must rise by his own strength. No matter what the obstacles. So the answer is no. Had you asked for the jade skull, I would have turned you down. But you didn't ask, you took it!'
The other monks murmured in assent.
Fisherman Yun crouched silently in his boat, a look of grave resignation on his face, as if he expected to be executed any moment. Ernie's teeth clicked madly on his ginseng gum, his eyes darting like two bumblebees swarming from a hive. He was about to make a move, no question about it, and there was nothing I could do to stop him.
The monk turned to his own men. 'She took it,' he said again. 'And with a bold plan. With fierce warriors performing daring feats at her command!'
The monks murmured again, a little more fiercely this time. Ernie didn't understand enough Korean to follow this. The monk with the AK-47 raised it slightly.
The chief monk turned back to Lady Ahn and held out his open palm. 'Rise, Lady Ahn,' he commanded. 'Rise!'
Ernie picked this moment to dart for the shore. A monk stepped in front of him.
Ernie flung out his elbow, catching the monk square in the jaw with a loud crack, slamming his bald head back.
Everyone on the beach exploded into action. One monk leapt at Ernie and grabbed him by the ankles; another snatched the skull out of Lady Ahn's hands. Three more swarmed toward Ernie. They piled on until he lay on his back punching and cursing and kicking.
I tried to pull them off of him, but somebody threw me to the ground with a deft judo move. When I looked up, the monk with the rifle held the barrel on me. Smiling.
After a few well-placed karate chops, Ernie lay silent on the blanket of pebbles. I watched his chest rise and fall. He slept as soundly as a lifer after Happy Hour.
The monks dusted off their robes and resumed their positions behind their leader.
During the fight, Lady Ahn had risen to her feet. She now stood staring solemnly at the leather-faced monk.
He motioned. A young monk stepped forward. Holding the jade skull out with two hands, the monk said, 'You earned the jade skull.' He offered it to Lady Ahn. 'It is yours, good lady. Do with it as you wish.'
She accepted it, then bowed. He barked another order. The monk with the rifle pulled out the curved ammunition clip, switched the rifle to safety, and tossed both the rifle and the clip to me. Startled, I barely caught the weapon before it hit the ground.
The chief monk spoke again, this time in English.
'The rifle belonged to the man who tried to invade our island two weeks ago. He wore the uniform of a North Korean commando and carried one of their weapons, but he wasn't one of them.' The monk waved his arm behind him. 'This island has no military value. The man was a mere thug. His mission was to sneak into our temple and steal the jade skull. However, he was careless, and the brown sloth caught him before he could complete his job.' The monk turned and stared into Lady Ann's eyes. 'The man was hired by another foreigner who stalks our land. This foreigner is a Mongol, a member of a people who have plagued our peaceful country before. This foreigner knows of the Tomb of Genghis Khan and he knows of the jade skull. He is ruthless; he will stop at nothing to possess it. We have no use for that rifle. But if you and your soldiers insist on keeping the jade skull, you will need it.'
Lady Ahn bowed until her head was level with her waist. 'We are grateful, Honored Monk.'
She stood upright and the monk looked her over one last time. 'Make your ancestors proud,' he said.
With that, he barked a final order and he and his entourage disappeared into the trees and shrubs that lined the shore.
Ernie came to and jerked his head up.
'Where are they?' he said. 'I'll knock me some bald-headed monk out.'
'Relax, Ernie,' I said. 'They're gone.'
We were in the boat now, Fisherman Yun rhythmically pulling on the oar, Lady Ahn sitting forward, clutching the jade skull, staring into the distance.
Ernie rubbed the back of his head. 'What happened?'
'You got your ass kicked.'
'I mean, besides that.'
'The monks decided they liked Lady Ann's style. They let her keep the skull.'
'What do you mean they let her keep it? We all stole it, right? Fair and square.'
Lady Ahn didn't move, although she must've heard Ernie's comment.
'She still plans to trade it for Mi-ja,' I answered. 'Don't worry about anything else.'
This time I noticed her back tense a little. Maybe she was having second thoughts about releasing the jade skull after all she'd gone through to possess it. I had no such doubts. The skull had to be traded for Mi-ja. I'd see that it was. One little girl's life was more important than all these bitter squabbles over ancient treasure.
Mi-ja was real. And she needed our help. And she needed our help now.
I decided to keep an eye on Lady Ahn.
Not that I hadn't before.
Lady Ahn's mother was so sad to see her daughter go that she couldn't hide her tears. As we left on the ferry, Lady Ahn held hers through what seemed to be a massive display of will.
After the ferry stopped at the first island on its way back to the mainland and picked up a few more passengers, Lady Ahn told us about the KNP inspection routine at the dock in Ok-dong.
'They don't inspect every bag,' she said. 'Just the ones that might produce a tip for them.'
A bribe is what she meant.
Plenty of smuggling went on in these islands. Foreign products not stamped by the Ministry of Customs were illegal. A few hundred won, however, would convince most KNPs to look the other way. But they wouldn't look the other way for an AK-47 automatic rifle. Or an antique of such obvious value as Kublai Khan's jade drinking cup skull.
Our problem was how to slip both items past them.
Lady Ahn shoved the jade skull deep into a twenty pound sack of unhusked rice, threw away some of the excess grain, and slung the heavy bag over her shoulder. The sack looked big and awkward. It might work. It might not.
Ernie had dismantled the stock from the main firing chamber of the AK-47. The disassembled mechanism fit easily into the bottom of his leather bag.
Still, it was a big risk. Either item, if discovered, would set off alarm bells from here to Seoul. The first thing that would happen is that they'd be confiscated. The second thing that would happen is we'd be thrown in jail.
Ernie and I would almost certainly be court-martialed for carrying a Communist-made weapon. I thought of getting rid of it. In fact, I damn near told Ernie to toss it over the side. But finally, I reconsidered. Now that we had the jade skull, there was no telling who might be after us.
At the time, I figured I was just paranoid.
The skull was a bigger risk than the machine gun. The Korean government would take possession of it and we'd never see it again. And then we'd have nothing to use to bargain for Mi-ja's freedom.
Once they knew they weren't going to obtain the jade skull, the kidnappers would only want to cover their tracks. Killing Mi-ja was the sure way of doing that.
Leaning on the rail of the ferry, the three of us talked it over.
The sky was gray. Gulls swooped into the choppy waters of the Yellow Sea. The crisp air reeked of fish.
Lady Ahn thought we should be prepared to pay a large bribe.
Ernie objected. 'No way. I'm not coughing up no more money to no more KNPs.' He waved his hand dismissively. 'You just leave it to me. I'll get this stuff past them.'
Maybe he would. Still, I counted out the dollars I had on me. Less than forty. Lady Ahn had about fifteen thousand won, almost thirty bucks.
That might work. But it would leave us broke and with no money to make it back to Seoul.
