by John Muir
CHAPTER 26
PATER'S PLAY
Pater had worked inconspicuously, yet feverishly, on an area where the bottom of the netting was already separated from ground. He had targeted this area immediately they were corralled in the tennis court. With effort, working the netting backwards and forward, he had loosened a wider area.
"Got something in mind?" Doug asked.
Pater looked at him as if he had no right to ask.
"It's a bit risky with all this lighting," suggested Doug.
Pater realised that Doug was not going to let it go.
"I've been expecting the generator to blow for quite some time. I want to be ready when it does," said Pater.
"Why should it blow?"
"Too much power being drawn off. They've left on all the lights in the houses. It always blows up when there's too much power being used."
"What are you going to do if you get out?"
"Don't know yet. It'll take them at least an hour before they can fix it so I'll have an hour or so to hide up. But I see they have a few pairs of night vision glasses, so that's going to make moving freely in the dark a bit difficult without being seen. None of our guards have them though."
"Anything I can do?"
"No."
"Can you swim?"
"Not very well, so I'm not going to get off the island without a banca, or something to keep me afloat. I'll figure that out once I'm out of here."
Doug watched Pater continue his freeing of the base and wondered if it was really worth the effort. Doug turned around to check out Pater's statement about all the lights. Yes, there did seem to be more lights on than he had ever seen before.
Pater just sat there, the task apparently completed to his satisfaction. He then closed his eyes, pulled the thick blanket out from under his rump and placed that over his eyes. His head was beside the loosened wire which was partly covered by the blanket.
Doug began thinking perhaps he too should break out after Pater. He knew he could easily swim 4-6 kilometres. If he got to one of the other inhabited islands he might be able to steal a banca. Once at Mercedes he could raise the alarm. Or if they were already aware of the trouble on the Island he could tell them who it was and roughly how many. Others would take care of his little girl. Most of the guerillas would not know who she belonged to unless they had been in the restaurant when he created a scene being separated from Alona.
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Pater was satisfied. He sat back, and ignoring Doug, he pulled the thick dark blanket over his eyes to adjust them to dark surroundings. Even with the thick blanket over his eyes, Pater sensed the lights had gone out and the generator had blown. He steadied the thick blanket against the loosened wire, and pushed. It gave way easier than he had expected. Dropping onto his back, his head by the loose wire ends, he pushed outward and up again, then slid out easily through the gap. He was quickly on his feet and away from the court. His eyes were unaffected by the sudden change from the bright lights to darkness. He could see the four guards running and stumbling on the uneven surface, though they could not see him. He saw one run full speed into the tennis court mesh, bounce backward off it onto his back and cursed loudly. Pater knew he would barely have a minute before they regained some night-vision.
He ran for the eastern bush-covered end of the tennis court. Once there it was only a few more metres to the denser rain forest. Although aware of the noise he was making crashing through the undergrowth he was not worried, there was noise all around as inmates and guards were all yelling. He needed to put distance between himself and the guards before they were able to see.
He paused as he entered the jungle fringe to check if he was being followed; apparently not. There was only a lot of confusion behind him. He wondered how long before they would realise there had been an escape. After they found the gap in the fence a head count would be done. Once they had found one was missing they would count again to be sure. Then the hunt would be on. It was unlikely they would know which prisoner was missing.
Because he had been living on the island for many years he had an advantage over the searchers especially at night. Torches would be easy to avoid. That advantage would be negated if searchers had night-vision glasses.
Firstly he had to get back to his house to collect his kit. Making his way behind the most inland group of nipa huts, he walked on the fringes of the jungle. This gave him both the protection of the shadows from the moonlight and the ease of swift progress through the low undergrowth.
He had to get into and be clear of his house before the lighting was restored. If it came back on unexpectedly while he was still inside he would easily be seen. He would make his way back across fringes of the golf course.
Each time he heard the sound of running feet he stepped into the denser bush and pulled the thick dark blanket over his head to disguise his shape and cover the lighter coloured sheet. Once sure they had past him he continued on.
This time as he saw his little home from the edge of the forest, it did not seem like the sanctuary he always felt safe in.
He paused to look around before running to the shadow of the porch. Again he waited. No sound from within, he carefully mounted the porch steps. The sandals he was wearing crushed some of the shards of broken glass from his earlier altercation with the Filipino. There was sufficient moon-light for him to see that the body had been removed.
Firstly he went to the kitchen drawer and in the dark felt around for the sheath of the hunting knife. The first sheath he felt was plastic. That contained his diving knife with a leg strap. He fastened that to his right leg. Then he located his long hunting knife and tied the belt around his waist over the sheet. He would rub the sheet into the dirt later to make it darker and less reflecting. A dirty sheet would do well as extra cover. Pulling the cabinet away from the wall he felt for the belt of his E and E (evasion and escape) kit taped behind the cabinet. It was light. No weapons were included.
Next, into the bedroom, he pulled the pillow case off the pillow to use as a carry sack. From his clothes drawers he grabbed his multi-pocketed cargo-pants, socks, and a couple of T-shirts. His running shoes were partly under the bed.
"Damn," he thought, "bloody brand new Reeboks, and I'm going to bugger them running around the jungle."
Next he felt under the mattress for his .22 pistol. A gift from an Israeli Mossad agent he met several years ago. Though only a .22, it was silenced, and in the hands of the right person it was deadly. The standard ammunition it used was easy to obtain.
He checked to see if the magazine was in the butt, then grabbed the box of fifty rounds from the bedside drawer and threw that into the pillow case. He felt for the box of condoms and when he was satisfied that he had the correct box he gave it a shake as a quick check of the number inside. He cursed that there were fewer than he thought and then threw them into the pillow-case. There should be five non-lubricated condoms in his belt order kit.
Lastly he pulled open his wardrobe door and felt along the top shelf. He found his precious bow and his quiver with the dozen or so arrows inside. He quickly checked the small side pouch on the side of the quiver to make sure the spare string was inside. Realising that the arrows might fall out while he was running, he grabbed several pair of underpants from his drawer and stuffed them in the quiver to hold the arrows tightly.
"Bloody cowboys and Indians at my age," he muttered.
Back into his lounge he grabbed a lighter, some boxes of matches, a pen-light torch, some rope and fishing line. The kitchen cupboard yielded a few anonymous tins with labels that he could not make out in the dark. Then pushing a large handful of plastic bags he hoped did not have holes, into the pillow case, he ran out the door. He paused only briefly in the porch shadows before making his dash across the golf course.
A feeling of relief came over him as the shadows of the jungle swallowed him. He stopped to think about where he would go next to hide out for the day which was not too far away. Sitting with his back against a tree, he heard
voices and saw a group of three, then another group of two, going into each house for a brief look around before re-emerging. He was pleased he had not dawdled or been delayed. Their reaction to the blackout was quicker than he had anticipated.
Although the jungle covered area of the island was not large, about half, with his local knowledge it was large enough to keep him out of the way of these intruders. He threw his swag over his shoulder, and made his way slowly through the thick jungle, trying not to leave a traceable path. He headed toward the general area of the pump-house. Maybe he might meet up with the missing German couple or the Iranians hiding out somewhere. If he could, he would avoid them. He preferred to be independent.