South Pacific Affair

by Drew Lindsay

  ‘You were paid very well for your services. There is a lot more money to be made if we can get that necklace back.’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘There are the rich and the poor in Tonga,’ said Isaac. ‘Do you wish to be one of the poor?’

  ‘I didn’t use the money for myself,’ said Amasio. ‘My parents live on another island hundreds of kilometres to the north. They benefited from the money. They are my concern.’

  ‘They can benefit again,’ said Isaac. ‘You have Sophia Hunter almost in the palm of your hand. She probably knows where the necklace is.’

  ‘We don’t know that for certain. It could be another.’

  ‘Please don’t tell me that you think Joseph Hunter would have been stupid enough to tell his Tongan mistress?’

  ‘I’m not sure of anything. We have already discussed this,’ said Amasio.

  ‘I need you to act,’ said Isaac. ‘I need you to act quickly. I don’t want Sophia Hunter hiding behind a muscle man with some Karate skills. Hold her head under the water for a few minutes and see if she is so reluctant to tell what she knows! Hang her upside down in a damn jungle tree and put ants on her. You people know how to make people talk for God’s sake! Are the Tongan’s going soft?’

  ‘We’re not going soft,’ said Amasio. ‘Times have changed. We’re not savages.’

  ‘You have the savage inside you, as do some of your associates,’ said Isaac. ‘Get that necklace back or I will ensure that the king is told exactly how you arranged to have it stolen from the royal palace in the first place.’ Isaac terminated the call.

  “****”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  ‘What the hell is that noise?’ Ann rolled over in her single bed and put her fingers in her ears. ‘The sun is hardly up!’

  ‘It’s a parrot,’ said Sophia. ‘They live on the island and did the same damn thing last time I was here.’

  ‘It’s chewing the roof! Is it trying to get inside?’

  ‘They like chewing the timber thatching,’ said Sophia. ‘You’ll get used to it.’

  ‘I’ll have the manager get rid of them,’ said Ann. ‘She can have them shot or something.’

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  Ben used the bathroom which was only a thatched wall away. ‘Tea and coffee is ready in the lounge room,’ he called as he flushed the toilet.

  ‘I never get out of bed until 7 at least,’ said Ann.

  ‘Then you shouldn’t have been wandering around the fale to all hours of the night,’ he said, walking back into his side of the building.

  ‘He knew it was you,’ Sophia whispered.

  ‘Well of course he did! I asked him to let me in when I found the damn doors locked.’

  ‘You look like you’ve had your head in a wind tunnel darling.’

  ‘Well you’re not looking much better,’ said Ann, climbing out of bed. ‘I’m going to the bathroom and I’m locking the door this time.’

  ‘Look out for the geckos.’

  ‘I’m taking hair spray with me,’ said Ann.

  ‘Hair spray…’

  ‘I got myself in the eye with it once. It will be murder on those lizards.’

  ‘Leave them alone for God’s sake!’

  ‘They shouldn’t allow them in a resort like this.’

  ‘We’re on a coral island in the middle of the bloody jungle darling. It’s not Jurassic Park. There are no fences here.’

  ‘I wonder if my hair spray will reach that damn bird on the roof,’ said Ann.

  ‘Leave the bloody thing alone. It’s a protected species.’

  ‘It’s chewing a hole in our roof!’

  Sophia groaned and rolled over in the bed. ‘Bloody comfortable mattress eh?’

  ‘Shhh,’ said Ann as she slipped on a floral print gown. ‘The lizards might hear you.’

  ‘Geckos.’

  ‘Whatever.’

  They sat on an elevated platform outside the main restaurant building, a short coconut palm tree providing shade from the rapidly rising sun and gentle waves lapping underneath their chairs. Hot tea and coffee was served. Breakfast was as lavish or simple as you desired. Ben went for fried eggs on toast. The girls went for omelettes with the works. Sophia ordered fresh orange juice. Ann had coconut water straight from a freshly cut green coconut with the top cut off.

  ‘I’m in heaven,’ said Ann.

  ‘Told you,’ said Sophia.

  ‘I wonder if the king of Tonga has a breakfast like this?’ asked Ann.

  ‘He probably eats corn flakes,’ said Sophia.

  ‘The hell he does,’ Ann replied. She took another mouthful of egg, tomato and bacon omelette and chewed it slowly, glancing at Ben. She swallowed the food and put her fork down gently on the plate. ‘I’m sorry if I woke you last night.’

  ‘You didn’t wake me,’ said Ben.

  ‘I knocked on your door.’

  ‘Oh,’

  ‘I wanted to talk to you,’ said Ann.

  ‘What about?’

  ‘That kung foo stuff that you do.’

  Sophia gagged on a mouthful of coffee. She put a large green cloth napkin to her mouth. Ann glared at her.

  ‘It’s not actually known by that name,’ said Ben. ‘It’s a variety of fighting techniques which were pioneered and perfected by Japanese soldiers called Ninjutsu centuries ago.’

  ‘Well it saved my arse the other night. Does it give you lots of stamina?’ asked Ann rather innocently.

  ‘She wanted to fuck you,’ said Sophia, sipping more coffee. ‘I got the chook and she got the coconuts.’

  ‘Pardon?’ Ben looked confused.

  ‘Never mind,’ said Sophia.

  ‘I would only have slept with you if you had invited me into your bed,’ said Ann. ‘It would have been my way of repaying you for saving my life.’

  ‘After we talked about unarmed combat,’ said Ben.

  ‘She didn’t have a stitch on,’ said Sophia. ‘The only weapon she was interested in was…’

  ‘Don’t be gross,’ said Ann.

  ‘This isn’t a holiday,’ said Ben. ‘We’re here for a purpose and at the invitation of the king of Tonga. There could be danger here.’

  ‘Is that why you hardly touched alcohol during the meal last night?’ asked Sophia.

  Ben nodded.

  ‘But you let us drink until we were wandering all over the place.’

  ‘It’s got to look like a holiday,’ said Ben. ‘I thought we were being watched.’

  ‘By the man on his own?’ asked Ann.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I haven’t seen him this morning,’ said Sophia.

  ‘It’s the people you can’t see that pose the biggest threat,’ said Ben. ‘You both have to stay alert, even if you’ve had a few drinks. I’m the bodyguard. You pair are the bait.’

  ‘Bugger that!’ said Ann.

  ‘See why he didn’t let you in,’ said Sophia, smiling at Ann.

  ‘I wouldn’t have been too much of a distraction,’ said Ann, finishing off her omelette.

  ‘Yes you would have,’ said Ben, ‘and you don’t owe me anything.’

  She smiled at him with a closed mouthful of food. She chewed and swallowed slowly. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

  Sophia sat back in her chair and slipped on her sunglasses. ‘Next we’ll have her on her knees underneath the damn table.’

  ‘Don’t be rude,’ said Ann.

  ‘And I employed you to be my personal assistant and to represent me in a professional and highly moral way.’

  ‘You taught me everything I know,’ said Ann, smiling.

  A large red breasted Koki parrot landed on the edge of the table. Ann recoiled as if it had bitten her. It screeched loudly. It had bright orange eyes, iridescent green wings and a large grey beak. It pecked at the edge of Ben’s fruit bowl. He handed it half a passionfruit and the bird flew into a nearby tree to devour the fruit.

  ‘They not only wake us at some ungodly hour and
try to chew holes in our house, but now they want to eat our bloody breakfast!’ said Ann. ‘I should have brought my hairspray.’

  ‘Leave them alone,’ said Ben. ‘This is their island, not ours.’

  ‘She’ll calm down after a few hours in the sun,’ said Sophia. ‘The sun always helps with sexual tension.’

  ‘You should talk!’ said Ann. ‘Sunbaking makes you start panting like a damn…’

  Sophia held up a hand to silence her. ‘Forgive us Ben. I’ll attempt to bring my assistant under control. I fear it’s the South Pacific that has taken over here.’

  ‘It casts a rather magic spell,’ said Ben.

  ‘Especially after half a bottle of wine,’ said Ann.

  The king of Tonga sat back in a large, heavy timber chair. It had belonged to his father. Handcrafted in Germany, King Tupou IV was such a huge man that whenever he visited Germany, a special chair was commissioned to be made to hold his size and weight. He took all these chairs back to the Tongan royal palace. King Tupou VI sat on one now and rested his arms on the thick armrests. Detective Inspector Paul Lolohea sat on a white lounge chair opposite the king. They were alone in the huge room lined with photographs and drawings of past Tongan kings. Detective Lolohea was in police uniform as was customary when meeting with the king. He had removed his police cap. The king wore an open neck white business shirt with grey trousers and a small traditional woven mat and belt around his waist.

  ‘You have spoken with your Commissioner?’ asked the king.

  ‘I have Your Majesty. I understand he met with you yesterday for discussions.’

  The king nodded. ‘Then we are all on the same page with this situation.’

  ‘Yes sir.’

  ‘I will invite Mrs. Hunter to meet with me here tomorrow morning. Can you be present?’

  ‘Yes sir.’

  ‘I feel a degree of intimidation needs to be exerted and that is why I want her alone and not surrounded by her assistant and bodyguard.’

  ‘That is wise.’

  ‘It would be appropriate for you to interrogate Mrs. Hunter’s personal assistant and the bodyguard, perhaps at Central police station. I want them out of their comfort zones.’

  ‘The bodyguard is an ex police detective from Sydney,’ said Inspector Lolohea. ‘He has quite a reputation and will not be easily intimidated.’

  ‘He arrived into Tonga with a very large knife.’

  ‘I know that sir. We had no reason to take it from him. It’s not illegal to have a knife like that.’

  ‘I know of this Ben Hood from a friend of my father.’

  ‘I didn’t know that.’

  ‘Yes, he phoned me from Australia. Martial arts expert and world champion Akira Misaki. My father met with him several times and was very impressed with him. Ben Hood is his student and is considered to be extremely good in the old Japanese traditional fighting.’

  ‘Does that alter your thinking about this man?’ asked Inspector Lolohea.

  ‘Yes it does.’

  ‘He has already seriously injured two men who were hired to get back the necklace,’ said Lolohea. ‘These men were professionals and he took them down effortlessly.’

  ‘If two have already been hired to get the necklace and failed, someone will hire more. They will send them here,’ said the king. ‘We must screen the incoming airport passengers carefully.’

  ‘I’ll see that it’s done,’ said Inspector Lolohea, ‘although I also anticipate that those with an intense interest in the necklace may use people already living here to carry out their wishes.’

  ‘I’ll leave it to you to flush such creatures out,’ said the king, running a hand over his chin. ‘I’ll have my staff make contact with Mrs. Hunter and her party. Initially I will meet with them all at 11 am tomorrow and then if your people could escort the personal assistant and Mr. Hood to the police station, you and I will see what Mrs. Hunter has to say.’

  ‘I wish this to go well Your Majesty.’

  ‘Thank you Paul. The return of the necklace and the attached diamond means a great deal to me.’ The king stood. Inspector Lolohea stood. They shook hands and Lolohea left the room with his police cap tucked underneath his right arm.

  The official royal invitation for Sophia, Ann and Ben to attend the royal palace at 10.30 am in preparation for a meeting with the king at 11 am was faxed to the office of Fa Fa Island. The manager, Lesilei read it twice and rushed off along the sandy track through the jungle towards fale “Fatai”. She called out at the door and Ben answered, opening the door a few moments later.

  ‘I thought you should have this right away,’ said Lesilei, somewhat out of breath due to the haste which she had summonsed to reach them as quickly as possible.

  Ben glanced at the single sheet of paper she had handed to him. ‘The girls are swimming. I’ll let them know.’

  ‘I am the only one who saw this fax,’ said Lesilei. ‘The information will remain with me alone.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Ben. ‘Are you able to type up a short letter of conformation that you delivered this invitation and we will be in attendance as requested?’

  ‘Yes, I will fax something back to the royal palace immediately. I will also make sure that Peter has a boat ready to take you to the mainland.’

  ‘I do appreciate that,’ said Ben.

  ‘You requested that your rooms be serviced later in the day. Is that still your wish?’

  ‘After lunch would be fine,’ said Ben.

  ‘Certainly.’ Lesilei turned and hurried away.

  Ben closed the door and walked back into the main section of the fale where his king sized bed was located. The lounge was upside down as was the large coffee table and all the chairs. The bar fridge had been pulled out and was lying on its side. Timber cupboards had been pulled away from the walls and upended. Ben dropped the sheet of paper on the bed and stood the bar fridge upright, pushing it back into its position in a corner of the lounge room. He thoroughly checked the cushions which had been located on the lounge and pushed the double lounge chair back into its usual position. He had already been underneath all the beds and climbed up into the roof to check on top of the coconut tree logs which held the structure together.

  Sophia walked in through the door facing the ocean. ‘Re-decorating?’

  ‘Just looking,’ said Ben. She smelt of coconut oil and the brief white bikini did little to hide her amazing body.

  ‘Find anything?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘I slept in here alone. He slept out in the other bedroom.’

  ‘What was wrong with him?’ asked Ben, glancing again at her voluptuous body.

  ‘Like I told you before, he may have become distracted,’ said Sophia.

  ‘Loa Tei?’

  ‘She’s something else.’

  ‘Where’s Ann?’

  ‘Asleep. It was a late night.’

  ‘Go wash the oil off your hands and come back and read that fax on the bed.’

  Sophia walked to the bed and leaned down. ‘I don’t need to wash my hands.’ She didn’t touch the document but read it carefully. ‘Here we go then.’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Any ideas as to what I should say to him?’

  ‘Tell him the truth,’ said Ben.

  ‘You still don’t believe me, do you?’

  ‘I don’t trust anyone all that much,’ said Ben.

  ‘I’ll keep that in mind.’

  ‘Go and get Ann out of the sun. She’ll start to fry out there.’

  ‘She’s part Aboriginal. They don’t burn.’

  ‘The hell they don’t! Wake her up and we’ll go down to the restaurant for a sandwich and a beer. Then we can take a walk around the island.’

  ‘How do mine compare to hers?’ said Sophia, pulling back her shoulders slightly. The effect was mind blowing.

  ‘I’m not here for a breast judging contest,’ said Ben.

  ‘Hers are smaller but she’s very firm. I may need some work done.’

>   ‘You definitely don’t need any work done,’ said Ben.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Sophia moving close to him. ‘Just as long as you noticed.’

  ‘I noticed,’ said Ben.

  She walked back towards the beach, her hips swinging provocatively. Ben watched her for a moment and shook his head. ‘Bloody Rodney and his damn jobs,’ he said underneath his breath.

  Sergeant James Amasio drove his green military jeep slowly along the potholed track through a thick grove of coconut trees and broad leafed taro plants. The ocean was visible through the jungle to his left. The track suddenly turned right and he pulled up in front of a shack made from scraps of tin, fibro, plastic and car bonnets. He switched off the motor. ‘Get out here Jake. I’ve got a job for you.’

  Jake Hogzuk peered at the army sergeant from the doorway, such as it was. Jake was a thin man but quite fit. He was of German extraction, about 5 feet 10 inches tall with sunken brown eyes which rarely blinked, giving him the impression that he was staring at you all the time. He had a large hooked nose and stubble of beard with wispy moustache. Jake had been able to obtain a rarely issued work visa while he lived in relative obscurity in Tonga, thanks to the influence of Army Sergeant James Amasio. Had the proper background checks been done in relation to Hogzuk, he would never been allowed into Tonga. His services as a professional thief and occasional assailant were invaluable to Amasio from time to time.

  Hogzuk worked a small, isolated farm on the south east of Tonatapu, about half an hour’s drive from Nuku’Alofa. Local people considered him quite mad and kept well clear of him and his tiny leased farm. He owned a beaten up Toyota Ute held together with fencing wire and pop rivets. The vehicle got him into town on the rare occasion that he was forced to mix with groups of people in order to buy supplies.

  ‘I’m not going into that damn palace again,’ said Hogzuk. ‘The risks were too high and you didn’t pay enough.’

  ‘You don’t have to go to the palace,’ said Amasio. ‘People are here who may be trying to return the royal necklace to the king. We have to stop them from doing that.’