by John Muir
CHAPTER 19
OPERATION HOLIDAY BEGINS
APUAO GRANDE ISLAND, CAMARINES NORTE. SATURDAY, APRIL 17
T.A. and Malou were surprised at the large number of people at the restaurant for dinner. The weekends generally resulted in an influx of "short-termers". Extra tables had been brought in. Some were joined together for the large group of Japanese men and their Filipino partners who had arrived on Friday. Even without the Japanese counted, there were still noticeably more guests than earlier in the week.
These "weekenders" were upsetting the peace and tranquillity he normally felt about his little paradise, as though extras were trespassing. Long stayers were acceptable.
The first familiar faces they spotted were Doug and Alona with their daughter at one of the tables in the narrow strip between the bar and the southern outside wall. Seldom used it was only in use because of the extra guests. T.A. looked to the main area. There were no empty tables there either. All the seats around the bar were occupied.
"What do you want to do?" asked T.A.
"Look," said Malou pointing to the end of the bar, "there's Gunther and Di. Let's join them."
As they made their way, T.A. noticed Podgy seated on his usual bar stool. As they approached he turned around and gave T.A. a grin.
"G'day you two," he said, "too many bloody strangers in our little paradise eh?"
T.A. let Malou walk on ahead. She stopped after a couple of paces when she noticed Ruth, and began talking to her.
"Yeah," responded T.A., "Just what I was thinking. I guess the management will be happy. It must be a full house."
"Is Malou still enjoying the break?"
"Yes, off and on. It depends on her mood. What about Ruth? You know you've got a nice lady there!"
"Yep. It’s my second visit to see her. This time we've been together for five weeks. I'm supposed to be goin' back to Sydney in a week. I don't wanna go back without her."
"That sounds good, if it means what I think it means. Does it?"
"Yeah. I reckon it does. We'll go back to Manila on Monday, contact the Embassy and see what I've gotta do about gettin' her back to Australia. If I've gotta go back without her I don't know what the hell I'll do. I'm near retirement. I could retire straight away if I wanted. I don't want to be away from her. If I have to, I'll sell the house and come over here to live."
"No, don't sell the house. Come back here to live with her for six months to prove a de facto relationship. Do it. Just rent your house out until you can both return to Australia. The divorce law’s crazy here. Otherwise, normally, you could've got married."
"Yeah," Podgy said rather despondently, looking at his stubby of beer in the polystyrene container. "I'm bloody well not leaving here without her."
Podgy had already begun to imagine his fight with bureaucracy. He was already frightened of the possible result. T.A. felt ashamed remembering his initial analysis of Podgy when he first saw him on the banca. He had been so wrong.
"We'll swap addresses before you go Podge, I'd like to keep in touch. I really mean that."
"Yeah, I'd like that too."
T.A. looked at Malou as she looked at him. He touched the sitting Podgy on the shoulder.
"It'll all turn out O.K. We're going to see if we can find a seat."
"Yeah. I'll see you later."
As T.A. grabbed Malou's arm, he gave Ruth a wink. He noticed that she too looked sad. Malou touched Ruth's arm in reassurance before Malou let T.A. lead her away.
T.A. leaned over to speak in Malou's ear as they walked.
"Gee, that looks like a sad couple of people."
"Yes, Ruth is worried because they only have a week left. Podgy hasn't said anything about taking her with him. She said he's just gone quiet in the last few days and not even wanting to talk to her."
"Oh Hell. So she doesn't know what's worrying him then,"
"No, what is it?"
"He's scared to leave her."
"Why doesn't he tell her?"
"I guess he doesn't want to get her hopes up. Remember she has three children that he'd have to get into Australia as well as her."
T.A. noticed Helmut and Heidi at a dining table near the bar, about to start a meal of battered fish and chips.
"Helmut," said T.A., "the chips are bad for your heart, and they'll ruin Heidi's figure."
The German couple seemed to force their smile, nodded a response and went on eating.
T.A. moved on and whispered to Malou, "Even they seem to be less talkative. Must be all these interlopers upsetting everyone."
"What's an interloper?" asked Malou.
"I'll tell you later."
When they reached Gunther and Diana, Gunther stood rather unsteadily and offered Malou his seat. As he looked at Diana, she looked daggers at Gunther showing her obvious disapproval of his state.
"I'm in the shit again T.A.," offered Gunther in a strong alcohol affected accent. Then with a smile, "Di reckons I'm drunk."
"Well," responded T.A. in jest, "you know you can't argue with a woman."
Malou now looked blackly at T.A. after hearing his response.
T.A. raised his eyebrows at Diana, "Hello Di. Is he out of control again?"
"Just the same as usual," she grinned back.
Malou and Diana started off gabbling away in their own dialect, effectively excluding and ignoring both the men.
"Entering the pool tournament?" slurred Gunther.
"Might be fun. Is it the one with two balls over each pocket and you try to sink them with the least shots?"
"I think so. Di's already put her name up. Why don’t you? Twenty dollar prize in food or drinks. Put your name on the blackboard next to the dart board. Not many in it yet. Di reckons I'm too drunk to try."
"Yeah, might as well." T.A. moved away to the slate next to the dart board and wrote down his initials. When he returned Gunther handed him a San Miguel stubby.
"If anybody who rings the bar bell tonight it'll cost a fortune." said Gunther.
"Quite a few staying over by the look of it," responded T.A. "It's too late for them to go back by banca now."
"The girls seem to be O.K. talking. Do you want to go down to the beer hut on the beach?" suggested Gunther.
"Yeah. Why not? I'll tell Malou and get her to call when there's a free table."
While he was telling Malou, Gunther grabbed two extra stubbies. Malou just rolled her eyes and said nothing. As they neared the beer hut, T.A. noticed it too was crowded. Graham was there a bit earlier than usual. Adela, his faithful little woman, was dutifully waiting nearby and talking to another Filipino girl that T.A. had not seen before. Ben, the manager, and the two young Swiss men were talking to the Swiss dive-master and his Filipino diving-assistant. There were a few other Europeans that T.A. had not seen before. The little table was crowded with empty beer bottles, full ash trays and cigarette packets. Even the nearby seats made out of old truck tyres were occupied.
When they arrived, greetings were offered all around, and then conversation just carried on seemingly uninterrupted. T.A. did not feel part of this small talk. Gunther had already become engrossed in conversation with the Swiss, so T.A. walked alone down to the beach. It was not quite low tide, but nearly. There were not noticeably any more bancas than usual pulled up on the sandy beach or more than usual larger ones at anchor offshore, despite the increased patronage.
One of the hobie-cats was beached fifty metres south and to the left of the beer hut, just short of the overhanging tree. The other two were just to the right and north of the beer hut. Tonight they would use the distant southerly one. He and Malou could lie back and watch for falling stars.
Though much of the time lying on the hobie-cat trampolines was spent in silence, he still enjoyed it. He had not come to any decision yet. He almost envied Podgy's dilemma. At least Podgy felt certain about his emotions.
He was not sure how long he had been standing there when he became conscious he was not alone. He turned to see Malou had silent
ly joined him. She took his empty hand into hers without saying anything. Together they stood silently for a few moments just looking out on the dimly lit ripples rolling onto the beach. He loved the silent togetherness that she somehow expressed. This silence was very different to those that happened when she was in one of her moods.
"Table ready?" asked T.A.
"Yes. Di's holding one and waiting for us. Gunther didn't know where you'd gone."
"Let's go then, I think this beer's made me feel hungry."
T.A. was hungry all right. He finished off a large T-bone steak and chips, then cleared up Malou's leftover kare-kare, a beef based dish. He had barely finished and sat back, when Jojo, one of the Filipino male staff who generally helped on the Swagman banca, came up to him.
"It's your turn to have your first round on the table. If you want, you can have both rounds straight away."
"Oh God," groaned T.A., "My guts are over-stretched with all that food. Oh well, I'm pretty bad anyway, but this full stomach isn't going to help."
"Come on, I'll watch," offered Malou.
"How did you go Di?" asked T.A.
"The cut off is thirty shots for two rounds, I took thirty-two."
"Well, my first target is less than thirty-two then. I can't lose face, otherwise the Japanese might make me commit Hare Krishna."
"Don't you mean Hari Kari?" asked Gunther.
"My way is less painful, and done singing silly songs."
T.A. made his way uncomfortably to the pool table. After taking twenty-two shots to sink the two balls paired over each of the six pockets, he knew he was not going to be a threat to the 'top guns'. So he finished his second round immediately, and was annoyed with himself for not playing better in the first round. His second round was a very commendable eleven, but the total put him over the thirty cut-off number. Worse, it was one behind Di. It seemed Malou's loyalties were a bit divided, because as soon as they returned to the table to rejoin Gunther and Di, she threw her arms around Di.
"You won!" Malou announced loudly to all who sat nearby.
Gunther laughed.
"Where's my drink?" laughed Di.
"Whoa, all of you," said T.A. "There's some question here about whether the judge took a bribe, and the results have been corrupted by ballot box tampering. But I'll buy you a drink anyway Di."
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Helmut and Heidi left the restaurant at the usual time, between 9:30P.M. and 10:00P.M. They did not want to break the routine they had established over the previous few nights, even though it was a Saturday night. They wanted their Iranian and Filipino colleagues to take the cue from their lead and leave.
There was still a lot of preparation and preliminary work to be done between now and the 2:00A.M. start of the operation. Firstly was the meeting with the others at their house before each returned to their own hut for individual preparations. Heidi hoped no outsiders would see the arrivals at their house. Normally it would not be thought of as strange. But Heidi worried that their being seen together immediately before the take-over might be remembered after the event. That could upset the part of the plans dealing with the escape, or create a suspicion that the same group was also missing from the group of hostages.
Immediately they returned home, Heidi checked from the outside of the house to reconfirm that nothing inside the house could be seen.
Within minutes of her returning inside, there was a quiet tap on the back door.
"Ya, who is it?" Helmut asked, as though surprised at receiving guests at such a time.
"Aziz and Raji," came the response.
Helmut opened the door and they quickly entered. Heidi had come to like Aziz with his seeming quiet efficiency. Raji was even quieter. She had hardly spoken half a dozen words to him but judged him as well organised in his own thoughts and actions. She admired efficiency and fully trusted both of them.
This mission was turning out to be a surprise in several ways. In the matter of a few days she had met several people among the guests that she liked. Now she did not enjoy the thought that shortly she would be putting those guests’ lives at risk.
There was another quiet tap at the door. Again Helmut asked the same question with the same feigned surprise.
"Boy and Dandan. Rico and Lorna have just come out of the jungle," was the response this time.
Again within seconds all four were inside.
"Anyone else around outside to see you arrive?" asked Heidi.
"No, we stayed behind outside to make sure nobody was watching," responded Rico.
“O.K. I know we’ve already covered everything in our previous meetings. I just want to go over a few things. Each of you must check your weapons and ammunition again. To begin, we'll have to neutralise the guard. He is not a genuine threat; I just don't want him wandering around loose while we're gathering up the hostages. I've noticed while there is something going on in the restaurant at night, he normally walks around outside, but very close. Sometimes he sits in one of the umbrella huts just beyond the lighting. When the manager has gone, and if someone is watching a video, he sneaks onto the back seats out of the light to watch. If there are several people in the T.V. room, he stands in the dark outside the windows where he can hear and see the T.V.
"Once everyone has gone to bed, he sleeps on one of the couches in the T.V. room. If he went missing, nobody would notice for hours. So we could tie him up a long time before the mission starts."
Everyone nodded their agreement before she went on.
"We must check if there are any others wandering around and not in their beds before we make the signals for the offshore party to land. A check on house lights should cover that. Most people seem to go to bed early. But tonight is Saturday, and they're having a pool table competition. So, nobody knows when the last guest will be in bed. The manager, Ben, doesn't expect the game to go on much after midnight, if it lasts that late.
"Now, I want your individual estimates of how many people are staying at the resort, both in the cabins and in the houses. If you think there are more or less than anyone else who gives a figure, then say so. We must be very accurate, especially in regard to where all the staff is sleeping tonight, and which houses all the ex-pats are occupying. Firstly, does everyone agree that the security guard tends to sleep on one of the couches in the T.V. area when everyone’s gone?"
Everyone nodded agreement.
"Boy, you and Dandan, take care of the guard. Blindfold him; don't let him see your faces. After that, go straight to the meeting place on the beach where the tree overhangs. Except for Rico and Lorna, we all meet there."
Heidi looked toward Rico and Lorna. It was easy for them to play the part of husband and wife on this mission. That was what they were.
"I'll repeat what I want you two to do in a minute."
They nodded simultaneously. Heidi liked all of her little group, they were not too talkative. She wondered how she would feel after the main group joined them with the two disagreeable Libyans.
"O.K. Next, the Filipino staff. Boy, do you know where they are all staying?"
"Yes," responded Boy. "Apart from two of the girls, who are filling in the time staying with a couple of the ex-pats, one of the cooks goes back to the barrio. The others are staying in the Simpson house which is used as a sleep house when the Simpsons are away. That's the white house, the first one on the track on the right, the sea-side one opposite the Brooke house. The door isn't secured by lock because staff come and go all the time depending on what shift they're on. At night when the restaurant and bar are closed, there should be two male cooks and seven restaurant and bar staff there. The three office girls share nipa hut number 14, but one is not staying there at the moment, she's staying with the ex-pat Ronnie. The girl who runs the shop is from the barrio and goes back there every night."
"Good work. O.K., what else?" asked Heidi.
"The guard doesn't keep his pistol loaded. He carries three bullets wrapped in cotton wool inside a match box in his jacke
t pocket. He was quite proud to show me how quickly he could unwrap them and load his gun."
Heidi grinned as she looked at the others. They too were smiling.
"Do you know which ex-pats the two bar-girls are staying with?" asked Heidi.
"Yes, Ness is with Pater in the house at the south-end of the track. Annie, the one I mentioned, is staying with Ronnie in the house immediately next door to Pater's. Ronnie's wife has gone to visit her family in Manila for a month."
"Interesting? Is the general attitude of the local barrio still the same as you told me before?"
"Yes, you won't get any resistance from them as far as we can tell. I think they might help if you asked for it. Much of the income of the barrio comes from the resort spin-offs, but they still feel cheated and more than a little aggravated at Swagman's attitude to them. The same with the smaller barrio on Little Apuao. They have no idea of who we are or what we're here for. It seems that at least a few of them have taken an active role in NPA activities in the past. There certainly are several sympathisers."
"Good, now what are your thoughts on where the manager Ben is staying? Helmut and I believe he is staying in the large house, the second one back from the connecting spit to Little Apuao."
"Yes," responded Aziz. "I've followed him back to there a couple of times. I got up early one morning before the Swagman banca arrived with the day's supplies. He came out of there to meet the banca and looked as though he had just got out of bed."
Heidi continued.
"The scuba diver instructor and his wife are staying in the house above where the scuba boat is kept. Because he is Swiss, and has been living in the Philippines for several years, we must be careful where and when we speak. He speaks several European languages, as well as a couple of Filipino languages. Their house is at the most northern end of the island near the Spit. It's past the house where the manager is staying.
"One important thing is, we have to make sure that the dive boat is disabled. Not destroyed, we may need to use it. I suggest removing the distributor cap and hiding it. We might need to use it in a hurry.
"The same thing applies to the power boat they use for water skiing. It's mostly anchored in the bay near the tennis court. Sometimes it’s pulled up on the grass. They are both fast. At the first opportunity, make sure they are fully fuelled. Also put a chain and extra padlock on the shed next to the beach bar to make sure nobody gets access to the three jet skis. Later, make sure they're fully fuelled. We might need to use them too.
"Rico, I want you and Lorna to begin watching the barrio as soon as you're prepared. I just want someone to make sure there isn't anyone sneaking around from there.
"Helmut will have two groups with him to handle the boats, the manager, the scuba diver and anyone else in those homes. He will leave one group near the connecting spit to Little Apuao. The barrio there is on the far side of Little Apuao so they can’t see what is going on.
"I’ll take two groups to gather people from the private homes along the track. Thankfully only ten of the other fourteen private homes are occupied including the one occupied by the staff. According to my last count, that's twenty adults and four children. Ten non-Filipino men, ten Filipino women, and the four children are all mestizas. Add to that the nine staff in the Simpson house. Do those numbers seem right?"
They all nodded in agreement.
"Boy, how many people are staying overnight in the restaurant nipa huts?"
"Twenty-eight of the huts are occupied. It seems that there are seventy two people altogether, including six children. That's made up of thirty-seven non-Filipino males, four non-Filipino women and twenty-six Filipino women. Three of the six children are non-Filipino. I'm excluding two babies from the numbers."
Again nods of agreement followed.
"Boy will have four groups to round up the hostages in the huts. Aziz and Raji will have two groups to control the hostages as they're delivered to the restaurant. After they've all arrived you can hand over to the group with the Libyans. Then go to the positions I suggested to set up the defences.
"Dandan, you take a group to the barrio for Rico and Lorna. They can help watch and prevent anyone we miss trying to get to the barrio. Then come back and take over one of the groups from Boy," she continued.
"Rico, don't disturb the locals, but if there's any shooting which rouses them, then you'll have to explain what is happening. Just make sure they don't interfere. Reassure them that they won't be involved if they stay at the barrio. The remaining group can stay with the bancas until all the hostages are gathered in the restaurant. The banca group can set up the first .50 calibre under the tree to cover the beach, and make sure nobody tries to get to the bancas."
"Any questions?" Heidi waited, and looked around at each of them in turn. Each nodded in the negative. There were no questions.
"Except for Rico and Lorna, we meet under the tree on the beach, no later than 1:30A.M. Boy, you and Dandan must have secured the guard before then. If there’s anyone left in the restaurant, they'll have to be tied up too before the main group arrives. Aziz and Raji, don't forget to shave off all the hair on hands, arms and legs. "Everyone, put the clothes you are now wearing into a plastic bag ready to change back at the end of the operation and disappear.
"All our clothing for the operation must be correctly worn, including mask. Until we meet under the tree then, we all have our own preparations to make."
Helmut switched off the lights before he let the six out of the back door. After switching them back on, he looked at Heidi and nodded.
"Das ist der Anfang," he said.
"Yes, so it begins," she replied.