'How are things in Putney with you and the kids?' I asked.
'We're all fine. How are things in Melbourne?'
'Going well although the weather has been a bit unsettled.'
'And how about Stuart; have they found him yet.'
'Not yet; in fact, Tony and I, plus three others are flying up to Darwin tomorrow morning to see if we can locate the airfield where they are operating from.'
'So you are still involved then?'
'Yes, I am still involved.'
'But Vince, you know that I don't want you to get yourself into dangerous situations.'
'I am not getting myself involved in dangerous situations.' I was getting irritated by my wife's questioning. 'All we are doing is trying to find an airfield where Stuart is being forced to fly from. As soon as we find it we will hand the information over to the police, and they will do the dangerous bit of rescuing him.'
'Do you promise that you will step back as soon as you find him.'
'I can't make any promises as I don't know what is going to happen. All I can tell you is that I won't endanger my brother's life or mine, or indeed the other members of our party.'
'Well, I suppose if you have to do it then you will have to stick with it. I am not happy, but you aren't going to listen to me anyway.' She didn't sound very happy on the other end of the phone, but I think she understood that I didn't have a choice if Stuart was to be rescued.
'I'll phone you as soon as I get back to Melbourne or when I get another chance.'
'Don't leave it too long until you call me. I will be worried about you,'
'I will. Bye, dear.'
I put the phone down. I wasn't happy with her attitude, but I suppose I had no alternative but to put up with it.
It took me a long time to get to sleep. My brain was going at a hundred miles an hour over what my wife had said and the best way of working together once we got to Darwin. Although I was determined to remain a member of the team, I did feel a profound sense of guilt. There was also trepidation, not at the danger I might be going into, but at the fact that my wife was upset with me.
Eventually, I must have fallen asleep as the next thing I knew Tony was shaking me awake.
'It's six-fifteen Vince, you had better get up or we will be late.'
'Sorry, I meant to get up earlier; I'll be ready in fifteen minutes.'
The first thing that I noticed as I joined the day was the sound of heavy rain on the roof. When we left the house to get in the car, I discovered that there wasn't just heavy rain there was also a very strong wind. Not a very auspicious beginning to our adventure.
We threw our bags on the back seat and jumped in the car out of the wet.
'A typical autumn day in Melbourne,' Tony said as we set off.
'It's certainly throwing it down,' I added. 'I hope that it doesn't delay the flight.'
'We should be OK as they are well used to this type of weather.' Tony was ever the optimist which made me feel better. 'I will drop you off at the terminal with the bags and you can check them in at the Bag Drop counter while I park the car.'
The roof of the terminal building extended out over the road, so I was well protected from the torrential rain when I got out. I got hold of a baggage trolley and then looked for the correct check-in desk.
I spotted the large bulk of Rod Charlesworth in one of the queues, which gave me a target to head for. It proved to be the right place, so I joined it a few people back from Rod. He left his position and came back to join me.
'Good morning Vince you made it despite the rain.'
'Yes, Rod we weren't delayed much. Tony is parking the car, and will be here shortly.'
'If we check-in together then we should be seated together. I saw Brian earlier, and he has already checked-in.'
We were the next ones to be dealt with when a very wet and soggy Tony joined us.
'You're very slow Vince,' Tony called out to me. 'I thought you would through the process by now.'
'This impatient man is my brother Tony,' I said, introducing Rod to him.
He shook Tony's hand.
'Good morning Tony, you'd think that on a morning like this Vince would have offered to park your car for you. You're drenched.'
'He's older than me, so I didn't want to put too much strain on him.' Tony smiled at his joke.
The three of us checked-in together and then went searching for the others.
Brian had found Kevin, and they were sitting having a coffee together in a café. After checking the time, we decided that we had better go through security before having a coffee ourselves. Brian and Kevin drank up and joined us.
When we were seated in the Departure Lounge, with cups of coffee and some croissants in front of us, I put the outline of my plan to them.
'Gentlemen, we won't all be sitting close to one another on the flight so I would like you to consider an idea that I have had.' I addressed the group. 'I suggest that when we get to Darwin, we divide up into two groups. Tony and I will make up one team, and Rod and Brian will make up the other. Kevin, I suggest that you remain as an independent agent and liaise with the local police or, alternatively, support one of the groups when you have the time.'
'So you are suggesting that the two groups work separately and the area is divided into two search areas?' Rod asked.
'That's right. Also, I think that it would be a good idea if Kevin contacted the local police. They can advise him on how to get access to the records of recent flights that came from Indonesia to the Northern Territory.'
An announcement was made asking for the remaining passengers on the Qantas flight to Darwin to go immediately to the departure gate as the flight was now closing.
'We had better hurry up; I will talk to you again once we are in Darwin,' I hastily added as we rushed off to get our plane.
Rod, Tony and I were seated beside each other; the remaining members of our group were dotted around the aircraft. There was no chance of talking to them during the four-hour flight.
When we were airborne Rod said to me.
I like the idea that we operate in two separate groups. It will increase our effectiveness; however, I have another suggestion.'
Tony leant across to hear what we were talking about.
'You mentioned at our meeting with the Inspector that it might be easier to track down the plane they are using at an airfield on the Indonesian end.'
'Yes, I remember saying that.' I also remembered my thought processes at the time. There could be only two or three airfields on the Indonesian islands within flying distance of the Australian Northern Territory.
'My suggestion is that one of our teams go straight away to Indonesia to search there,' Rod added.
'Sounds like a good plan Vince, what do you think,' Tony asked.
'Let's have a look at a map of the area,' I suggested. I took out the Qantas magazine from the pouch of the seat in front of me. 'There is probably a map in this magazine.'
There was indeed a map; however, it didn't give the detail that we required and just gave the outline of the main islands. It was not an area of the world that I knew very well, so I was unable to fill in the missing detail. Rod informed us that he had been on holiday to Bali on a few occasions, but that was a bit too far to the west for what we were looking for. The island of Timor seemed to be the largest island that was closest to the northern coast of Australia. I had heard of Timor on the news. As far as I could remember there was a dispute between the Government of Indonesia and the Timor rebels. It would probably be a dangerous place to go.
'We need a more detailed map,' Tony suggested. 'On the face of it there would appear to be very few places that they could fly from in Indonesia so it might be worth a look.'
'I agree with you Tony,' Rod concurred. 'If we knew how far the King Air could fly on a full tank of aviation fuel that would probably reduce the search area even more.'
'As soon as we land I will telephone Leyton Burns at the flying school in Tullamarine a
nd get the necessary information about the airplane from him,' I suggested. 'To proceed we need the length of runway the Beechcraft requires to land and take off when it is fully laden. We also need to know how far it can fly on a tank of fuel on the assumption that it won't be refuelled at the far end.'
'Sounds good to me,' Tony concurred.
We landed in Darwin on schedule. After collecting our bags, I suggested that we went and had a drink while we discussed our modus operandi.
We found a quiet section of a bistro where we sat down with our assorted beverages.
I adopted the role of spokesman. 'As a result of a discussion that we had on the plane coming up here,’ I said ‘I think that our primary task is to agree now on how we are going to operate.'
'Rod suggested that it would be more efficient if one group went immediately to Indonesia and started a search there, while the other looked here in the Northern Territory.'
'Would it not be a lot harder to search in Indonesia as there are thousands of islands and a lot of them are in the jungle?'
'The reason I suggested this approach is because there are few islands that are big enough to have a landing strip that the Beechcraft can land on and take-off,' Rod explained. 'A fully laden plane will need a long runway. Also, there is a limit to the distance it can go on one tank of fuel, and they won't want to fill up at the Indonesian end.'
'That's an excellent point,' Kevin said. 'That information will also limit the landing strips they can use at this end.'
'My suggestion is that Tony and I book on the next available flight to Jakarta.' I added. 'From there we will be able to get an internal flight to the southern islands, of which Timor is the biggest. I also plan on telephoning Leyton Burns at the Essendon Flying School to get more information on the plane. W need to know the range the King Air can fly with a heavy load and a full tank of fuel.'
'That information will also help us,' Rod suggested.
'Do you still want me to try and get information from Air Traffic control and the military on the flight paths of planes flying between Indonesia and Northern Territory?' Kevin asked.
'Yes, that is essential information if you can get it. I will phone you from Jakarta when I get there to find out if you have had any luck,' I said.
'So we are all ready to get going.' Rod finished his beer.
'Yes, I think we can split up now and concentrate on our individual tasks,' I added. 'We can get in touch with each other by mobile phone if we discover anything that needs to be communicated.'
'I'll hang around until you have talked to Leyton Burns so as I can be bang up to date on the facts we have to work on,' Rod suggested.
'I'll get going and start with the Air Traffic Controllers that are based in the airport here.' Kevin got up and left us.'
'So I will be in a team with Rod?' Brian McClatchy asked me.
'Yes, if that is OK with you.'
'And we are going to search in the area around Darwin?'
'You can search anywhere in the Northern Territory,' I replied. 'I suspect that they won't be operating too close to Darwin as they want an isolated and little-used airstrip.'
I phoned Leyton at the Essendon Flying School and got the information I required.
'Right Rod here is the criteria you need to follow while you are conducting your search,' I said. 'Leyton told me that a heavily laden Beechcraft King Air would require a landing strip of around eight to nine hundred meters. He also said that if he were in charge he would insist on a strip at least a kilometre long. The safe range would be around two thousand four hundred kilometres. That means that the location they are flying to in Indonesia is twelve hundred kilometres away. So it must be very close to Timor.'
'Let me go and buy a map in the airport bookstore.' Rod left us to find the shop. He was back in about five minutes.
We put the map on the table and poured over it.
Using the scale on the map, Rod measured out the distance we required on a piece of paper. He then cleverly made an arc on the map showing twelve hundred kilometres from Darwin. The arc cut through Kupang in West Timor and didn't touch any other major island.'
'Looks as if you have found your airfield,' Brian suggested.
'If our logic is correct then we must be very close.' I agreed with him.
'And there is no reason our logic isn't correct,' Rod said.
'There is one major flaw in our assumptions,' I suggested. 'We are assuming that the plane won't refuel at the Indonesian end of the journey. If it does refuel, then you can add another twelve hundred kilometres to our estimate, and that could bring you anywhere.'
'If they are smuggling drugs they will want to be down and out very quickly. They won't want to refuel.' Rod sounded more hopeful than me.
'I hope that you are correct, and we aren't wasting our time.'
'I'm going to find Kevin and see if he can get somebody to tell us where we are likely to find a landing strip in Northern Territory that is one kilometre in length.' Rod got up and set off with Brian for the information desk.
'Right, Tony we had better go and buy some tickets to fly to Jakarta.'
‘We had better get a good supply of malaria tablets,’ Tony suggested. ‘We will be going to a high-risk area.’
It turned out that it wasn't that simple to get to Jakarta. We would have to fly to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines and then catch a flight from there to Jakarta. Once in the capital of Indonesia, we would fly on the internal airline, Lion Air, to Surabaya in East Java and then on to Kupang in West Timor. The Malaysian Airlines flight for KL didn't leave until 5.05am the following morning, so we had a lot of time to kill.
While I was organizing the tickets, Tony went off to purchase the medication we would need.
Chapter 17
Tony and I decided that it would be a good idea to book rooms for ourselves in a hotel close to the airport. We would have to check in for our flight by 4.00am the following morning. This early check-in time would necessitate an early start; however, if we got to bed early we could still have six hours sleep. We also didn't fancy hanging around twiddling our thumbs in the airport for half the night.
We told the others where we were staying, and they said that they would drop in to see us before they departed for up-country.
Rod and Brian were the first to visit us. They had got tired of waiting for Kevin to obtain any useful information and had decided to hire a Ute and start off by searching for possible landing strips within two hundred kilometres of Darwin. They were going to start their search to the East and were heading for an Airport on Croker Island. Rod showed me the airport on a map, and it certainly matched all the criteria we had specified. The landing strip was just under a kilometre long, and the island was situated off the northern coast. The only problem the smugglers would have would be bringing the contraband from the airfield across the stretch of water between the island and the mainland.
They also planned on inspecting another landing strip situated about one hundred kilometres further east along the coast at a place called Murganalla.
'Looks as if you have plenty to keep you busy,' I suggested.
'Yes, we will find somewhere to stay up there overnight and start our search in the morning,' Rod said. 'Our biggest problem will be finding a way of getting out to the island. I am not too sure if there is local ferry.'
'So Kevin wasn't able to get any flight path information for you?' Tony inquired.
'No, he has been told that they can’t talk to him until tomorrow. They won't release the information or even speak to him until he obtains the official clearances that he needs. There is a lot of red tape involved because it is the military who have the information.'
I filled Rod in on the arrangements that we had made to get to Indonesia.
'Well, I don't envy you setting off into the steamy jungle. Enjoy it.'
He shook our hands and left us to head off for his island.
Kevin didn't come and see us; he phoned instead. He sounded totally
frustrated with the response that he had received from the air traffic controllers. He told me that he would contact me by phone as soon as he had anything new to tell me. I explained that we were booked to fly to Indonesia at five o'clock tomorrow morning, and it was in the lap of the gods when my mobile would start working again. I also doubted that it would pick up a signal on a remote island.
After a reasonable night's sleep, we caught our plane for Jakarta at 5.05am. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 8.25am and then, after a second flight, Jakarta at 3.05pm. After enduring a considerable delay being processed by Immigration control, we found the ticket desk for Lion Air the local Airline. I purchased two seats to Kupang. We were informed that the next flight would only leave at 9.10am the following morning. We had no alternative but to spend another night in a hotel. The girl on the ticket desk recommended the FM7 Resort Hotel, which was situated on the precinct of the airport. I noticed that the cost of a room in Jakarta was roughly a quarter of the price I had paid in Darwin.
When we went outside the air-conditioned terminal building to get the courtesy coach to the hotel, a wall of hot air, hit us. Our shirts were soaked in a matter of minutes. I had never experienced such a high humidity. We were in for a very uncomfortable few days.
The next morning we caught the Lion Air flight to Surabaya which despite the chaos in the terminal left on time. The domestic terminal was a much older building than the international terminal that we had arrived at the previous day. The local populace didn't travel light, and there was anything from large boxes containing what looked like all their personal possessions, to crates of chickens. Getting through the check-in process and security took a long time and caused a great strain on our patience.
'I have never been through anything like this,' Tony said to me at one stage. 'Did you see that man was carrying three chickens in a crate plus a dog?' He pointed at the man he was referring to.
'I heard that there is an air service that flies to the remote villages in the outlying islands, and it is the only way the natives can bring all their stuff in,' I replied. 'You think this is bad what must it be like at the airport they use as their base.'
Danger Down Under: Another Vince Hamilton Investigation Page 13