by John Muir
CHAPTER 11
THE CALTEX EXCUSE
DAET, CAMARINES NORTE
The German couple had walked to the second street on the right, behind the service station and turned the corner. A jeepney with four chrome horses decorating the bonnet and red tape tied loosely around them was parked twenty metres further on. Without speaking to the sleeping Filipino in the driver's seat they got into the back and the male German tapped the roof. The driver woke with a start. When he looked around and saw his special passengers already aboard, he started his jeep. Driving them to their pre-arranged destination took less than five minutes. No words passed between them. At their destination, the driver quickly ushered them inside the door of a small out-of-town repair garage. They heard another jeepney pull up outside. The two Arab passengers were quickly ushered through the door by their driver who immediately departed. As soon as they entered through the door, their host, the first jeepney driver, pointed to four stretchers set up between the cars in the garage. Each stretcher was covered with a mosquito net. The host then pointed to an open door.
"Toilet, shower, sink and small kitchen," he said. "There is some food in the fridge and jugs of boiled water ready for drinking. Coffee, tea, sugar and coffee creamer are in the cupboard above the sink. All your bedding is on the stretchers. I will be back at 8:30A.M. Then I'll show you the photos, play the video film and give you the envelopes with the detail collected on your target. Please be as quiet as possible. People don't normally stay here overnight. I’ll tell you where the weapons are later."
The guests said nothing, and the host slipped out of the small entry way which was part of a big double sliding door.
Immediately he had gone the two Arabs turned to look at their two German colleagues. Their eyes opened wide when they saw the German man pointing a pistol fitted with a silencer at them. The German woman immediately stepped forward.
"You stupid fools," she said. "You were told not to attract any attention to yourselves. You were arguing in public at the top of your voices. This operation can succeed without you. If you act that stupid again, I'll kill you both."
She paused to let the message take effect before continuing.
"If anyone else had understood Arabic at that stop, the whole operation could have been blown. Your dead bodies would now be still travelling on the bus. No more talking now. We will talk in the morning. Everyone will now sleep."
Both hate and fear reflected in the Arabs' eyes. Both could only meekly nod a response in the affirmative.
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T.A. felt like he was in a vacuum waiting for a decision on whether he should be sent to heaven or hell. Malou continued to sleep. He watched the events unfolding around them as dawn approached the slowly awakening township. They were unseen by the people they watched walking past. Some were carrying farm produce in wide flat rattan baskets balanced on the tops of their heads. Other farmers dawdled past, generally following behind two or three carabao. All the passers-by were heading to wherever the daily market was located.
T.A. felt good in their anonymity. But the sky was beginning to lighten and they would soon lose their invisibility.
Malou, now awake and without checking her watch said, "Must be around 5:30A.M."
T.A. checked his watch; her guess was only three minutes fast.
Fifteen minutes later the sun began peering above the horizon and their invisibility was totally gone. People now passing them by looked in the direction of the "Americano", as all Europeans were called, irrespective of which country they came from.
Time passed strangely satisfying for T.A. The distraction of watching the day’s momentum pick up with each passing minute was fascinating. Just on 6:45A.M. T.A. noticed a smartly dressed woman in a red jacket walking toward them. She looked shower fresh in comparison to the way T.A. felt.
"Where did you come from?" she asked. "I've been waiting at the Caltex station for you since 3:00A.M. I thought you must have missed the earlier bus, so I just waited there for you to arrive."
"We got off at the Caltex station just along the road here, and there was nobody there to meet us," responded T.A.
"Oh you got off at the wrong one."
T.A. wondered how many times she had used that same excuse before to get a few extra hours sleep.
"Now that I've found you I'll go back to arrange a jeepney to take you to our depot in Mercedes. There, the banca will to take you to the island. I'll be back in about ten to fifteen minutes with my boyfriend's jeepney."
With that she turned and walked smartly away, not leaving time for T.A. and Malou to protest or question.
Just after 7:00A.M. she was back in a bright pink jeepney displaying six horses on its bonnet. A sign "God Is Everywhere" proudly showed above the front window. A very sleepy looking driver sat behind the wheel.
At the red-jacket's prompting, the driver dismounted from the front and loaded the baggage. After nearly falling over on the first attempt to lift the first bag, he concentrated and managed quite easily at the second attempt. The second bag quickly followed the first into the back. T.A. followed Malou past the bags and they sat side by side on the inward facing seats. Now totally awake, the driver and the red-jacketed woman climbed into the front. At last they were starting the final part of their thirty-minute run to the fishing town of Mercedes.
The sun was now well above the horizon. The day looked fresh and it emphasised the lovely green of the rice paddies. Every now and again the jeepney brakes were heavily applied as the driver, heading into the sun, would be late in spotting a large pothole; belatedly he would try to avoid it, sometimes successfully, mostly not. One hard braking caused T.A. and Malou to slide forward along the bench seat to end up immediately behind the driver in the front. The driver had stopped to let a sow and her piglets finish crossing the road.
T.A., while pleased at the driver's concern for the countries domestic stock, was a little worried at his lack of concern for his passengers' comfort or safety.
As they got further into the township of Mercedes the streets got progressively narrower. The drivers speed conversely got progressively quicker. It seemed his concern for animals was greater than his concern for the populace of Mercedes. There was no slowing for pedestrians of any age, or for any of the blind corners they turned into, but he used hard braking to avoid any fighting cocks.
Thankfully they got to the depot without hitting anything or anyone. The driver backed carefully, slowly, and expertly into the loading bay, then leapt energetically from his seat. He had both the bags out of the back and safely against the depot wall before T.A. and Malou dismounted.
Another red-jacketed woman greeted them.
"I heard about you unfortunately getting off at the wrong service station," she said. "I'm sorry there was some confusion. Unfortunately the banca we had arranged to take you direct to the island has already gone with the day's market supplies. They will be back in about an hour. I hope you don't mind waiting until about 10:00A.M. The passengers coming by air will arrive then and everyone can go to the island together. I know how tired you must feel, so I'll show you a place upstairs where you can have a lie down and perhaps sleep for a while until the other passengers arrive."
T.A. was too tired to argue or disagree. He simply nodded and mutely let her lead them up the stairs, where a very primitive bed settee looked appealing. He and Malou both kicked off their shoes and tumbled onto the unnoticeably hard surface.
