furtively about, as if I fear capture, when actually, I am inviting it. I, of course,
know
how to get back to Chopstick Charlie's stronghold through these rabbit-warren streets, having been out and about with Sidrah many times. But finding our way there and getting into his stronghold are two different things—and I want to get in on my own terms, as well. We will need entry past that big, iron-bound door, and it is to be hoped that Ganju Thapa will provide it. Although Charlie is a genial sort, I know that both he and his household are very well guarded.

And I
do
love a dramatic entrance, as it suits my nature.

Ha! There he is...

He slips out of the shadows of an alley and lopes toward me. I pretend to not see him and give out with a yelp of distress when I feel his big hand clamp on my neck.

He utters a string of guttural words, which I take to mean "Got you again, you miserable little infidel bint," or such to that effect. I struggle and wail, but it avails me not, and soon we stand in front of Charlie's big door.

Ganju Thapa knocks on it three times ... pause ... then three more ... then two ... and the door swings open to reveal yet another armed thug standing there. My escort spits out what sounds like orders to the man, but then that is the last thing Ganju Thapa says for a while as John Thomas comes up behind him and brings his belaying pin down on the back of his heathen head. As he sprawls face-first on the tiles, Smasher McGee rushes in and makes short work of the other man.

Good. They were not able to spread the alarm...

Davy and Tink, pistols drawn, slip into the hallway and I hold my finger to my lips. They nod, and I advance to the door that I know is the entrance to Charlie's inner sanctum. Then I put my hand to the tie of my cloak and let it fall to the floor, revealing me in my full navy rig—navy blue jacket trimmed in gold braid, creamy white lace at my throat and wrists, tight white trousers tucked into shiny black boots. At my neck dangles the Trafalgar medal, and on my left breast sits Napoleon's Legion of Honor. On my face I wear the full Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls Look.

Dress to impress,
I always say.

Looking back at my crew to see that all is in readiness, and satisfied as to that, I lift my right foot and kick open the door to Charlie's lair.

There he sits, in all his corpulent grandeur, his small mouth open wide in complete surprise.

I stride down the red rug and stop in front of him, give a slight bow, straighten, and with my left hand on the hilt of my sword that hangs by my side, I say, "Greetings, Honored Chen."

He gapes, and says nothing for a while ... Then he utters one word.

"Sidrah."

Not a question. Not a plea. Just the name.

I turn and gesture to Tink, who goes out into the hall and returns with Sidrah on the arm of John Higgins.

Charlie's face undergoes a transformation. He smiles and holds out his hand to his lost daughter. She leaves Higgins's side and goes to her father and kneels before him.

"Father," she says to him.

"Beloved daughter," he answers and puts his hand on her bowed head.

"What do you want?" he asks me, his eyes glistening.

"Well, first a bit of a bite for me and my bully boys, Chops, and then we'll discuss that," I say with a wide grin.

"What's for dinner?"

"Two thousand pounds sterling. Oh! Oh!" Charlie gasps for breath and clutches his chest.

"Come on, Charlie." I laugh, pointing a pheasant wishbone at him. "You know that it would have cost you twice that to get Sidrah back from those pirates, and I brought her back for nothing except for love for her and respect for the House of Chen."

We are all seated on low cushions around the table, upon which has been laid the finest of food from the East. There are goblets of fine plum wine and saki at each place and the party is warming up. Davy sits to my left and I have delighted in teasing him with the exotic nature of the dishes.
Here, Seaman Jones, try this,
I say, putting a piece of smoked peacock breast to his lips.
It is pickled monkey testicle. It is quite good...

Chopstick Charlie recovers enough from his heart palpitations to inquire...

"And those who took my daughter?"

Sidrah sits by his side, happily chatting away with Higgins, who is not at all dismayed by the nature of the food. I assure the rather pale Davy that what he is eating is merely a kind of chicken and then reply.

"I wish I could have brought them back to suffer your gentle chastisements, Gracious Host, but, alas, I fear they sleep with the tigers ... or rather,
in
the tigers."

"Good," he says, a slight smile lifting the ends of his mustache, seemingly quite satisfied with that. "You speak with well-oiled tongue, Honored Guest. It would seem as if you learned the art of extortion at my very knee."

"I am sure you would have been an excellent teacher, Rotund One, but the streets of London sufficed in that capacity."

Charlie takes all the banter in good stride, as well he should. He has been introduced to my crew and all is very civil, but Davy and Tink still wear their pistols in their belts and John Thomas and Finn McGee are still very large and muscular.

"All right, so what else do you want?" he says, his eyes closed in pain. "Besides the two thousand pounds?"

"I want my little boy back—without the chain, thank you. And my knife, too, if you please."

Charlie murmurs something to the girl Mai Ling on his right and she gets up and undulates out of the room, the movement of her hips beneath her gauzy lower garment not going unnoticed by my male crew. They have been at sea a long time. Even so, I give the avidly staring Davy an elbow in the ribs and a stern look.
You be good, you. You're a married man.

Presently a joyous Ravi bounds into the room and plunks himself down beside me.

"Very good for Ravi to see Memsahib again," he says. "I was thinking many horrible things happening to poor dear Missy."

"Well, as you can see, my dark-eyed boy, I have not yet gone up to Brahma to be assigned another billet, which, considering the state of my karma, might be, perhaps, a post as water snake?" I say, delighted to have the little rascal by my side again.

He considers the wisdom of that and nods. "Water snakes very pretty. Would suit you, yes."

Hmmm...

Higgins, never the gastronomical prig, is hugely enjoying the feast, as well as the repartee with my tiny spiritual guide. I believe he figures Ravi has me nailed pretty well in the karmic sense, for sure.

"Were you surprised to see the return of your mistress, Ravi?" asks Higgins.

"No, Sahib, not totally," says the lad, expertly spearing a pink shrimp with a sharp chopstick and holding it over the small brazier of glowing coals that rests in the center of the table. "When Mai Ling come to bring me here, I see two badmashes in hall holding heads and moaning most piteous, so I sense gentle Missy not far away."

Higgins laughs, appreciating, I know, Ravi's fine sense of the ironic, as I say, "Hush now, Ravi. Grownups are talking."

Mai Ling has also brought me back my shiv, which I gratefully take and slide up into my forearm sheath.
Welcome back, Rooster ... back where you belong...
As Mai Ling settles down on her cushion again, she lets her almond-shaped eyes travel over my crew.

"Now, Charlie, where were we?" I say, all officious. "Oh, yes. Two thousand pounds. Well, that amount is what is needed to resupply my ship, the
Nancy B. Alsop,
which lies down at the Rangoon docks, so that we can go back to England to give King George the rich store of ancient artifacts that you are going to stuff into my hold. When those things are placed in the British Museum, you will be an honored man, believe me. Is this not so, Higgins?"

"Indeed," says Higgins. "She does know a good many very important people, in spite of her size and appearance. I, myself, am a sometime member of British Intelligence, and I believe you would do well to pay heed to her words."

Right, and a lot of those important people would like to wring my skinny neck, such that neither air nor food nor good wine like this ever travels down it again. But we shan't mention that.

"And the British government does, indeed, cast covetous eyes upon this part of the world, Mr. Chen Lee, so it would be well for an honest man of business such as yourself to place that same self in an advantageous position."

Nobody can lay it down quite like my Higgins can.

"So, Honored Guests, with your honeyed words, you clean out my treasury and then plunder my storerooms. You do know how to tear the heart out of poor Chopstick Charlie." He sighs, once again tapping his chest. "But Number One Daughter has been restored to her poor father's side, and so I will agree to your terms. Let us now enjoy the rest of the evening."

Charlie, plainly done with his dinner, holds up the mouthpiece of his smoking device and the girl to his left rises, lights a taper in the brazier, and then holds the flame to the pot of tobacco that rests on top of the thing. He puffs mightily until he gets a good blaze going. He inhales deeply and then passes the mouthpiece, which is attached to a long hose that is connected to the bottom of the ... what?...oh ... the hookah ... to John Thomas, who sits close to his right.

John Thomas takes it and sucks avidly, making the device burble like a drowning man, and then, he, too, inhales deeply.

"Ah, thankee, Sir, and bless thee," says my good strong crewman. "Our own supplies o' that weed have done run out, and we miss it sorely."