‘It’s chilling,’ Lisa said.
‘It makes perfect sense when you think about it. You are getting the very people you stole the gold from in the first place to dig the holes. It has the kind of perverse logic that I associate only with military minds. Anyway, as the war progressed this situation carried on. The more they stole, the more tunnels they dug, the more they had to make slaves of the native Filipinos. When they had finished with a tunnel they would simply blow it up leaving whoever was inside to die. No one quite knows how many died like this but it must have run into hundreds, perhaps even thousands.’
‘So,’ Lisa began. ‘Who was Yamashita?’
‘Well, to be honest he was just another general whose operation this was. He was no more or less barbaric than any of them; his story happens to be the one that has become famous because of his public execution. Just before the war ended Hirohito ordered a massive surge in operations and a huge percentage of the Japanese army was dedicated to burying gold and artworks. However, this time it was not to store in order to provide money to fight the Americans but to cover up their activities during the last five years. You see, all of this wealth could not only be used for reparations and the like but it also meant evidence of war crime. Put it this way — it was the embarrassing dust that the Empire wanted to brush under the carpet.’
Anderson poured another cup full of Saki and gulped it down. ‘People have been looking for Yamashita’s gold for years, ever since it was buried. Some of it has been found, but no one actually knows how much was actually hidden. Rumour has it that the Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos found most of it. There could be troves still out there.’
‘Why? Where would you look? I mean there’s only jungle there, no one left to talk about it, no maps.’ The professor said the last word with hesitation. He studied the look on Anderson’s face.
‘You haven’t any information in that line, have you, professor?’
The professor looked the picture of innocence. ‘Of course not, dear Anderson, I am merely interested in your tales.’
Anderson suddenly became as white as the bottle of Saki that he held within his thin bony fingers. ‘Because it would be bad news, professor, to try and recover any of the gold.’
‘Why?’
‘The aswang.’
‘What is that?’ Lisa asked.
‘The spirits of the Filipinos — best not tarried with if you ask my opinion. I have seen things that would make you age twenty years in five minutes where the aswang are concerned. They enter the body and can manipulate you from inside. They can appear in any form they choose, and they do not take kindly to their habitat being invaded.’
Suddenly the professor thought about the dreams he had been having — the smoke, the feeling of oppression, the smell, the darkness and the terror. He swallowed hard and tried to pull himself together. ‘So Yamashita’s gold would be in the Philippines?’ he asked, rather overstepping his own mark of secrecy.
‘Yes,’ Anderson said.
There was silence.
‘You have got something, haven’t you?’
The professor looked around the room. He crossed over and pressed an ear to the door then returned to his seat at the table.
‘We have come into possession of a map, of the location of Yamashita’s gold.’
To their surprise, Anderson burst out laughing. He rocked forward in his seat, holding his stomach and showing his brown crooked teeth. For the first time since she had arrived Lisa wondered whether she could trust Anderson, he seemed duplicitous all of a sudden. For a brief moment he looked ugly in the half-light of the room with the darkness making shadows on his face and causing his skin to appear more and more wrinkled. Perhaps it was the way he threw his head back but, to Lisa, he suddenly became the laughing face of a demon.
Anderson stopped finally and allowed himself to calm down. ‘Please excuse me, professor, but it was the seriousness with which you said that you had a map. Honestly, I don’t think there is a day goes past without someone saying to me that they have a map to Yamashita’s gold. I mean, you are an intelligent man, you are a scholar; I am surprised you are fooled by such ridiculousness.’
The professor looked placid and stared at Anderson. ‘You know of Amichi?’
Anderson thought. ‘Yes, yes, I have heard the story. Wait a minute.’
Again he crossed over to the filing cabinet but this time he opened the drawer second from the top. It was filled with manila files and sheaves of dirty yellowing paper. He flicked through them, eventually stopping on one in particular. He looked at it surreptitiously, then pulled it from the cabinet. He crossed the room and slammed it on the table.
‘Amichi, Captain, served under General Yamashita, 1943 to 1945 when he went missing, believed to have been killed.’
Lisa gasped. ‘Killed?’
‘Yes. It was thought that he was killed by Filipino workers in 1946 after Yamashita himself had been hanged in the prison.’
‘Was there any proof of this?’ the professor asked.
‘Only a body. Is that who you are after, professor? A dead man?’
The professor thought for a moment. ‘His death comes as no surprise to me,’ he said slowly. ‘But the time of it does. You see, we were under the impression that he died only recently. His granddaughter, you see…’
‘His granddaughter?’
‘Yes, his granddaughter. It was she who gave me the map.’
Anderson looked interested all of a sudden. ‘Who is his granddaughter?’
‘You heard of the girl in the temple?’
‘The one recently who was found dead?’
‘Yes, the very same.’
‘But it’s impossible. Amichi died in 1946 after Yamashita.’ ‘Did they ever identify the body?’
‘No, of course not. He was merely a captain and besides they would not have let his body return home. They would have scattered it in the jungle as punishment.’
‘So it’s possible it was not him and that our Amichi was alive and well and managed to smuggle a map of the gold tunnels out?’
Anderson thought for a moment. ‘Well, of course it’s possible,’ he said. ‘But it’s highly unlikely.’
‘Well,’ the professor said. ‘I’ll settle for possible.’ He got up to leave. ‘Good day, Anderson. Thank you for your information.’
‘Wait!’ Anderson grabbed his arm. ‘Have you got the map?’
The professor smiled and tapped his pocket. ‘Always,’ he said.
‘Can I see it?’
The professor hesitated; he looked across at Lisa who nodded slightly. The professor reached a hand into his coat pocket and pulled out the map. He spread it on the table. Anderson looked at it intently.
‘Well, it looks as though it’s about the right age. Obviously I can’t recognise any of these features.’
‘What would you suggest?’ the professor asked.
‘For finding it? Hmm, well, it will be difficult whatever you do. If I were you I’d hire a plane to take you all over the jungle to look for these distinguishing features — look, here there is a ridge and a small hillock, there is a distinctive collection of large trees. They will be still there — it is a remote place, there would be no loggers around there.’
Anderson poured the last of the Saki into his cup. ‘You know, professor, for my help I might ask for a little… er… restitution.’
‘Now or later?’ the professor asked.
Anderson laughed. ‘What with the aswang and the jungle I’d prefer it now if you don’t mind. For you there may not be a later.’ He laughed again and the sight of his teeth sent shivers down Lisa’s spine. The professor opened his wallet and took some notes out. He placed them on the table, picked up the map and put it back into his pocket.