‘I appreciate that; I was totally focused on getting back to get treated and wouldn’t have appreciated what you were telling me.’
‘Pete said that when he flew the three Italians from Surabaya to Lekunik Airport they were talking in Italian together. Pete’s mother was Italian, so he speaks a bit of the lingo.’
‘Let me get this straight Tony. The Italians were talking freely not knowing that Pete would understand what they were saying.’
‘That’s right; they were talking about the Beechcraft, the pilot, Stuart Smith, and the next drugs run,’ Tony added.
‘Did he tell you any useful information?’ I asked.
‘He couldn’t hear too much of what they were saying as he had his headset on; however, he did manage to turn the sound down and picked up some of what they were saying.’
‘Come on Tony tell me what they said.’
‘They said that they would only have another two runs from Indonesia to Australia as part of this particular operation. To continue the same route was too risky. They intimated that they felt the authorities were getting closer to them. They also stated that the Boss had already selected a new area of operation for them but as yet hadn’t intimated where it was.’
‘So if we don’t get them soon then they will have changed their method of operation.’ I was starting to feel we had missed the boat. I was also beginning to wonder what would happen to Stuart and the plane.
‘The last piece of information that Pete gave me was that they were definitely using Palumpa Airport in the Northern Territory.’
There was a knock on the door of my room.
'Can I come in.' Kevin Moore stuck his head around the door.
'Yes, come in,' Tony said.
'I am told that I can visit you but only for five minutes,' Kevin said. 'How are you?'
'I am a lot better since they operated on me this afternoon, and the pain is a lot less now that I don’t have bits of metal inside me.'
'That's great news, Vince. I won't stay long and tire you out; I just wanted to inform you that my boss is flying up to Darwin tomorrow morning and should be with you by lunchtime. He sends his regards by the way and wishes you a speedy recovery.'
'Why is he coming the whole way to Darwin, I take it that it is not to see me,' I said.
'Well, there is quite a lot to discuss. You have discovered an airfield that they are using in Indonesia, and Rod thinks that he has turned up something here.'
‘We also have information that they are using an airfield called Palumpa,’ Tony said.
‘How did you get that piece of information?’ Kevin asked.
‘We heard it from the pilot who flew the Italians to Rote Island. He overheard them talking about Palumpa Airport.’
'Where exactly is Palumpa?' I managed to ask.
'It's in a very remote spot three hundred kilometres to the west of Darwin.'
'How did Rod find that place?' Tony sounded as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
'I managed to finally obtain information from the military on recent flight paths,' Kevin replied. 'They couldn't give me specific details of flights, but they were able to point me in the right direction.'
‘So both your source and ours agree on the name of the location of the Australian drop-off point,' I said. 'We now have both ends of the piece of string and can hopefully rescue Stuart.'
'I think it is better to say "we had" rather than we have,' Kevin continued. 'Unfortunately we don't know how they will react to the fact that the airfield on Rote Island has been compromised.'
'So what is the plan now?' Tony asked.
'Nothing will be decided until Inspector Johnson arrives tomorrow.'
'Thanks for coming in to see me and updating us on what's happening.' I was feeling quite relieved that my shooting hadn't torpedoed the whole operation. 'I should be a lot fitter tomorrow and able to talk for longer.'
'I'll see you tomorrow then. Sleep well.' Kevin said as he got ready to leave.
'I'm heading off now too,' Tony said. 'I will talk to you Kevin as we go downstairs as there are few other bits I need to pass on to you.’
Tony turned back to address me. ‘Vince, I will phone Daphne in the morning before I come to the hospital and update her.'
Kevin seeing the conversation was getting personal went outside the room.
'What are you going to tell her?' I had not decided what was the best approach with my wife.
'I haven't worked it out yet, but I would think as little as I can get away with,' Tony replied. 'I'll tell her that it was my fault as I insisted that we move closer to the action, and they started shooting indiscriminately and a ricochet hit you.'
'You don't have to blame yourself, Tony. If I hadn't thought it safe to move closer, I wouldn't have done it. We were caught out by the Volkswagen pick-up truck arriving from our rear. The toothless man and his pal must have been working for them all along.'
'I still feel guilty Vince; you told me not to go closer, and I did, putting us both in grave danger. I can safely say that I have learnt my lesson. Thankfully there is no permanent damage, you are on the path to recovery and are looking a lot better.'
'I'll be even better after a good night's sleep. They said that they would give me a sleeping pill along with the painkillers so the night should fly by. I'll see you in the morning.'
'Goodnight Vince. I still feel sorry about the shooting, but there is nothing I can do about it now other than make your peace with Daphne.'
A rather sheepish Tony left me in the care of the nurses saying that he would be back around noon tomorrow and hopefully wouldn't be bringing divorce papers with him. He picked up Kevin outside the door and they went off chatting together.
Chapter 20
The following morning was taken up with changing the dressings on my wound and with the visit of the specialist who was treating me. He had done an excellent job, and I was feeling remarkably well with much less pain. He told me that I could leave hospital in a few days' time if I continued to improve at my present rate. I had even had a good night's sleep. I couldn't help marvel at the difference between the jungles of Indonesia, which I had left so suddenly, and the clinical environment of the hospital. There was only three hours' difference between the two environments.
Kevin stuck his head in at one point and said that the Ward Sister had given permission to hold a meeting in Vince’s room with the Inspector at 1.00pm.
'Do you think that you will be up to that or should I organize somewhere else?' Kevin asked me.
'I am feeling a lot better today so it shouldn't be a problem,' I replied.
'I'll see you later.' Kevin left my room to fetch his boss from the airport as he was flying up from Melbourne with Qantas and arriving at midday.
Tony arrived just as my lunch was being delivered which didn't go down too well with the kitchen staff. He was politely told to go and get a cup of coffee in the visitors' canteen and come back in half-an-hour after I had finished my lunch - In hospitals rules are rules!
The next to arrive was Rod.
'How are you, Vince? What a terrible thing to happen to you especially in a foreign land.'
'It wasn't too bad and Tony managed to find a doctor to patch me up until I could be flown home.'
'You're bloody lucky that they didn't come back and try and finish you off.' Rod was getting quite emotional.
'I have been trying to work out what must have been going through their minds as they scarpered pretty quickly after they sprayed the trees with bullets. The only thing I can assume is that they thought that they were up against more than two unarmed men.'
'Are you sure that you are OK Vince? It must have been a huge shock to your system.' Rod continued.
'There was a lot of blood at the time, but it was only flesh wounds, and I should heal very quickly.'
There was a knock on the door and the Inspector, and Kevin entered my room. Tony came in a few minutes later.
I had to go through the r
itual of explaining how I was and that I was up to participating in the meeting. They had to grab two more chairs from the corridor as sitting on the bed was banned as per instructions from the nurse.
'I want to make this meeting as short as possible as I have been ordered not to tire Vince out,' the Inspector started off. 'Perhaps Tony you could report on what you discovered during your few days in Indonesia and then Rod you can tell us what you found in Palumpa.'
Tony spoke for around twenty minutes giving a full account of the Indonesian end of the story and also what he had been told by Pete Adams re the Italians’ conversation. Rod then followed with a description of what had happened at the western end of the Northern Territory.
'Well done guys; you definitely adopted the correct strategy when you decided to split up and work as two teams.' The Inspector smiled at the collected group. 'We have to decide what we do now. Perhaps you could start Vince with your suggestions.'
'We managed to find their base on Rote Island so the chances are that they will look for another airfield to work out of. Even if they don't move their loading point from Lekunik Airport, we are still faced with the practically impossible task of getting close without being seen, and they will now be on their guard.'
'So what you are saying Vince is that it would not be possible to launch a raid on their operation at Lekunik Airport. It is too remote, and the jungle is a hostile place.'
'In summary, Yes,' I replied. 'It's a nightmare of a place and you can only get in and out by air. To be successful it would have to be a similar sized raid to the one the Israelis mounted at Entebbe, and I don't see that as being feasible.'
'Do you agree Tony in your brother's assessment of the situation?'
'Totally; in fact, I would even say that it is worse than he depicted. It really is the back-end of nowhere. In addition, there are two local men who are in the drug smugglers employ and they see everything that occurs around the airport.'
'Rod, what did you find?'
'At the outset, I would like to say that we didn't see sight nor sound of the plane or the pilot. A few of the locals told us that they had seen the plane on a few occasions.'
'So you can confirm to us that they have used Palumpa Airport on a number of occasions.'
'It would appear so. I left Brian up there to keep an eye on the place. Also, Tony was told by Pete Adams that he had overheard the Italians mention that they using Palumpa Airport.’
'Can you please check with Brian to get an update?' the Inspector ordered.
'There is no mobile signal in the area, so he has to drive fifty kilometres to Port Keats Airport in a place called Wadeye to put a call through to me.'
'Is there a chance that they might be using Port Keats as the base on occasions as it is in the same general area?' the Inspector asked.
'We did check the place out, and nobody had noticed the plane. At Palumpa the locals had seen it,' Rod answered.
'Could I make a suggestion,' I said. 'We made two good contacts in Kupang and they will be able to monitor the situation for us there. They are both involved in the flying game and have their ear to the ground.'
'That sounds like a good idea Vince. There is a pretty good chance that they would spot the Beechcraft if it came into their area of operation. They might be able to give us a rough return date, so we know when to expect the delivery.'
'Perhaps, Tony should telephone Pete Adams and Jarrod Birchley and ask them to keep an eye out for the Beechcraft,' I suggested.
'So are we all agreed that we focus all our attention on Palumpa Airport.' The Inspector looked at the faces around the room seeking a reaction.
'We don't have many other options available to us, do we?' Rod sounded a bit pissed off.
'You don't seem too sure Rod, and it was your team who found the link to Palumpa Airport,' the Inspector queried.
'I am just worried that they have already changed everything as a result of the altercation with Vince and Tony on Rote Island,' Rod commented. 'It's such a massive area that we have to cover and so far they appear to be one step ahead of us. The only fact we know for certain is that the drugs flight is coming from Indonesia, and it is landing in Northern Territory.'
'There is one other piece of information that we have,' I interjected. 'They obviously had a shipment ready at Lekunik Airport on the night that we surprised them. The chances are that when they have find that we are no longer on the island they will try again to land the Beechcraft.'
'It would be interesting to know where the plane went when it couldn't land. They must have some backup airport,' the Inspector said.
'They had enough fuel to fly back to an airport in Australia,' Tony added. ‘When we surprised them, and they aborted the landing they could have returned to an airstrip in Northern Territory.’
Rod was the next to speak. 'Brian hasn't reported that he has seen any activity in Palumpa, so where are they?'
'This is bloody annoying guys.' The Inspector was beginning to sound frustrated. 'Stuart Smith and his plane could be anywhere and, let's face it we don't have an iota where it is.'
'Sir, can I return and talk to my contact at traffic control and see if they have logged a Beechcraft King Air 250 with the call sign VH-MTC into our air space in the last forty-eight hours,' Kevin proposed.
'That's an excellent idea, Kevin,' the Inspector congratulated him. 'I will go with you and we will then meet back here at 7.00pm this evening, during visiting hours. That will keep us in with the hospital staff. They weren't too impressed with the timing of this meeting.'
'Brian is due to report back to me in the next couple of hours so I will have an update from Palumpa for you,' Rod added.
‘There is one other piece of information that we haven’t discussed.’ I managed to make my voice heard.
‘What’s that Vince,’ the Inspector inquired.
‘They will be winding down the operation between Indonesia and here after two more flights as per the information Pete Adams garnered from the Italians,’ I said. ‘I am really worried for Stuart’s life. Once they have finished with him, they may just get rid of the aircraft and him.’
‘That puts a new urgency into our search,’ the Inspector said. ‘We can’t mess up when we close in on Palumpa. See you back here in five hours’ time.’
They all left my room except for Tony, who stayed behind.
'I suppose that you are interested to hear how my telephone call to Daphne went,' he said.
'I don't necessarily want to know, but I suspect you are going to tell me anyway.' I was dreading this.
'The exact words she said to me were – “Oh Tony, I am so relieved that you weren't the one injured in one of his hair-brained investigations” - Vince, she was more worried about me and she accepted that you were wounded. It's almost as if she was expecting you to be injured.'
'I don't know whether to be relieved at what you have just told me or to be upset that my wife is more worried about you than she is about me.'
'She did ask me how you were and how bad the injury was and was happy that you were already recovering well.'
'Did she say anything else?'
'She told me to give you her and the kids love and to tell you that she was delighted that, since you were in hospital, you wouldn't have any further involvement in finding Stuart and his plane.'
'Thanks Tony for phoning her; it sounds as if I am still married and she has forgiven me.' A weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and I felt that I still had a future as a husband.
'I'll leave you now Vince and return to the hotel. I haven't eaten all day and am starving. I'll see you this evening.
I was exhausted from all the mental activity, so I spent most of the afternoon sleeping and recovering my strength.
My evening meal was delivered at 5.00pm, so I was ready and waiting when the others arrived at seven o'clock.
'Let me first give you my news,' the Inspector commenced. 'The Beechcraft, call sign VH-MTC was tracked into Australian airspace
roughly forty-eight hours ago heading in a direction that would have brought it to Palumpa Airport.'
'I am afraid that Brian did not see it land at Palumpa; however, when he went to Port Keats Airport he found that it had landed there.It refuelled and took off again,' Rod stated.
'Of interest is the fact that the plane was definitely not tracked by the radar as leaving Australian airspace after it took off from Port Keats.'
'So where the hell have they gone,' Rod exclaimed.
'The plane must have flown very low and wasn't detected. We now have no idea where it is. We are back to square one.' The Inspector leant back in his chair and surveyed us. 'I need some inspiration, guys.'
'They can't have gone very far, and they certainly won't have flown over Darwin as they would have been picked up by the radar and traffic control,' Rod suggested.
'Have you inspected any of the other airstrips in the area,' the Inspector asked Rod.
'No, we have only looked at Port Keats and Palumpa. Once we found that the plane had been seen there, we didn't go any further.'
'As a matter of urgency Rod, I want you to go and look at any other landing strips that are within one hundred Kilometres of Port Keats. Start with the closest ones and work outwards.'
'I won't be able to do more than one or two a day,' Rod replied.
'Tony are you able to spare another day of your precious time, I am aware that you have a business to run?' the Inspector asked.
'Yes, that should be OK. I won't leave here until I am happy that Vince is on his way to full recovery.'
'Then I suggest that Kevin and Tony form a second team and cover areas that Rod and Brian can't. You can split the airfields up between you.'
I was suddenly feeling left out. They were all going off to have fun, and I was stuck in a hospital bed twiddling my thumbs. I was determined to try and get out as soon as possible so as I could return to the investigation.
'OK, guys off you go and get ready for tomorrow. I suggest that you travel to Wadeye tonight so as you are prepared to go first thing in the morning. I am going to talk to the drugs squad to see if I can get any assistance from them.'
Danger Down Under: Another Vince Hamilton Investigation Page 16
