TOMB HUNTER

The Adventures of Larra Court

Episode 10

Larra’s Indonesian Adventure

Chapter 5 Behind Enemy Lines

Jia Li didn’t know if she was more frightened at being in the hands of her most hated enemies or more angry at herself for being captured so easily. She had been caught completely unprepared by the Japanese attack and she should not have been. The radio had warned that Japanese troops were only a few miles south and she should have expected the arrival of so skilled and determined an enemy.

However, she was not prepared. Instead she had been caught up in attempting to find out what had happened to Larra and her children. Alerted by an unusual sound she had stepped unsuspectingly from the hut she had been staying in and run right into the muzzle of a Japanese rifle. That would have been the end for almost anyone else, resulting in either death or capture. However, Jia Li was not anyone else. She was a woman who had spent time fighting the Japanese in her native China before deciding to accompany Larra Court on her worldwide adventures. Few were as skilled in the arts of hand to hand combat as the exotic Manchu girl and it had taken her only a split second to deflect the muzzle of the rifle and twist it from the hands of the startled soldier who had confronted her. The problem was she had not seen the other soldier who accompanied him, the one who had driven the butt of his rifle into the middle of her back, partially paralyzing her and knocking the breath out of her.

She had continued to fight, but she had been easily overpowered. Her captors had then trussed her up like a chicken and after a heated discussion about whether they should rape her immediately or take her to their commanding officer they decided on the latter course of action.

That was an immense relief to the beautiful young woman. She had been raped before – repeatedly, and it had been a far from enjoyable experience. However, she knew that being taken before the man who commanded the soldiers who had captured her could well be a case of escaping from the frying pan into the fire. In the meantime, however, it gave her time. If the men holding her relaxed their vigilance for just a second she might have a chance to escape. The forest around her was quite dense and anyone stepping a few feet into it would simply disappear. She just needed to get the chance…

Her hopes died. Just before her was one of the few buildings in the village that was not in flames and standing in front of it was clearly the Japanese commanding officer. There were also anther fifty or so Japanese soldiers. Escape was now not an option. She would be shot down before she had taken three strides.

The officer fixed his eyes on her as she was brought before him. His face remained impassive, but his eyes betrayed a sentiment Jia Li had seen many times before. What the man thought was further confirmed as his gaze dropped to her breasts which were partially exposed due to her torn blouse.

“What is this?” the officer inquired. “She doesn’t look Indonesian.”

“Chinese, I think sir,” said the private who had driven his rifle butt into the middle of her back. We caught her coming out of one of the huts and she attacked Private Tanaka.”

“Attacked?” the offer asked. His eyes narrowed to the merest slits. “Then she must be a Chinese spy and must be questioned. Bring her inside.”

Jia Li gave no indication she had understood anything that had been said. It might prove to be an advantage if the Japanese did not know she understood them. On the other hand it might simply make them very angry and that would certainly not work out in her favour. And then there was the matter of being “questioned.” She had been interrogated before and knew that such procedures were often euphemisms for rape and torture. Her heart was hammering as she was escorted to the inside of the building.

Lieutenant Hiroku Matsu seated himself on the only chair in the room and lit a cigarette as the Chinese spy was brought into the room. Inside the only illumination came through the windows, but even in the subdued light he could see that she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on.

She was quite tall for an oriental, standing at least three inches taller than his own five-foot-six, and incredibly slender. She was also very full in the chest, being what Americans called full-figured. Her unassuming khaki blouse and pants could not disguise the fact that they concealed a gorgeous figure. Already Matsu was imagining what she would look like when her clothing was removed. But that could wait for now. First there was the ritual of pretending to question her.

He wasn’t particularly interested in any answers. What a Chinese spy would be doing in the middle of Indonesia was beyond him, and he really did not care. He hadn’t had a woman since raping the wife of the village headman in southern Kalimantan. That had been several weeks ago and he had restrained himself long enough. The Chinese “spy” would do nicely, but first he would play with her for awhile.

“Tie her,” he ordered.

His men moved to obey. The woman was already tied, but they had played the game before. First the lieutenant got to enjoy himself and then it was their turn. Four soldiers grabbed hold of their victim to make sure she offered no resistance, and then untying her wrists and arms, they retied her hands; this time in front of her and tossed the end of the rope over a roof beam.

They pulled her arms over her head until she was forced to stand on tiptoes. The action served to stretch her splendid body and elevate her breasts nicely.

Matsu stubbed out what was left of his cigarette and circled his helpless victim. Her face betrayed no emotion, but he could detect a thin sheen of sweat on her brow. He smiled slightly. She’d be sweating a great deal more than that before he was through with her.

He finally finished his tour just in front of her. “Who are you?” he asked, keeping the question simple.

The woman’s exquisite features remained immobile. She didn’t so much as flicker an eyelash, but he knew that she had understood him. She had given herself away with that reaction. If she truly didn’t speak any Japanese her face would have shown some confusion as he was clearly speaking only to her. To show nothing at all meant she understood him perfectly and was feigning ignorance. So much the better. It would make this little charade that much more fun.

“I know you understand me,” Matsu said. “A Chinese spy would have to understand Japanese otherwise she would be quite useless. I am going to ask again - what is your name?”

This time he got the response the woman should have given him the first time. Her face twisted in bewilderment, pretending that she did not know what he had asked. He smiled. Perfect. Now he could really begin to enjoy himself.

The woman inhaled slowly in an attempt to control her fear as he unbuttoned her blouse and pulled it out of her pants. Underneath she was wearing only a light cotton bra. It barely hid her impressive breasts. He licked his lips. In a minute or so that would go also. Gently he placed his fingers on the woman’s bare shoulder and then traced a slow line along her collarbone finally moving his fingers down to the upper curve of her right breast. All the while he gauged her reaction.

She remained completely impassive, a perfect picture of self-control. Matsu frowned slightly. He had not expected such composure. The last woman he had done this to had been weeping in fear before he even finished unbuttoning her blouse. This was going to pose much more of a challenge than he supposed. It was, however, not something that disappointed him. It would simply make the entire procedure more enjoyable.

“Again,” he said, quietly. “What is your name?”

The woman remained silent. With a pretend sigh, Matsu moved his fingers to the place where the twin hemispheres of her bra contained her elegant breasts. A quick tug of his powerful fingers and the flimsy garment was gone, revealing as flawless a pair of breasts as he had ever seen. With her arms pulled over her head the woman’s perfect breasts were lifted, the taut pink nipples pointing upward. Matsu suspected that even if her arms had been at her sides her breasts would have hardly sagged. However, he tested his theory by taking one of the grapefruit-sized demi-globes in each hand.

They were as ripe and firm as those of a fifteen-year-old and this time he got a reaction as he squeezed each one hard. There was a slight intake of breath as the woman sought to prepare herself to resist the painful mangling of her breasts. With a brutal grimace Matsu shifted his grip to her nipples and exerted the full strength of his fingers. The reaction he got was not the one he expected.

He screamed and cried for a good five minutes before he recovered enough from the pain between his legs to pick himself up off the floor. The woman remained where she had been, her hands still securely tied over her head. There was one change. She was gasping in pain from the blow to the stomach Sergeant Chiba had delivered. Her perfect face, however, was still unmarred. He wanted to see it twist in pain when he delivered the punishment she now so richly deserved.

“You Chinese bitch,” he gasped. It was easy to realize that he probably should have ordered his men to tie her legs, but no woman had ever dared do that to him before. “You are going to pay dearly for that. I’m going to make you wish you had never laid eyes on me.”

“I thought that the moment I first saw you,” the woman retorted in almost unaccepted Japanese.

Matsu reacted in surprise. After remaining mute during his questioning he had not excepted her to speak, much less in so defiant a manner. “Chinese whore,” he said. You’re going to wish you were never born.”

“Why?” she spat. “Are you going to tie me up and molest me and then subject me to a gang rape? I doubt anything you do to me will be anything you did not intend to do in the first place. After all it takes very little courage to torture those who cannot fight back and I expect you are the sort of man who has very little courage.”

Matsu was enraged. It took every bit of what was left of his self-control not to beat her to a bloody pulp right where she stood. But that would be too easy. He intended to make her rue the day she had ever crossed his path and in order to do that he would torture her systematically. It would take time, but he had plenty of that and at the moment the pain between his legs reminded him that as much as he had wanted to rape her only a few minutes before, that was an action that would have to wait. For now he would start with something else.

“Strip her,” he ordered.

His men leapt to do his bidding, quickly removing the woman’s boots and trousers and tearing away what was left of her blouse. It left her clad in only her panties, her ruined brassiere having been ripped off along with her blouse.

Fully revealed, her body was magnificent as he had supposed it would be. But it was more than that. He had never seen a woman like her. Where normal women were soft and rounded she was firm and muscular. It was the body of an athlete – no, the body of a warrior. He was so astounded that he almost forgot to be angry.

“Who are you?” he asked again, but this time his question had an entirely different meaning. Matsu was not an uneducated man. He was well aware of his country’s history and that of its great neighbour to the west. China had a history of legendary woman warriors; women who came to the rescue of their country in times of dire need. Could the woman he had supposed was a Chinese spy be this sort of woman?

He moved about in front of her and studied her intently. This time she could not kick him; her ankles had been tied and pulled apart. She was completely vulnerable; ready for punishment.

She was also completely defiant, her dark eyes staring at him without fear. She had calmed herself after her outburst and resumed the look she had before when he had attempted to get her to speak. He knew that no matter what he said she would speak no more. But she didn’t have to. Her eyes said it all.

“I will break you,” Matsu said, standing very close to her; so close that only she could hear. “And I will enjoy doing it.”

He raised his hand to her face and gently stroked the bruise on her cheek, then traced a finger down her face to the cut on her swollen lower lip. She did not flinch from his touch nor show by even the slightest stiffening of her body that she was in any way afraid of him. But he knew she must be frightened. What woman in these circumstances could not be?

He dropped his hand lower, following the swan-like curve of her neck and then traced a line along her collarbone. Then he allowed his fingers to go lower, to the bruised breasts where he had twisted her nipples before she kicked him. The nipples were hard beneath his fingers, like twin rose-pink thimbles. He did not squeeze them as he had done before. That was not his intent. He wanted this woman to know that he could touch and fondle any part of her body as he chose and do with her what he pleased.

Using both hands now, he cupped her breasts. They were as firm as those of a budding teenager. He let his hands linger for a few seconds and then dropped them lower allowing them to caress her ribcage, then her waist, and finally her hips.

He stopped when his hands reached her silken panties and looked into her eyes. He still saw no fear, but there was a slight tension in her body. He knew that underneath her calm façade there was fear. Slowly he slipped his fingers beneath the elastic waistband and tightened his grip. It took only a little of his strength to rip the thin material from her body, exposing her completely.

He took a step closer to her and moved his hands behind her, caressing the smooth curve of her backside. Beneath his fingers he felt the powerful muscles quiver and felt his own body beginning to respond to the wondrous creature he held in his power. He shifted his body, moving so that his hands could explore the dark triangle at the apex of her thighs. For the first time he got a measurable response as the woman trembled under his touch.

“So,” he murmured, “you are not made of stone. I am going to enjoy raping you in front of my men. We will see how brave you are then.”

She did not reply, and he got no further reaction from her, not even when he cradled her pubic mound as explored her tunnel of earthly pleasures. She was tighter than he had expected, but not a virgin. That did not surprise him although it would have brought him greater pleasure to be the first man to have taken her.

By now Matsu was thoroughly aroused. He had planned to teach the Chinese spy a lesson, but his examination of her had excited him to the point he could hardly move. Stiffly he motioned to his men.

“Untie her and bring her over here. Make sure to hold her tight.”

For Jia Li it was relief tinged with fear as her hands were untied. She was surrounded by Japanese soldiers. The terrible strain on her arms and shoulders was released, but now she faced something far worse. It was something that she simply could not give into without a fight.

She waited until her feet were untied, hoping to catch the men holding her off guard, but she failed miserably. Probably that was due to the fact that several of them had seen her kick their commanding officer between the legs. No one wanted to share in that experience and so when she exploded into action they were ready for her.

Almost ready that is. None of them expected a woman who had been tied with her arms over her head for over an hour to respond so violently; not did any them expect so beautiful a woman to be so strong. Jia Li’s body uncoiled like fine spring steel, breaking the grip of the men holding her arms, and then she erupted among them.

Her feet and fists met flesh, smashing her enemies wherever they struck. The men around her went down as her flashing hands and feet struck groins, faces, chests, and any other vulnerable area she could reach. There was no shortage of targets. More than a dozen men surrounded her and it would have been difficult not to hit someone. And that was the problem. She had no real hope of escape. There were simply too many opponents for her to overcome. Her efforts were born of desperation and fear more than anything else. Faced with violent rape she fought back like a cornered animal.

There were, however, just too many opponents for her to overcome. She landed a score of blows, but took several in return. The narrow confines of the room gave her no chance to avoid them. A blow to her kidneys took the fight out of her. Temporarily paralyzed, she was immediately seized by several men who dragged her to the place the lieutenant had indicated.

It was a crude table fashioned out of split logs. Jia Li was slammed heavily onto its rough surface and her legs and arms drawn out to the sides. Even helplessly outnumbered and held by half a dozen strong men she continued to fight, but slowly her struggles weakened as she used up her strength.

Matsu, who had stayed well out of the way when Jia Li had tried to escape, now came up to her.

“So,” he sneered, “you are nothing but a frightened woman after all. Let’s see just how strong you really are.”

Jia Li’s gut clenched as Matsu unbuttoned his trousers. She faced gang-rape, beginning with the officer. Her mind flashed back to the ordeal she had been forced to endure when her virginity had been taken from her. She had been brutally violated in a horrific nightmare involving several dozen Russian soldiers. It was a memory that she had never been able to suppress and it surfaced now to fill her with terror.

Exhausted as she was, she strained her arms and legs in a last futile attempt to escape. Her body heaved, actually arching from the surface of the table and then Matsu was between her thighs.

“No!” she thought. “Not again.” She kept her thoughts to herself, but her wide-eyed stare and the straining of her sweat-soaked body were clear testimonials to her terror. She bit back a scream as Matsu entered her.

He was certainly not the biggest man that had ever penetrated her, that honour belonged to the man she had taken as her husband and father of her child. Alas, Sir Archibald had been killed in a London air raid. The loss had devastated her and had been her main reason for coming out of “retirement” when Larra had announced her archeological expedition to Borneo.

As the Japanese officer grunted between her thighs that decision appeared to have been costly. And as he released into her womb and a second man took his place, she cursed the fates that had thrown her into such frightening circumstances. The men violating her were hardly gentle, seeming to enjoy causing her pain while satisfying their sexual urges. But rape was always more than simply satisfying sexual desires; it was linked to the need for many men to dominate women; a way of asserting their supposed superiority and humiliating their enemy. It was also a method used to break the will of women prisoners under interrogation.

Lieutenant Matsu had all of these motives in mind as he watched his men gang-rape the Chinese spy. It was one of the most erotic scenes he had ever witnessed as the woman continued to fight even though she was held by a half dozen soldiers and raped by a seventh. He watched as her body slowly weakened, the long limbs eventually ceasing to resist as exhaustion overwhelmed her. The sight of her quivering breasts and heaving belly as man after man drove into her soon had him hard as a rock once more.

“Incredible,” he thought. He and his soldiers had plundered, raped and burned their way through China and Southeast Asia and he had never seen anything like her. The violent rape should have broken her, but as he took her for the second time he could see from the simmering hatred in her dark eyes that she was far from defeated.

He took her more slowly the second time, extending his pleasure. The woman panted from her exertions and the emotional turmoil of being gang-raped, her perfect breasts rising and falling and her belly undulating as he thrust slowly in and out of her. In spite of her refusal to scream she was the most enjoyable of the women he had raped, her very resistance adding to the pleasure. When he finally climaxed for the second time he groaned in satisfaction and then stood back. “Place her under guard and let her get cleaned up,” he ordered. “I will question her more thoroughly later.”

What he meant was that she was now his private property, but his soldiers dared not show their disappointment at losing the best comfort woman they had captured since their invasion of Burma. They moved quickly to carry out his bidding.

Jia Li offered no resistance as she was hauled from the table. The violent rape had taken everything out of her. Her nether region ached. She had been raped by at least a score of men and the Japanese officer twice. Her breasts and thighs were so badly bruised that the blue-black of bruising had replaced the natural colour of her skin.

She bit back a whimper as she took a step. She could walk only with difficulty. Every step was agony and she would have fallen if she had not been supported by the guards that escorted her. So far her fierce spirit had not been broken, but she knew she could not withstand many more sessions like the one to which she had just been subjected. Even worse, she was now far too weak to escape without help and where that help would be coming from she had no idea.

James handed Lin Yao the cup of rice he had managed to scrounge from one of the few huts the Japanese had not burned to the ground. Apparently halfway through their destructive rampage it had occurred to them that it might be useful to leave a few buildings stranding. Lin Yao was where he had left her, waiting obediently for her big brother to return. James had to admit he was a bit impressed with his little sister. Normally a bubbly and rambunctious child, Lin Yao seemed to appreciate the deadly seriousness of the situation and exhibited a quiet and controlled demeanor he did not know she possessed.

James had already eaten from the same source before returning to Lin Yao. He knew that later he would have to get his sister to a safer place, but in the meantime he had to do something much more important.

He had watched the hut were the Japanese had taken Jia Li for over an hour before it became obvious that she was probably not going to be coming out. Then he had headed out looking for food and water. The latter he had found easily. It was the beginning of the monsoon and there were pools of it everywhere, however mindful of his mother’s caution against drinking from seemingly innocent pools he had gone to the village well. With all his other problems he did not need to ingest any intestinal parasites. Having made sure that Lin Yao was temporarily taken care of he cautioned her once more to stay quiet and keep out of sight and then headed back to where he had last seen Jia Li. He arrived just in time to see something that almost made him ill.

Jia Li was being led from the building where he had last seen her taken. Her nude body was badly bruised and he could see that she could barely stand. He knew immediately that she had suffered more than a mere beating. The thought of his “Auntie Jia,” the kind and spirited young woman who had played with him and Lin Yao, being brutalized in the most vicious manner was something he did not want to think about. But it was hard to turn his eyes away from the horrible spectacle.

“I’ve got to do something,” James thought. But what? A twelve-year-old boy would have little chance against battle hardened Japanese soldiers. Whatever he did he would have to avoid going up against them directly. He did not even have a weapon. However, he knew where to get one.

The bamboo grove provided him with what he needed. Using a crude machete he had found by the body of one of the dead villagers he cut an eight-foot length and sharpened the end. It made a crude but serviceable spear. He would have preferred to harden the end properly in a fire, but did not dare go that far. Even though the buildings still burned he did not want to take any chances on the Japanese discovering him.

He had no intention of actually using his crude spear. He was after all a twelve-year-old boy even though he was tall for his age. However, it never hurt to have some sort of weapon in an emergency. Carefully he stowed the spear where it might be handy in case he needed to get it quickly and then waited for night.

Fortunately, it was late afternoon and the tropical night came early. In just a few hours it was pitch dark, lit only by the campfires of the Japanese soldiers. It was then that he made his move.

Avoiding the sentries was not too difficult. James had watched them set up just before sunset and had studied them carefully to learn their routines. The sentries appeared to have been posted simply because it was something the Japanese always did rather than because they feared any enemy action. That was not surprising. James did not know what had happened to the Dutch Army, but it seemed distressingly absent.

He snaked through the camp on his belly, taking as much time as he needed. He knew where Jia Li had been taken and hoped that the men guarding her would think her too badly injured to watch closely. It took him an hour to get into position, and then he waited. He was less than twenty paces from the building where Jia Li was being held. He did not intend to act until late, when the guards would be less alert after several hours of duty. He stifled a yawn. He was very tired. He had been going steadily for almost a full day and was close to exhaustion. He settled down to wait beneath the broken cart he had selected as his hiding place.

“Who would know? She’s not going to tell anyone.”

The words jerked James back to consciousness. He almost cried out in fear. They had come from less than four feet away.

“The lieutenant wants to keep her for himself,” a second voice said. “It would not be wise to defy him.”

“She’s there just waiting for us. Everyone in the camp except us had her. Two more won’t matter.”

“Perhaps, but what if she screams? It will wake the entire camp.”

“Don’t worry,” the first voice said, confidently. “We’ll gag her. The only sound she makes will be her moans as we lie between her thighs.”

“Alright,” the second man said. “But we’ll have to move fast. The guard changes in an hour.”

James felt his gut clench. The calm way the two men discussed rape sent chills down his spine. It was as if Jia Li wasn’t a woman, but merely a thing created for their pleasure. He also chided himself for falling asleep. It was long past the time he had planned to help Jia Li escape. Now it was too late. How was he going to help her escape when two Japanese soldiers were…? He used a word his mother would not have approved. He had failed his auntie. Now he could do nothing but listen while the soldiers did what they wanted with her.

Jia Li lay on the rude cot in the peasant hut that was now her prison. The guards had taken her to the well in the centre of the village where she had been ordered to clean the filth from her body. That act had used up what remained of her strength and the guards had partially carried her to the hut that was now her prison.

It wasn’t much of a prison, but it was secure enough. There was only one way in and the walls were thick enough that it would take some time for her to dig her way through them. With the guards outside even the fact that the walls were built of nothing more than mud plastered over sticks provided more than enough security.

In any case, she was not exactly in prime condition. The brutal gang-rape had left her too battered to do more than lie where she was and nurse her injuries. She was in so much pain that only sheer exhaustion allowed her to sleep and it was with a sudden surge of fear that she awoke as someone stuffed a rag into her mouth.

Her body jerked convulsively as she was seized. In the darkened hut she could not see her assailants, but she guessed there were at least two men and their intent was more than obvious. In spite of the fact that she was surrounded by enemies she would have screamed had they not gagged her even before they tied her wrists.

Too battered to fight back she was easy prey for the men who pulled her arms over her head and spread her legs. Her aching body protested as the man attempting to rape her settled his weight onto her. Pain surged through her as the injuries she had suffered earlier reacted to another round of sexual violation. She cried out, but the gag muffled her protests as she felt the Japanese soldier’s phallus force its way between her bruised labia majora. And then there was a loud noise and the weight of the man’s body settled full upon her.

There was a second explosion and she suddenly realized that she was covered in a sticky liquid. A familiar voice sounded inside the hut. “Come on Auntie Jia, I’ll help you.”

Someone pulled at the body of the man lying on top of her and he slipped to the floor. Free of his weight, Jia Li struggled into a sitting position. The inside of the hut was as dark as a water buffalo’s stomach. She could see nothing, but she could hear and feel.

Somehow with James’ help she managed to get to her feet. There was no time to untie her hands and she stumbled toward the door and the outside of the hut. Outside the sounds of Japanese soldiers sounded loud and clear. James’ grip on her arm guided her in the right direction. She didn’t remember much after that. Everything was a blur of shouting, shooting, and panicked running.

Her adrenaline must have kicked in, giving her strength she didn’t know she had and immunity to the pain of her injuries. Somehow she found herself running through the thick forest surrounding the village following the twelve-year-old son of her best friend. As the sounds of shots and shouting dimmed behind her she finally collapsed, but not before James had pulled her into the shelter of a decrepit hut. She had a vague memory of hearing another child call her name and then everything darkened. As she slipped into unconsciousness she was aware only that someone was holding her and stroking her hair, and then oblivion claimed her.

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