Military Orders

by Martin Roth

  The man sat at a table. Tenzin sat opposite.

  “I am angry,” said Mr Wang, his teeth clenched. “I am very angry. I give you a gun and a simple task and you lose the gun and fail the task. Tell me again what happened.”

  Tenzin decided that humility was important. “I went to the house. As you instructed. Lots of people were around, but mainly kids. I watched for a while. There was just one lady there, an Asian lady.”

  “An Asian lady.” Mr Wang seemed to find this detail particularly offensive.

  “I went to the back yard of the house, and tried to take the boy. But…well, the lady attacked me.”

  “Attacked you. She had a gun?”

  “She had a knife,” lied Tenzin. “Some kind of kitchen knife. She threatened me.”

  “But you had a gun.”

  “Yes…” Tenzin tried to think what he should say next. “But I couldn’t shoot. I might have hit the boy. She was holding the boy in front of her for protection.”

  “We had everything set up. You just had to grab the boy. We thought you could do it cleanly, although we actually didn’t mind if you had to kill some people. We had everything in place to get both you and the boy out of the country within hours.”

  Tenzin didn’t think that saying sorry would help much. He tried to look contrite. “She was a lot tougher than I expected. She came at me with that knife, and then she was able to grab me and she got the gun. She forced me back out.”

  “Our plans are easily changed. But now the police have been alerted. That makes everything a lot more difficult.” Mr Wang stood up, walked around, then spoke again. “Tell me about this Asian lady.”

  “She was very beautiful. She…”

  “She was very beautiful. Is that what you think is important? Where was she from? Why was she there?”

  “I don’t really know.”

  “Did she talk to you?”

  “She might have said something. But in English.”

  “Give me a description.”

  Tenzin described the lady, as best as he could remember.

  “And were there others there?”

  “No other adults. There were a lot of kids. All over the place.”

  The man said nothing for a while. “I have some news for you. The child has disappeared.”

  “Disappeared?”

  “That is why the police are involved. Not because of your presence.”

  “Disappeared. But who…?”

  “As it happens we have just received information from a man who has kidnapped the boy. It seems he wants money. We are still waiting to learn more. So we know who has the boy. We don’t yet know where he is. But we will know soon.”

  “And then?”

  “And then it will become interesting.” He stared at the young man. “Tenzin, while we wait I have another assignment.” Holding a handkerchief to avoid fingerprints, he put his hand in a pocket and took out a Glock 17 semi-automatic. “This is for you. It certainly won’t be good if you lose this one too.”

  Tenzin waited.

  “I think you remember a certain man named Professor Harel. The brother of that Christian missionary. You had an encounter with him not so long ago. We were not happy about it.”

  Tenzin nodded.

  “He is here. We do not know why. But we are extremely concerned. He could disrupt everything. We need to get rid of him. He is staying at a hotel. You are to bring him here so that we can find out what is going on.”

  Chapter 44

  Burumarri Creek, Central Australia

  Back in the hotel Harel sat on his bed pondering his options. It seemed he now knew roughly why Matt had been killed. He had been involved in helping the New Joy Gospel Church in their mission to protect the new Dalai Lama. Why on earth the church should be doing this he could not imagine. Nor did he know who killed Matt.

  In fact, given that the Indian police seemed to be involved in some kind of conspiracy to make Matt appear guilty of art theft, some significant people might be involved in the murder.

  But he could not see how he could learn any more down here in Australia. Sunhee, the Korean lady, said she knew no more about Matt. And she wasn’t prepared to tell him what she was doing in Australia, protecting - or failing to protect - the new Dalai Lama.

  It wasn’t quite mission accomplished. But he felt he had gone as far as he could. Probably, the rest of the story lay with the Indian police and what appeared to be their attempts at a cover-up. Harel felt there was little he could do about that.

  He had one niggling concern. Why had Sue insisted he fly out here? She said it was to investigate the murder. But it appeared that she already knew that Matt had been working with the Korean church - Sue also had probably been helping them, according to Sunhee - so Sue would already have known, or guessed, that it was this involvement that got her husband murdered. What more was she expecting him to learn?

  Sue had also said that his coming to Australia would have been what Matt wanted. Why might Matt have wanted it? He could only guess that Sue was hoping he would help Sunhee in whatever it was that she was doing. But how could he help Sunhee if she would not tell him why she was guarding the boy?

  He decided that the next morning he would fly back to Melbourne and then take the long flight home. He picked up the phone and called his parents. No one answered. That was strange. It was early evening back home. He went to bed.

  When the phone rang in his room he was fast asleep. He struggled to wake. He looked at the big hotel bedside clock-radio. It was three o’clock in the morning.

  “Rafa.” He recognized his mother’s voice.

  “Hello. Yes.”

  “It’s your mum.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know…”

  “It must be nighttime over there. You sound as if you were sleeping. Sorry to wake you.”

  “Yeah, that’s all right. Is everything okay? I actually tried to call you earlier.”

  “We’re at the hospital. Sue’s had her baby. You’re the proud uncle of a new nephew. Congratulations. Mother and baby are doing well.”

  “Another boy.” Sue and Matt had refused to reveal the sex of the new baby, even though they both knew months earlier. “That’s great. It seems boys run in our family. How’s Sue emotionally?”

  “She’s a tough lady, as you know, but she’s drained. She’s next to me right now. Having a baby right after your husband’s killed - in a way it’s like the turning of a circle. A new dawn. The arrival of spring. You know what I mean?”

  “Yes, I do. Though I doubt that Sue sees it like that.”

  “I doubt it. You said you called earlier.”

  “I’m not sure if now is the time. Just a little news on Matt.”

  “Wait.” Harel could hear her whispering. Then, “Rafa, I’m putting Sue on. Just a minute.”

  Harel heard rustling, and then Sue came on the line. “Rafa…”

  “Sue, congratulations. Another boy. I’m very happy. Mum says everything went well.”

  “In the circumstances, yes. Everything’s well. You have some news about Matt.”

  “It’s all a little weird. I think last time I called I told you how I was hoping to find a little boy who was going to be the next Dalai Lama. You kept telling me that you thought this important. Anyway, something very strange is going on. Someone has kidnapped this kid - a Bollywood movie director, of all people - and no one knows why. And there’s a Korean lady, from the New Joy Gospel Church in Seoul. You know that place, the mega-church…”

  “Yes, I know it well.”

  “Well this lady is apparently here to guard the new Dalai Lama. Not doing a very good job, but that’s hardly the point. Something is going on. Anyway, she told me that Matt was helping her cause, whatever her cause is, and she believes that that is what got him killed.”

  “Oh Rafa…”

  “She doesn’t know who exactly killed him. And because she won’t tell me what’s going on I can’t begin to guess. But what I…”

  �
�Rafa, I am so glad you met this lady. Rafa, you must stay and help her.”

  “What?”

  “It is so important.”

  “So you know what is going on?”

  “No, not really. Probably no more than you. But I know that Matt was passionate about helping the people of that church. He believed they were doing something important. I don’t know what it is, though Matt told me that stuff was going on concerning a new Dalai Lama. But I know Matt would want you to help this Korean lady. I don’t know who she is, but I’m sure Matt would have been helping her, and he would want you to help her. That’s why I wanted so much that you would go to Australia. It seemed something was happening, something important, something that Matt was involved with, something that Matt died for.”

  She passed the phone back to Harel’s mother, and after some more pleasantries he rang off. He was still lying in bed, with the light turned off. But he was chilly. The curtain was flapping. He did not recall opening the window, but it seemed to be open. That was odd.

  He turned on the light and went to the window. It was open. He closed it. As he did, he heard something behind him. A man was standing in a corner of the room. “Put up your hands,” said the man.

  Harel could not believe what he saw. This was certainly the same man he had seen that time he went to the Dorje Shugden temple down in the Kangra Valley. The same man who had attacked him. Now, here he was again, in his hotel room in the middle of the Australian desert with a gun.

  “What is this?” said Harel.

  “Put up your hands,” repeated the man.

  Harel looked around. Then he raised his arms in the air. “What’s going on? Why are you in my room?”

  “I want you to walk outside. My car is there.”

  “With my hands in the air? This is a hotel. There are staff around, even at this time of night. They’ll call the police once they see a man with a gun and another man with his hands in the air.”

  The man seemed to consider this. “You can keep your hands down. And I’ll have the gun in my pocket. But I’ll shoot if you try anything.”

  Harel wanted to keep the man talking. “I’m just wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I was in bed. It’s winter. The nights here are cold. I’m just going to put on something warm.”

  He took his trousers and sweater from the chair at the end of his bed and put them on. The man watched warily, the gun held aloft. But Harel saw his chance. As he placed the sweater over his head, he swept his arm at the man and tried to grab the gun. The man stumbled and fell to the ground, and the gun fell from his hand.

  Harel leapt on him, but with surprising agility the man rolled aside. Both men tried to reach for the gun. The man got there first. Then with one elbow he punched Harel hard in the stomach, then leapt to his feet, clearly enraged.

  He led Harel to his car. The hotel lobby was deserted. He opened the trunk and forced Harel inside. Then he sped off.

  Chapter 45

  Burumarri Creek, Central Australia

  Harel stumbled out of the car trunk stiff and sore. He had grazed himself when he fell to the floor, and his stomach hurt from being elbowed by the young man. He tried to ascertain his whereabouts, but in the darkness he could see little. He thought he was probably somewhere in the desert, at a small house. A light was on inside.

  The young man pushed him inside, and then sat him in a chair. An Asian man was there, also pointing a gun.

  “Who are you?” demanded Harel, in an attempt to try to regain some of the initiative.

  The two men ignored him.

  Then the older man took a length of rope and with great dexterity bound Harel’s hands behind his back. He put his hand into Harel’s pockets and removed his cellphone. Then, standing behind Harel, he spoke. “Now, Professor Harel. Why you are here?”

  “Who are you? What’s going on?”

  The man moved around and slapped Harel on the face. “Why are you here, Professor Harel?”

  Harel thought hard. The slap on the face could have been a lot harder. It could have been a punch in the nose. It was a warning. He had no idea what was going on. He could not think why these people had kidnapped him. “Someone murdered my brother in Dharamsala. Where this guy comes from.” He nodded towards Tenzin. “I went to Dharamsala to find out who murdered my brother. I’m increasingly thinking that you people are involved.”

  “Why did you come to Australia?”

  “To find out how my brother died.”

  “But he didn’t die in Australia. He died in Dharamsala.”

  “I know that. But I got kicked out of India. And I’m wondering if you two clowns had something to do with that.”

  The man ignored the insult. “Why Australia?”

  Harel breathed deeply. “I was told that monks in Dharamsala have found the new Dalai Lama here in Australia. And I was told that somehow there was a connection to my brother.”

  “What kind of connection?”

  “That is what I don’t know. That’s why I’m here. Don’t you two idiots understand English?”

  Tenzin looked angry, but the man actually smiled. “So what have you learned?”

  “I’ve learned that a lot of people seem to be interested in the new Dalai Lama. Including” - he nodded again at Tenzin - “monks from the Dorje Shugden temple. But not much else.”

  “And what is your connection with the Asian lady. The one who is guarding the new Dalai Lama.”

  “No connection at all.”

  “But you know her.”

  “I met her yesterday. I went to the house where she’s staying. I told you, I’m trying to find out what happened to my brother. But she didn’t tell me anything.”

  The man seemed to be thinking. Then his cellphone rang. He began speaking in a foreign tongue that to Harel sounded like Mandarin Chinese. At one point the man took pen and paper and wrote something down. The conversation was short. When it was over the man smiled and looked at Tenzin.

  “Got him,” he said, a hint of triumph in his voice. “That idiot director and the boy. We know where they are.”

  Chapter 46

  Burumarri Creek, Central Australia

  Again Harel was forced into the trunk of the car. “We don’t expect the police to stop us,” explained the Chinese man. “But if by chance they do we don’t want them finding a man sitting in the back seat with his hands tied behind his back.”

  “Where are you taking me?” shouted Harel, but the two men ignored him. As best he could tell they were this time driving somewhere together. He had an ominous feeling. It was early morning, with daylight arriving.

  They set off. Why did they have to drive a Corolla, with its less-than-spacious trunk? After what seemed like about fifteen minutes of often bumpy driving they stopped.

  The trunk opened. “Out,” said the man, clearly in charge of whatever was going on. He waved a gun. With difficulty, his hands still bound, Harel managed to extricate himself from the confined space and tumble out.

  They were at a small cottage in a rocky lane, with a few trees around.

  The trio walked to the entrance. The Chinese man knocked hard on the door. They waited about a minute and then someone opened the door. He stared hard at them. He was not a tall man, although he was good-looking, with black hair that covered his ears, and a craggy face.

  “What is it?” He did not look comfortable.

  “So you are the famous director Chodrak,” said the man, who was no longer holding his gun. “We have come for the boy.”

  “But you weren’t supposed to come here.”

  “We thought it easier to do everything here.”

  “How did you get this address?”

  “It was surprisingly easy.”

  “But…”

  “Let’s talk inside.”

  “No. This is not at all the arrangement.”

  “The arrangement has changed. Please let us in. Five million dollars, wasn’t it?”

  Now the director relaxed slightly. “Yes.”
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  The man walked in. Tenzin pushed Harel before him. They were inside a one-room cottage, with a bed on one side, a tiny kitchenette on the other and a table and chairs in the middle. A boy was asleep on a mattress on the floor, next to the bed.

  The Chinese man looked at Harel. “Stand over there,” he said, pointing to a far wall.

  The director now realized that Harel had his hands tied behind his back. “What’s going on?” he demanded. “And how did you know about this house. I never told anyone about this place. We were never going to meet here.”

  “Sit down,” said the man.

  “Are you Mr Wang?” asked the director.

  “That’s exactly correct.”

  “I was going to arrange to meet you later today. But not here. Why have you come here? How did you find out about this place?”

  “Let me look at the boy,” said Wang. He bent down and smiled at the boy, now awake and sitting up, and clearly nervous about all the activity. “You are quite a famous fellow.”

  “Do you have the money?” Chodrak’s voice displayed his tension. “And the passports? Show them to me. I want to see them now. Before I hand over the boy.”

  Mr Wang picked up Toby. “You are coming with us,” he said to the boy. “We are going to look after you very, very well.”

  “Put him down,” shouted the director. “Put him down right now. I want my money first. And the passports.” He stood and began walking towards Wang.

  “Sit down,” shouted Wang. “Tenzin…”

  Tenzin pulled his gun from his pocket. “Sit down,” he commanded.

  The director looked at Wang and at Toby, then at Harel and Tenzin. “What is this?” He still tried to put on a show of bravado, but his face showed some desperation. He pointed at Harel. “Who is he? What’s happening?”

  “Sit down,” said Tenzin. “Sit down.”

  The director was now looking scared.

  Then to Harel’s horror he saw Wang nod to Tenzin. He had a slight premonition of what was about to happen. Tenzin walked up to the director, and in an instant raised the gun and shot the man twice in the head. Blood spurted forth as the man slumped forward.