The Richard Jackson Saga: Book 12 Escape From Siberia

by Earl Nelson

  I don’t pretend to understand religion.

  After all that we were taken back to the governor’s mansion where we took an hour's break. The Governor did express the sorrow that Nina and I had broken up.

  You could tell he was fishing for details. Since he had been so nice about things and helpful, I told him and his wife the terms we had left on.

  They were surprisingly insightful on my story.

  “That happens too often at our level in life. One partner rising above the other and they grow separate. Neither did anything wrong, they just grew in different directions or at different speeds.”

  His wife added, “Now all the sharks will smell blood in the water. Be prepared to be attacked from all directions and many tricks will be employed.”

  I told the story of finding an air hostess in my bed during a flight. They thought that was funny.

  “Did you make her walk home?”

  “I thought about it.”

  “I guess with your acting career you have learned how to handle such things.”

  “I have, but it is never pleasant. I wonder how I will ever meet someone equal.”

  “You will. It takes time.”

  From the way she patted his arm, I knew they were equal.

  Chapter 44

  Tonight, was a formal dinner. Harold had my dress uniform with all my decorations, pressed and good to go. He insisted on dressing me. That meant he adjusted my clothes as I donned them.

  There is no way I could have as much lint as he swept off me. I must say I did look good in the uniform. My gauntness from my captivity was going away. He told me that I now had a lean and hungry look.

  Julius Caesar would have loved me. At least Shakespeare’s version. All I needed now was a Heidelberg dueling scar and I would fit all the stereotypes.

  There was a formal receiving line, and it quickly became apparent that the word was out about my breakup with Nina. The Governor told me they had to expand seating three times in the afternoon and rearrange it multiple times.

  His staff was getting rich from the bribes paid to have a daughter seated near me. I asked who I would escort to dinner. Why am I not surprised that it was the Governor's granddaughter?

  He laughed when he saw the look on my face.

  “She is twelve years old, Your Grace. She is your protection for the evening.”

  “I owe you big time.”

  “Never fear, I will collect.”

  The granddaughter Iris proved to be a delight, she had many questions for me, all about Mary’s clothing line. She wanted to know what the new Princess spring line would be.

  I could honestly tell her I had no idea, but that we could call the US tomorrow and ask Mary. That made me a friend for life. She was my friend for life as she was as innocently rude as only a young lady could be as she fended off encroaching females.

  Unfortunately, after dinner, there was a dance, and she could only dance with me once because it was her bedtime.

  You know how mosquitoes come out after dark. Well, the young ladies of Hong Kong are like that, annoying as all get out. I found refuge in the library with some old soldiers.

  Listening to their campaigns in World War II and in one case the Great War was worth it. Some of them were even interesting. It was more than was not said in many cases. These guys weren’t bragging, they had been there and done that.

  The evening came to an end, and I escaped. Not before the Governor informed me that there would be a reception in my honor at the Chinese Embassy tomorrow night.

  Other than that, I had the day off. That was so kind of him. I slept in until eight o’clock, which was late for me.

  After my run and exercises, along with a large breakfast, it was almost eleven. I decided I would like to explore Jackson House Asia. Before I could start that, Boris had a couple of questions for me.

  It was about housekeeping accounts. So far everything had been obtained on credit, but we really should pay those pesky tradesmen. Something about their children needing to eat.

  With a build-up like that, I had no choice but to sign a bunch of authorizations he had obtained from the Bank of Hong Kong. Nothing was out of line. It just let him pay the staff and household bills and other odd expenses.

  I signed without demurring. It would be interesting to see how honest he was going to be with me. He had room and board, the use of a vehicle, and a hefty salary, so I wouldn’t cut him much slack.

  He also informed me that I had a call from a young lady named Iris. It seemed I had made a promise of an introduction. She had left a number.

  I took a chance and placed a call to the States. I was able to get through in a mere fifteen minutes, some sort of a record. It was after school so Mary was available.

  I told her about Iris and her inquiries about the latest Princess line. Would she please call her?

  She would for a mere one hundred dollars consulting fee. I asked to be transferred to Mum. She reduced the fee to ice cream the next time I was home. That was reasonable.

  Brat. I’m so proud of what she has already done in life.

  I decided to take my life in hand and play a round of golf at Clearwater. When I called for a tee time, they about fell over themselves in accommodating me.

  When asked if I wanted to play alone or with a pickup group I chose alone. I remembered all too well the last pickup group that picked me up there.

  When I got there, I was told that I would be in a twosome. I started to frown at that until I recognized my partner. He was one of the governor's guards.

  Both caddies were familiar, so we proceeded. I did notice that we had a small gallery following us. They were all in the Royal Hong Kong Regiment known as the Volunteers. They all carried submachine guns. I thought I could concentrate on my golf game.

  I didn’t set any course records, but I didn’t disgrace myself scoring a sixty-five. I made certain to thank all of my escorts including the gallery.

  I ended up posing for pictures with them as a group and individually. It seemed like it was an Asian pastime.

  At the Chinese Embassy, it was white tie and tails for me. Again, the receiving line and introductions to all the young ladies and hearing their praises sung. You would think I was in heaven with a choir of angels.

  One young lady came through the line, and she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She appeared to be of mixed parentage, eastern and western. She had the best features of each.

  Somehow when she got to me in the line, I had turned away a little and she floated right by me without even making eye contact.

  I looked for her the rest of the evening but didn’t spot her. I was so focused on her beautiful face that I couldn’t tell anyone the color of her dress much less describes it.

  There was one couple who were right before her in line, but they were of no help as they hadn’t looked at her.

  By the next morning, I had forgotten what she looked like, just that she was beautiful. I hoped that I would see her at one of the two dances scheduled this week or maybe one of four meals.

  If nothing else, I was gaining my weight back.

  Alas, it was not to be, and I gradually forgot about her. She became a memory of fleeting beauty glanced and gone. Most poetic of me.

  I did see little Iris again. She thanked me so much for having Mary call her. She and Mary had exchanged contact information so they could stay in touch. My sister was becoming quite a networker.

  Iris was being sent a secret edition of the catalog which normally went out to the Princesses so they could be ahead of fashion.

  I didn’t know Princess tweeny fashion was so cutthroat.

  I had one interesting call from the States. It was from my R&D division. It seems they had made a breakthrough in transistors. They had made a single crystal that contained the transistors, resistors, capacitors, and connecting wiring on what they called an integrated circuit chip.

  They had used two different materials, silicon, and germanium. They both work
ed and patents had been applied for both methods.

  They weren’t ready for commercial production yet as the yield was so low when forming the chips. Contaminants ruined over eighty percent of them.

  During the phone call, I suggested they look into pharmaceutical cleanroom methods as they had to fight bacteria as small as five microns. I authorized whatever funds they required as this appeared to be a big deal.

  By putting everything on one crystal they had significantly reduced cost and improved efficiencies.

  I thought this would be a good addition to our core business line if the concepts involved worked on a commercial basis. I could think of dozens of uses for these chips, in the realm of space they would be invaluable. Less weight, waste heat, and faster calculations.

  I didn’t think of all those benefits myself. The R&D Engineers had brought them up.

  I set those thoughts aside and concentrated on what I had to do to improve the lives of Hong Kong's citizens.

  I asked to speak to a consortium of jewelers. They were experts in their field. I wanted to know what had to be done to make Hong Kong a destination to buy jewelry.

  The many wonderful pieces I had seen in store windows gave me this thought. The response I got was, reduce taxes and they would improve their level of service. I asked what they would do at the service level. It was everything from champagne for customers to personal showings at the customer's hotel or home.

  Talking to the governor it was possible to get a twenty percent tax reduction for one year as a test. This would make them competitive with all the other Asian countries. The next step was a publicity campaign which I left in their hands.

  I was hoping they would succeed, and other groups would follow. If sales went up enough it would justify a permanent reduction of taxes

  Chapter 45

  I had a private conversation with the Chinese Ambassador. He had greetings from Empress Ping and congratulations on my escape. She wished to thank me in person for accelerating the downfall of the Soviet Union.

  At least she didn’t think I did it single handily.

  The Ambassador relayed her understanding that I had several other visits to make before I came to China. Namely North and South Vietnam.

  “I need to go to South Vietnam next to see if I still need to support their army. It has been over six months now. I hope that they have enough control over the country and tax income that they do not need outside support.”

  “I have wondered what you were going to do with your private army of over a hundred thousand troops.”

  “I have never thought of them that way, though if I had I would have declared war on the Soviet Union to break me out of the gulag I was in.”

  “I think that the way you did it was for the best.”

  “You’re correct, but it will be fun to think about. In the meantime, I’m putting them on notice they have to be prepared to support themselves.”

  “Are you aware that the airport runways at Saigon have been lengthened and will now handle your aircraft?”

  “Yes, my Chief Pilot notified me yesterday and we are planning to leave early in the morning to be there right after lunch.”

  “I wish you well on your trip and may all your Dragons have five toes.”

  “Thank you, as long as they don’t have ingrown toenails.”

  The Ambassador laughed at that, “I will use that, it is good.”

  “Maybe it could become a Confucius saying.”

  “That borders on sacrilege, my friend.”

  “I meant no offense.”

  “I know, just your terrible western humor.”

  “Ouch, are you sure you’re my friend?”

  “I would hope so.”

  “I suppose Confucius even has a saying about that.”

  “Have no friends not equal to yourself.”

  “In America we would say, You are known by the company you keep.”

  “Very close, I’m surprised at that, I didn’t think you western barbarians were so wise.”

  “We aren’t, I think that saying was developed from our jury trials. If you hung around with bad people, you could end up hanged with bad people.”

  “And with that my friend I have other appointments. Please give my regards to the Empress when you see her.”

  “I will.”

  This conversation was very typical of those I was having with the Asians I met. They seemed to be trying to understand the Western culture as though the idea of dealing with us was new.

  We were wheels up at o dark thirty in the morning. I had lunch on the plane. It would save time and you couldn’t get pizza in Saigon yet.

  Instead of riding in the decrepit limo they still had I used the Bentley stored in the 707 hold. It had to be the most modern car in the country. One of the copilots was pressed into chauffeur duty, we even had a hat for him.

  We drove directly to Independence Palace, or as it was known the Dragons Head Palace where President Trần Văn Hương lived.

  I needed to pay my respects at the American and British Embassies, but that would wait. It made me think of the reception I had at those two Embassies in Buenos Aires.

  That led me to thoughts of a girl and a swimming pool. Alas, that was never to be, but at the time it was the high light of my life.

  President Trần was expecting me, so I was admitted to his office in short order. From the looks of his office, he was a working President. Books and papers were stacked everywhere. I suspect he knew what was in every pile.

  “Your Grace, it is good of you to come. My congratulations on your recent escape from Siberia.”

  “I thought that I should check up on how the port operations are proceeding and if you are being successful in rooting out corruption in the country.”

  “I’m pleased to report good progress on both fronts.”

  “Excellent.”

  “You will be pleased to hear that our revenues will now support our armed forces and that we will no longer need to rely on your generosity.”

  “That is good news, for my wallet and your country. How is your relationship with the Australians?”

  “They have become a strong trading partner with us and with the North Vietnamese. Our rubber and the North's metals have proven to be moneymakers for us. The Australians are also moving some industry here as our labor rates are attractive.”

  “This sounds like it is working, and the Australians are doing very well out of this.”

  “They are, but since we are benefiting also, we don’t care. The officer cadre they lent us will be here for at least another five years at the field grade level, as we build up our Corp of officers. Some of the young men have reached Captain's rank and we hope to have some Colonels within five years. That is young for such a rank, present company excepted, but we want to have an all-South Vietnamese army within twenty years.”

  “That seems like a long time.”

  “Think how long it takes a General to reach that rank and then to gain experience. It is ambitious of us. Our Military Academy is scheduled to graduate its first class in three years. I think we are doing well.”

  “Can you develop your roads and other infrastructure?”

  “Since we have no war to fight, and you can only train so much our troops are building the roads and buildings for schools and hospitals. I am proud to say that our country is finally becoming a country.”

  “My congratulations Mr. President.”

  “Thank you, Your Grace, that reminds me, we are having a dinner in your honor this evening. Please wear your full-dress uniform.”

  After I left the Palace, I went to our port construction offices. The President had told me all was going well. I wanted to hear what my people had to say. Trust and verify. I had heard some actor on the set say that.

  The Chief Engineer on site confirmed that not only were things going well, but they were on schedule and under budget.

  “These Vietnamese are some of the hardest workers I have ever worked with
. Occasionally one will start spouting Communist nonsense. They disappear pretty quickly. I think a few are in the foundations.”

  “As long as there aren’t so many, they weaken the base.”

  “I was kidding!”

  “I wasn’t.”

  Maybe the gulag had changed me.

  I stopped at the American Embassy first. I wasn’t given the bums rush, but the Ambassador didn’t have time to speak with me. An attaché thanked me for stopping by. It wasn’t until after I left, I realized they didn’t know how to handle me. Should they treat me as an American, British, or Chinese citizen?

  The British Embassy had no problems welcoming the Duke of Hong Kong. The Ambassador and several senior staff members took the time to give me a third-party view of how things were proceeding.

  It was all good. What was especially notable was the reduction in corruption. Anyone demanding a bribe these days was taking their life in their hand.

  While the executions for corruption had declined in recent times there were still three last week. At this rate, the country would be clean in no time.

  I was pessimistic, at best case it would be kept down to a dull roar and not enough to damage the economy. If we could get it there, I would count it as a win.

  Other news was that a leader of the Cambodian Communist Party by the name of Pol Pot had been captured when he attempted to flee into the jungle. He had died in prison two days later. No cause of death listed.

  That evening I returned to the Presidential Palace in my dress uniform. Harold had clucked over it all afternoon. He told me that I had worn it so many times that I would need a new one soon. I could only remember wearing it a half dozen times. Maybe I should ask him if the fabric was bought on the cheap. No, he didn’t deserve that.

  The dinner had a major surprise for me. I was made a Knight Grand Cross in the National Order of Vietnam. It was the highest level of the highest award in the country. It was for the help I had given in bringing stability to their country.