Indonesian Gold (71 page)

‘
Again, how do you know that to be
true?
'

‘
As I said before, I was there. I heard the fire and I
know what machine pistol fire sounds like.
'

‘
You were a soldier?
'

‘
No. But…
'

‘Mister Stewart,'
the
Colonel had taken him by the elbow and was steering him back towards the expatriate quarters,
‘why don't you take a rest, and discuss this with me later?'

‘
Then you refuse to go back with me? Colonel, there's
an entire village lying in ruins with almost half of its inhabitants dead, not ten minutes by
chopper from here. Please, take me there with you and I'll prove what I'm saying is
true!
'

The colonel threw his hands in the air.
‘I don't have
time for this. Captain Subandi?'
he turned to the waiting
Kopassus
helicopter
pilot.

‘Captain, are there any other Kopassus units in the
area?'

Sharon Ducay's besotted pilot came to attention.
‘No,
Colonel, the nearest units would be in the provincial capital.'

‘Thank you, Captain,'
the commander's face firmed, and he stared confrontationally into Campbell's eyes.
‘That's the end of it, Mister Campbell. You can take it up with my superiors in Jakarta. Now,
I'll have to go.'

****

Penehing in Hiding

Jonathan Dau scanned the slopes for signs of TNI troops,
the vantage point a thousand meters above dense forest, and temporary home to five hundred of his
fellow refugees.
‘Udir,'
the chief grimaced when he bent down on his haunches beside the
man who had led the attack against the Madurese settlement.
‘Do you think they will
come?'

The other elder moved his feet, adjusted the automatic
weapon hanging loosely at his side, a dark smile flooding his face as he tapped a full magazine.
‘If they do, we'll be ready.'

Jonathan admired his childhood friend's acquisition
through the corner of an eye. Udir had come across the machine pistol amongst the village ruins,
when he and the other
Penehing
men had returned to the Longhouse immediately following
their raid. Discovering the carnage, they had moved their longboats further upstream where these
remained, camouflaged, and under constant surveillance.

‘They have the numbers to cause us great
harm,'
Jonathan reminded,
‘we must avoid direct confrontation,
at all costs.'
Once the community had regrouped and accounted for their number, it became
evident that the male population they could draw upon if attacked, had been reduced to less than
seventy-five – some as young as fourteen. Although barely into their teens, these youngsters were
already skilled in the use of blowpipe and bow.

‘What about those upstream?'
Udir referred to the smaller and more isolated
Penehing
Longhouse communities
which spotted the upper, Mahakam reaches.

‘I have sent a runner, to see how they have
fared.'
Jonathan had assumed that all of the Upper-Mahakam Dayak
tribes had come under attack. Deep in thought, both men then fell into silent camaraderie, their
burden heavy as each maintained vigil against the TNI reprisal attack, which was certain to
come.

****

Immensely relieved with Angela's return, Sharon was
determined not to let her out of sight again. She waited for Campbell's conversation with the
commander to end, then wandered over as the helicopter lifted, carrying the Colonel downstream
where he would rejoin the main body of his repositioned troops.

‘Hi, welcome back. You missed the excitement.'

‘You don't know the half of it,' Campbell answered
moodily. ‘What's been happening here?' Sharon glanced at Angela. ‘The locals paid us a visit.'
‘Any damage to equipment?' ‘No. They only got as far as the jetty.' She looked at Angela
again.

‘Left us quite a calling card, though – a string of
decapitated corpses. Army corpses.'

Campbell
's jaw tightened
with this news, guessing this to be the reason behind the Colonel's reticence to discuss the
village massacre. ‘It hasn't been a particularly great twenty-four hours for anyone.'

‘Well, at least the pair of you made it back in one
piece.'

‘Almost didn't.' Campbell looked like he was about to
drop, that day had been so long he could not remember when it started. ‘Sounds like you had a
rough time out there?' The American nodded. ‘We're lucky to even be here.' ‘What really
happened?' ‘The army attacked, burned the village to the ground – killed

   
hundreds.'
Sharon was genuinely shocked. ‘Why? Was it a reprisal for what was done here?' ‘It's beyond me,'
he said, his eyes following the chopper until it disappeared from view. ‘What have you
heard?'

Sharon
looked at Angela. ‘The
word is that the locals have attacked the main settlement downriver. A group of Madurese came
screaming into camp in a longboat just before noon. I couldn't understand what they were
jabbering about, but they certainly got the laborers all worked up. The Colonel had a tough time
convincing them not to go back to the settlement. That's where he's gone, you know.'

‘How many men has he left here?' Campbell worried with the
possibility of confrontation with the laborers.

‘There's still a dozen or so watching over the site.
Still, that's your problem from here on in, Stewart,' she announced, ‘I'm out of here as soon as
the Colonel gives us our chopper back.'

Campbell
smothered a yawn.
Exhausted from their recent ordeal, his body ached for sleep. ‘And…what did he have to say about
that?'

‘We exchanged words,' Sharon forced a smile. ‘He's
undertaken to place it back at our disposal tomorrow. As soon as it's definite, I'm gone.
Okay?'

Angela, who had remained silent up to this point, stepped
in.
‘Stewart, why don't you discuss this with Sharon later? You should get some
rest.'

Sharon
's mind remained locked
on the couple as they moved away, her thoughts now taunted with the possibility of Campbell's
relationship with Angela interfering with the most crucial step in her scheme. When she had first
conceived the idea the American was nowhere in the picture – Sharon satisfied at the time that
when Angela ‘went missing', her disappearance could have been explained away without any great
difficulty. The mining camp had already achieved the reputation of having an unusually high
number of fatalities amongst its workers.

After the pair disappeared from view she returned to her
cabin in pensive mood, considering what else might be done to ensure that her exit was executed,
according to plan. She slumped on the narrow bed, her eyes roaming the claustrophobic room
registering that boxes and other personal affects were already packed, wondering if these would
be shipped to the Philippines after her death – or rifled, with the best pieces stolen. Annoyed
that she would have no control over this situation, Sharon decided to give it all away. Lazily,
she tapped the locked aluminum case at her feet, reminded of the remaining half-kilo gold bars,
and the two
Kopassus
soldiers her lover had recruited on their behalf.

Lying idly on the bunk, fantasizing about a future that
included close to three hundred million dollars in her account, she fell asleep, waking an hour
later with a start, to the sounds of the helicopter returning.

****

‘How did you manage it?'
Sharon
asked, with rising excitement, Subandi now in her
arms.

‘I convinced him that there was nothing he could do with
the aircraft at night, and he agreed. But, he wants it back by first light.'

‘That doesn't leave us much time!'
Sharon
's mood darkened.
‘Can your men still
do it on such short notice?'

‘No problem, they're used to working in the
dark,'
the
Kopassus
officer smirked.

‘
Then, all we have to do now is get that Dayak bitch
away from the camp, without being seen.
'

Sharon
had never envisaged
their exiting at night. It was imperative that she be seen climbing into the aircraft – the
imagery essential to the credibility of what would happen next.

‘
Have her taken tonight. I'll make my departure when
everyone's awake, and can see.
'

‘That's dangerous!'
the
pilot argued.
‘The Colonel is expecting the aircraft back around that time.'

‘You can't do this for half a million
dollars?'
she pulled back, and commenced re-buttoning her blouse
from the waist.

Subandi stared at her exposed breasts and his knees
failed. Without further hesitation he reached out and tenderly cupped her in his eager hands.
‘I'll tell the others,'
he promised, shaking uncontrollably when he felt the warmth of her
hands fondling his crotch.

****

Eric Baird whacked Mardidi playfully on the buttocks.
‘Five, six days, and we'll be back in Jakarta.'

‘How can you be so sure?'
His partner accepted the unexpected foreplay, reciprocating with an affectionate
pinch.

‘Well, we're finished here. Sharon's about to leave and
that puts an end to my contractual obligations.'
Baird ran a hand
across Mardidi's shoulder, tickling him around the small of the back.

‘
When we return, what will you do about
Pipi?
'

‘Do?'
Baird's hot
breath smelt like overly sweet honey against the side of his face.
‘We'll not have to do
anything.'

‘You will live with her?'
Mardidi asked, praying this would never be the case.

‘No,'
Baird assured,
his wandering hand moving over familiar ground,
‘we won't be doing that.'

‘I love you, Eric,'
Mardidi's unsolicited declaration was rewarded by Baird's assuming his customary
position, followed almost immediately by a predictable grunt.

In the ensuing silence, they lay together, both engrossed
in their own perspectives of how life after Longdamai would be. Baird reached across his lover's
body – his fingers searching for the soft pack of clove cigarettes in discarded clothes at
bedside.
‘I love you too, Mardidi,'
he said, placing the
kretek
in his mouth – the
younger man, accepting the signal, climbed out of the bunk and wrapped a sarong around his thin
waist, then headed for the primitive, riverside ablution facilities, to scrub Baird absolutely
clean from his body.

****

As Campbell's stomach problems had persisted, one of the
Madurese laborer's called upon his wife to administer crushed turmeric, the American geologist
forcing the concoction down. Within the hour, the occasional cramps had all but disappeared, and
he was feeling well enough to join Angela in the canteen. When he approached, she rose and
started to move away.

‘
Stay and talk for a while. I'm feeling much
better.
'

‘I was just going to my cabin.'

Movement across the site caught his eye and he tried to
smile.
‘Well, won't be long before we see the last of her,'
he indicated Sharon as she was
spotted crossing towards the laborers' shanties.
‘Can't say I won't be unhappy to see the back
of her so we can get on with things around here.'

Angela Dau's reaction to his idle comment was not what
he'd expected.
‘Will you really feel that way?'
Campbell surprised by her accusatory
tone.

‘What?'

‘I said, are you sure you won't miss her being
around?'
She started to move away.

‘What on earth are you suggesting?'
Campbell
was confused by her mood.

‘
In the mountains – you talked in your
sleep
.'

‘
Why are you so angry
?'

‘
I'm beyond angry
!'

‘
I don't understand. What did I say
?'

‘
You were dreaming about her. You called out her
name.
'

‘You've go to be joking?'

Angela stepped back – and he advanced to reassure.
‘I
only wish to know if your relationship with Sharon has ever been anything more than
professional?'

Campbell
answered with a
hollow laugh.
‘How could you possibly think that?'