The Mystery of Yamashita's Map

The Mystery of Yamashita's Gold, Part 14

Chapter Fourteen

It was almost dark but the moon ahead was throwing enough light to walk by as Kono and Tanaka trekked through the jungle. Their heavy footsteps crashed through the undergrowth and could be heard for miles in both directions. Every now and then they would stop and examine the tracking device that Tanaka held in his hands. 'I think I need to sleep,' Kono moaned, but Tanaka was having none of it. He pulled on the other's shoulder strap and urged him onward. 'Look,' he said. 'According to this we are almost upon them. We've been walking through this Godforsaken place for days now and we have almost got them.' Tanaka examined the tracking device which sent a shaft of red light into the black jungle sky and pulsed with an ever-growing regularity. His eyes were fixed firmly on the light as he followed its path through the jungle, tripping over fallen trees as he went; nothing seemed to matter to him but the tracking device and the course it suggested: through the dense foliage, over the thick jungle floor, onward, always following where it led. Kono followed behind like a faithful puppy dog snapping at his master's heels.

Suddenly, Tanaka saw the light flash faster than it had ever done before. His face was lit by its soft red glow and his eyes widened as he surveyed the landscape that the tracking device led him through. He pulled Kono nearer. 'Over this ridge,' he said. 'They must be over this ridge. This is it. We must keep quiet. They must be near. They must be over this ridge.' Tanaka inched forward, placing one foot on the steep angle of the ridge in front of him. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on the tracking device as his other foot followed the first and he gingerly made his way up. Kono pushed at his behind in order to stop him from falling backwards. Tanaka could hardly control his breathing. Since Hong Kong he had been following Joe and the others and now he had finally caught up with them. His mind raced as he thought about the gold and the riches he would take from them. He laughed quietly to himself as he neared the top of the ridge. He steeled himself and peered over.

The first thing he noticed was the ocean as it breathed softly in the night air. The second thing was the cool breeze that seemed to wash over his face like the water itself. And the third thing was a white shard of fibreglass with a flashing red light upon it that was caught, eddying on the tide. In his hand the tracking device gave off a furious pulsing light that seemed to taunt him as he stretched his arm out to where the remnants of the plane that had brought Joe and the others to the island had been dumped on the shore by the ocean. Kono rounded the top of the ridge and looked with wide eyes at the scene. After a moment's silence he spoke. 'Where are they then?' he said. 'Is it safe to talk yet?' Beside him Tanaka threw the tracking device into the waves. 'Fool,' he shouted. 'They aren't here.' Kono was confused. He had been tracking them for days with the device that he himself had planted on the plane in Hong Kong.

'But the device?' he asked.

Tanaka calmed himself down. 'They crashed the damn plane. Look, out there on the beach – that's the tracking beacon.'

He grabbed Kono's chin and roughly turned his head to where the tracking device lay.

'They crashed the damn plane and we've been following a piece of it for days.'

The two were silent for a moment then Kono began to feel the information sink in, although he hadn't quite yet made up his mind what it meant. His eyebrows knitted together in thought as he tried desperately to make sense of what he had just been told. 'So,' he said, slowly, 'what does that mean for the treasure?'

'There might not be any treasure,' Tanaka replied. 'If they've gone down with the plane, who knows, the map might have gone down with them. This could be it, the whole plan finished, right here and now. I'll have to think this thing through.'

Kono sat down on the ridge, his feet pointing in opposite directions. In a way he was glad; he really wanted to go back home and forget all about this trip. Tanaka had made him come and, really, all he wanted to do was fire up the plane and get out. He picked up a stone from the ridge and threw it into the jungle, hearing the undergrowth ripple and tear. All he had ever wanted out of life was to be comfortable but, like his father had always said, he was dumb – he was big and dumb, there was nothing more to it. He picked up another stone and threw it into the undergrowth after the first one.