Dragon's Triangle (The Shipwreck Adventures Book 2) (53 page)

No sooner had the
San Pedro
passed him and bounced him around in her frothy wake than Ozzie saw another shape streak past, traveling in the opposite direction and moving even faster. It didn’t register until he saw the bluish bubbles and the long luminescent trail in the water. He turned his head in time to see it porpoise up out of the water and then dive back in. The
Bonefish
had just fired a torpedo!

Ozzie heard the
ack-ack-ack
of gunfire as the
San Pedro
neared the cave entrance. It was impossible to tell which side was firing—probably both. Certainly Peewee and the Filipinos must have seen the torpedo as it passed under their boat. That would have been more than enough to make them trigger-happy. Ozzie stopped swimming and pulled the buoys close to him. No sense in swimming too close with all those bullets flying.

Then he saw it out of the corner of his eye.

It all happened so fast he barely had time to register the absolute terror that paralyzed his body. To seaward, the comet-like trail was streaking through the water just below the surface, leaping free like a wild animal and making a gradual turn round to the left. Ozzie had heard of this happening before. The right rudder had jammed. The thing looked like it would head down the coast, but it kept on turning through 180 degrees until it was headed straight back at him. The torpedo flew past not more than twenty feet away. The water rose up in a pressure mound as it passed, leaving Ozzie gently rocking in its wake. The last sight he had of the
San Pedro
, it was in the embrace of the cave mouth. He watched the silhouette of a man jump up onto the fishing boat’s bulwark and leap into the air before a bloom of fire exploded against the cliff, just to the right of the opening. Then there was another explosion, and another. The last thing Ozzie remembered was all the rock and debris raining down into the water all around him.

Vigan City
The Philippines

December 7, 2012

When the alarm went off Cole felt like he had just closed his eyes. He reached over and slapped at the top of the clock to silence it. Riley stirred where she slept on her side, her firm body curved against his, her skin soft and warm. She made little humming sounds of contentment as she wiggled her ass and pressed against him. That woke him faster than any alarm. He burrowed his way through her hair and nibbled at the side of her neck.

“Good morning, Magee,” he said. He liked the way her body fitted against his and his enthusiasm was showing.

“Good morning, Thatcher. You’re up and at ’em mighty early.”

“That’s one way of putting it. It would be a shame for my efforts to go to waste, don’t you think?”

He felt her ribs bounce as she laughed softly. Cole wanted to be sure to remember everything about this moment, the smell of her skin and hair, the warmth of her body, the joy he felt waking to find her in his bed. “Riley, I never knew loving someone could feel this great.”

She pulled out of his arms and rolled over. Worry lines streaked her face. “Who said anything about love?”

“I did. I love you, Marguerite Riley, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

She was shaking her head and frowning. “No, no. You don’t know me, Cole. There’s so much you don’t—”

“Nothing could possibly change the way I feel.”

“You say that now. But Cole, I know you. You have such rigid beliefs about what’s right and wrong. How you feel—it is going to change.”

He drew back from her and faced her squarely. “Riley, you can trust me. You have something to tell me, you can tell me.”

She rolled onto her back and stared at the overhead, and he could see all the conflicting emotions playing out in her face as she struggled to find the words. He wanted to take her in his arms and wipe all that fear and worry off her face. But he knew the best thing he could do at that moment was to wait. Maybe, if he gave her enough time, she’d figure out how to tell him what was wrong.

When she started to speak, her voice was quiet, but strong. “That last day in Guadeloupe just before you disappeared, Diggory Priest told me the real story behind what happened down in Lima. I think part of me had an inkling, but I had buried it deep inside. Dig confirmed it.

“See, he was with the CIA and working undercover as an attaché at the embassy in Lima. I was a Marine Security Guard. It was against regulations for us to fraternize, and yet we did it anyway. I wasn’t myself when I was with him. I can’t explain it.

“Anyway, that morning he asked me to deliver a radio to another Marine. He knew I could get it past security. Only it wasn’t a radio. After I delivered it, I ran out to a little local bodega to pick something up, and the bomb exploded while I was gone.” Her face tightened and her eyes filled. “Cole, it wasn’t terrorists. The Shining Path had
nothing to do with it. It had something to do with mining rights and making the Peruvians do what the Patriarchs wanted. I delivered that bomb. I killed my friends.”

He held her until the tears slowed. It was his turn now to struggle for words. Whatever he said next she would remember for the rest of their lives together. He wanted to tell her that she wasn’t to blame for what had happened, that she’d just been used. But he knew just having him tell her not to blame herself wasn’t going to do her any good. In the end, he didn’t say anything fancy, he simply told her the truth.

“I love you, Marguerite Riley, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Nothing is ever going to change that.”

When Cole and Riley walked up the steps into the galley, the rest of the crew was already assembled. Theo was at the stove stirring a pan of scrambled eggs and Greg was buttering toast.

“Glad you decided to join us,” Theo said.

Cole headed straight for the coffee pot. As he poured a mug for Riley, he said, “Doesn’t sound like the weather has cleared up any out there.” The rain hammered away at the cabin roof.

The Abra River had many different channels at the mouth, and the evening before they had followed a returning fishing boat around several islands until they came to a channel that was lined with fish traps. They could see a dock and a road ashore, so they dropped the hook. Greg hailed a passing fisherman and they’d learned the town of Vigan was several miles inland.

Theo said, “Fortunately, the storm has been downgraded to a tropical storm, so I’m not worried that the boat will drag while you’re gone, but it’s not going to be fun climbing those mountains in thirty- to forty-knot winds.”

“For a while last night, it looked like it was calming down,” Greg said.

“Tropical storm weather comes in bands,” Theo said. “It will rain like the gods opened all taps, then it will go calm and dry for a spell before the next band hits. A calm spell doesn’t necessarily mean it’s through.”

“So,” Cole said. “Are we ready? Let’s go over it all one more time.”

“Again?” Peewee said. “At my age my memory’s like a sieve, but even I can remember last night.”

“I printed up some topographical maps I found online,” Theo said.

“Talk about the blind leading the blind.”

“Shut up, Irv. I had Greg help me to make sure I wasn’t printing up ads for Viagra—which was possible, since you’d just been using the computer.”

“Children, please,” Riley said. “Let’s take a look at these maps.”

Greg handed her several sheets of paper and together they spread them out on the dinette table. Greg said, “From comparing these maps to the nautical charts, we’ve been able to narrow down the location. There’s really only a small area along the coast here where the water is deep enough for ships to go right up to the shore. If there was a cave along this coast, Theo concluded it had to be here.” She pointed to the chart. “Peewee said the cave was big enough for a freighter like the
Teiyō Maru
. That must mean the ceiling is quite high, so the underground river that formed the cave must have cut under a fairly high hill or mountain that reaches all the way to the coast. So, we know that the cave wouldn’t have been under the valleys, and we’re thinking it’s under this mountain here.” She drew a dark line on the map. “As the cave goes inland it climbs, and the other entrance would likely be on the side of the hill here.” She drew a circle.

Cole said, “And that’s not that far from the Gabriela Silang Memorial Park, at the entrance to the Northern Luzon Heroes Hill National Park.”

Peewee said, “Yeah, the mountains where the guerrillas were fighting is now a national park.”

Greg patted his arm. “We honor our heroes who fought for our independence. Thank you for helping them.”

“You make me feel like an old man.”

Greg kissed him on the cheek. “You are an old man.”

“Right,” Cole said. “We figure we can leave the van along the road here, where there’s a parking lot for the parks.”

The night before, Cole had sent Greg ashore to rent a car, and she’d returned with a van. It was the only vehicle she’d been able to secure at that hour. It belonged to the owner of a local gas station. While she’d been getting the car, Cole had packed their gear and Riley and Peewee had worked with Theo at scanning the image off the silk and transposing it onto maps and charts in the computer to determine the location.

“Okay,” Cole said. “We know we aren’t going to be alone out there. Nils got away with the camera and we should expect company.”

Riley said, “You mentioned that you thought he was stealing the sat phone last night? I’ll bet he used it to call someone to tell them what we were doing. Hawkes and Benny were probably already here when we arrived yesterday. They’ve had as much time to prepare as we have.”

“I doubt they have access to the computer help we have”—Cole nodded toward Theo—“but they won’t be far behind us.”

“If I were them, I’d hide and wait to follow us,” Riley said.

“Let’s hope they aren’t that smart. Without the analysis Theo did, we’d be looking at about two to three miles of coastline and thinking it could be anywhere along there. They probably don’t know the park is there.”

“Fingers crossed,” Riley said.

“So, I’ve packed four bags for us. Theo is staying with the boat as our tech support and backup. We’ll take the sat phone in case we don’t have cell reception up there. He can call in the cavalry if we need it.”

Greg said, “Referring to the Vigan police as the cavalry might be an exaggeration.”

“If we need help, I’m certain Theo can be very persuasive. In your bags, you’ll find some food and water, underwater lights, headlamps, rope, et cetera. We don’t have much in the way of weapons, but I do have two spearguns. They’re pneumatic and small enough to fit into a backpack. I’ve put one in my bag and the other in Riley’s. We’ll buddy up—me and Greg, and Irv and Riley. Every bag has a knife.”

“I’ve got my own, as well,” Greg said.

Cole smiled. “I’d be surprised if you didn’t. I’ve also brought masks and mini-fins in case we find this cave and it’s flooded. It must have been formed by an underground river, which probably got dammed up when the Japanese buried the entrance.”

“You guys need to eat fast and go,” Theo said, putting plates of food on the table. “You want to start hiking while it’s still dark.”

The drive through Vigan and across the Abra River took longer than they thought due to the rain and wind. There were other cars on the road, people driving to work and big buses full of travelers. When the rain closed down visibility, the traffic slowed to a crawl. By the time they reached the turnoff for the Gabriela Silang Memorial Park, the dawn had turned their world a drizzly gray.

Before climbing out of the van, they pulled on their raingear. Cole had brought his foul-weather pants as well as the jacket, but he could tell already that he would be too hot under all that gear with his jeans on. Riley and Greg both wore their full foul-weather suits with shorts underneath while Peewee wore one of Theo’s rain jackets. It came nearly to his knees. Cole had the topo map in a Ziploc bag, while Riley had dropped a pin in her phone’s Google Maps app at the center of the area Theo predicted would be the probable location.

The going was easy at first. Though not as well traveled as an American park might be, still, there was a well-worn path up the mountain. The farther they went, though, the more difficult it became to find the trail. Soon they were forging their own path. In places the forest grew thick and some of the trees were huge, but at other times the growth on the ground had died off from lack of light, and the tree canopy gave them some measure of relief from the constant downpour.

Cole was glad he’d brought a machete. In places where the growth was thick, they would have had to walk much farther if they weren’t able to cut through. Because he was cutting the trail, he was on point. Greg followed him, then the old man. Riley took up the rear.

The ground they covered in the first half hour was fairly flat, too, but when they started climbing, Cole knew Peewee was going to be a problem. No doubt about it, he was in great shape for a guy his age. But he was
ninety-three years old
. Most people his age were in wheelchairs, not climbing mountains in the rain. On the other hand, the old guy claimed that he had seen the location of the so-called back door to the cave. While things had changed in sixty years, no doubt, he would be invaluable if he recognized something.