JASON STEED Absolutely Nothing (23 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

The small group gently swam to the side of the fourth motor launch. The men could just stand with their noses clear of the water. Cookie was able to stand flat-footed while Ray, Jack, and Evans all stood on tiptoe. Cookie reached and held Jason under his arms so he could rest like the others. The four of them caught their breaths and listened, trying to hear how many men were on the boat.

“Lift me up,” Jason whispered to Cookie. He raised him high enough to catch both hands on the side of the boat. Jason’s fingers curled around the rim of the boat. He pulled his lightweight body up and peaked on the deck. A solitary solider sat on a bench seat watching the activities in the city and the comings and goings of the army. He felt lucky to be given an easy job of watching the boat. He was safe out here. He remembered a time when the Americans were here and before that the French. Now was a much safer time. They could relax, maybe even get some leave and go back up to North Vietnam and see his family.

He pulled a cigarette out of his top pocket and struck a match. He inhaled deeply savouring the strong nicotine. He felt a hand grab his mouth and pull him back onto the floor of the boat. The hand was wet, smooth, and small, like that of a woman, he thought. He felt another hand squeezing the side of his neck. It stung. He struggled and tried to scream or get the hand from his mouth and the hand squeezing his carotid artery on his neck. He felt light headed. Dazed, he lost his strength. The grip continued until he was unconscious.

Jason held his grip on the man's neck for just a few seconds longer. He wanted to be sure he was out cold. With his father here, Jason wanted to impress. He didn’t want the solider coming around and raising the alarm. Just a few more seconds should do it he told himself. He thought back to when Wong Tong had taught him the hold. ‘Not too long,’ Wong Tong had said, else they won’t recover.

He released his grip and crawled back to the side of the boat and peered over. “Okay, you can come up,” Jason whispered to the others.

As Cookie was the tallest the others used him as a ladder, gaining enough height to climb up onto the boat. Ray was first up. He nodded at Jason with approval. Jack and Evans both climbed up. They bent down and, together pulled Cookie up. Jason went back to the soldier and felt his pulse, nothing. Thinking he was feeling in the wrong place, he tried again and nothing.

Ray was busying himself with the boat controls. Evans checked the fuel. The boat carried a mounted machine gun on the front. It was loaded with a belt of bullets and more were stored in boxes next to it. He looked down at Jason and had to take a double look. He was performing CPR on the soldier.

“What are you doing?” Ray asked.

“He’s got no pulse. I think I killed him. I didn’t mean too,” Jason said thumping the man's chest.

Evans crawled over and felt his pulse. He nodded at Jason. “He’s dead, boyo. Nothing you can do for him now,” Evans said.

Jason sat back on the floor, looking at the dead soldier horrified. “I never meant to kill him, ” he said in a whisper. He looked at his hands and rubbed them on his pants, trying to rid the feel of the man from them.

“It was him or us Jason,” Cookie said. “You did well to take him down without him raising the alarm. You saved all of us. Don’t beat yourself up over killing him, laddie. It’s a very fine line between knocking someone out and killing them. He was a soldier and this is war and remember, what’s it good for?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Jason grimly said.

Ray picked up the dead man's helmet and placed it on his own head to try and hide his western features. The others kept down. He started the engine. Immediately, the boat's searchlight came on. Cookie pointed it at the shore. He hoped it would blind anyone who looked out to see what boat was leaving.

The motorboat pulled away from the dock. Ray kept it going back far enough to get clear of the other boats. Once he was clear, he put it into forward and they headed south down the river towards the South China Sea. Jack threw the dead soldier overboard.

Jason picked up the radio microphone and tuned the frequency to 37.1FM. Ray watched him.

“Careful, Jase. You’ll give our location away,” Ray said.

Jason took a breath before broadcasting. He clicked the microphone on and off in a series of dots and dashes in Morse code. He knew Scott would translate it. Others would too, even the Vietcong, but only Scott would be able to decipher it.
This is carrot cake eater, heading from Santa’s City to the Olympian God. Prepare enough cake for five, over.
He repeated the message again.

“Santa’s City? Olympian God? I got the carrot cake eater bit, but none of the rest. Who on earth will understand that message?” His father asked.

“A certain mate of mine who will be tuning in to 37.1FM on his international ham radio, but probably no one else, especially the Vietcong.” Jason grinned.

“Scott?” Ray asked. “And if you’re wrong?”

“Then its Plan B.” Jason shrugged.

*

Thousands of miles away, Scott Turner heard the message on his ham radio. He came crashing down the stairs to use the phone. His parents watched him as he dialled the phone. Scott glanced at them.

“Jason just sent me a message,” he told them and waited for the call to be answered. Eventually, he was put through to George Young.

“Mr. Young, Jason just left a message over the radio. I need to talk to the admiralty urgently,” Scott said excited.

George agreed. He spoke to the admiralty and, after a few minutes, Admiral Hollyingberry himself contacted Scott
. He was stunned by the call and never expected to hear direct.

“Let me get this straight, you’re Jason Steed's friend and contact? Mr. George Young also tells me that you are also the young man that broke Jason’s code when he was in Jakarta,” Admiral Hollyingberry asked.

“Yes, Sir. Jason and I are best mates,” Scott said.

“Well, our intelligence heard a message that we think is from Jason but have no idea what it means. Olympian Gods and Santa’s City. We do understand who the carrot cake eater is. He needs to come up with something original there.”

“You are correct, Si., Jason is the carrot cake eater as he said in the message he’s leaving Santa’s City or in this case. Ho Chi Ming City. I guess that’s the best Jason could come up with Ho Ho Ho, from Santa.”

“Oh, I see but what’s the Olympian God got to do with it?” Admiral Hollyingberry asked.

“Er derrrrr. Olympian God. There are twelve mythical Olympian Gods and one was called Hermes. I mentioned that to Jason once and he called me a nerd. I listen to naval broadcasts on my radio, so I know our aircraft carrier HMS Hermes is close to Ho Chi Ming City in Vietnam,” Scott said.

“Yes, she’s quite close.”

“Well sir, maybe you should inform HMS Hermes to prepare cake for five people. That will be the four British escaped prisoners and Jason,” Scott said.

“Well done, young man. You have a future in intelligence. You and Jason make a great team.” Admiral Hollyingberry thanked him and dropped the phone.

*

Generals Chow's men eventually discovered a launch was missing. he alarm was raised. General Chow was livid that the British had the nerve to steal one of his launches to escape right from under his nose.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

After three hours, the river widened and became a little choppy. They were finally at the mouth of the river and entering the South China Sea.

“Dad, do you think Scott heard my message and passed it on?”

“I don’t know. I hope so, but if the Vietcong pick it up we could be inviting trouble. We don’t have enough fuel to get to Malaysia,” Ray said.

“Looks like we have trouble,” Cookie shouted pointing behind them.

They looked back. Three naval launches gave chase supported by two Helicopter gunships. Ray pushed the throttle forward to full speed. Cookie climbed onto the front of the boat to man the machine gun. Jack passed Evans and Ray both a rifle. Jason went into the wheelhouse and held the wheel. He looked up. The helicopter seemed to fly from the core of the sun.

“I doubt we can out run them. Those two look newer than this one. They may be faster.” Ray said. “We're almost in the South China Sea. Another mile or so and we will be in international waters, although I doubt that will stop them. I hope Scott got your message, Jason, else we are in deep trouble.”

The closet helicopter rapidly caught up and opened fire on the boat. Cookie shot back, sending dozens of bullets at the flying target. Ray, Jack, and Evans took their time aiming at the cockpit. A string of bullets pounded the water's surface and drew a line down the center of the boat. Evans screamed and held his arm. He fell onto his knees and groaned. Blood oozed through his fingers holding his wound.

Jason ripped off his shirt and tied it tightly around Evans’s wound. Smoke started billowing from under the floorboards. The engine started to make a rasping sound. The helicopter turned to take a second run. Cookie took aim and fired the machine gun at it. Ray and Jack took aim, the three of them franticly trying to hit it as it approached. Being shot at by helicopter brought back terrible memories for Jason. It was how the Jakarta massacre started.

The helicopter exploded in midair; a huge ball of flames filled the sky. Burning debris rained down from the smoke filled sky. Jason could feel the heat on his face as he looked up.

“Let that be a bloody lesson to ya,” Cookie shouted. Ray went back into the wheelhouse and picked up the microphone from the radio. He turned the transmitter into 30.99FM, the Royal Navy’s emergency radio frequency.

“Requesting immediate assistance. South China Sea, Ho Chi Ming estuary. This is lieutenant Raymond Steed, Royal Navy, over.” Ray repeated the message.

“Lieutenant Steed. This is HMS Hermes. We are three miles Northeast of you, over.”

Ray was surprised how close the Hermes was. He glanced across at Jason and smiled, realizing Scott had passed the message on. Ray was able to give their exact position. Three British Sea King Helicopters and two Harrier Jump Jets were immediately launched. It would take less than two minutes for the Harriers to arrive.

“Get ready, the second chopper is coming,” Cookie shouted, taking aim with the machine gun. Jack and Ray took aim with the rifles when the boat engine stopped. All eyes looked at Jason who was driving it. He tried starting it, but it failed to respond. The Vietcong helicopter started shooting its machine guns. It came in close. Bullets ricocheted all around the boat and on the deck. Cookie took a bullet to his chest and stopped shooting. The big Scotsman collapsed on the deck floor. Jason climbed out of the wheelhouse and ran to his aid.

He knelt down and placed his hand over the wound. Cookie was losing a lot of blood. The helicopter stopped shooting. It came in really close for a closer inspection. Water spray danced on Jason’s face. He looked up at the helicopter. It was then he saw him, the man next to the pilot with the black patch over his eye; General Chow.

For a brief moment, General Chow and Jason starred at each other. The stare was broken when Ray shot the engine of the helicopter. His second shot hit the pilot’s arm. The helicopter spun around smoking while the wounded pilot and General Chow fought to control it. Eventually, it headed straight for the boat. It crashed into the rear, finally coming to rest half on, half off with fuel escaping from the helicopter onto the deck. The rotor blades hit the water and broke up, sending shards of metal in all directions.