The Iron Tiger

‘What’s in this one?’ he asked, kicking a wooden crate that carried the neatly stencilled legend Machine Parts, F. Cheung, Esq., Sadar, Sikkim.

Samil produced a bunch of keys, unfastened the padlock which secured the lid of the crate and opened it. He removed a mass of cotton waste and revealed a layer of rifles, each one still coated in grease from the factory.

Drummond took one out. It was a Garrand automatic, a beautiful weapon. He examined it closely and frowned. ‘What about this?’ He indicated the legend, United States Army on the butt plate. ‘A bit stupid, isn’t it? I don’t think our American friends would be amused.’

‘That’s what they sent me this time,’ Samil shrugged. ‘Surplus stock always comes cheaper, you should know that.’

‘Somehow, I don’t think Cheung is going to like it.’ He raised the Garrand, took an imaginary sight out of the door and stiffened suddenly as Janet Tate moved out of the shadows.

‘What in the hell are you doing here?’ he demanded.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, her face serious. ‘Hamid’s gone off for the night. Before he left he called and told me you were out here. I thought you might like to take me to dinner or something.’

‘Exactly what I intended to do.’

The two porters had stopped working and glanced at Samil uncertainly. Drummond was still holding the Garrand in both hands, close to his chest and Janet said gravely, ‘Hamid said he thought you were loading motor spares.’

He put the rifle back with the others, wiped his hands clean on a lump of cotton waste and nodded to Samil. ‘You finish up here. Nothing to worry about. I’ll handle it.’

He turned, straightening his tie. ‘How did you get here?’

‘I came in a tonga from the hotel. I told the driver to wait.’

‘Shall we go, then?’

He took her arm, aware of the stiff restraint, the tilt of her chin and knew that in some way he had disappointed her. In the tonga she sat silently in her corner, as far away from him as possible and Drummond chuckled.

‘I’m sorry to spoil the image of the big bad gunrunner for you, but Ali knows damn well what I fly up to Sikkim in boxes labelled Machine Parts.’

She turned quickly in the darkness and he was aware of her perfume, delicate on the cool air.

‘So does everyone else including the Khan himself.’ He groped for her hand in the darkness and held it tight. ‘Look, I’ll tell you about it because it’s coming to an end anyway and because I don’t want my dinner spoiled. I’ve been looking forward to it.’

‘Go on,’ she said.

‘There’s a Chinese gentleman called Cheung up at Sadar. He’s been there for six or seven months now. He’s supposed to be a general merchant, but he happens to be an agent of the Chinese Nationalist Government on Formosa. He supplies the guns and I run them over the border into Tibet.’

‘To help Tibetan guerrilla fighters against the Communist government?’

‘Exactly.’

She reached over and touched his arm, the breath going out of her in a gentle sigh. ‘Oh, Jack. I’m so glad.’

‘Well that’s a hell of a thing for a clean living Quaker girl to say,’ he said. ‘And don’t go putting me on any pedestal. I do it for hard cash, not out of any political idealism.’

‘You don’t think the Tibetans stand any chance of winning then?’

He laughed harshly. ‘Not in a thousand years. Their battle will be won or lost in other places. Vietnam, Malaysia, Sarawak, perhaps on the floor of the United Nations. But to hell with that. Where would you like to eat?’

‘Somewhere full of colour, not just a tourist trap. I want to see the real India.’

‘Good for you. We’ll make a woman of you yet.’

They were moving into the centre of Juma now and he tapped the driver on the shoulder and told him to stop. ‘We’ll walk from here. You want to see the real India, I’ll show it to you.’

He paid the driver, took her arm and they moved along the street. As they neared the centre, it became busier and busier. Vendors of cooked food squatted inside their wooden stalls beside charcoal fires, busy with their pans, the scent of spices and cooked meats pungent on the cooling air.

And then they turned into the old quarter where lamps hung from the houses and the bazaar was even more crowded than during the daylight hours as people walked abroad to savour the cool night air.

The pavements were jammed with wooden stalls, overflowing with masses of paper flowers, shoddy plastic sandals imported from Hong Kong, aluminium pots and pans looking somehow incongruous and out of place.

Craftsmen sat cross-legged in their booths behind the stalls of the brass merchants, still plying their ancient craft next to the silversmiths and the garment-makers where they embroidered dancing girls’ clothes.

There were Bohara carpets, rugs from Isfahan and, at the far end, prostitutes waiting in their booths, unveiled and heavily painted, and even here the curtain of night, the flickering lamps shining on cheap bangles and jewellery, cloaked the filth and disease, the squalor of the daylight hours.

They moved on, Drummond pushing to one side the numerous beggars who whined for alms, and finally turned into a narrow, quiet street leading to the river. Faintly on the night air, Janet could hear music. It grew louder and then they came to a narrow arched door.

‘You wanted India? Well, this is it,’ Drummond said.

They went along a narrow passage and came out on to a small landing at the head of a flight of steps overlooking a large, square room. It was crowded with Indians, mainly men, most of them wearing traditional dress. They were all eating hugely and talking loudly at the same time.

In the centre on a raised platform, a young, womanish tabla player, eyes rimmed with kohl, beat his drums with an insolent skill, looking around at the crowd as he did so, a bored and haughty expression on his face. His companion, an older man in baggy white trousers, three-quarter length black frock coat buttoned to the neck, looked strangely formal and played the zita, his fingers moving across the strings with incredible dexterity.

A small, neat Hindu in scarlet turban, his eyes flickering towards Janet with frank admiration, approached with a ready smile. ‘A table, Mr Drummond? You wish to dine?’

‘A booth, I think,’ Drummond told him.

They threaded their way between the tables, all eyes turning towards Janet and gasps of admiration, even clapping, followed them to their booth.

They sat facing each other across a small brass table, a bead curtain partially obscuring them from the other diners and Drummond ordered.

It was a simple meal, but superbly cooked. Curried chicken so strong that Janet gasped for breath, swallowing great draughts of cold water, thoughtfully provided by the proprietor, to cool her burning mouth. Afterwards, they had green mangoes soaked in syrup, followed by Yemeni mocha, the finest coffee in the world, in tiny, exquisite cups.

‘Satisfied?’ he asked her as he lit a cheroot.

She nodded, her eyes shining. ‘Marvellous, I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.’

‘There’s a floor show of sorts,’ he said. ‘Do you want to see it? Not exactly the Copacabana, I warn you.’

There was an unmistakable challenge in his voice and she responded immediately. ‘I’ve never refused a dare since I was old enough to walk.’

‘Suit yourself.’

There was a sudden roll on the drum, the lights dimmed a little and there was silence. There was an atmosphere of expectancy that she could sense at once and then a gentle, universal sigh echoed through the room.

A woman stepped through a curtain at the rear and poised for a moment, a dark silhouette against the light. ‘Saida! Saida!’ the name echoed faintly through the crowd.

‘One of the few great nautch dancers left,’ Drummond whispered to Janet. ‘She’s fifty if she’s a day, but you’d never guess it.’

The right arm extended slowly and a tiny, tinkling cymbal sounded. Immediately the musicians responded on the tabla and zita and Saida started to sway sensuously, moving into the centre of the room.

Her face was heavily painted, a symbolic mask that never changed expression, but the body beneath the swirling, silken veils was that of a young and vibrant girl.

Gradually, the music increased in tempo and she moved in time, swaying from side to side, discarding her veils one by one until she stood before them, naked except for a small, beaded girdle low across her loins.

She stood quite still as the music stopped and the audience waited. The tabla player’s fingers broke into a fast monotonous tattoo and she started to sway, hands above her head, clapping rhythmically, and the audience swayed with her, clapping in time, crying aloud with delight.

Round and round the perimeter of the floor she moved, faster and faster, sweat glistening on her body, until, with a sudden fierce gesture, she ripped the girdle from her loins and flung herself forward on her knees, sliding to a halt in front of a large, richly dressed merchant who squatted on cushions before a low table with two companions.

There was another abrupt silence and then the drum sounded again, slower this time, the beat becoming more insistent each moment as she writhed sinuously, thrusting her pointed breasts at him, twisting effortlessly from knees to buttocks, sliding away from his grasping hands, sharp cries rising from the crowd.

And then he had her, fingers hooking into her buttocks. As the crowd roared its approval, the drum stopped. She twisted from his grasp, her oiled body slipping between his hands, ran across the floor and melted through the curtain.

The musicians started to play again on a more muted key and the audience returned to their food, discussing the performance with much laughter and joking. When Drummond turned to look at Janet, her face was strangely pale.

‘I warned you,’ he said. ‘You wanted to see the real India and this is a country where sex is as much a part of daily life as eating and drinking, an appetite to be satisfied, that’s all.’

‘Do you believe that?’

‘Depends what a man’s looking for, doesn’t it? Had enough?’

She nodded and he called for the bill and paid it. The room was by this time heavy with smoke and there was the sound of drunken laughter everywhere. As they threaded their way between the tables, eyes turned on Janet, there were winks and leers and sly nudges.

Someone stood up at the edge of the floor and made an obscene gesture. There was a roar of spontaneous laughter and as she turned her head, flushing angrily, she was aware of a hand on her right leg, sliding up beneath the skirt.

She cried out in rage and mortification and swung round. There were four men seated at a low table, three of them typical of a breed to be found the world over in spite of their turbans and loose robes, young, vicious animals, spoiling for trouble. The man who had grabbed at her was older with wild, drunken eyes in a bearded face. He wore a black outer robe threaded with gold and his hands were a blaze of jewels.

As his chin tilted, the mouth wide with laughter, her hand caught him full across the face. His head rocked to one side, there was a general gasp and the room was silent.

His head turned slowly and there was rage and madness in the eyes. As he grabbed at her coat, Drummond spun her to one side. The bearded man was only half-way to his feet when Drummond’s right foot swung into his crutch. The man screamed, doubling over, and Drummond raised a knee into the descending face, smashing the nose, sending him crashing back across the coffee table.

And the thing Janet couldn’t understand was the silence. No one moved to stop them when Drummond turned, straightening his jacket, took her arm, and pushed her through the crowd to the stairs.

Outside in the street, he urged her on, turning and twisting through several alleys until, finally, they emerged on an old stone embankment above the river.

‘Why the rush?’ she said. ‘Did you think they might follow us?’

‘That’s the general idea.’ He lit a cheroot, the match flaring in his cupped hands to reveal the strong, sardonic face. ‘The young squirt-about-town I treated so roughly back there happens to be the son of the town governor.’

‘Will there be trouble?’

‘Not the official kind, if that’s what you mean. He’s got away with too much in the past for anyone to start crying over his ruined looks at this stage. He might put someone on to me privately, but I can handle that.’

‘Did you really need to be so rough?’

‘It never pays to do things by halves, not here. This isn’t tourist India, you know. The only thing I’m sorry about is taking you there in the first place. I should have had more sense.’

‘I’m not,’ she said. ‘You weren’t responsible for what happened. To tell you the truth, I rather enjoyed myself.’

‘Including the nautch dance?’

She laughed. ‘I’ll reserve my opinion on that part of the programme. It was very educational, mind you.’

‘Something of an understatement. You know, you’re quite a girl, and for someone who believes in turning the other cheek, you throw a good punch. You certainly rocked him back there.’

‘A quick temper was always my besetting sin,’ she said. ‘My old grannie used to warn me about that when I was a little girl back home in Maine. Quakers are really quite nice when you get to know them. Flesh and blood, too.’

He grinned and took her arm. ‘All right, I surrender. Let’s walk.’

They went on to the beach below the embankment and strolled through the moonlight without talking for a while. Now and then, sandbanks collapsed into the water with a thunderous roar and cranes threshed through the shallows, disturbed by the noise.

Huge pale flowers swam out of the night, and beyond the trees the sky was violet and purple, more beautiful than anything she had ever seen before. They passed a solitary fisherman cooking a supper of fish over a small fire of dried cowdung and Drummond gave him a greeting in Urdu.

‘What do you do in Balpur beside fly in guns for Mr Cheung?’ she said after a while.

‘Survey work for the Indian government, freight general cargo or passengers. Anything that comes to hand.’

‘I shouldn’t have thought there was much of a living in that.’

‘There isn’t but Cheung pays well for the Tibetan trips. And I’ll be leaving soon, anyway. I’ve had enough of the place.’

‘What’s it like?’

‘Balpur?’ he shrugged. ‘Barren, treacherous mountains. A capital of three thousand people that’s more like an overgrown village. An army, if you can call it that, of seventy-five. When winter comes, it’s absolute hell and that’s in another month. The roads are the worst in the world at the best of times, but during the winter, they’re completely snowed up.’

‘What about the Khan?’

‘An old mountain hawk, proud as Lucifer. Quite a warrior in his day. To his people, something very special. Not only king, but priest, and that makes for quite a distinction. You’ll like Kerim, his son. A great pity about his accident. I hope your people in Chicago can fix him up all right.’

‘He’s eight, isn’t he?’

‘Nine in three months.’

‘My instructions told me to get in touch with a Father Kerrigan when I arrive. Apparently he’s in charge of all the arrangements.’

‘You’ll like him,’ Drummond said. ‘He’s about sixty. A marvellous old Irishman who just won’t give in. He’s been twelve years in Sikkim and hasn’t made a single convert and the people adore him. It’s fantastic.’

‘If he hasn’t got a congregation, what does he do with himself?’

‘As it happens, he’s a qualified doctor. Runs a small mission hospital about a mile outside of Sadar, completely on his own. There’s one other European up there, a man called Brackenhurst. A geologist for some British firm or other. They’ve also made him British Consul, but don’t let that impress you. It doesn’t mean a thing.’

‘You don’t like him, I take it?’

‘Not much.’

He stopped to light another cheroot and she said casually, ‘Why did you leave the Navy, Jack?’

He paused, the match flaring in his fingers, his eyes dark shadows. ‘You really want to know?’

She didn’t answer and he shrugged, flicking the match into the night. ‘They kicked me out, or advised me to leave, which comes to the same thing for a career officer.’

She could sense the pain in his voice and put a hand on his arm instinctively. ‘What happened?’

‘I was a Fleet Air Arm pilot during the Korean War. One bright morning in July, 1952, I took my squadron to the wrong target. When we left, it was a smoking ruin. We did a good job. We managed to kill twenty-three American marines and ten Royal Marine Commandos who had been serving with them.’

There was bewilderment in her voice. ‘But how could such a thing happen?’

‘The briefing officer gave me the wrong information.’

‘So it wasn’t your fault?’

‘Depends how you look at it. If I’d checked my orders more carefully, I’d have spotted the mistake. I was too tired, that was the trouble. Overtired. Too many missions, not enough sleep. I should have grounded myself weeks before, but I didn’t.’

‘So they couldn’t court-martial you?’

‘A quiet chat with someone with gold rings all the way up to his elbow, that’s all it took. I got the message.’

‘I’m sorry, Jack. Sorrier than I can say.’

Her voice was warm and full of sympathy. They had reached a flight of stone steps leading up from the shore and he paused and looked at her.

Her mouth opened to cry a warning and he ducked, turning to meet the rush of feet from the darkness.

A fist grazed his cheek, he lost his balance and rolled over and over, hands protecting his genitals as feet swung in viciously.

He sprang up and backed to the wall. There were three of them, dark, shadowy figures in tattered robes, scum from the market place hired for a few rupees. Above them on the steps below the lamp, stood the man from the cafe, supported by two of his friends, blood on his face.

A knife gleamed dully and Janet ran in past the three men to join Drummond against the wall. ‘Kill him!’ the bearded man cried. ‘Kill the swine!’

Drummond was tired. It had been a long evening. His hand disappeared inside his coat reaching to the leather holster on his left hip and reappeared holding a Smith & Wesson .38 Magnum revolver with a three-inch barrel.

He fired into the air and there was a sudden stillness. ‘Go on, get out of it!’ he shouted angrily and fired a shot towards the man on the steps that ricocheted into the night.

The men from the market place were already running away along the shore, cursing volubly, and the governor’s son and his two friends staggered into the darkness.

Drummond slipped the revolver back into its holster and looked down at her calmly. ‘You know, I really think it’s time we went back to the hotel, don’t you?’

She started to tremble uncontrollably and he reached out, pulling her into his arms. ‘It’s all right. Everything’s all right now.’

He stroked her hair gently with one hand and his lips brushed her forehead. In the heavy stillness of the night, she could almost hear her heart beating. When he tilted her chin and kissed her gently on the mouth, it was like nothing she had ever known before.

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