Blood at Yellow Water

by Ian W Taylor

  *

  Jake walked towards the entrance of the marquee. He had his credentials and invitation checked and had to walk through an X-ray machine before being allowed to move inside.

  Most of the guests had already arrived and were being handed pre-lunch drinks. He entered just as the announcement came for guests to take their seats. He saw Security Chief Carstairs in deep conversation with Williams and others of his team and walked over. Carstairs ignored him and kept talking to his colleagues. Undeterred Jake butted in.

  “Excuse me Carstairs, how’s the security arrangements going?”

  Annoyed, Carstairs turned towards him.

  “It’s all under control but as you can see we’re busy.”

  “Any sign of the Chinese?”

  “No, look Stafford we’ve got enough on our plate here without chasing down every half-baked rumour. This place is secured as tight as a drum. Now can you let us get on with our job.” Carstairs dismissed him as he turned back to his men.

  Jake found his allocated seat in the marquee and introduced himself to other guests at his table. He saw Helen Kwang in the distance and waved to her, receiving a warm smile in return. An aboriginal dance group performed some traditional dances as a welcome to the guests. Then the V.I.P. party entered the marquee led by Prime Ministers Murray and Koshi. Anna Sentoro followed behind the Prime Ministers walking directly past Jake. She saw Jake but looked right through him. There’s a message there thought Jake. The audience applauded politely as the V.I.P.’s took their seats on the stage. Bert O’Shea from the Land Council was among them.

  An elder from the Binugy people gave the traditional aboriginal welcome waving burning leaves to ward off the bad spirits.

  Ron Freeman, the Managing Director of Energet, the Australian joint owner of the mine, was master of ceremonies. He took the microphone, welcomed everyone, introduced the special guests on stage and set out the agenda for the official opening. He invited people to start their meal, indicating that the speeches would commence after the main course.

  Jake looked around the marquee and could see that security was very tight. He noticed Carstairs being vigilant on one side of the room and several security officers standing around trying to look inconspicuous. A four-piece violin group had replaced the aboriginal dancers but didn’t completely block out the sounds coming from the protestors.

  The company had certainly turned it on for the guests. The food was delicious, focussing on local produce from the Northern Territory and the best Australian wines from the southern states. After the main course was served, Freeman walked up to the rostrum and outlined the history to the opening of the mine, stressing that it would become the largest producer of uranium in the world. He introduced his counterpart, the Managing Director of Nippan Energy, the Japanese partner in the venture, who endorsed Freeman’s comments. Then it was the turn of Prime Minister Murray who strode purposely to the lectern. He spoke lengthily about the importance of the opening of the mine to Australia-Japan relationships coming immediately after the signing of the Treaty. He then passed the microphone over to P.M. Koshi who spoke briefly and to the point about the significance of the uranium supplies to Japan.

  The two Prime Ministers then jointly unveiled a plaque, officially commemorating the opening of the mine. Photographers and T.V. cameramen crowded around the P.M.s as they posed by the plaque.

  The final event was the inaugural rail shipment of uranium ore produced at the mine for transport to Darwin. The two Prime Ministers were to travel with the engine driver in his cabin for the first kilometre of the journey and then disembark at a siding where they were to be met by their cars and returned to the resort.

  The meal completed, P.M.s Murray and Koshi walked the red carpet from the marquee to the train followed by a horde of photographers and guests. They posed for photographs with the train driver at the steps of the driver’s cabin before they climbed on board, closely followed by two bodyguards and Carstairs. The driver blew three short blasts from the train’s whistle as the train gradually pulled out to the cheers of the crowd. Secret service guards jogged alongside, keeping pace with the train.

  Jake walked back towards his vehicle, glad to get away from the pomp and ceremony of the luncheon. He was mentally exhausted from the week’s negotiations and was looking forward to seeing Shoni and his father again. He had already checked out of the resort and had dumped his bag in the back of the Toyota. He looked across the paddock and could see the train moving slowly along the track not more than 200 metres away.

  Captain Xu and his team watched anxiously from their hide-out in the bush as the train gradually moved into view. As the train approached he pressed the remote control button and was rewarded immediately to see a massive explosion at the mine site with huge plumes of black smoke spouting into the air. Two seconds later the front wheel of the engine triggered the explosives set on the track and an enormous blast of orange fire and black smoke lifted the engine straight off its rails. The engine went careening along the embankment for another 80 metres before it flipped on its side and came to rest in a screech of twisted metal and black smoke.

  The Chinese team immediately broke from their cover and rushed through the smoke with their guns ready for their assault on the train. They gunned down two security officers who were running along the track trying to reach the train.

  In the driver’s cabin, Carstairs pulled himself up from the wreckage. He was hurting in several places but had no bones broken. He looked around the cabin and could see carnage everywhere. The driver had gone through the front windscreen and was clearly dead. A door had been almost ripped off and one bodyguard was lying halfway through the doorway with his neck twisted awkwardly. The other was painfully getting to his knees. P.M. Murray was lying on the floor groaning in pain covered in blood but alive. There was no sign of P.M. Koshi.

  Carstairs lifted Murray to a sitting position asking him if he could stand. He knew they were vulnerable in the cabin. He pulled out his pistol and told the bodyguard to arm himself. He looked out the window and could see the Chinese approaching with automatic weapons ready. He peered out the window, took aim and shot the leading Chinese in the chest. The Chinese returned fire and Carstairs was thrown back with a bullet in the shoulder. The bodyguard let loose two shots before he was taken down in a hail of bullets. Carstairs dragged himself in front of the P.M. as the Chinese stormed into the cabin with guns firing. Liang was the first to reach the cabin, he looked down at Carstairs and Murray lying on the floor and cold-bloodedly shot them both in the head. He then checked the bodies of the bodyguards in the cabin to ensure they were all dead. Lastly, he draped a flag over the smashed side window of the train.

  Xu jumped into the cabin, checked the corpses and yelled “Where is that Japanese pig, Koshi?”

  Liang searched the cabin again but there was no sign of the Japanese Prime Minister.

  “He must have been thrown out or crawled out. Start searching. Find him and kill him.”

  Jake was about to get in his wagon when he heard the first explosion at the mine. He could see smoke billowing into the sky when the second explosion came only 200 metres away and the shock waves knocked him off his feet. He looked up to see the train leaping in the air before it careered into the embankment in a blaze of orange fire and black smoke. He picked himself up, jumped into the Land Cruiser and sped across the paddock towards the railway line. It was a scene of absolute chaos. Through a pall of black smoke he could see the engine lying on its side and most of the rail cars lying in a smoking, tangled mess. He parked on the verge of the railway line and saw the Chinese rushing towards the train driver’s cabin. He left the vehicle and crawled closer to the embankment. He watched in horror as the Chinese stormed the cabin firing their guns through the windows. The firing stopped suddenly and Jake glimpsed a movement on the edge of the embankment just 40 metres away. He looked closely and realised it was a human body. He slid down the embankment carefully and crawled up to the body just as f
urther gunfire broke out in the cabin. He leaned over the body to look at the face and with a gasp, recognised Koshi. Somehow he had been thrown clear and landed 30 metres from the train wreck. He was alive, covered in blood and gradually regaining consciousness. He looked up at Jake in recognition and tried to speak but could only manage a groan. Jake spoke urgently in his ear.

  “Prime Minister we are in danger here, we must get away quickly. Can you stand up?”

  Koshi nodded his head and struggled to his feet. Jake grabbed him under the shoulder and dragged him up the rise towards the Toyota. He looked back and saw the Chinese scrambling around the embankment. Suddenly one pointed up to them and shouted to the others and they all started rushing up the rise. Jake shoved Koshi into the back seat, jumped into the driver’s seat, praying the four wheel drive would start at once. Fortunately it roared into life and he flattened the accelerator, taking off in a wheel spin. He heard gunfire and felt a bullet smack into the rear of the cruiser but soon had put himself a safe distance from the Chinese.

  Xu cursed as he saw the Toyota pull away and made a call on his mobile for Blakey to pick them up. Blakey, driving a jeep, came roaring out of cover in the bush and within minutes had picked up the Chinese. Two of them were carrying their dead companion who was unceremoniously dumped in the boot of the jeep. After some frantic instructions from Xu, they took off in pursuit of Jake’s Toyota.

  At the mine site there was panic as people fled from the explosion. Two production workers had been killed instantly while three others had suffered serious injuries. Fortunately, the guests at the luncheon were in the process of dispersing when the mine exploded, so there were no fatalities but several serious injuries caused by flying debris. Some casualties were lying on the ground moaning with their injuries as others scrambled away with cuts to their faces and bodies. Ambulances were on the scene quickly with officers tending to the wounded while fire brigades rushed to control the fire at the mine.

  Helen Kwang emerged unscathed from the explosion and was quick to assess the situation. She assisted one middle-aged executive who had cuts to his head before passing him over to an ambulance officer. She searched for a photographer, spied Percy Usifail from her own newspaper, and told him to take shots of the carnage. She saw security guards closely surround Anna Sentoro and Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Norio Hayashi, who were joined by an ashen-faced Ambassador Connell, and watched as they were ushered hurriedly into the comparative safety of their armoured cars.

  She pulled out her phone, rang a colleague at the National newspaper and started dictating a description of the disaster around her. She had heard the second explosion and wondered about its origin. She saw several security officers and police rush down the railway line and it dawned on her that the P.M.s might be at risk. She ran after them, urging Percy to follow. After 500 metres she could see the smoking ruin of the train and shuddered at the enormity of what had happened. There was the twisted metal of the train, the spillage of yellow cake everywhere, all shrouded in black smoke. Security guards had set up a barrier round the cabin of the train but she could see several bodies being lifted out of the cabin and laid on the ground. A large black and white flag was draped across the side window of the driver’s cabin. She whispered to Percy to see if he could get some close-ups of the bodies and the flag. Even with the billowing smoke she recognised the face of Prime Minister Murray with his eyes wide open frozen in terror and with a shock realised he must be dead. She looked at the other bodies, all motionless, but couldn’t see Koshi amongst them.

  Percy was busily clicking away before a security officer saw him and warned him that no media or photographers were allowed and that any photos would be confiscated. Percy promptly retreated but indicated quietly to Helen that he already had taken a good shot of the P.M.’s face. They stood around anxiously but any attempts to ask questions of the police drew blank responses. She heard a clatter overhead and looked up to see an Air Ambulance helicopter about to land in the paddock alongside the stricken train. Ambulance officers rushed to the scene and tried to revive the casualties. After a short time the bodies were loaded onto stretchers in body bags and carried to the helicopter, which promptly took off.

  The speed of the operation and the actions of the ambulance officers made it clear to Helen that there were no survivors. She pulled out her phone again, dictated the latest revelations, and sent off a message with Percy’s photos attached. She looked aghast at the chaos around her and realised the enormity of the disaster. The Australian Prime Minister had been killed and the Japanese Prime Minister was missing, possibly killed, after what appeared to be a terrorist attack. She had acted automatically in recording the mayhem but it had only just sunk in that she was the first reporter on the scene and had captured one of the most important events in Australia’s recent history.

  Before long, T.V. reporters and cameramen arrived but the police had by now cordoned off the area and prevented anyone from getting close to the disaster area.