Typhoon Fury

58

By the time night had fallen in the cavern, Beth was lying on her bed going crazy from boredom. Besides her meal breaks, she’d had no human contact, and there was nothing to read or do in her cell. Because of the double doses of Typhoon, she felt better than ever. Her wound was healing well, but she also had the periodic urge to smash everything in the room from frustration at her predicament.

She wondered if her email message had been received. It was possible that it had gone straight to Raven’s junk mail because it came from an unknown number. And Beth had no idea if they really could track Dolap’s phone, nor did she know if the phone was actually broadcasting, especially given the depths of the cavern. She had a feeling that this is what Purgatory would be like.

The exquisite masterpieces she’d examined were the only thing keeping her sane. She could have kicked herself for assessing the value of the paintings so quickly. She should have said it would have taken days, not only so she could revel in their beauty but also to stave off the inevitable moment when she was no longer useful to Locsin.

She heard voices in the hallway and got up. They were approaching her room. If she was going to get out of here, she might as well try anything and everything. She really didn’t have much to lose.

A key rattled at the lock, and she picked up the metal nightstand with ease. To her surprise, she was able to hold it over her head even with her injured shoulder.

As the door opened, she swung the table at the first person she saw, delivering a strong blow to the man’s shoulder. It was Dolap, who shrugged it off as if it were just an annoyance and wrested the table from her hands. With a look of fury, he raised the table as if to strike her with it, but a voice behind him yelled, “Stop!”

Locsin stepped into the room with Tagaan. Both of them started laughing, and Dolap joined in after a moment, putting the table back down. Beth wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of being cowed, so she sat on the bed and checked her nails with disdain. They actually weren’t too bad, given the circumstances.

“Ms. Anders,” Locsin said after the laughter ceased, “you’re looking well.”

Beth didn’t even look up, concentrating on a chip in her thumbnail.

“I hear you’ve had a healthy appetite. It must be helping your wound.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Beth saw him nod at Dolap, who walked over and yanked aside the bandage on her shoulder.

Locsin peered at it. “Excellent. This has been a very interesting experiment. And thank you for the appraisal of the paintings. Tomorrow I would like you to show me how to verify their authenticity.”

“I doubt I could teach anything to someone like you.”

“You might be surprised,” he said with a sickening smile. “I spent three years at university in Manila before I came back here to carry on the struggle for my people.”

Beth looked Locsin in the eye and laughed derisively. “Every murderer like you thinks he’s a freedom fighter.”

Locsin shook his head. “It’s pointless to get into a debate with you about whether the ends justify the means. Today I had a similar discussion with your friend Juan Cabrillo, and it didn’t go well for him.”

Beth shot to her feet. “What did you do to him?”

“Him and his whole ship, actually. They’re gone. If you were holding out some pathetic hope that he would come rescue you, you might as well forget about it.”

Stunned, Beth collapsed back onto the bed.

“Now get some sleep,” Locsin said. “I want you rested for my lesson tomorrow. Even if you think I’ll be a slow learner, we’ll have plenty of time. There’s a typhoon coming through. By tomorrow afternoon, we’ll be socked in for several days. Good night.”

They left, and Dolap locked the door behind them.

Beth was in shock. She didn’t know whether to believe Locsin or not. But it was likely that Raven had teamed with Juan after Beth was abducted, which meant that if he was really dead, Raven probably was, too.

It felt like there was a hole in Beth’s stomach. Normally, she would sob uncontrollably at the loss of her friends and at the true hopelessness of her situation. But right now there was nothing inside her but anger. She wanted to kill Locsin, Tagaan, Dolap, all of them. She wanted to make them suffer, but she couldn’t. At least she could let them know she wasn’t going to take this quietly.

Beth picked up the nightstand and beat it against the door until her fingers ached.

As he stood with Tagaan and Dolap at the end of the hall, Locsin could hear the bang of metal against Beth Anders’s door.

Dolap made a move toward her room, but Locsin put his hand up to stop him.

“Let her vent,” he said. “It shows that the Typhoon is working.”

They continued talking as the banging went on.

“Are we ready for Hidalgo?” Locsin asked.

“We need to bulk up our food stores before the storm arrives,” Tagaan said. “We don’t know how long the roads may be out after that. We also need ingredients to keep our meth lab in operation.” The meth lab was in a remote corner of the cavern because of the noxious chemicals required.

Locsin turned to Dolap. “Since you’ve done such a good job with Ms. Anders, I’ll give you some time in Bacolod tomorrow morning to get the supplies. Pick a man to take with you. You shouldn’t require more than one truck.”

“Thank you, comrade,” Dolap said, obviously pleased with the reward. “She has been difficult at times.”

“You won’t have to deal with her much longer. We’ll test the Typhoon on her for one more day. If the effects are still positive, we’ll dispose of her before Hidalgo has passed. No sense in wasting any more of the drug on her.”

He dismissed Dolap, who went back to his post outside Beth’s room.

“What about the Typhoon and the flower?” Tagaan asked. All of the barrels were still inside the truck in which they’d arrived, under armed guard even inside the cavern. “Where should we store them?”

“Once the storm has passed, I will drive them to our hiding spot outside the cavern. Only you and I will know the location of the bulk of the pills. The temptation of theft by our men will be too high here. Since we should be in full production of the drug soon, I want to move up our timetable to take over the Philippines. How is Kuyog production proceeding?”

“With half the parts shipment destroyed by Juan Cabrillo and his people, and with fifty of them used to sink the Oregon, we’re down to one hundred and thirty-eight either complete or in production. We can order more components from the Chinese supplier that we addicted to Typhoon, but it will take time to manufacture and ship them here.”

Locsin thought about their planned attack on the Philippine Navy. Now that they’d annihilated the ultra-sophisticated Oregon and had refined their tactics, he felt confident that they could wipe out the more conventional warships of his own country’s navy with the remainder of the Kuyogs.

“Continue our production at maximum capacity,” Locsin ordered. “I want them all completed in a week and prepared for use. Then we will begin our campaign to conquer the Philippines. After that, we set our sights on the rest of Asia.”

Tagaan frowned. “Comrade, we should wait until we have Typhoon in production. It is reckless to move against the government before we have our supply secured.”

Locsin stared at Tagaan. This was the third time that his number two had questioned his judgment. “Do you think you’re smarter than I am?”

Tagaan hesitated only a moment before answering, but it was enough for Locsin to notice. “Not at all.”

“But you’re saying I’m reckless. Am I stupid, too?”

Tagaan averted his gaze. “Forgive me for being unclear. I meant that we have time now that we have more than a million Typhoon pills at our disposal. We should use them to take over the government from the inside. Then we can use the Kuyogs against any country that opposes us.”

Locsin balled his hands into fists, then released them and smiled. “Excellent. You are a wise man, my friend. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Thank you, comrade.”

“But I also think it’s wise to complete production of the Kuyogs as quickly as possible in case something unforeseen happens. Don’t you agree?”

“I do, comrade.”

“Then go make sure our production is continuing as projected. I’ll take the lead on finding more chemists to develop the drug from the orchid.”

Tagaan nodded, and Locsin glared at him from behind as he left.

Locsin then called to Dolap, who rushed to his side. Dolap was Locsin’s cousin and one of his most trusted men, which was why he’d been put in charge of Beth and the paintings.

“Yes, comrade,” Dolap said.

Locsin put his hands on Dolap’s shoulders and looked him in the eye. “When you’re in the city, I have a special mission for you. Make up some excuse for whoever you take with you that you need twenty minutes on your own. This is just for you and me. No one else is to know. No one.”