《Riches of the Heavenly Kingdom (A Grant Foreman Adventure)》Chapter 10: Back on Track
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Lin helped translate the journal of Jiang the Taiping captain. Jiang had been the one to lead the largest caravan of rebel transporters out of Tainjing. This caravan carried with them the bulk of the Taiping treasury. Statues from the palace, coins, stacks of paper money, literature written by the Heavenly King, and other fine trinkets were among the wealth of objects Jiang claimed to have brought with him out of the city in his journal.
"I can get to the nearest police station by myself," Lin told Grant in the morning as she put on her bra. "No need to see me off."
"Maybe I'll visit you the next time I'm back in China," said Grant, watching her get dressed.
Lin shot him a sly smile as she went for the door. "I'll be waiting."
Grant shook his head as she closed the door behind her.
"He took it to Hainan," Grant told the rest of the team later. "The treasure is buried there its all in this journal."
"I'll buy us tickets to Hainan then," said Monty, hurrying to his laptop.
"Is that a country?" Makenna asked.
"What?" said Frankie, giving her an incredulous look. "Hainan is a famous province in South China. Ever had Hainan chicken? Well that's where it comes from."
"I have never heard or eaten Hainan Chicken," said Makenna.
"That's a shame," said Frankie. "Anyways, Hainan is probably the smallest province in China so that leaves less land for us to cover."
"Well would you look at that," said Grant, smirking at Makenna. "Looks like I'll have that treasure sooner than expected. I'm going back to your room to clean up. Sorry you had to sleep with the boys in this room."
As Grant went out the door, he noticed Makenna following closely behind.
"Where's your lady friend?" Makenna asked aggressively, folding her arms as the door shut.
"She left to rejoin her captain," said Grant simply. "Why?"
"Oh I don't know, just curiosity I guess. They say things happen when a man is left alone in dark hotel room with a gorgeous woman."
"Stuff did happen," said Grant. "There is my honest answer. I wouldn't lie to you if I could avoid it."
Makenna nodded, on her face a twisted angry smile. "Good to know that I was pushed into a space full of boys so you could have a good time next door in my own hotel room."
Before Makenna could walk away, Grant touched her shoulder. "Makenna wait, Ling and I aren’t together."
Makenna turned around, looking at him all confused. "What?'
"We fooled around but I never intended to go all the way with her. I-I wanted it to be with you."
"Is that supposed to be some kind of an apology?"
"I won't apologize for something I didn't think was wrong. I shared a tender moment with a beautiful woman I respected and we parted on good terms knowing it wouldn't last. With you I wouldn’t have let it end on one night. Just like I'm not going to let you walk away with a sour look now.”
Grant felt Makenna relax in his hand. He could see it in her body language as well.
"I guess your honesty is admirable," she said quietly.
“We square then?”
Makenna nodded.
Grant took a step forward and stroked her cheek. “When this is all over I’ll find you.”
She beamed. “I’d like that.”
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A few hours later the team found themselves at the Lukou International Airport in Nanjing. Frankie reviewed with them what he had found on his laptop.
"Ok so I did some deep digging and there are some burial sites deep in the jungles of Hainan near rural villages that aren't really open to the public. Its all off road, not a exactly some big temple you can spot when passing it on the highway. Only locals know how to get there."
"Some of my ancestors are buried deep in the woods in Korea," said Monty. "I got a lot of bug bites and scratches hiking through off the path woodland."
"Alright so we find someone willing to guide us then we start digging," said Grant. "Any chance we might run into some trouble with the authorities?"
"He its not like they have security cameras and museum guards patrolling villages tucked deep in rice field country," said Frankie. "At most a villager gets upset at us for disturbing the dead."
"Well this does line up with what Jiang mentioned in his journal," said Grant. "They ran into problems with the indigenous people of the island and it escalated, breaking into conflict. The Taiping with their superior weaponry, training, and numbers prevailed over small villagers and tribes. They built some tombs to honor the dead and settled there for a time."
"What if we run into the ones who tried the kill you?" Rourke asked, darkening the mood as always with that serious tone of his. "They will be after the treasure too."
"Well that's why I brought you isn't it?" said Grant, grinning. "Besides, they don't have the journal."
"Right, but they might have a lot of really smart and really well read people on their side so we should assume that this journal only serves to make up for our lack of resources," said Makenna.
"Then why did they bother interrogating me?"
"Look we just can't let overconfidence get the better of us now ok?" said Makenna. "Now come on I wanna have one last good meal on the ground before we head to Hainan."
They decided on noodle soup for lunch with everyone going for the commonly ordered beef noodle soup while Frankie decided to try the snow vegetable with pork noodle soup.
"You know Hainan used to be part of the Guangdong province," said Frankie before taking another slurp of his noodles. "So it makes sense for them to move the treasure there. Hong Xiuquan was born in that province."
Grant noticed Makenna checking the climate of Hainan on her phone.
"This place looks like a great tropical getaway," said Makenna. "I think I will enjoy this more than Nanjing."
"We can tour the beaches once the treasure is secure," said Grant. "But if you like we can drop you off there."
"No thank you," said Makenna. "I don't want to be kidnapped like you were and besides, I want to be there when you boys find it. Not about to let you take all the credit."
Two hours after an early dinner they were all on board the plane. The flight was estimated to last a total of three hours, enough time for a quick nap or a single movie.
Makenna had fallen asleep within the first twenty minutes of flight time. Just as Grant was about to try and do the same, a flight attendant walked up to him.
"Sir I just wanted to let you know that you will have an extra piece of carry on luggage to pick up when you reach the Haikou Airport."
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Grant furrowed his eyebrows. "Extra luggage? Why?'
"I was told to tell you it’s a gift from Officer Lin."
"I see," said Grant. "Is it possible for me to take a look at it?"
She nodded. "Yes but we will have to do it in private."
That peaked Grant's curiosity and he unbuckled from his seat.. "Very well then lead the way."
Grant was led to the plane's first class galley and showed a large plain black duffel bag. He had to help the flight attendant lift the heavy bag onto the counter after seeing her struggle with it. He carefully unzipped the bag and peeked inside. In the darkness of the plane it was difficult to make out the objects within. It was guns. Grant quickly zipped is closed.
"Is there anywhere more private on this aircraft?" Grant whispered to the attendant. The galley was open for passengers moving to and from the restroom and did not allow as much privacy as he would like.
"The crews sleeping quarters are located above the passenger cabins," she said. "The stairs are up front close to the cockpit. Please follow me officer."
Grant smiled in amusement. The lady had figured him for some air marshal or high profile government enforcer to be discreetly handed guns from a cop.
The attendant opened a small door near the cockpit, revealing a very narrow and cramped flight of stairs that spiraled straight up. The young lady went first with Grant following close behind, struggling to carry the duffel bag through the small space.
The crews' quarters looked quite comfortable though the ceiling was too low to stand in. Single person beds with curtains were attached to the walls. Grant placed the bag on top of one of these beds.
"Do you want me to leave you alone?" said the attendant. She was a sweet looking young woman with cheeks made to look rosier with makeup. Her black hair was tied up in a bun like most of the other flight attendants he had seen on China Airlines.
"No it’s alright," said Grant, examining the weapons. Lin had supplied him with two Chinese QSZ-92 pistols which he recognized from a video game and a pump action shotgun that he didn't recognize. There were many spare ammo clips and shotgun shells. Near the bottom of the bag was a sub-machine gun and several gas grenades.
"Ladies and gentlemen," a lady on the plane's speakers began to say. "Due to turbulence, the captain has turned on the fasten seat-belt indicator."
"I'd better head back down," said Grant, zipping up the bag. "Thank you for handing me this."
"Back away from the bag," she replied in a manly voice.
Startled by the sudden voice change, Grant whipped around to find the lady held held by a male in flight attendant uniform. A sharp knife hovered at the throat of the frightened young woman.
"What's in Hainan?" the man demanded. His face was covered by a bandanna tied around his head. The look in his eye told Grant that this man would not hesitate to slaughter the two of them in the blink of an eye.
"Look we can find the treasure together," said Grant, holding his hands up and inching away from the bag. "No need to get violent I'm not out here to make enemies."
"What's in Hainan?" the man repeated, his tone filled with even more malice than before.
Grant swallowed hard. He wasn't about to have an innocent woman's blood on his hands.
"Ok ok so we found this jour---"
The plane violently jerked and Grant was thrown to the side, losing balance. The masked man and his hostage tumbled as well and Grant saw his chance, diving forward once he regained control.
The attendant tried to get away but the man behind her dragged her back and struck the head. Grant reached them both before the knife came down. Both men wrestled in the cramped space as the plane shook from turbulence. Grant felt his own warm blood in his hands as he struggled to get control of the knife. The flight attendant clawed at the attacker's face with her long nails, distracting him enough for Grant to land a solid punch to the gut and then to the jaw. With all his might Grant twisted the weapon out of his opponent's hand and before proceeding to beat him repeatedly.
When Grant was done he quickly checked his hands. His right palm had a long horizontal cut on it but it didn't look too deep. The flight attendant seems fairly unscathed aside from the minor bruise on her forehead.
"I'd rather keep a low profile," said Grant. "Could you keep this between you and me until we land? This is uhh...police business."
The flight attendant nodded, she was shaking all over. "Thank you for saving me."
"Yeah no problem," said Grant. "I think its best we lock him up here for now."
Grant grabbed the black duffel bag and descended back down to the cabin. The place was a ruckus. Some attendants were struggling to clean up and overturned food cart and a few passengers were having their injuries nursed.
Rourke pushed past some people in the aisle and walked towards Grant.
"I caught someone trying to go through our luggage while we were taking naps. At first he explained to me that it was a mistake but then he later tried to sedate me in the restroom."
"So you trashed the entire cabin?"
"There were three of them on the plane," said Rourke.
"Four," said Grant. "One's upstairs."
"You ok?"
"Got cut on the hand but I'll live. Let's sit back down for now."
Makenna eyed Grant worriedly as he settled back into his seat and buckled up. A flight attendant handed him bandages and antibiotic gel for his cut.
"What on earth is going on?" Makenna demanded.
"They followed us onto the plane," said Grant with a sigh. "I'm going to get some sleep. Don't worry about it they think I'm a cop or something. They won't nail us when he get off. My connection with Lin is coming in handy."
That explanation satisfied Makenna and she was back to napping within a few minutes. Thirty minutes before they were due to land, Grant was called into the back galley by a flight attendant.
"What is it?" Grant asked as he was led into the back.
"Tracy want's to thank you," said the attendant.
The woman that Grant had saved was waiting for them in the galley and soon the two of them were left alone with the curtains drawn.
"Thank you for saving my life," said Tracy. "I thought I was going to die up there."
"Any decent man would have done the same," said Grant.
Tracy shyly handed him a sick bag which confused Grant.
"I left a gift inside," said Tracy. "Please enjoy the rest of your flight and thank you again."
Grant returned to his seat. The crew had just about cleaned up the mess Rourke had made though the busted restroom door in the rear of the cabin was marked as "Out of Service".
The sickness bag grant had been handed was very light as most paper bags were which led him to believe that she had left something lightweight such as complimentary airline stickers they handed to small children during flights. He peered inside to find that it wasn't stickers but some lace cloth, possibly a handkerchief. It wasn't until Grant took out the object that he regretted holding it out in plain view. It was a pair of red panties, Tracy's panties.
The middle aged man sitting behind Grant tapped him on the shoulder and shot him a thumbs up. "Nice one." he said with a Chinese accent.
"It's a gift for my sister in Hainan," said Grant quickly.
The man just winked at him and smiled.
"Another gift from Lin?"
Grant failed to notice that Makenna had awaken and was giving him a death glare.
"No it’s from the flight attendant I saved," said Grant. "Why are you upset? Did you want to give me one too?"
Makenna stared out the window in silence for the rest of the flight.
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