The others were being left to make their own way from Sandakan. As Gretta pointed out to the grim faced trio, it was the price to pay for losing. They grudgingly admitted she was showing a lot of balls considering how things might have turned out and also, by not leaving them in the Philippines, she was giving them a fighting chance. It would be tough without money or passports but then again not as tough as jail.

Strom immediately separated himself from Vincent and Harley and found a small room to stay for the night while he contacted Jenner.

"Christ, I thought you were supposed to be good." Wayne grumbled.

"It wasn't just me. Others got in the way and screwed things up." Strom spread the failure around to thin the blame.

"What about your team... and Gravestone's people?"

He went on to explain how the fatalities were not due to his incompetence but due to booby-traps, Vincent's bumbling and the Filipinos, giving the latter a more sinister part than they actually played. The fact that he lost his three friends weighed heavily on his shoulders and he placed the rest of the blame squarely on the shoulders of Gretta Lawrence. He went on to explain about the treasure and what happened to it before they left.

"Why did you say she left, again?"

"Some guy named, Danzig. I never heard of him."

"Nor I. You say Gravestone what, activated him? What the hell is he, a cyborg?"

"Lawrence called him a robot, and it put a bee up her ass I can tell you. We were out of there in short order."

Jenner paused for a moment. "But you do know where the treasure is."

"It's buried under a ton of dirt now, but I know the site."

Wayne gave him the name and telephone number of someone who could get him out of Borneo and back to Canada; his expenses would be covered.

"There is still that personal matter we discussed. I don't expect a charge for that now."

"I'll take care of that as soon as I get back. You want to see me first or after?"

"After will be better. Check into the Prince Hotel. I'll have a room and all the necessary information left for you. Use the name Eldon Howard. The reservation will be waiting."

"Very good, and I'm sorry about the foul up; I promise things will be cleared up to your satisfaction."

Jenner just hung up.

><><><><

Gravestone propped his head in his hands as he listened to Danzig's initial report. He had learned about the flight to Borneo and about one man and a woman travelling on to Paris and then Toronto. Jacob Strom had disappeared for the time being, but he had a lead on Vincent and Harley Biggs. That would be concluded before he returned to Canada.

"Just be sure you find out everything about the gold before you... conclude. I don't want this to be just a house cleaning exercise."

"You will know everything they know."

"Fine. Keep me posted."

Danzig checked his watch and took out his pill case, one blue pill and he would be ready again to continue with his mission undistracted. He replaced the tin and patted his pocket with a feeling of warm security. He found the hotel where the Lawrence woman had stayed in Zamboanga and spoke to the desk clerk about the Canadian woman and her companion. His first attempt netted him nothing he was pleased with. His second attempt revealed almost the entire life story of the clerk, part of which was steering her onto the guide named Pete.

Danzig left, and the clerk went home sick.

Pete was a small time grifter working for anybody for almost any amount of money. His aspirations were not great. All he wanted was enough to eat, drink and maintain his supply of mild recreational drugs. He was easy to find. A local strip club was the centre of his activities and that's exactly where he was, busily grifting his way through various denizens enjoying the club's entertainment.

Danzig enticed a greedy for opportunity Pete outside into the street and then casually into the alley beside the strip club.

"You are the man that hired on as guide for the Canadian woman, Lawrence?"

Pete giggled and rolled his eyes, his hand out in the universal gesture for payment. Danzig took the hand and broke it, his other clamping over the scream Pete didn't get out. Ten minutes later, in a darker section of the alley, Pete gave up everything he knew along with his most important asset... his life.

Han Pok searched clubs along the strip for his cousin, Pete. He didn't want him getting high and blabbing about the treasure. Han had other plans for that. When he learned that Pete had been seen with a North American outside the Love Pole Strip Club, he hurried to the place and questioned everybody he saw.

Danzig watched the worried antics of the small Filipino from a shadowed table in the rear of the club. He knew that Han would come looking; Pete had surrendered that fact. When the man finally noticed him sitting by himself, he puffed his chest and swaggered over to Danzig's table.

"You the one speak with my cousin, Pete?"

"I am."

Where is he?"

"Outside in the alley last time I saw him."

Han squinted and studied the calm features and his attention was drawn to the scar; now something like that would be good on Han, make him more intimidating.

"What you want from him?"

"Same thing I want from you, friend." He reached up and grabbed Han's arm, pulling down onto a chair next to the wall.

Han reached for his machete and found his hand clamped in a steel grip.

"You shouldn't do things like that, Han. Why don't you just tell me all about the treasure and your friends, Vincent and Gretta and Strom."

Danzig picked up his boarding pass and headed for the departure gate. A red eye flight to Manila, and from Manila to Paris and then on to Toronto would take him a long time and he needed his rest. Back in the Love Pole Club, nobody paid attention to the form slumped over the small table in the dark corner of the room, or they might have seen the darker puddle of blood gathering underneath it, dripping from a cut a little larger than Han intended when he admired Danzig's scar.