The Tahitian Pearl: A John Otter Novel (John Otter Novels Book 2) Read online

  "It’s ok, John, everything's going to be fine," Alexi said.

  "Really?" John said sarcastically. "Seems pretty unfine to me Alexi."

  Bae approached Otter with a smug look as he picked up the case. He brought the case in front of Otter and pointed to it. In very broken English he said, "bomb core?"

  "I hope you didn't come all this way without a way to figure that out for yourself," Otter said.

  Bae didn't even flinch as he swung the butt of his pistol across Otter's jaw. Light flashed in John's head as he smashed forward onto the deck face first. As he lifted himself up, he pushed his body back towards Sweeney. Bae grabbed Otter by the hair and threw him back up against the counter that Alexi and Sweeney were leaning against.

  "Very not fine, Alexi!" Otter managed to sputter out as he split blood.

  Bae began to unlock the metal case.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Unless you want to glow in the dark real bad," John said. Bae stopped, unsure. He shouted at his black commandos in Korean and one produced what John recognized as a Geiger counter, and began scanning the case. It gave off congratulatory beeps as the small Asian man swung the device over the case. Bae spoke with the man quickly, and apparently both were satisfied with the results.

  While they were talking, John inched his back toward Sweeney pushing the gun in his back belt toward his friend. Sweeney looked at John who shifted his eyes downward towards the handgun. Sweeney understood and moved closer.

  "Time to go," Bae commanded to his men.

  The group of four men turned and lined up in front of John, Sweeney and Alexi as a firing squad.

  "Wait, I can pay you more than you will ever know. I can offer you the chance to leave your country and live as a king anywhere. All of you can be rich."

  Bae smirked. "With this," he said, lifting the case, "I will be a king at home." He aimed at Alexi first. Alexi didn't wince, it was finally time. John coughed violently and jerked forward. Bae shifted his focus to John.

  It sounded like a watermelon popping, as the first commando's head exploded in a staccato of automatic gunfire. Sweeney lurched for John's back and grabbed the pistol and caught the second commando in the chest. For some reason the commandos swung away from Alexi and Otter and faced their gunfire towards stern. Someone was firing an AK-47 at them from the stern. Bae lurched toward the back of the Ivana as another of his men fell and ran towards the inflatable boat, they had arrived in. Sweeney kept firing in the commando’s direction, while John struggled for his diving knife in his boot. He finally got it and cut his ties and ran to Sweeney’s.

  The Koreans were almost at the inflatable when Sweeney's bullet caught Bae in the leg. Bae screamed as he heard his femur crack and tumbled to the deck. The commandoes didn't even flinch, as one ripped the case out of Bae's hand. Sweeney heard his gun click to empty.

  "Wait!" Bae screamed as the men dove into the inflatable boat and left. The roar of the outboard engine was heard as they took off for the Tsung Tao in Moorea, leaving Bae on Ivana’s deck.

  John had Alexi and Sweeney free and was about to run into the Ivana when a dark figure emerged from the shadows of the Ivana’s stern. He was dragging Bae and pointing his assault rifle again at the three men still on deck.

  "Please, sit down" Abdul said. He tossed zip ties to the grouped. “Tie your hands.”

  Chapter 110

  "Do you remember me?" Abdul asked, as he sat down on a crate and faced John, Alexi, and Sweeney who all now had their hands zip tied in front of them again.

  Otter nodded. Abdul fired his assault rifle, splintering the marble fish counter mere inches from Otter's head.

  "When I ask a question, you will answer," Abdul said.

  "Yes, I remember you. But I don't understand how; how can you be here?"

  "It is very confusing. This man saved me, sort of," Abdul said as he shoved Bae forward.

  "You worked together?" John asked surprised.

  "When you left me to die, I was sinking. You remember shooting the boat, yes? Who was that? You," he said pointing at Sweeney's stomach.

  "No," Sweeney stammered.

  "Wait, where is the big one, Dmitry?" He said, as he got close to Alexi and put the barrel into his eye socket. "Make him come out now or I will kill you first."

  "He is not here, he went to the other island, to look for this man's ship," Alexi said, pointing at Bae.

  "I don't understand," Bae said "You knew we were here?"

  "Explain," Abdul said.

  "Who do you work for Abdul?" Alexi asked. "It can only be a few people, but I imagine it was Sheikh Bin Souleman."

  John could see the look of surprise on Abdul's face.

  "Excellent guess. But how do you know my name?"

  "You did a job for me, years back. In Egypt, we found you through the Greek. You worked with Dmitry."

  "Ah yes the Mr. Abodeen. I remember.” Abdul said.

  "Who?" John asked. “Wait, so this guy used to work for you?”

  "A long time ago. It’s complicated. When did you get orders to attack us?" Alexi asked Abdul.

  "I went to Monaco first to retrieve the information from Mr. Dubois and kill you. But when I arrived, he was already dead in his room. So, we had to launch the second attack via ship. It made the most sense."

  John looked at Alexi confused.

  "And who are you working for, North Korea? You arranged for our kidnapped crew member in Mumbai, India?" asked Bae.

  Bae shook his head while still clutching his bleeding leg. "No, I am here because the kidnapping in Mumbai failed to get us bomb location.”

  "So, you were the contingency plan when I failed to give your people what they wanted? And you both are after the nuclear bomb; and now this man's men have taken it. I don't know what else I can tell you."

  "Wait, I’m confused how did you know him?" John asked Abdul, pointing to Bae.

  "After you nearly killed me, I thought I was saved. His ship showed up right after you left, I thought it was a coincidence. Of course, it was not. He had no hospitality and tortured me asking questions about your yacht."

  "You were following us in your ship? For how long?" John asked.

  Bae said nothing until Abdul stepped on his leg. Bae let out a scream before saying, "since Yemen. We left Djibouti a day before you left Yemen and followed.”

  "It seems we were all on the trail of the same thing," Abdul said. "The question is now, where is it going?”

  He turned to Bae and dragged him to his knees. Bae was sweating profusely, wincing in pain from his leg. "Where is the bomb core going?" Abdul asked again.

  Bae made no pretense of resistance. He was not a military man, he had no real loyalty, and he smelled his own mortality through his broken nose.

  "A submarine will meet my ship the 15 miles off the coast to off-load the core and take it back to Korea.”

  "Let us go, we have nothing to do with your plans anymore, take our yacht tender and pursue the core," Alexi told Abdul.

  Abdul looked confused. He dropped Bae and knelt in front of Alexi.

  "All of this work to find this bomb. All the work to bring it up. You refuse to negotiate with the Koreans and now you do nothing as it drives away. Something is wrong here."

  "If you had not shown up, we would have pursued it, of course," Alexi said, but even John heard how unconvincing he sounded. Abdul wasn't buying the story.

  "I can lead you back to my ship, and help you get the case," Bae said pitifully.

  "Shhhhh!" Abdul said, as he bent down to look in Bae's eyes.

  "I do not need you. I know where your ship is. Did you forget? You tortured me. You threw me in a tank, you drowned me, and you ripped out my nails. You reminded me of a very unpleasant experience I once had at the hands of the Israelis."

  "I was just doing my job," Bae stammered. "I had no choice."

  Abdul clucked his tongue in a disapproving manner as he put his AK47 down and pulled his dagger out of his belt.

  "We always
have a choice. Now I want you to feel this," Abdul said, as he put Bae in a choke hold. Abdul reached around with his right hand and slowly pushed his Jambiya dagger into Bae’s stomach until the skin broke. Abdul then drove the blade in slowly as Bae screamed before drawing the knife across Bae’s stomach with his intestines falling out. Then he dropped him and withdrew the bloody knife. Sweeney promptly vomited on himself.

  Abdul turned and walked over to Otter. Otter couldn't avert his gaze from the tip of the long dagger, as drops of blood fell onto the teak deck in slow motion. John was in so much shock he wondered if they could clean up the blood before it stained the wood.

  "I did that to him, and he didn't kill my best friend," Abdul said, turning to John. Abdul could almost taste his revenge.

  Otter snapped out of his daze and knew he wasn't going to die a coward. He lurched to his feet with a shout and rushed Abdul. Abdul was genuinely surprised when John jumped with his feet forward and slammed both feet into Abdul's chest throwing him back across the deck. Abdul rose quickly, smashing a fist into John's jaw. John saw stars from the hit and dropped to his knees. He staggered back as Abdul approached; but John regained his bearings in time to sweep at Abdul’s leg causing him to fall. Abdul cursed when John sprinted towards the gun Abdul had dropped when killing Bae. Abdul lurched and intercepted John and slammed his dagger into John’s leg. John screamed as he went down. John reached for the knife in his leg and pulled it out; and turned to attack Abdul but stopped when he stared into the barrel of Abdul's AK47.

  “You are a fighter. But no more,” Abdul said.

  A pop was heard, and Abdul was spun away from John and a second pop went off almost immediately catching Abdul a second time. Before John could realize what was happening Abdul was firing his rifle towards the second deck of the Ivana, where Ingrid was firing her weapon. John ran for Abdul as he was looking upwards and plunged Abduls’ own dagger into his gut. Abdul looked at John in surprise the gun now hanging limp. With a shout, John grabbed Abdul by the chest and pushed him off the stern into the black ocean.

  John collapsed on the deck as Ingrid ran to his side. She grabbed him tenderly and tried to stop the bleeding in his thigh.

  "Are you, ok?” She asked with a warmth John had never felt.

  "Yes," John said. "Cut them free.” He said pointing at Alexi and Sweeney.

  Ingrid cut Alexi and Sweeney free. Alexi grabbed his phone and sent a text to Dmitry, "On their way."

  Sweeney started running for the yacht tender when John shouted "Stop."

  "What do you mean? We have to go after them. They have the plutonium,” Sweeney said.

  "No, they don't, check Troy's right grabbing arm."

  Sweeney jumped over the side of the Ivana onto Troy and worked the controls until the Troy's right grab arm broke the surface. Clutched in the claw was an identical metal case as what the Korean’s had run off with. Sweeney laid the case on the deck.

  "I don't understand."

  "We made two cases, a decoy seeded with enough radioactive material to set off a Geiger counter, and the other case holding the bomb’s actual fissile material" Alexi said.

  "So, what's in their case?" Sweeney asked.

  "Closure," Alexi said, as he picked up the real case and went inside the Ivana.

  Dmitry sat on the beach line with a clear view of the Jie Shun ship at anchor. He heard the rumble of the inflatable boat before he saw it silhouetted against the moon glow on the water. The radio transmitter in his hand worked line of sight on the VHF radio spectrum. That meant it had enough range for about four miles farther than this.

  As the inflatable approached around the tip of Cooks Bay and moved towards the ship, Dmitry flipped the battery on. The green light on his transmitter, shone brightly in the dark night. He waited until the Korean commandos were alongside the ship. It was imperative local law enforcement tie the ship to the incident. He pressed the transmitter trigger. The inflatable filled with the Korean Commandos lit up the night sky with bright orange light long before Dmitry heard the sonic boom of the explosion. Nobody would survive that.

  Dmitry got up from the beach and walked over to his Vespa moped. He fired it up and headed back to the airport where the helicopter was waiting.

  Chapter 111

  Abdul slid up the beach, clutching his stomach. He could barely move, and he saw something grey sticking out of the wound. With horror he realized that it was his own intestine. How he had swam as far as he did was a miracle. He knew he was dying, finally there was no way out. He dropped back in the sand and looked up at the swaying of a palm tree over his head. He could feel the cool breeze in his hair. It was as good a place as any to die.

  He wasn't scared, after the last month of constantly fearing death, he felt numbed by it now. His stomach hurt, but the pain was ebbing along with his life force. He closed his eyes softly.

  "Abdullah Nasser," a voice said above him. He thought it was God coming for him, which surprised him, considering the things he had done.

  He opened each eye slowly. No one came into focus. "Abdullah Nasser,” the voice came again, and this time a blurry face appeared over his head. He had a friendly amused smile on his face, which Abdul thought vaguely inappropriate considering his current condition.

  "My name is Mr. Clark. I think I could use a man like you."

  Chapter 112

  The IAEA inspectors were on the deck of the Ivana first thing in the morning. John was limping from his knife wound and couldn't figure out how the inspectors had gotten there so quickly. They took the case, measured it, unlike the Koreans, and took it away in a French ambulance. The surprise came when both the American and Russian ambassadors arrived for the lunch. Evidently Alexi had not trusted just one government with the accounting of what had happened. John was debriefed over three hours by none other than Mr. Clark who somehow turned up in the oddest places.

  "I can't help but think that you followed me," Otter said.

  "I told you I was here to help. Mr. Otter, you played a very dangerous game. I hope you realize that. Next time I hope you'd make sure that your actions are better aligned with the goals of the United States government."

  "Sir, with all due respect, I will always align my actions with what I believe to be the right thing. I hope that the United States Government does the same."

  Mr. Clark rose. He turned around and looked at Otter. "You do realize that Alexi isn't your friend. He isn't your father. He is a dangerous man, who will always put himself first."

  "I trust him."

  "A mistake I hope you discover before it’s too late. You remember Mumbai? Raul that took your Claire? He ended up blown to a crisp, not dissimilar to the Koreans last night. A case bomb. A Korean operative named Chung-Ho was found with three shots to the chest in the exact same place. Do you want to guess who did it?"

  "I'm sure, if you were sure, they would be behind bars."

  "No, they are too clever for that, but you already knew that. I just hope that you know that these are the men you are in bed with. Sleep tight."

  Clark walked off the ship and hopefully away for good.

  Chapter 113

  Pierre spotted Alexi sitting at a table at the Pink Coconut bar. He looked as if he was enjoying a simple Sunday brunch while on vacation. He did not look like a man who had just been embroiled in an international incident involving lost nuclear weapons.

  Pierre walked up to the table and Alexi said, "please, inspector, have a seat.”

  Pierre sat with a wince holding his broken ribs.

  “How are you feeling?” Alexi asked.

  “Embarrassed. It has been a long time since I have breached a room and it clearly showed.”

  “There is no shame in it. As we get older and the strength of our bodies fade, it is the moment when our minds are at their most powerful. Can I order you something to ease the pain?”

  "The finest cognac in the place, please."

  "A man after my own heart. Willing to drink before society says it
’s acceptable. You should have told me you were coming. I guarantee my selection on Ivana is far superior."

  Pierre nodded. He pulled the pipe from his jacket and waved it questioningly towards Alexi. "Do you mind?"

  "Please," Alexi said, with a smile. "Tell me inspector, what questions would you like answered?"

  Pierre smiled. "You're quite the enigma, Mr. Popovich. I'm trying to decide whether you're the villain or the hero of the story."

  "A complex question. Heroes and villains are typically the same person, when a light is shone on them from different directions."

  "That sounds like something a villain would say. My supervisor has called and told me that we will be not pursuing the case of the Mr. Dubois any further since Abdullah our suspect is now presumed dead. That is stunning to me, since I now have a pretty good idea who killed him."

  “You have a suspect and they won’t pursue it? What a travesty of justice," Alexi said, pushing his plate back and leaning back in his chair. "And who was that? Your suspect?"

  "The Sheikh has been fingered as the mastermind behind the killing of Mr. Dubois. The man with Abdul who attacked us in the hotel room was directly tied to the Sheikh’s home. Had we known what you were really after this whole time we could have come to these conclusions earlier.”

  "The Sheikh is a very dangerous man," Alexi said. “If you had told me that Abdul was on the island, I could have prepared for it.”

  "It was a calculated risk, and I take the blame. But for terrorism and national security, they have postponed any attempt at arresting the Sheikh. He has heavy connections with Saudi Arabia and the UAE and there are oil interests to consider. That and, of course, and the Saudis will never give him up and extradite him."