The gun barrel shifted to Soo-Li. Nancy struggled in Malko’s powerful grip, but she might as well have been fighting a stone statue. But it was enough to spoil Malko’s aim. The bullet missed the girl. Soo-Li turned and ran along the outer wall of the temple.
‘No matter. I have you, Mrs Morris. And we shall have such fun together with my little angel.’
Chapter Twenty-nine
The squad of police dispersed into a protective perimeter and Scott could see the pride on Ang’s face as he watched them move. No one spoke. They moved quickly and silently into position, all but one man who climbed the rubble heap. Ang rose to meet him and shook the man’s hand. They spoke for a moment in Khmer, then Ang turned to Scott and Fred.
‘This is Captain Klim. He is with my unit. They were heading towards this mountain to look for the Mekong Dawn when they heard the shooting, so they came to investigate.’
Scott shook the captain’s hand. ‘Not a moment too soon, Captain. I am very happy to meet you.’
Klim’s handshake was as hard as iron. He hardly met Scott’s eyes as he looked out towards the jungle.
‘You certainly made mincemeat of those hijackers.’ Fred swayed a little on his feet, but he wore a grin from ear to ear.
Klim shook his head. ‘Not all of them, sir. I saw at least two men slip away into the jungle. There may be more.’
Ang slapped the captain’s shoulder. ‘Not to worry, Klim. We’ll round them up later. Leave six men to watch the perimeter. Have the others check the bodies and cache the weapons. We may have wounded in the temple. The hijackers used grenades on the entrance.’
They entered the temple courtyard to find most of the passengers and crew huddled into the farthest corner. Two bodies lay in the open, closer to the gateway. Scott saw Joyce huddled beside one form and hurried over.
‘Are you okay?’
The woman looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. ‘It’s Harold. He used his body to protect me. He’s so brave – so bloody stupid.’
Scott stooped to the man and saw blood staining his side and back. Harold opened his eyes and groaned.
‘He’s still alive.’ Scott looked up to Klim standing in the entrance. ‘Captain! We have wounded here.’
Klim came over and gave Harold a cursory glance. ‘One of my men is trained as a combat medic. I’ll get him in here.’ He departed through the gateway and returned a minute later with another policeman in tow.
‘This is Chann. He will see to the wounded.’
Chann squatted beside Harold and unzipped the first-aid kit he carried. Scott left him to his work and saw Collette standing with Fred beyond the entrance. He moved out to them.
‘Nancy hasn’t come back yet?’ Scott said
Fred placed a hand on his arm. ‘They’re probably staying low because of the shooting.’
Scott looked past the cordon of police to the far corner of the wall, the direction in which the water collectors had gone. Soo-Li’s sense of distance differed greatly from his own. The water might have been as much as forty minutes’ walk from the temple. Nancy might be gone for another twenty minutes yet.
Just as he convinced himself that any fears were unfounded, a gunshot rang out from beyond the wall, muffled by jungle and distance. Everyone dropped into cover as the shot was followed by two more. The police had their weapons up, eyes to their sights. Then Scott heard his name being called by a shrill voice.
‘Mr Scott! Mr Scott!’
Something yellow flashed in the shadows by the corner of the temple. ‘Don’t shoot! It’s Soo-Li,’ Scott yelled.
Ang bellowed in Khmer, presumably translating Scott’s warning.
The girl rounded the end of the wall at a run, her face contorted in terror. She stumbled on one of the loose pieces of masonry but managed to keep herself from falling. Ang called to her, but she was already past him. She saw Scott crouching by the gateway and ran straight at him.
‘Mr Scott! He has Miss Nancy.’
Scott stood and caught her. The girl flung her arms around him and buried her face into his chest.
‘Where’s Nancy?
The panicked run had winded her and she gasped for air.
‘Soo-Li? Where’s Nancy?’ Scott tipped her head back and could see fear in her tear-filled eyes.
The girl swallowed and tried to control her breathing. Her voice came in a raspy hiss. ‘He has her.’
‘Who?’
‘A man in the jungle… by the temple wall… he shot the men.’
Scott felt the acid bite of dread in the pit of his stomach. ‘One of the men from the boat has Nancy?’
Soo-Li nodded. ‘I didn’t see him on the boat. He was a big man.’
‘A big man? Malko?’ Then he realised that Soo-Li had never seen Malko.
So Malko had returned to the Mekong Dawn – and now he had Nancy.
***
Malko pushed the woman ahead of him. She stumbled and he grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her to her feet.
‘Keep moving, Mrs Morris.’ He jabbed the barrel of his AK74 into her back.
He couldn’t believe his plans had gone to hell so quickly. By this time next year he had planned on being in a coastal villa in Thailand, living out his days in wealth and comfort on the ransom money.
But there were still the diamonds.
He jabbed the woman in the back and forced her to greater speed. She cried out in pain and Malko grinned.
‘Colonel?’
He whirled to the voice, his finger taking up pressure on the trigger.
A man stood a few metres away in the jungle holding an AK74. His arms were scratched and bleeding, his clothing torn. It looked as if he had run through a thorn thicket.
‘Ky?’
‘Yes, Colonel. A police party has rescued the passengers.’
‘I know, Ky. I barely escaped myself.’
‘What do we do now?’ His face looked forlorn, beaten.
‘We still have the diamonds, Ky. We will take Western and the woman to Siem Reap and collect the other diamonds. Then we will kill them and use the money to continue our fight.’
***
Scott took hold of the wounded hijacker’s shirt and lifted him into a sitting position, propping him against the tree behind which he had tried to take cover. The man’s leg was bent at a peculiar angle, the knee shattered by Scott’s bullet. The movement set the man to screaming.
Some of the police squad were scouring the jungle, looking for any hijackers who might have escaped. Others were in the temple tending to the passengers. Scott saw Ang by the gateway and waved him over.
Ang looked down at the prisoner propped against the tree. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Gathering intelligence. I don’t speak Khmer. You do. We need to question this guy and find out what we’re up against when we go and get Nancy.’
‘I don’t think he’s in any condition to talk.’
‘You think so?’ Scott pressed the barrel of his AK74 against the man’s forehead. The screaming stopped and the man looked up at Scott with pleading eyes. ‘Start asking him questions.’
Ang shrugged and spoke to the prisoner in Khmer.
The hijacker’s answers were short and spoken through clenched teeth. He never once looked at Ang, his pain-filled eyes on Scott the whole time.
‘He says ten men assaulted our position, including Malko and Ky.’
Scott lifted the rifle from the prisoner’s forehead. ‘Malko has come back. He has Nancy.’
‘My men have not found Ky among the dead. He must have escaped. We have found eight hijackers either dead or wounded. There are only Malko and Ky left.’
‘But they have my wife.’ Scott fought hard to keep the emotion out of his voice. He only partly succeeded. Visions of the crew being murdered kept jumping into his head. His hands started to shake, and Nancy had given his medication to that stubborn little woman.
‘We will get her back.’ But Scott could sense the doubt in the policeman’s voice.
‘We need to offer Malko something for Nancy’s release. Something that will be too good for him to pass up.’
‘We have nothing to offer.’ Ang shook his head. ‘Malko is only interested in money.’
‘What about his life?’ Scott looked sideways at the policeman. ‘If we can corner him, we can force him into letting Nancy go. His life for hers. You said there is only Malko and Ky left. We have to try.’
‘I’m for trying.’ Fred stood a few paces away.
‘Malko cornered may be more dangerous than you realise, Mr Morris,’ Ang said.
***
Todd trod water fifty metres from the Mekong Dawn and listened carefully. There was not a sound aboard the boat, no voice or footfall of a patrolling guard. The silence drew on. There had been no sound since the rattle of gunfire from high on the mountainside a little while ago. He didn’t know what was happening, but as best he could tell, the Mekong Dawn was now deserted.
He swam quietly around the bow and pulled himself up onto the bank. No guards stood at the bottom of the gangway, so he carefully edged his way forward. Looking up into the breezeway, he saw no movement there so stepped onto the gangway. Bullets had slashed and tattered the camouflage netting. A body, a hijacker, lay sprawled through the doorway of a cabin, a discarded weapon nearby.
What the hell happened here?
Avoiding shards of glass with his bare feet he crossed to the dining saloon windows. Enough light filtered through the camouflage netting to reveal the empty saloon.
Where did everyone go? Did the police or army come and rescue the hostages? Am I the only one left?
He moved to the serving trolley near the saloon doors. A large bowl contained a noodle dish. Todd’s stomach growled with hunger, but flies had found the food and swarmed about it in a buzzing cloud. He stepped past the trolley and into the dining saloon. Chairs were upended and tables pushed aside. Whatever happened here, the passengers had left in a hurry.
With his hunger now stirred, he moved to the galley. He swung open the cool room door and recoiled at the stench of spoiled food. Quickly closing the door, Todd rummaged about the shelves and cupboards and found a packet of water crackers that he tore open, shoving biscuits into his mouth as fast as he could manage. A half-empty bottle of water sat by the stove and he snatched it up to wash down the biscuits.
With his hunger and thirst somewhat abated, Todd ventured back out to the dining saloon. If the passengers had been freed, then someone would eventually come for the ship. All he had to do was wait.
Heavy footfalls sounded on the gangway. Through chinks in the camouflage net he could see shapes coming aboard the Mekong Dawn. Todd dropped to the floor and looked about for somewhere to hide. The galley was too far away, but he spied the servery table near the front of the saloon. The table had been clad in bamboo panels to give it a tropical look and he lifted a panel, crawling beneath the servery as the footfalls came right on into the breezeway and into the saloon.
‘Sit down, Mrs Morris.’
Todd suppressed a shiver of fear at the sound of the voice. He recognised it from the day the Mekong Dawn had been hijacked.
Malko!
A chair scraped on the deck and he heard someone slump into it. Pressing an eye to a gap in the bamboo he could see Malko standing in the doorway, an assault rifle in his hands. A woman sat in a chair in the saloon, her face buried in her hands and her shoulders shaking as she cried softly. Todd recognised her as one of the passengers.
More footsteps sounded from the breezeway and Ky appeared, pushing a Western man ahead of him. The man had his hands cable-tied behind his back. Ky forced him to his knees in front of Malko.
Malko took a handful of the man’s hair and tipped his face back.
‘There are more diamonds in Siem Reap?’
‘Yes! I swear.’
‘Where?’
‘In a hotel safety deposit box.’
‘Which hotel?’
‘The Colonial. Please don’t kill me. You can have them all. Just let me live.’
Malko turned the man’s head from side to side as he spoke. ‘I will take you to Siem Reap and you will get these diamonds for me. Then I will let you go.’
‘Yes! Yes! I will do it.’
‘Ready the RHIB, Ky. Make sure the tanks are full. Hurry. We don’t have much time before the police come.’
Ky pointed to the woman. ‘What about her?’
‘Cable-tie her hands. We will take Mrs Morris with us. She may prove useful – or make a good shield if the need arises. After we have the diamonds she is yours to do with as you like.’
Ky grinned and pulled a plastic cable-tie from his fatigues pocket. He dragged the woman to her feet and secured her hands behind her back. Then he strode off down the walkway.
Malko waited with the two prisoners, holding his weapon by the pistol grip. With his free hand he removed a baize bag from his pocket and bounced it on the drawstring. The man on his knees watched every movement of the bag with longing in his eyes.
Chapter Thirty
From the mountainside the Mekong Dawn appeared deserted. Nothing moved except where a light breeze ruffled the camouflage nets and spread tiny ripples across the water. Scott wanted to rush down there and demand Nancy’s release, but Ang and Klim advised caution. After all, Malko still had teeth – and Ky.
‘We need to spread ourselves along the shoreline.’ Ang waved to the left and then the right. ‘Cover as much of the boat as possible.’
Klim set the men to work, splitting them into three groups, two to cover the vessel with their weapons and a third to make the boarding. Before they could move off to their positions, outboard motors growled into life. The RHIB came into view through the breezeway with Ky standing at the controls. Figures filed out of the saloon and into the breezeway. He recognised Simon Western, his hands tied behind his back. Then Nancy came into view, her hands also bound, pushed along by Malko who steered her towards the waiting RHIB.
Scott’s heart thumped in his chest. Malko was making a run for it and taking Nancy with him.
Western and Nancy, unable to use their hands, dropped clumsily into the RHIB. Malko stepped into the boat and forced them to sit on the deck.
Scott leapt to his feet. ‘Nancy!’ He screamed as he ran down the mountainside, but his wife made no sign of having heard him.
‘Nancy!’
Ky gunned the twin outboards, drowning out Scott’s shout. The RHIB spun in a broad arc and faced down the channel, throwing up a rooster tail of white water.
Scott reached the gangway and thumped up it in time to see the RHIB disappear into the shadows of the swamp. He slammed his fist into the railing.
‘Malko, you bastard. You hurt her and I swear …’ But the words of anger and frustration died in his throat.
‘We didn’t count on that.’ Ang had reached the bottom of the gangway.
‘Did you see that?’ Scott pointed after the RHIB. ‘They had that guy Western as well. Where the hell is he taking them?’
‘I don’t know.’ Ang shook his head.
Scott stared after the boat, but all that remained was the wash of its wake slapping against the hull.
‘I may be able to help you with that.’
Scott whirled to see a bedraggled figure standing in the doorway of the saloon. The young man wore a pair of board shorts and a tattered yellow T-shirt. His face carried a gaunt and haunted look that only partly disappeared when he smiled.
‘I reckon they might be going to Siem Reap to pick up some diamonds.’
***
Jenkins sat with his back to the gunwale and watched Malko keenly as Ky manoeuvred the boat along the channel. The Australian woman sat on the deck beside the fuel tank, her knees drawn up to her chin and a defiant look on her face.
There were three weapons on the boat and Jenkins let his gaze drift to each one as he calculated his chances. Malko covered the two prisoners with an AK74. Ky had his AK74 propped beside the contr
ol console and his knife in his belt. Of the three, Jenkins’ best chances lay with Ky’s AK74, untended and only two metres away. But with his hands cable-tied behind his back, it would be impossible for him to use the weapon if he could reach it. Besides, Malko had only to turn slightly to keep the prisoners covered with his rifle, a movement he performed every few moments.
Jenkins knew he couldn’t let them reach Siem Reap. Once Malko realised there was no second stash of diamonds, he would make Jenkins’ death a slow and painful affair, of that he was sure. At least the ruse had bought him some time. All he needed now was an opportunity. So he looked at the rifle and at Malko and Ky, and he waited for his opportunity to come.
***
The police fetched the surviving passengers and crew and escorted them back to the Mekong Dawn. The wounded were lined up along one wall of the saloon, tended to by Chann, the police officer with the first-aid kit.
Fred explored the engine room and started the generator to get the airconditioning and water pumps running. Some of the passengers went straight to their cabins to shower in the still-cold water.
Scott felt sweaty and grimy, but a shower was the farthest thing from his mind. He found Ang in the breezeway with Fred and Klim. The captain was talking on a portable radio, speaking rapidly in Khmer. He finished and looked at the major.
‘A navy patrol boat is leaving Phnom Penh. They have a doctor on board, but won’t make the channel entrance until nightfall. I doubt they can reach us before tomorrow morning. There is nothing else in the area, at least nothing big enough to carry all the passengers. An air force helicopter will be overhead in two hours. They can start ferrying out the wounded, but it will take time.’
Ang shook his head. ‘Chann tells me the elderly gentleman is in a bad way. He doesn’t have much time.’
Scott looked at Klim. ‘What about the boat you came in?’
‘It has deck space for about four prone passengers, seats for twelve.’
‘No, I mean is it fast?’
‘Just a little four-cylinder inboard engine,’ Klim said. ‘It’s not fast at all.’
‘Okay. Okay.’ Scott looked about, thinking. His gaze settled on Fred. ‘We have a working boat. Think you could get us moving? At least that solves the problem of getting all the passengers out at once. If we meet the patrol boat and the doctor out on the lake, it may save enough time to make a difference for Harold.’