Just Cause Wrong Target

by John Muir

CHAPTER 30

  GETTING THE EVIDENCE

  Iligan - Day 7

  Again, Pater's three prearranged groups stationed themselves within sight of the newspaper office. Nobody knew what method the kidnapper would arrange to pick up camera and newspaper. As agreed, the camera and today's newspaper would be put in a plain plastic bag.

  After an hour had passed, Pater was concerned that his stake-out group had been spotted. He was about to walk to Marivic's group when a youngster, about ten years old, ran to the front of the newspaper office and went inside.

  Pater turned round and walked back to where he was standing, then, moved into the cover of a door. Pulling his r/t out he flicked to all stations. A one word response came from Rangi and Henry.

  "Those that will recognise that kid, get moving."

  He looked up to see most of the people from the groups begin the prearranged plan. They moved away from the newspaper office and down the various side streets and into shop doorways to watch for the child making any hand-over. Obviously it would not take place close to the office.

  The child came out from the doorway and ran away from Pater's position. Pater had to fight the urge to break into a run and give chase. Nevertheless, he walked as fast as he could in the same direction the child ran. Some others, including those across the street, wrongly positioned as he had been, were doing the same. Suddenly the child made a life-risking dash through the traffic to the sound of blasting horns and cursing drivers.

  Pater cursed to himself after he lost sight of the child. He hoped someone else would be successful. He walked to where the groups' jeepney was parked and waited.

  Singly and in groups of two the others returned, and as each one did, Pater's hopes diminished accordingly. Within 15 minutes all but one had returned. Pater did not want to raise his own hopes but was determined to stay as long as possible. He was sure that Henry, Rangi, Nilo, Marivic, all sitting silently in the jeepney with the other returnees, was wondering the same.

  Eventually Pater spoke. "Who's missing?"

  "Joven," replied Nilo.

  "Anybody see him anywhere?"

  "He was talking to some girl at a shop," replied one of Nilo's cousins.

  Pater lowered his voice to control his anger. "I don't believe it. Someone's life is at stake and, oh shit I'm really pissed off." He banged on the roof of the jeepney.

  The driver took it as the intended signal to start the engine and move off. Pater did not counter his accidental signal. Within minutes they were back at the hotel.

  When they entered the lobby Pater turned to Nilo. "I want to see you the minute Joven returns. If he doesn't return it better mean that he's on the trail of the kidnapper, not screwing with some bloody woman. Otherwise I'll kick his arse in."

  ----------

  near Linamon - Day 7

  Since their earlier talk, Omar had opened up to T.A. about many things about his personal life. With pride he told of his seven month pregnant wife, two daughters and four sons. That he was pleased about this interruption to his long days out fishing.

  The strong presence of the military on a fruitless search for the missing Japanese had worried many Muslims and stopped many going to the markets. The more frequent through traffic of army trucks carrying armed soldiers made everyone feel uncomfortable. The AFP was using the excuse to annoy the regions Muslims with unwarranted personal searches. Women were staying away from any areas that soldiers were known to be in, as the soldiers were searching them with even more frequency than the men. Many fishermen returning in their bancas were having their bancas searched and then their fish were being confiscated.

  Helicopters flying overhead was not unusual, however, the increased number was. Their low and slow passes over the barrio was disconcerting and worrying for many of the residents who were aware of the kidnapped Japanese being within the village.

  Not having to spend all day fishing, Omar put the time to good use on his secret project. He felt his project could be the possible beginning of a chance for a big increase in his income, if his invention worked. Then he would make more for himself, and a few extras to sell.

  Most of the family income came from the fish he caught daily from his banca and then sold in the market. But on bad fishing days there were barely enough to feed his own family.

  Omar had been fishing for years, but the returns were declining as commercial fishermen in big boats now also plied the area. one of the earliest from his barrio to supply fish to the resorts. He had been making good money in those early days. He had sometimes taken supplies to the not too far distant tourist resort. He was also the first Muslim to supply fish to the Manila owned and therefore Catholic controlled resort. Now though things were different. Too many others were now doing the same thing.

  With so much competition; the resorts prefered to buy from Catholics, and.were able to be more choosy in selection of the catches. They were able to play fishermen off against each other to pay the least price when catches were plentiful.

  At various stages during his single and early married life he had worked on freighters. After he married, he hated being away for his wife for such long periods. Then he hated being away as his family grew in number, it was just that the money was good. He could survive fishing, but it was hard.

  With even greater growth in his family size, the income had become too little for their needs. His wife sold his fish at the market, and anything else she felt could be traded at a profit, but it was barely enough to supplement his earnings.

  He had few vices, though he generally attended the weekly cock fights and had a little flutter.

  Omar knew that he had to catch more fish and earn more money if he wanted to help his children escape the life-style he had lived.

  T.A. had watched now for two days, with varying interest as Omar used the set square to ensure his cutting was accurate. Omar had scored a set line into the glass with his fishing knife. Gently, and stroke after stroke he made hundreds of passes down the same lines on the glass. Omar advised T.A. that it was to ensure a clean break would be made. T.A. looked at the two rectangular flat sheets of glass with perfect right angles and nodded.

  His wife thought he was building a tool-box for his banca, or even a sealed box to contain salt-water where he could keep his catch to keep it even fresher. Omar conceded that he was terrified at the day of reckoning when he would need to make the ultimate test of the new-fangled floating device. The accuracy of the glass cutting was critical. They would form the top and the bottom part of his see-through fishing buoy.

  T.A had watched fascinated as the grooves in the wooden boxes were etched out top and bottom to perfectly fit the glass, and wondered why it was of this design. He would wait until Omar was ready to explain. He watched the process of fitting, gluing, clamping, and wax-sealing of the cubic contraption.

  With it all finished, he watched Omar’s face change swiftly from smiles of ecstatic delight to frowns of concern, then back again many times. Without even checking the security of T.A.’s manacles, he picked up the cube that was so large he could only just get a hand on each side, and ran out of the room, down the stairs, and out of the house. T.A. watched out the window as Omar headed toward the nearby beach.

  Nearly an hour later he returned, large cube securely held. He gently put it on the floor.

  “It works, it works.”

  T.A. was surprised. Omar's threw his arms around him.

  “I tried to force it below the surface for nearly an hour. It wouldn’t sink. It held me up like a life jacket. Look.” He turned it over. “Not a drop of water inside.”

  T.A. could not hold his question any longer.

  “But why the glass on each end?”

  “Simple. It means I can place it perfectly over the reef in the right place every time. I can see right through it. Once I have attached the anchor line for it, the set-lines will be in the perfect place. No more snagging and loss of hooks or line.”

  He hugged T.A. again. "Sorry, it’s n
early dark and I haven’t even given you lunch.”

  Siti ran through the curtains and rapidly spoke to Omar.

  "Quickly," said Omar, "we must shorten your chains. Zahra saw Papa coming."

  With Siti's help, Omar made a rapid rearrangement of the chains. It was barely complete when the noise and force of the door being crashed back caused the walls to vibrate. Siti ran out of the bedroom as the stairway protested the thumping feet on its surface.

  "Remember you're brain damaged and not aware of your surroundings," said Omar.

  Salim came through the curtains carrying a plastic bag. Siti and Zahra were close on his heels.

  T.A. put on a wide-eyed stare at the ceiling pretending he was not aware of any action in the room. Then he realised that it was not too difficult as he did not understand anything they were saying anyway.

  He had to fight the urge not to be affected by what he could see in his peripheral vision. He wanted to tense up at every approach Salim made toward him. T.A. was expecting a kick every time Salim came near.

  When they tried to sit him up, he relaxed his body to play the part of a rag dummy. Siti sat behind him to keep him upright, but kept her face hidden. A newspaper was placed in his lap and without looking directly at it, he saw Salim point a camera at him. The sudden flash from the camera made him jerk involuntarily and he tried unsuccessfully to prevent himself blinking several times.

  Another five photos were taken, though he managed to control the jerk of his body, he could still not prevent the blinking of his eyes.

  Photo session over, Siti lowered him gently to the floor. With his peripheral vision he saw Salim stand over him, then move away and out through the curtains.

  The voices outside began to rise in volume for a few minutes. T.A. did not understand a word of it. But it was obvious an argument was occurring between Salim and Omar.

  After a few minutes the sound of thumping down the staircase was followed by the slamming of the door. Omar came back through the curtains.

  "You played your part well. Salim wanted to kick your head in when he saw you were awake."

  T.A. breathed in deeply. "What was the argument about?"

  "After he got the photos, he said there was no reason to keep you alive. I said we had to in case they wanted more proof later. He eventually agreed. He wasn't happy when he left though."

  "Thanks," said T.A.

  "You can start repaying me tonight when we tie on the marker flag and brackets for the anchor chain with the metal bands.”

  "I’ll do the best I can."

  ----------

  Maria Christina Hotel - Day 7

  Pater, with a combined feeling of hope and anger, waited for any news of Joven's return. After two hours had passed he had begun to think that perhaps Joven had been so distracted by his female company that he had probably gone off to spend the night with her.

  His mind jerked back when his phone rang. Consuelo told him another grubby child had returned the plastic bag complete with camera. He had just returned from delivering the undeveloped film The prints and developed film were expected to be ready in a further 30 minutes. As soon as he collected them he would go directly to the hotel.

  The loud banging on his door startled him. He quickly opened it to the beaming smiles of Nilo and Joven, who he ushered in quickly. Pater quickly phoned Henry and Rangi and within seconds they were in Pater's room.

  "O.K., what happened?"

  "I was talking to this girl by the door of a pawn shop when the kid ran past me and into the shop. I watched him give the bag to a man looking at some of the goods. When he left, I asked the girl to come with me as we followed him. When he got on a jeepney, I got on the same one and waved goodbye to the girl.

  The man got off the jeepney at Linamon. He started to walk down a road on the seaward side. I travelled on a few more metres before I got off and tried to follow him. By the time I got back to the same street I couldn't see him any more. So I just waited around and hoped nobody thought I was crazy or a criminal. The Muslims in that area are all related and all watch out for each other."

  "Good stuff," said Pater.

  "I didn't see him straight away when he came back after about half an hour, but he had a plastic bag. He got into another jeepney and headed back to Iligan. I don't know where he'd been or came from, sorry."

  "Don't be sorry, it's bloody marvellous. We've got our starting point."

  Pater looked at the group.

  "Tomorrow we start displaying our singing abilities in Linamon. The choir assembles downstairs at 8:00 A.M.sharp."

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