by John Muir
CHAPTER 13
LOCAL INSTRUCTIONS
MERCEDES, CAMARINES NORTE.
The Germans, Helmut and Heidi, had risen silently in the pre-dawn before their two Arab co-conspirators. As Helmut watched for any sign of the Arabs’ waking, Heidi quickly and thoroughly searched the Arabs’ back-packs. Satisfied they were not carrying anything out of place, she proceeded to make a breakfast from the meagre stock provided. Either the cooking aroma or the background noise, stirred the Arabs. On sitting up they saw that the preparations for eating seemed to include them. After a smile and a nod from Heidi, they seemed to relax slightly. The tension of the previous evening seemingly dissipated when Heidi presented each of them with a wake up coffee while they were still seated on their stretchers.
“I hope this is O.K. to go on with,” Heidi remarked. She knew she needed to show a conciliatory mood. She might need allies later and it was better to have these two within her camp rather than personal enemies.
“I’m sorry for my anger last night,” she went on. “Please appreciate that breached security can destroy the whole operation. Please be careful, there are tens of thousands of Filipinos who have worked in the Middle East. Many can speak or understand the languages from the area.”
“I’m Heidi and my friend is Helmut. I know one of you is Aziz and the other is Raji.”
She noticed which was which, as they each nodded in response to their names.
“Whether they are your real names or not, doesn’t matter. Probably better that we don’t know. We must be careful. It is important that nobody knows we know each other before we reach the island. I really will need your help. This mission depends very much on your expertise.”
The Arabs seemed to relax. Heidi felt better too. Co-operation, not tension, was the key.
After finishing their coffee, the Arabs completed their ablutions. Heidi set their breakfast on an oil-stained plank placed between two boxes. They all finished a second coffee, tidied up and even used the crude local shower facilities of a water-filled forty-four gallon drum which was then poured over the body using a small container. Hot water was a luxury found only in the tourist hotels or the homes of the rich. Many places did not even have running water to the dwellings. It had to be fetched from a communal water supply piped to the street.
After they had all showered, little water was left in the drum. Someone would have to tote water from the source to the garage. The drum was probably rarely filled to the extent it had been for their expected arrival and use.
Heidi was pleased; the owner of the garage arrived on time at 8:30A.M. She did not feel like making any more small talk with the Arabs. From their breakfast chatter Heidi learned they were in fact from Iran. They had taken pains to explain Iranians were not Arabs and pointed out the historical differences. Thankfully the Iranians did not seem to be too talkative either.
“I hope you all slept well”, said the cheery Filipino as he came through the small doorway.
He was wearing old grease-stained overalls which covered all trace of whatever the original colour had been.
“Your other two friends are also here with me.”
He stepped away from the doorway and two further men of Arab appearance, with the seemingly Arab regulation droopy moustache, came through the doorway. Heidi immediately felt a dislike for one of them. The Arab’s first words confirmed that he felt the same way about her and probably also about Helmut.
He suddenly spoke clearly in their only common language, English, pretending the comment was directed for only his colleague to hear.
“Looks like we’ve landed some Krauts from the master race as our minders Ali,” he said. “I just hope they’re at least half as efficient as my Uncle’s old Mercedes truck. You know their ancestors left lots of those good trucks behind when they ran from the desert in World War Two.”
Heidi’s anger rose within her at the jibe, but she knew it was best to ignore them and keep a cool and calm voice.
“Welcome to our small team,” she replied. “Yes, we are from Germany. Your distant cousins here are not Arabs, but are Iranians. I must presume you are the two Libyans assigned to this operation.”
The Filipino garage owner too had sensed the tension and it had caused him to lose his sense of control over the situation. In the pause he had regained sufficient composure to realise that he had important information to give them.
“I have letters for each of you,” he interrupted, “photographs to be studied, and a video tape to show you. While you’re reading the letters and looking at the photos I’ll set up the T.V. and Bettamax video. I can’t leave it here as it might get stolen by a not so honest Filipino.”
He felt he had to add the bit about it being stolen by a Filipino as he did not want them to think he was accusing them of possible theft. They were, as he had been told, professional assassins who would kill without question or remorse. He did not want to be the one to find out if it was true.
He opened the tool-kit he had brought and took out six A5 envelopes each marked with the same three letters but a different number on it. The initials were all APG, but the numbers were from one through to six.
He gave them all to Heidi. She kept the number one for herself, gave number two to Helmut, three and four to the Iranians and five and six to the Libyans. The Filipino then gave her a thick paper wrapped package. These were the photos.
Each tore open the mystery envelopes with the expectancy of children opening birthday presents. Heidi was aware that all over the Philippines, today and tomorrow, other little groups would be opening similar envelopes. She did not how many or where the other groups were, nor did she know that the instructions in hers and the others’ letters were exactly the same except for the geographical location of the target.
There was a hand drawn map of the features of the target and markings for suggested defensive locations.
Her instructions read:
ATTENTION OF GROUP LEADER:
The objects of the groups’ mission are as follows –
1/ Take over and control the tourist facilities on the Island of Apuao Grande. Capture and control the tourists both Filipino and foreign. The takeover is to commence from 2:00 a.m. Sunday April 18.
2/ Retain control over the facilities and its occupants UNTIL the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) becomes aware of the occupation and begins to take some action, investigatory, or covert to retake the facilities. Then withdraw. Or withdraw at an earlier time if instructed by radio to do so. Or to withdraw if felt necessary to do so to retain the anonymity of the non-Filipinos.
3/ At all times the safety of the lives of the guests must be of the greatest importance. THE OBJECT IS TO DISCREDIT THE AFP AND TO ATTRACT WORLD ATTENTION BY PUBLICITY WITHOUT HARMING HOSTAGES. WORLD OPINION MUST NOT BE ALIENATED BY ANY ACTS OF BARBARISM OR CRUELTY.
Heidi realised the statements had been prepared in enormous detail. Each item that followed was clear in its instruction as to the way hostages, staff and even locals were to be treated. Whoever had organised it had provided for every imaginable contingency.
She noted with satisfaction that all the
Each leader would be given an interpreter, though all instructions to hostages were to be made by a Filipino. She read on.
TACTICS:
1/ Reasonable effort should be made to prevent any resort guests escaping. THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE SHOOTING THEM. The escape of hostages is not important to the overall aims of the mission unless it discloses the presence of non-Filipinos in the group.
Heidi appreciated the tactics about limiting any early display of the group firepower in the early stages of any conflict. This could make external opposition over-confident. The missiles were only to be used on larger targets.
The instructions advised that diversionary tactics had been arranged to provide time before the AFP would react. Heidi wondered at what they might be. Anything that would give time to consolidate their position would be appreciated.
GROUP MANPOWER:
Your group consists of a total of 72 personnel:-
When Heidi read that, she realised that this was not a trivial and pin-pricking mission. Nation wide it could involve many hundreds, if not thousands.
1/ There will be six members of the “management team.” Four will arrive at the resorts as tourists a week before Saturday April 17. The remaining two will arrive with the main force at 2:00A.M. Sunday April 18. Four fully trained Filipinos will already be at the resorts as tourists. Signal codes for recognition of the arriving bancas will be included with the Group Leaders separate instructions.
2/ Balance of personnel will arrive on the bancas at 2:00A.M. Sunday April 18 will consist of the following:-
(a) The two remaining members of the “management team”.
(b) 26 members of the regular NPA force trained in all aspects of the weapons supplied for the mission.
(c) 36 local area partly trained supporters. To be used for manual tasks or general guard duty. Untrained personnel should be dismissed as soon as practicable after control has been established.
3/ A qualified radio operator and multi Filipino language speaker will be assigned to the overall Task Force leader.
Heidi looked up and saw the others looking at her. She realised that, apart from Helmut who knew no English, they had all read their instructions faster than she had. This made her feel a little embarrassed that her reading and literacy skills in English were not as good as her subordinates.
To avoid further embarrassment as a slow reader she decided against reading her special Group Leaders set of instructions. That could wait until later.
While they had been reading, the garage owner had set up T.V. and V.C.R. He then quietly sat to the side. When he saw Heidi was ready he stepped forward.
“I’ve got hand-drawn maps of the island to give each of you,” he said.
“There is also a wider map of the area which shows Apuao Grande in relation to other nearby islands in the group. These weren’t included with the instructions in case there were any late changes. You’ve got the most up-to-date information we’ve got. With your island, it’s a little difficult. Sometimes in the past, the main island is joined by a sand-spit with the small neighbouring island of Little Apuao. But if there’s a heavy sea, or a storm it might be separated again.”
He handed out the hand-drawn maps to each of his audience.
“I’ll give you a few minutes to study the maps before I play the video. It might help you understand what you see on the video a little better.”
Nobody commented. Each looked at the first map. Heidi noticed it was headed NOT DRAWN TO EXACT SCALE. It contained only basic information which could be filled in from local scouting of the island.
She skipped to the second map and noticed there were islands very close to the North and South, and slightly further away to the West. Eastward, for the most part, there was nothing but the Pacific Ocean. Their target was at the north-western entrance to San Miguel Bay and there would be no land masses within sight to the east. She paused her reading to look up. Again, the others were already finished and looking in her direction.
The garage owner made an almost futile effort to darken the room, hooking torn sacks over very dirty windows of an already poorly illuminated room. While he was doing this, the others moved the boxes on which they were sitting to positions in front of the T.V.
When the video started, Heidi was surprised at the professional camera work. Within minutes her ideas for the set-up of the defences began to take shape. Whether they correlated to the positions suggested on the map or not she would check out later. She would remain flexible and look at the photos, maps and video again. The opinions and suggestions of the others would help. It was important that they agreed. If not agreeing, it was important they were aware of what she expected of them. She wanted them to co-operate willingly, and she also knew she had to establish her authority before it was questioned. She felt the Iranians could now be trusted. The Libyans were still testing her out. She just hoped that her will would prevail, and she knew it must!
