Sad Wind From the Sea - Jack Higgins [8]
'You know the position where the boat sank?' Hagen asked, casually.
'Oh, yes,' she told him. 'I memorized it. One could search for ever in those marshes without it.'
Hagen stood up and leaned on the parapet, and stared out over the water into the far distance. His eyes didn't see the ships in the bay or the ferry from Kowloon as it ploughed its way towards Macao. They saw a quiet lagoon surrounded by giant marsh reeds and a thirty-foot launch lying in clear water, and the boxes in the cabin that contained the discoloured gold bars. A quarter of a million dollars. His palms were sweating slightly and his mouth had gone dry. It could be the one stroke a man dreamed of. The big deal. No more waterfront hotels in stinking, godforsaken ports. No more smuggling and gun-running, being betrayed and twisted and double-crossed at every turn. If he could lay hands on that gold he could be set for life. He turned back to the table and she looked at him sadly. 'Cheer up, angel,' he said. 'Things have been pretty rough but they'll get better. Just wait until you've got your hands on all that loot. You'll be able to live like a princess.'
She looked puzzled for a moment and then understanding came and she hastened to correct him. 'The money for the sale of the gold is not for me.' Hagen sat bolt upright in his chair. 'I'll only get a little for expenses. The rest goes to the relief organization in Saigon just as the monks and my father wanted.'
She was absolutely sincere in what she had just said. She really meant to give all that money to some crackpot relief organization. For a moment Hagen was tempted to tell her the facts of life, but that could wait until later. 'How deep was that lagoon, angel?' he said.
She looked surprised. 'I couldn't be sure but not very deep. Perhaps twenty or twenty-five feet. Why do you ask?'
He shrugged and lit a cigarette carefully. 'I have a boat. I've done some pearling. I've also been to the Kwai Marshes.'
She gazed at him searchingly for a moment. 'You mean you would be willing to take me to the Kwai?' She frowned. 'But why?' He gazed at her steadily, hating himself, and suddenly she gave a little, breathless laugh. 'I see, I ...' She was lost in her confusion and colour flooded her face.
Hagen squeezed her hand and firmly pushed every other consideration from his mind. He must think only of the gold. After all, it wouldn't be too hard to pretend that he loved her. 'I'd better be honest with you from the beginning,' he said. 'And then there won't be misunderstandings or hurt. I'm known pretty well round these parts and not for the best of reasons. I'm a smuggler, gun runner, illegal pearler. In fact, anything that pays.' She nodded slowly and he went on: 'At the moment my boat is in the hands of the Portuguese Customs. The funny thing is that for once I was genuinely innocent.' For a moment he thought about 'Inter-Island Trading Incorporated' and his sleeping partner, Mr Papoudopulous. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. Still, it was all in the game. He smiled sardonically at the girl and went on: 'They found gold under the cabin floor. I was fined rather heavily. In fact, I didn't have the money, so - they impounded the boat.'
'Can you get the money?' she said.
He nodded. 'Yes, I can borrow it from a friend, but you'll have to agree to the payment of my expenses and the loan from the proceeds of the sale of the gold.'
She nodded eagerly. 'Oh, yes. That will be fine. It will be well worth it.' A puzzled frown creased her brow and she leaned across the table. 'Mark, all those things you did. Why? I don't understand. You don't seem to be that kind of a man.'
He realized dispassionately that she had used his Christian name and that it had never sounded quite so well before. He grinned. 'It's a long and sordid story, angel. One of these days I might tell it to you, but for the moment there are more important things to consider. Tewak, for instance. I'd like to know what happened to him last night. Are you sure it was his