by John Muir
CHAPTER 38
NIGHT CALLERS
Maria Christina Hotel, Iligan.- Day 10
With the exception of three men guarding Yamada, Pater had gathered his group in his room and told them of his plans. There were few questions.
At 6:30 P.M. he led the group downstairs and into the reception area. He looked at each of them as they filed past him into the dining room. They would all eat well as they presumed it would be their last free hotel meal at his expense. As soon as they had finished eating, he would have to get to the banca to take them with Henry, Rangi and Joven, and their equipment by sea to Linamon.
The others, under Nilo's leadership, would have to get transport to the jeepney where Yamada was held. Then depart to wait outside Linamon.
As each of them emerged from the dining room after eating, Pater thanked each one personally for helping. He knew that if the operation was successful that night, he was unlikely to see any of them again.
Pater was not aware of the eyes watching his farewell to the group, or that those eyes were trying to remember each face as it passed.
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Ueda watched the one he knew as Father O'Reilly shake the hands of each of the group as they left the hotel. The Father was certainly wearing black clothing, as might be expected for that profession. The two large and the one small Filipinos who had remained with him after the others had departed were also in dark clothing.
He could hear the voices, all the conversation was in English. But there was no trace of the strong Irish accent that the Father had been affected by earlier.
He watched this group of four leave through the front door of the hotel. He knew if he wanted to follow them there was a risk that he might lose them immediately they took whatever transport they might be going to use. He had to hope there would be another taxi available immediately he went outside.
He waited, unseen, inside the front door. The group crammed themselves into the small taxi. The small Filipino squashed in the back between his two large countrymen and the priest sitting beside the driver.
Immediately the taxi pulled away, Ueda ran outside the door and looked for an empty taxi. One driver on the opposite side of the road saw the opportunity of transporting who he hoped might be a wealthy hotel patron. Swinging his taxi in a u-turn across the line of oncoming traffic, he pulled up in front of Ueda.
Ueda did not hesitate. He quickly seated himself beside the driver and pointed at the cab now about 40 metres ahead and moving further away.
"Follow it to wherever it goes. Keep with it and you'll get three times the fare. Lose it and you'll get nothing."
The small cab showed remarkable acceleration and within 300 metres they were only about 50 metres behind.
"That's close enough. I don't want my friends to know that I'm here." Ueda guessed that the driver was not taken in by his statement, but he did not care. The driver maintained a discreet distance as Ueda had hoped, and dropped further back when the traffic thinned.
After about 20 minutes the priest's taxi stopped on the side of the roadway where it nearly met the sea. The passing of the following cab went unnoticed by the four men walking from their taxi toward the waiting banca.
The passing taxi had continued on and stopped about 40 metres beyond. His driver switched off all his lights. Ueda watched through the back window and saw that the four passengers had already reached the beach.
The priest's taxi did a U-turn and drove away.
Ueda would have liked to have been closer but he had to compromise between seeing what he could from a distance and risk being seen if he got too close. He decided to wait at a distance.
The four figures moved onto the beach and toward a banca that was pulled onto the beach. Three more men were gathered around it. The priest and the two large Filipinos each dragged a large sack from the bottom of the boat. One of the fishermen shone a torch onto a bag being opened by one of the large Filipinos. The large Filipino pulled a set of fins out from the bag and slapped them together as if loosening clinging sand.
Ueda did not have to think too hard. They were checking diving equipment. As yet he had not seen any scuba tanks. He waited. There were none that he could see. He knew, from his limited experience, that if they had been going to use air tanks they would have checked those very thoroughly.
After a couple of minutes, the priest and his three colleagues got into the beached banca. The three Filipinos who had been waiting for new arrivals, now struggled as they pushed the passenger laden banca into deeper water. At the last second, one of the pushers scrambled aboard. Settling at the stern, he made two quick pulls on a rope. A noisy outboard motor chugged into life and they pulled away from the beach.
The taxi driver looked anxiously at his passenger who seemed unperturbed.
Ueda was watching the two Filipinos remaining on the beach as they were watching the banca move out to sea. Ueda pulled five 100 peso notes from his pocket and waved them in front of the driver.
"Ask the two men on the beach where the banca is going. Remember you are just curious. Don't tell them you have a passenger."
The driver took the money and headed toward the two now sitting on the sand and already starting to sip on a small bottle of Tanduay rum.
In less than five minutes the driver returned to his cab, a broad smile on his face.
"They said the banca was going to a barrio called Linamon. They don't know how long the banca will be gone, or even if all the passengers will be coming back with the banca."
Ueda gave the driver a further 100 peso note.
"Can you take me to Linamon?"
The driver gave a wide smile at his luck.
"Sure."
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Nilo was in no hurry in his driving the jeepney to Linamon. Travel there by road was both shorter and quicker than those going in the banca. A fast jeepney trip would have meant waiting longer in the danger area, surrounded by, or in too close a proximity to possibly hostile Muslims. Even though it would be dark, with few street lights, someone might recognise the jeepney as being the same one which carried 'the choir' a couple of days previously.
Any inspection of the passengers of the jeepney would reveal the unexplainable situation of a man bound and gagged lying on the floor between the seats.
Anyway, he had other things to think about. He decided he did not really feel guilty about what had been happening between T.A.'s girlfriend Marivic and him. After all, Marivic had told him that it was all really only a financial arrangement. Pater too had paid her, though not for sex but for her limited help in locating T.A.
Nilo too had received extra money from Pater. That combined with his large profit on the 'Rolex' copy watches he had sold in Manila meant he did not need to work for a while. Marivic's real work in Manila was not known in Iligan. Her family thought she was a well paid secretary.
He had not considered settling down with a woman before, but this Marivic was something special. Despite what she had been doing, she still had class. She had pride. The Philippines was a large place and Filipinos' did little travel out of their own districts so it was unlikely her prior occupation would ever be uncovered.
"Yes," he said. "Perhaps I will ask her to marry me."
"What?" said one of his passengers. "Are you asking me to marry you? You're too ugly!” Then the passenger burst out laughing.
"Oh no, not you," replied Nilo. "I was just thinking of someone else."
Nilo noticed he was already halfway to Linamon and slowed his speed even further. His thoughts drifted back to Marivic. He did not notice the taxi with the solidly built Japanese passenger pull past him rapidly, then slow down and stop. He did not even notice passing the taxi where it had stopped or that the taxi then pulled back on to the road following about 60 metres behind his jeepney.
Nilo decided that he would stop about three kilometres before Linamon and wait to hear from Pater on the radio transmitter.
When he guessed he had arrived near enough to three kilometres fro
m his final destination, he slowed and pulled off to the right of the road to wait, and switched off his lights.
He did not notice the taxi, now 50 metres behind, did the same thing.
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Iligan
Salim Hassan knew that he would be getting the rest of the money tomorrow. Currently was carrying the 600,000 pesos he had been given already in a money belt under his shirt. It would be foolish to risk losing that.
He had never taken a taxi. He had never been able to afford it. Now he could. He separated a few notes from the large bundle and put those in his pocket. He did not want to be seen digging into a hidden money belt.
He looked for a taxi that had a sign 'air conditioned', and waved it to come and get him.
"How much to Linamon?" he asked the driver.
The driver looked at the passenger's dirty clothes.
"More than you can afford," replied the driver.
Salim flashed the P500 note. "Is this enough?"
"Just tell me how fast you want me to get you there," replied the driver.
"As soon as you can."
The driver looked at his watch. He had been going to go home at 10:00 P.M. It was already 9:15 P.M. He decided that his wife would accept his late arrival when he produced a P500 note. He gunned the engine and headed toward Linamon.
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The sea was smooth, Pater was thankful for that. It was not because he was not a good sea traveller, simply that a smooth sea made it easier while they were double checking the kit, then double packing the r/t's and weapons in water proof bags. The maximum amount of air had to be removed from each bag to reduce the upward pull of air in the bags. That always made sub-surface swimming more difficult. He did not have the luxury of a portable vacuum pump to remove any air, but would keep that idea in mind for the preparation of any future water transport missions.
Even though he had told the young girl, Siti, that he would meet with her at 11:00 P.M., Pater wanted to be in position by 10:00 P.M. Being ready so much earlier meant they would probably see anyone preparing to ambush them at the meeting place if Siti had betrayed them. He knew that he would have little control if she was going to lead them into a trap at some other place.
This time, if they were confronted by men of the local barrio, the locals would be armed. Even worse was the thought that the locals would have more powerful weapons. Henry, Rangi and he would only have pistols.
Pater had to presume that many of the locals had probably seen service with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) or one of the many splinter groups. Therefore they would be well skilled in the use of any weapons. Also it was their local village and they would know every tree and house in the barrio. Pater knew they had to be ready for every possibility.
He knew he could not call those in the jeepney for help. They were all unarmed. Only there to carry Yamada to him and help carry T.A. out if he was not in any condition to walk. At this stage he did not know whether he would take T.A. away by banca or by jeepney. Whatever the circumstances were at the time of the rescue would dictate his decision.
It was 9:40 P.M. when the banca arrived 100 metres off the seaward end of the street in Linamon. The last item to be sealed against the water was the r/t. He switched it on.
"Pater here, are you ready. Report, over."
There was a 20 second delay.
"The Big N here. We're about three k's away from a big Mac. Just holding up here while we eat our fries." It was Nilo.
Pater looked at Rangi and Henry. The moonlight showed both were grinning at Nilo's response.
"Move your fries and baggage another two servings closer. Do you understand?" responded Pater.
"I'm intelligent as well as pretty. Will do as you ask."
"That's all for now. Over and out."
Pater realised that he too was grinning as he looked at the others.
"I hope that happiness was not as a result of Tanduay rum," said Pater, looking at his companions.
He began to seal up the r/t in one, then another water-tight package. He looked at Joven.
"I hope you're positive you know how to operate your's."
"Yes sir, I've been going through the sequences ever since we got on board."
"Good. And just remember; keep watching the shore for torch signals. We might end up with a busted radio."
Joven nodded.
With that, Pater, Rangi and Henry slipped over the side and began their swim for the shore.
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T.A. had no idea of the time. It seemed hours since he has been given any refreshments.
The loosened bonds had enabled him to reach the bucket to relieve his bladder. If Siti was going to visit him later, it would have to be a long time after the residents of this house had fallen asleep. That did not seem likely any time soon as he could hear several voices, both male and female coming from the room next to his.
Siti might decide not to visit. The risk of being caught might be too great. This place was not hers. How could she be expected to sneak in?
He decided to lie back on the smelly soiled rug beneath him, close his eyes and try not to think of the time. Though every time he thought he heard a sound by the door he could not resist opening his eyes in the hope it was Siti.
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1 kilometres east of Linamon
Two of the men remained in the jeepney to keep an eye on the prone, bound and gagged Japanese while the remainder milled around.
Nilo knew he had plenty of time to get into position. It was only 9:50 p.m.. He knew Pater was not meeting the girl until 11:00 p.m.. Any large group of men sitting in a jeepney in the barrio would attract attention. The mainly Muslim inhabitants might also suspect the jeepney occupants were mufti-dressed members of the Army.
Even though it would be late at night and the streets of such a small barrio should be deserted, Nilo did not want any curiosity aroused.
Two of his men began to casually saunter across the road when an unexpected blast from a car horn made them jump back onto the road's fringe. A taxi sped past heading west toward Linamon.
"He must be in a hell of a hurry to get to his mistress," quipped one of the group.
"Maybe he's already been with her too long and running late getting home to his wife," said another.
Nilo's thoughts drifted to Marivic. He would be pleased when this job was over and Pater, T.A. and all the others had gone. Then he could be with Marivic and not feel a little guilty about what he was doing.
Maybe he could raise enough finance to buy his own taxi. Then he could easily support Marivic and himself. He wondered how much the driver might be earning from his current fare paying passenger. He would never have believed the driver if the driver had told him this passenger was paying P500.
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