Chapter 42

The rest of the morning, I spent catching everyone up on my meeting with the tribal elder, what he had to say and what I told him. Then I told them what I thought about all the food that was stored in the other buildings and to a person, even the women, they agreed that we should fight anyone who showed up wanting to claim it. I also told Carver about the small armory that was supposed to be in the house and he and Quanta went to check it out. I waited until they were out of sight before I said the rest of what was on my mind.

"Kat, Myrna, since it's your weddings, I wanted to ask you both what you thought about the tribal ceremony the minister wants to have for us. He said to say that he would guarantee you both would love it, but I would be remiss if I didn't put my two cents worth in. I have, as I'm sure Mrs. Mutamba has, seen native wedding ceremonies before, and I have to tell you, they can be a little strange to outsiders. I know nothing about their customs here, but I wanted you two to have a chance to make up your own minds. We can fly back to the mainland, if either of you feel uncomfortable with this. This is your special day, and I am going to leave it up to you two to decide. If you have any doubts, take the golf cart and follow the road to the village, and ask Mikey what their idea of a native ceremony is."

Kat looked at Myrna and she returned the look, and it seemed as if they reached some sort of silent understanding. Myrna smiled at me and got up.

"Jon, sometimes even you come up with a good idea. Come on ladies, let's load up and have a talk with this minister."

With that they all got up and piled into the golf cart. Needless to say, a couple of them were sitting on each others laps but they all got in and went down the road out of sight. I sat back down and had poured some more coffee when Tiny broke into my thoughts. I had forgotten he was sitting at the table with me.

"You know, Jon, sometimes you shock me by the way you seem to instinctively know how to handle Myrna. I would never have thought about something like that. To let them decide is good, but I hope it doesn't come back to bite you. I love her, but she surprises me with some of the ideas she can come up with. You know you just sent eight women to talk to the preacher about your fate, don't you?"

I looked at him, thinking fast about what he said. I felt like smacking myself for not going along. He was right, and knowing how much Myrna loved to pull off the unexpected and with Sally and Kat being right in the middle of things, I realized I just might have made a big mistake by letting them talk to the preacher alone. God, I thought, when will I ever learn? I was still silently chewing myself out with Tiny chuckling in the background, when Quanta and Carver came back out and sat down, helping themselves to coffee. I looked at Carver expectantly, waiting for him to tell me what he thought of the weapons. He took a sip of coffee and started smiling at me.

"Jon, if it were me, I would throw most of that junk in the ocean. You have eight British Enfields that are so pitted I would be afraid to fire them. There is plenty of ammo for them, but again, like the rifles, it's all old World War Two issue. However, you do have twenty forty-fives from the same era in excellent condition with new mags. The ammo still boxed up and it's all new stuff. Tiny, we have the perfect weapon for you too. There is a WWII BAR in pristine condition, with two new barrels. There is enough ammo for it to start a war. That's about it for weapons, Jon. It looks like they took a lot of stuff out in boxes when the old owner moved out though. You could see where there had been stacks of boxes up the walls. I suggest we load about a hundred mags for the BAR and forty-fives, and move them up to the main house where we can lay our hands on them real quick. If these men show up like you think they will, other than the BAR, we are going to be seriously out gunned, if they have any modern weapons. Where did all the women go, Jon?"

Before I could answer, Tiny spoke up and told him. Carver smiled and looked at me for a minute.

"Jon, if they get the one up on us, I am going to blame you. Believe me when I say you will pay for it. I know Myrna and if they go with this native thing you were talking about, she will turn and twist it so it's all in their favor. Now, thanks to your big mouth, I will be walking on pins and needles until it's all over with. Jon Morgan, I thought you were supposed to be good with tactics. Now I see that you forgot the basic rule of any service, always take the advantage, and don't give it up unless you can retreat with dignity. In case you forgot, this is an island and the only retreat here is to swim for it and hope the damn sharks don't nibble on your ass as you swim away."

I thought Tiny and Quanta were going to fall off their chairs. They were laughing hard at the astonished look I must have had on my face. Carver was just shaking his head and giving me dirty looks as I tried to think of a comeback for his statement. For the life of me I couldn't, and I knew he was right. But I absolutely refused to admit it to him or anyone. Oh hell, I thought, I just left the barn door open after the animals were already gone. Thinking about it, I wasn't sure if I had that one right or not. Well, I thought it wouldn't be the first time I had gotten a saying backward. I didn't say anything, just sat and fumed at my own stupidity. Then I had the bright idea that I might look for a boat, or just start swimming before the women got back. If I did, I would reach land in about a year, and it would all blow over by the time I made landfall.

It was about this time, I noticed the sound of a helicopter. I got up and headed for the beach to see what or who it was coming in. I had my forty on me, so I wasn't too worried. I still wondered who would be coming in, since they weren't due back for two weeks. I went down the steps, and noticed that this one was coming in out of the sun. This struck me as wrong, 'cause it seemed like he was trying to hide until the last minute. I yelled back to Carver to get the guns and get ready for action as fast as he could. He didn't answer, so I figured he had started moving as fast as I did when I heard the helicopter. I got to the bottom of the steps and stopped, trying to get a better look at it. When I was finally able to see it, I started running back up the steps. This one had pontoons and was smaller than the one we had come in on. I figured that he was going to set down on the pool, since with pontoons and the size of the craft, it would be easy to do. As I got to the top of the steps and around the house, I noticed the golf cart coming down the road. I made a circling motion with my arm and pointed back the way they came from. Myrna was driving and caught the urgency of my motions. She almost turned it on its side, changing directions to go back to the village. I just hoped the helicopter hadn't seen them. The way he was coming in, the house was between them and the road. I hoped the girls got out of sight before the helicopter cleared the house. As it came in the clear, I heard the change of rotor pitch in preparation to setting down on the pool. I pulled the forty and carried it out of sight down by my side as I walked over to see who it was. I noticed it was a small four-seater, and the two men who got out were indeed sorry looking. One was about six foot tall and skinny as a rail whereas the other one must have weighed almost three hundred pounds. They both looked like they hadn't bathed in weeks. The pilot shut it down and stayed inside, as if waiting on orders. I figured the heavy one for the leader, but I was wrong as the skinny one immediately took charge. They walked toward me with AK's slung over their shoulders. He started speaking as soon as he got close enough so that he could be heard without shouting.

"Who are you and where is Sukie?"

I was surprised that he was speaking in French and I answered him in the same language.

"I have no idea who you're talking about. Who are you and what do you want? Why have you landed on private property and without permission?"

"Since I don't know you I would prefer to speak to Sukie. He has some goods of ours that we need to make arrangements to pick up. Now be a good man and go get him before I lose my temper."

I didn't say anything, just looked at him and slowly cocked the forty before I spoke. The sound of the rotors winding down covered the almost noiseless click as the hammer came back.

"Well, fellas, I own this island and again, why are you trespassing without my permission? If you were smart, you would climb back into that thing and leave before the authorities get here."

They looked at each other in surprise and the heavy one started to pull his rifle off his shoulder, so I shot him in the shoulder where the sling was. The other one froze at the sight of my pistol. I motioned for him to drop his on the ground and he did it immediately. The pilot started trying to start the craft so I shot the window in front of him. He immediately threw his hands up and froze in place.

"Mister, who the hell are you, and where is the overseer? We came here in good faith at his request to work out a deal to buy some supplies he said he had for sale."

"I don't know who you are, but you made a big mistake by coming in without radioing first. My name is Jon Morgan, and I own this island now. I am also an Interpol Agent, and I know they will be interested in both of you. Now, if either one of you have any more weapons, I suggest you drop them. Unlike most agents, I would love to put both of you at the bottom of the ocean so I don't have to stand here and smell you."

About this time, Tiny, Carver, and Quanta came out and spread out to cover them. I noticed that Tiny had the BAR strap slung over his shoulder and was covering the pilot with it. I backed up and asked Quanta for his phone. I immediately called Maurice and when he heard my voice, he said there was help on the way and would be arriving in a few minutes. He told me they had picked up the helicopter on radar when it got in range of the island. I told him what happened, and gave him a description of the men I was holding. He yelled in my ear, he was so happy. I had to hold the phone away from my ear or be deaf by the time he quit shouting.

"Jon, my friend, if you are holding who I think you are, you have done it again. We know where they took off from, and I will soon have troops on their way to raid that island. I think you have just captured two of the most wanted smugglers in that area. We have been actively searching for their base for almost a year, and then you come along and hand the whole thing over to us. My boss is going to be very happy with you, my friend."

Before I could answer him, the thumping noise of heavy rotors overhead cut me off. To my surprise, it was a fully armed battle copter with Legion markings on the side. I watched as it hovered off to the side and eight men slid down ropes in a tactical landing. Man, I thought, I used to love doing that. I waited until they were all on the ground before motioning Tiny and Carver to lower their weapons. They moved in behind the two men we had under guard and rapidly checked them for weapons. I almost laughed as I saw hardened troops trying to keep from retching from the smell. They found a small pen knife on the skinny one. I almost shot him in anger because I had warned him. The battle group's leader came over to me, saluted, and told me they would take over now. He also asked me if I wanted the helicopter pilot charged too. When I immediately said yes, he told me that they would fly the small helicopter back to their ship when they left. He thanked me and marched the three men toward the beach where I figured the copter had set down after dropping the men off. Another of the group climbed into the little craft, got it going, and immediately lifted off, heading out to sea.