by John Muir
CHAPTER 42
PRE-DAWN
APUAO GRANDE
Dandan re-entered Heidi's H.Q. She was standing to the side of the bay view window, back to the wall, staring at the still unresponsive figure of Helmut. He waited several seconds before she looked up.
"Have all the bancas gone?" Heidi asked.
"I watched until they were all out of sight," Boy replied.
"There's just us then. We'll have to re-distribute the regulars among the group leaders." Heidi looked back at Helmut, shaking her head slowly side to side.
"I don't know what to do with this one," she went on. "Maybe I'll pour a bucket of cold water over him. I need to snap him back to this world. The other thing is the Libyans. I still don't trust them even though they've gone. Something doesn't seem right. They left too easily. No arguments, nothing nasty. I can't put my finger on it. I'm sure they didn't believe we knew nothing about their friend Abdul."
"Their banca did head south, past Canton just as they said they were going to do," replied Boy. "I went to the south-west tip of Apuao Grande by the barrio to make sure they didn't double back."
"I wanted to take their walkie-talkies off them, but they said they need them to communicate with their contact wherever their rendezvous is," said Heidi. "If I'd insisted, they'd have been suspicious."
"Too late to do anything now," said Dandan.
"More reason to limit our messages using the w/t's. We'll still use Pilipino or whatever you're using, for a while longer, in case the Libyans are listening. I just hope the AFP aren't listening too. Tell Aziz to keep alert. We only need to hang on now until sunset."
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MERCEDES, CAMARINES NORTE, 2:30 A.M.
Captain de Mesa's platoon had completed embarkation onto the four bancas commandeered. They began the down-river journey toward the sea, aided by the river's current.
As the little armada began passing the deep water piers, the Captain stared toward the outline of a slightly larger, different, yet familiarly shaped vessel tied there. It seemed out of place, but the shape was recognisable. In the moonlight he could see the outline of twin .50 calibre machine-guns above the cabin and a further one nearer the stern. He directed his conscripted helmsman to steer closer to the pier. The other bancas followed.
At fifty metres distant from the vessel, two armed men in navy uniform appeared on the deck. One immediately challenged the approaching bancas. De Mesa identified his unit. The voice challenged again, demanding the new day password. Thankfully de Mesa remembered it and responded.
His four bancas were allowed to pull in closer. Captain de Mesa began to think his luck on this mission might be changing. He would try to enlist the help of whoever was in command of this naval vessel.
By the time his flotilla had got to within ten metres of the boat, eight more men had appeared on deck. Two had rushed to man the .50 calibre machine-guns, which they immediately aimed in the direction of the bancas. Two switched on under-powered searchlights whose light fingers now probed in their direction. Captain de Mesa realised his men, all wearing camouflage make-up and heavily armed, could easily be seen as posing a threat to the boat. He waved for the other three bancas to move further away. That action prompted a positive response from the new spokesman from the boat, who de Mesa took to be the captain.
After a few more words, he was invited to move his banca closer. A crew member tossed a line to prevent them drifting down-stream with the current. The other three bancas, still covered by the boat's machine-guns and searchlights, had moved to a nearby pier and were hanging on against the current.
After briefly explaining his mission, the boat captain invited de Mesa on board to discuss it further.
In the small cabin, Captain de Mesa could see the boat officer was a young Naval First Lieutenant. If need be, he would endeavour to pull rank despite his concern over it being a different arm of the AFP.
The Lieutenant proudly explained his boat was a Fast Patrol Craft (P.C.F.). An ex-Vietnam vintage gift from the United States, modernised several times. One officer and usually five crew, but at this time, eight manned the 50 foot, 22 ton craft. The twin General Motors diesel engines powered the craft at a maximum speed of 25-28 knots. The P.C.F. had arrived late at night in Mercedes to take on fuel and continue south to investigate reported problems at Nara.
Captain de Mesa realised the young Lieutenant was ambitious to see action, so de Mesa exaggerated the certainty of guerillas on Apuao Grande.
The Lieutenant immediately offered the services of his P.C.F. and crew. The Lieutenant pointed out that they also carried an 81 mm mortar mid-ship behind the funnel. Together they pored over the more accurate naval maps that caused de Mesa some envy and to wonder why the army did not have the same. But the thought of having four machine-guns in two mounts and an 81 mm mortar supporting him from such a fast-moving fire platform gave him great confidence.
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TWO KILOMETRES SOUTH OF CANTON ISLAND
The four Libyans had spoken little since leaving Apuao Grande. They knew they had fulfilled their basic task of assisting the take-over and control of the island. All were feeling dispirited about the death of their comrade in the restaurant, but generally felt it had been of his own doing.
As their banca left Apuao Grande, they questioned each other for a plausible reason why the other member had left early. He knew, just as the others did, there was nearly 36 hours available to get to the rendezvous, meet the others, and board the freighter at sea.
The moonlight on the calm sea gave them plenty of light to see the outline of the hills on their right and the sea to their front. In the near distance they could see another banca drifting. It was probably some fisherman trying for an extra catch based on the phases of the moon. Their course would take them very close to the fisherman, so they readied their weapons for any unexpected problem.
As they got nearer, they could not see anyone sitting upright in the boat. A leg dangling loosely over the side suggested that the fisherman had succumbed to sleep in the bottom of his banca rather than earning his keep with a profitable catch.
The Libyans slowed their banca to approach as quietly as possible, although that was virtually impossible with the naturally noisy engine. Despite their nearness of twenty metres, nothing in the drifting banca stirred. The leg had not moved. Curiosity made the Libyans move even closer, one made ready to switch on his powerful flashlight.
Ten metres, then five metres. Still nothing in the drifting banca stirred. The two bancas were now side by side. The Libyan with the torch switched on his flashlight. They all quickly sat back in shock. They had found Helmut's tribute to Valhalla.
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APUAO GRANDE
"We'll redistribute our manpower," said Heidi. "There's only seven of the management team now. We can't count Helmut for the moment. How should we spread the remaining 25 regulars? Dandan, I need your ideas."
"We're not very popular at the barrio to the south since the little girl was taken," offered Dandan. "They would have supported us before. Now though, they could cause trouble. Lorna's there with three regulars, still trying to placate them. Probably enough to manage."
"Yes. And the two on the beach with the machine-gun will have to stay there," said Heidi.
"I agree. Boy and I have two regulars each."
"Enough?" asked Heidi.
"It'll have to do."
"I'’ll keep Domingo and one other with me. I'll need to keep Domingo for radio transmissions, and the other in case I have to send a runner. That leaves us with 13 to split between Aziz, Raji and Rico. They've all got the important jobs."
"Once we've got all the hostages in the tennis court, Raji can probably cover them with five men," suggested Dandan. That only leaves five, because Rico already has two
"The sand-spit worries me. At the moment we've still got a machine-gun at the north of Little Apuao. Yet if I withdraw them to the sand-spit where Rico and the other two regulars are, we're blind to the north.
But they're cut off from everyone else so far away on the other side."
"If they are withdrawn and anyone lands on the north, I think we could still hold them at the spit if we senda couple more. That means there'd be five including Rico and the machine-gun to stop them," said Dandan.
"My thoughts too, but I wanted your input on the risk. That leaves Aziz with six on the ridge with a launcher and three missiles plus a machine-gun guarding the back door. You and Boy, when he returns, can keep your roving commission to back up wherever problems might occur. Take one of the missile launchers and two missiles with you."
"O.K."
"Get the prisoner shift organised, then re-arrange the man-power where necessary. I'm going to try and snap Helmut awake."
As Dandan adjusted the M16 in his arms and turned to leave, he saw Heidi go to the sink and begin filling a bucket with cold water. He hoped it was going to work. He sensed they would need Helmut's skills before the day was done.
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Pater silently crawled back into the hide-away. The sudden appearance of his head poking through the bush startled T.A.
"Shit Pater, I didn't hear you coming."
"That's the idea. I don't want anyone to hear me."
"What's happening in the outside world?"
"I'm not sure. I didn't go beyond the rain forest, but I think some of them have gone."
T.A. waited for Pater to elaborate.
"For a while I was hiding close to the Brooke house where you were staying. The forest there pushes right up to the tractor path."
"Yeah, I know where you mean," responded T.A., almost feeling part of the action.
"Although I couldn't see the beach, there seemed to be a lot of activity. Then several bancas left. As they pulled away I could see three bancas. They all seemed to be fully loaded, but I couldn't guess the numbers accurately. Maybe twenty, maybe forty. I dunno."
"Have they all gone then?"
"No. After the bancas left I went along the edge of the forest to the tennis court. There were still guards around it. But while I was watching, they moved the hostages from the restaurant to inside the tennis court. That's about an hour ago now."
"Did you see Malou?"
"Yes, and Ness."
"How did she look?"
Pater grinned, "Who? Ness looked fine."
"You know, I mean Malou."
"Yeah, she looked fine. Just like everyone else, a bit dishevelled and messy hair. I wish you'd remember what I said before about Malou. Anyway, it's pretty crowded inside the court. The staff are in there too. I'm just curious what is going to happen next. There's still a bit over a couple of hours to dawn, try and get some shut-eye."
T.A. knew it was time for silence. He knew Pater well enough to know his statement meant Pater wanted to sleep. T.A. wrapped the sheet around himself and tried to settle comfortably into the cogon grass. Briefly he thought about the creatures he had seen crawling by him in the previous few hours and decided he did not care any more. His thoughts then switched to Pater's hesitant opinions about Malou, and he dozed off.
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MERCEDES, CAMARINES NORTE
The P.C.F. was leading the small flotilla. All parties knew their revised roles. Three of Captain de Mesa's men had transferred to the P.C.F. to give even more fire-power. Not so much for the weight of fire, but to enable more areas to be targeted simultaneously from the best floating platform. The P.C.F. would give them cover, if required, as the remaining soldiers from the four bancas landed on the north coast of Little Apuao an hour before dawn. If the landing was unopposed, the soldiers would make their way to the sand-spit. Then try to cross half-an-hour before dawn.