* * *
One of the boat’s attendants was walking on the deck, shouting to the passengers that they had arrived at their destination and should prepare to disembark. Curious, Danny looked out at the railing. He could see the outline of Tawi-Tawi’s capital, Bongao. Houses built on stilts crowded along the waterfront. Yellow-hulled passenger boats were pulling away from the docks. Helen moved closer to him. As their ship came closer to the capital, he saw the top of the mosque’s white, onion-shaped dome rising behind several houses. Getting closer to the docks, the fresh rising sun bathed the streets, turning the clumps of tall-legged houses into a tangerine-colored city.
Concerned that Dr. Klein and his men might be waiting by the exit, Danny walked over to the ship’s port side and scanned the immediate area. The passengers were going down the ramp, towing large boxes containing clothes and household items. Porters stood on the docks puffing cigarettes while waiting for the signal for the cargo to be unloaded. Next to the parked pickup trucks and motorcycles, Danny spotted four men in blue jeans and polo shirts. One of them stood out, his hair combed back, a tent-shaped moustache and a pistol bulging on his hip.
“Looks like our welcoming party is already here,” said Danny fear rising in his voice.
Helen narrowed her eyes as she confirmed Danny’s description. “Everyone here seems to carry guns. They could just be plainclothes police.”
“I don’t like the way they look. See that barrel-chested guy with the ugly-looking moustache?”
“The one with the cat’s-eye sunglasses?” Helen whispered.
“Yup. I think they’re watching everyone going down the ramp,” Danny said, already searching for a way to circumvent the men waiting for them.
“How are we going to get through them? I’m sure those men already know how we look.”
“The only exit is through the main ramp and I don’t think we can muscle our way out.”
“Maybe we can approach the military jeep and ask the soldiers to escort us out.”
Danny contemplated Helen’s suggestion. Though it made sense, it was only a temporary solution. “Even if the soldiers agreed to accompany us out, those men will follow us and then nab us as soon as we’re dropped off.”
Danny toyed with the idea of blending in with the crowd and disappearing once they reached the main street, but with more than half of the passengers already off the ship, the chances that they would be spotted were rapidly increasing. Danny had to think fast on how to evade them.
“We’ll stay here until everyone has cleared out. Maybe they’ll give up and leave.” Danny hoped his plan would work.
“They know we’re aboard. Eventually they will be, too, and won’t stop looking for us until the last square inch of each deck is checked,” Helen said, panic vibrating in her voice.
Desperate to find a way to evade the men waiting for them, Danny looked around for yet another way to get down. “Cover your head with the scarf and try to hide as much of your face as possible. I think I found a way out of here,” Danny said, donning a pair of sunglasses.
They lowered their heads as they squeezed themselves among the impatient passengers as they waited for their turn to get down. They proceeded directly to the ramp attached to the back of the ship. Shirtless stevedores drenched in sweat walked hurriedly down the wooden incline with sacks of rice. Danny carried the rollaway on his right shoulder, trying to hide his face. Reaching the bottom of the ramp, he checked to see what the four suspicious men waiting for them were doing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man with the tent-shaped moustache leading the charge and shoehorning his way in between the dockworkers walking toward the truck unloading boxes. Shivers ran down his spine. He and Helen were already discovered.
“This way,” Danny yelled through the noise of pickup trucks moving in and out of the docks.
Bongao’s main street was teeming with activity. He saw motorized tricycles (motorcycles with sidecars) carrying passengers and zipping along the narrow streets. Children in dirty shirts were selling sweet rice wrapped in banana leaves and deep-fried brown-sugar yams on a stick. Food stalls lined the street, selling barbecued fish, squid and chicken. Danny and Helen found little comfort in the hustle and bustle swirling around them because they knew it was just a matter of time before the men lurking in the area would find them.
“Let’s get in here and hide for a moment,” Helen said as she urgently pointed to a small, family-owned variety shop, commonly called a sari-sari store, on the side of the road.
When they walked in the door, young boys and girls in their school uniforms were crowding the aisles buying their candies and corn chips. Cans of pork and beans and luncheon meat were stacked high along the wall. A woman sitting behind the cash register surrounded by bags of fried peanuts followed them with amused eyes.
Looking through the large window, Danny recognized the four men with their hurried steps and swiveling necks fanning across the street’s length. Trapped in the sari-sari store, he placed his hand on Helen’s shoulders and spun her out of their sight. Together they hid behind the stacked cases of soda bottles.
“They’re over there,” Danny said, lowering his voice fearing one of them might walk in and find them.
After a few tense minutes, Danny peeked through the window. The men were gone.
“How are we going to get in contact with the councilman?” Helen asked.
“I really don’t know,” Danny replied. “Melchor forgot to tell us what to do once we arrived here.”
He turned his phone on and pressed Melchor’s contact number, but only heard a squeaky out-of-service tone.
“Damn. My phone’s not working.”
“Your SIM card might not work here,” Helen said, strutting toward the woman behind the counter.
After throwing in a new SIM card, Danny quickly entered Melchor’s contact information. Danny pressed the phone to his ear eager to make contact, but the call transferred to voicemail.
“He’s not answering,” Danny said, dropping the phone in his front pocket, dejected and uncertain about what to do next.
“Do you think the councilman will help us?” Helen said, sounding frustrated.
They had risked life and limb coming to Tawi-Tawi, and if Popoy Arevalo refused to help them, it would be the end of the road for Blake’s search. It was then that Danny and Helen realized that neither one of them had any viable plan on how to locate Commander Berto.
“We must find and convince him before Blake gets slaughtered by that animal,” Danny replied, a new conviction in his voice.
“Sometimes politicians have different agendas. What if he doesn’t even care about what we’re going through?”
“We have no choice but to make it work,” Danny said with grim determination.
As Danny moved toward the window to check if it was safe to leave, he noticed a faded, light-blue campaign poster tacked on the wall across the street. It featured a man with a wide grin standing in front of the provincial Capitol building. Below his picture was the caption: “Elect Arevalo.”
Danny turned to Helen. “That’s Arevalo in the picture! I think I know where to reach him.”
* * *
The Capitol, a whitewashed building, crowned with its onion-shaped dome, came into Helen’s view through the motorized tricycle’s tiny windshield as they trudged up the hill. The structure was grand—reminding visitors who entered the wide doors that powerful sultans once ruled these islands. With the large provincial seal displayed on the front, Danny knew he had come to the right place.
They climbed up the wide stairs and walked into the building. Helen thought it was odd that the front lobby was absent of the usual activity of people getting their affairs sorted by government officials.
“Looks like it’s deserted,” Helen remarked, peering in the hallways.
“This is strange,” Danny muttered, already advancing toward the dim corridors lit only by the sunlight sprinkling through the windows.
“What
kind of government building is this? It’s a weekday and yet no one is around,” Helen commented as the sound of her brisk footsteps reverberated off the walls.
* * *
At the end of the hallway, Helen heard the keystrokes of a computer keyboard clacking out of an open door down the hallway.
“Let’s ask the person inside,” she said.
When they walked in, they saw a woman in a black headscarf with her head buried at the computer monitor. Helen cleared her throat to catch the woman’s attention.
“May I help you?” the woman asked, looking alarmed.
“We’re looking for Councilman Arevalo. Is it possible to see him?” Helen asked.
She smiled sarcastically. “He is a very busy man. You can’t just walk in here without an appointment.”
“It is very important that we talk to him,” Helen replied, her voice steadily building with frustration.
“Take a number. You will be first in line as soon as he’s done rooting out the radicals, feeding the hungry, setting up medical clinics—and I almost forgot—the people ahead of you asking for favors,” the woman said with irritation.
“Ma’am,” Danny said, in the most pleasing voice he could. “We’re here because…”
A dark-skinned, curly-haired man with a protruding stomach suddenly emerged from the adjacent room.
“Is there something I can do for you? I am one of the councilman’s assistants. Call me Vic.”
“Sir, I don’t know if you’ve heard of the American who was kidnapped about a hundred miles from the Turtle Islands…”
“I’m aware of what happens in my own backyard.”
“We’re here to see Councilman Arevalo,” Helen followed up.
“Who are you two?” Vic snapped. “I don’t understand why you’re here.”
“I’m really sorry if we didn’t introduce ourselves properly,” Danny said, his head slightly bowed. “My name is Danny Maglaya. I’m a scientist from the United States. I work with the kidnapped victim. This is Helen Glass, the victim’s cousin.”
“Isn’t he being held in Jolo Island? It’s relatively peaceful here. Are you sure you’re in the right place?”
“We were there yesterday to meet with the Kulog ng Timog but were ambushed. They ran to one of their hideouts in these parts and we were hoping that he could help us find them,” Danny said.
“What makes you think that Popoy would know where that pest is hiding? The army has helicopters, night-vision goggles, and plenty of resources at their disposal to flush them out. They are better at locating him than we are,” Vic replied.
“Sir, we need to reach Commander Berto to pay the ransom he demands. Professor Melchor Rodriguez sent a message to Councilman Arevalo and told him that we’re coming. I believe the professor is his friend who was in charge of developing a resort,” Danny said.
“How come he’s not with you?” Vic asked, perplexed.
“He had to be flown back to Manila for a medical emergency,” Helen added.
Vic crossed his arms, puffing up his chest as he processed what they were telling him. He gave Danny a cold hard stare. The silence was deafening as Vic decided what to do next. Helen shifted her weight from one leg to the other, worried that they would be back out on the street if Vic didn’t believe their story or offer help. Vic unclipped his phone from his belt and dialed a number. After facing away from them, he started speaking at a rapid pace in a local dialect. Although Danny recognized bits and pieces of Tagalog, he couldn’t understand what Vic was saying. Vic nodded his head whenever he heard something agreeable from the person on the other line.
“I just got off the phone with his secretary. Popoy Arevalo is already expecting you,” Vic said, clipping the phone back on his hip. “Is it true that someone is after you?”
“A few hired mercenaries,” Danny answered. “But we don’t really know why.” He decided to conceal Dr. Klein’s involvement. The last thing he wanted was to complicate the situation.
“We need to take you to Popoy Arevalo’s resort compound immediately for your own safety.”
SIX
A blue pickup truck pulled in front of the Capitol carrying three men dressed in civilian clothes, armed with M-14 rifles. Vic walked down the steps and approached the vehicle.
“They’re the councilman’s bodyguards and will take you to his residential resort on the beach. He’s on a nearby island right now, attending to his affairs and will be there this afternoon to meet the business leaders in the region. I’ll see you there later.”
Danny and Helen sat in the truck’s bed next to a thin-framed twenty-something with wavy hair and a rifle between his legs. He introduced himself as Alex.
“Thanks for babysitting us,” Helen said.
“No worries,” Alex replied. “I enjoy meeting new guests.”
While the wind blew in his face, Danny saw Mount Bongao, home of the long-tailed macaques, rising in the distance. He imagined the cute monkeys jumping from tree to tree foraging for food.
Nearing the resort, beach houses built on stilts appeared in the distance. Residents sat outside with bored looks on their faces. An elderly woman sitting on the front steps of her house was combing a teenaged girl’s hair. Kids in their rubber sandals dribbled a basketball on a dirt court, shooting the ball on a ring attached to a coconut tree trunk.
* * *
The resort compound was empty when the pickup truck arrived. Danny jumped out of the vehicle while Alex helped Helen down.
“Wait here while I get someone to help you,” Alex said, his rifle balanced on his shoulder.
Waiting on the grass, a slender young woman approached them. She had a clear, dark complexion and long, beautiful hair. She was wearing a long red skirt with a long-sleeved blouse.
“I’ll be helping you while you’re here. I’m one of the councilman’s ten children. My name is Leilani, but you can call me Lei,” she introduced herself with a smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Helen and this is Danny.”
Helen sounded grateful to see someone who was going to tend to their needs.
“Do you know what your father is planning for us?” Danny asked.
“Unfortunately you came on one of our busiest days. My father instructed me to set you up for your night’s stay,” Lei said.
“Do you know when we could meet your father?” Danny asked.
“He usually meets with last-minute guests after he’s done attending to the concerns of the businessmen on the island. His secretary knows you’re here and I’m pretty sure he’ll meet with you before the day is over. Let me show you where you’ll be staying,” Lei said, walking toward the bungalows built on stilts over the water.
Walking on the wooden planks leading to their room, Danny looked down into the crystal clear water. He couldn’t have imagined that such a paradise existed. The overwater bungalows had bamboo walls, dried straw roofs and wide windows on both sides to let the cross breeze through.
“You’ll be staying in that one right there,” Leilani said, pointing to a bungalow with a built-in deck and a ladder that led down to the water. “Married couples love that one.”
“We’re not married,” Helen replied, a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I assumed right away. You looked so comfortable with each other,” Lei said. “I guess I’ll have to arrange separate cottages.”
Danny walked inside his bungalow and pushed the window covers open with a log stick. Exhausted from the overnight trip, he laid down on the banig—a stained, yellow straw mat scattered with a square pattern of red and purple on the floor and flattened his back. The wind blowing in from the Sulu Sea was refreshing. He closed his tired eyes and tried to push away any apprehension he had about meeting with Councilman Arevalo. The sound of the tides just below the floor soothed him. He thought about Vic’s comment earlier. If the army couldn’t locate Commander Berto, then how could a politician do it? But with the Councilm
an’s willingness to meet with him, that was a good sign that something might get done. On the other hand, Arevalo might just pay lip service and give him the typical “I’ll see what I can do” response.
He heard a light knock on the door. He lifted his wrist over his face to check the time. It was almost five in the afternoon.
“Come in.”
When the door opened, Lei was standing outside with Helen who was wearing a malong—a tube-style cloth wrapped around her waist fashioned as a skirt.
“You might need a fresh change of shirt,” Lei said, offering him a brown shirt.
“What do you call that? It looks amazing.”
“Batik. It’s a popular men’s wear.”
Danny took the shirt from her and held it up, inspecting its kaleidoscopic flower patterns of light mocha and dark coffee. He pulled the shirt he was wearing over his head and slipped the batik on.
“Fits perfect,” Danny said, combing his hair with his fingers.
“My father is ready to see you now.”
* * *
Danny and Helen, accompanied by Lei, slowly and cautiously approached the councilman, sitting motionless on a wicker chair, looking out into the caramel-colored sky. Lei approached him and whispered something in his ear.
“Meet my father, The Honorable Popoy Arevalo,” Lei said, backing away.
Councilman Arevalo was in his late forties with perfectly cut hair, distinguished by little wisps of grey along the sides.
Putting his hands together, bowing slightly, and feeling a tinge of intimidation at the former army colonel, Danny said, “Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to talk to us.”
The councilman reached for the bottle of Fundador brandy resting on the table, poured it into his glass, tilted his head back, and chugged half of its contents in a single gulp.
“You two want a drink? It’s calming after a stressful day,” he said, raising the glass.
Somewhere in the Shallow Sea: A Novel of Suspense Page 6
