Blood Is a Stranger (41 page)

‘They could have had more money from the South Africans or the Israelis, or even the Argentinians,' Webb went on carelessly. ‘They're all lining up to finance the development since the Khmer Rouge broke off with the CIA.'

‘Then why did they go for the French?' Cardinal prompted.

‘From the research I did on this at ASIO,' he said, ‘those three seemed very keen to advance their nuclear laser acquisitions. The Israelis and the South Africans were well advanced. But the Khmers trusted the French more, because the links with Chan and Pol Pot went right back to the fifties. They were both francophiles and the Frogs, like the British, are expedient bastards when it comes to keeping connections with their former colonies.'

Webb paused as children surrounded them. ‘Can't be too careful, even with the bloody six-year-olds here,' he said when they were out of earshot again. ‘Pol Pot was a radio electronics student in Paris. Some of his best friends slipped into key political positions when the communists sneaked into French government with the Mitterand regime.'

‘And Chan/'

‘Thought you would never ask,' Webb remarked sardonically. ‘Chan studied physics in Paris in 1965 and was obsessed with the potential in lasers. He wouldn't have liked being under the CIA's thumb. And he would have been uneasy about the Indonesians controlling the laser development. Hence the move to the Cardomon Mountains.'

‘What did you learn from Dunong?' Cardinal asked, as they re-traced their steps along the canal.

‘They're going to take us to the mountains,' Webb said. ‘Probably tomorrow morning.'

‘What about Harry?'

‘Harry?' Webb said bemused. ‘Harry who?'

Cardinal stared at Webb with contempt.

‘Don't be a prick!' Webb said. ‘I couldn't very well say, By the way, pal, do you have this guy Harry Cardinal working for you? That's his father over there, and he would like to know!'

Cardinal stopped walking and faced Webb.

‘Look,' Webb said in a sudden change of manner, ‘if you're pumped up to believing he's alive when we get up there, how are you going to feel if it really was him on that cold slab in Sydney's morgue!?'

Cardinal's jaw twitched. His eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

‘Dunong and I did discuss the size of the operation in the mountains very briefly,' Webb added, ‘and you can bet your bottom dollar there are more foreign scientists up there than just Miss Hartina Van der Holland.'

Cardinal changed the subject.

‘Can we trust Dunong?'

‘I'm not worried about him,' Webb said. He ran his thumb under four fingers of the other hand. ‘No matter what happens up there or on the way, that little cunt will do his best to get us back alive.'

Cardinal cracked his knuckles.

‘I've told him,' Webb said dropping his voice to a whisper, ‘he gets a big chunk for himself for his services.'

‘I'm in your hands,' Cardinal said. ‘I want to get up there as fast as possible.'

‘You'll just have to be patient. Once we're on the way, it'll take a day to get to the place in the mountains.'

‘Have you thought about my problem with Chan?' Cardinal asked. ‘He wanted to kill me at Buru, and . . . ‘

Webb waved a hand dismissively. ‘I was about to tell you something when we were discussing him before,' he said, ‘but I was holding back.'

‘What are you saying?' Cardinal demanded.

‘There is no problem,' he said. ‘Chan suffered a brain haemorrhage at the mountain base.'

‘Is he dead?' Cardinal said in whisper.

‘Seems he had been exerting too much pressure on himself after being struck in the head by a bullet,' Webb said, ‘A bullet from an unknown assailant in Jakarta.'

They were distracted by the honk from their truck as Adum drove out of the camp. They only glanced at the departing vehicle.

Webb said, ‘They buried the bugger yesterday!'

The letter was brief, upbeat and poignant.

Dear Rhonda,

Compelled to go away for a few days. Not at liberty to say
where. Will be in touch the moment I return. Keep the good work on the documentary going.

I love you.

Ken

Enclosed was a crumpled envelope containing another letter to Rhonda that Cardinal had written during his enforced stay on Buru. It rambled full of emotion and feeling. There was not a word which sought sympathy. The overall tone, and the sentiment in the ‘Love At First Sight' verse, touched her. Moments after receiving the letter at her apartment, she had a call from her producer. ‘Might be best to forget the project,' Dunstan said bluntly. ‘Rumor has it that the prime minister has leant on Hartford.'

‘What about our much-publicised “independence”?' Rhonda said.

‘License renewals come up in a few months . . . ‘

The familiar flashing green light on Rhonda's answering machine gave her hope. But it was not Cardinal. The cold tone of Bill Hewson's voice disappointed her. He wanted to have dinner with her. She agreed, and was curious. It was a strange departure for him. Earlier meetings had always been secretive. Now he wanted to meet at a stylish Hawthorn restaurant called Stephanie's.

‘I can't say, don't worry,' Hewson said, as he drove her to the restaurant, ‘but from what you've said Cardinal seems to be a survivor.'

‘There's no stopping him.'

‘He bought a return ticket to Bangkok,' Hewson said.

Rhonda stared at him. ‘How did you learn that?'

‘You've heightened my interest in Cardinal. We know
the hotel he booked into.'

‘Which one?'

‘The Bangkok Palace. We had it checked. He didn't stay there.'

‘I want to go . . . ‘

‘That would be risky.'

‘Is there any way you could help?'

Hewson didn't look at her but observed cars passing him as they reached Taronga Road. ‘It's possible. We have operatives there. They could look after you.'

‘I just want to find him!' Rhonda said, as he escorted her into Stephanie's.

‘I'll see what we can do . . .'

At four Cardinal and Webb were woken by someone kicking at their hut door. Cardinal flicked on his lighter. Webb swung a revolver from under the pack he had used for a pillow. He held it two-handed, aimed it at the door, and sat up.

‘Who is it?' Cardinal asked in French.

‘Dunong,' the voice said. ‘Get ready. We go now.'

They heard his footsteps retreating.

‘Let's go,'Webb said.

‘A little unexpected,' Cardinal remarked. They dressed in the limited, flickering light.

‘I should have worked it out,' Webb said. ‘They never do the expected.'

Cardinal left his lighter on as they packed their gear. He noticed Webb was wearing a black glove on his left hand.

‘I cut myself,' he said. He adjusted his trouser belt.

‘I didn't know you were packing hardware,' Cardinal said, his eyes flicking to the case where the gun had been hidden.

‘Yeah, well I've got a few surprises myself,' Webb said.

‘Course, it won't do much good. They are sure to frisk
us before we reach the mountain hide-out.'

‘How did you cut yourself?' Cardinal asked, as he stood by the door.

‘On a bottle.'

Cardinal didn't believe him and the glove bothered him.

Two trucks pulled up at the big hut. Dunong asked them to jump aboard. Webb demanded an explanation.

‘Why the change in plans?' he asked.

‘Get in please,' Dunong said.

Cardinal took a few paces forward. A dozen men stopped loading the two trucks and watched.

‘This money stays right here,' Webb said.

Dunong hurried to him and touched his arm. ‘I'm sorry,' he whispered, ‘the old plan was scrapped. We have many spies in the camps, especially here at number 8. Everything must be done at the last moment. You will understand, I'm sure.'

Dunong leaned forward and whispered something in Webb's ear. He winked at Cardinal.

‘It's okay,' he said. ‘These monkeys aren't dumb.'

Cardinal could hear the steady beat of a helicopter thumping through the blackness to a spot lit by a man with a torch. The noise of rotors killed any communication except sign language until they were aboard and lifting high above the rice field nine kilometres from camp site 8. Even with its markings painted out, Cardinal knew it was an American Huey, which probably had been commandeered during the US evacuation of Kampuchea in 1975. Cardinal felt a sense of exhilaration as they lifted into the sky and the first bright red rays of the equatorial sun licked the dying night.

As dawn broke, they covered thick forests, fertile plains crossed by rivers and chocolate brown waterways. Cardinal spotted buffalo and even a couple of elephants that
steamed in the early morning damp heat.

The pilot sometimes changed the chopper's course and this coincided with troop movements below. The Khmer Rouge would become excited if they spotted comrades. The enemy, by contrast, only elicited a deathly quiet as the shadow of the chopper caused them to scatter and draw weapons. Four hours later, as they hummed over thick-forested mountains, Webb leaned close to Cardinal.

‘We're dropping,' he said in French, and they could soon make out a cleared area looming fast ahead. Let him be there! Cardinal prayed. Let him be there!