by John Muir
CHAPTER 37
WAITING TO EXCHANGE
Linamon - Day 10
T.A. tried to lift his hands to his head to push his palms into his temple and ease the pain. He could not. His hands were bound to his thighs with a straight plank underneath. He tried to move his head to his hands. He could not. His back and shoulders were likewise tied to a plank behind him.
The headache he was feeling was worse than any other he had ever had. The whistling in his ears was so high pitched he was sure it had to come from some outside source.
He knew he was making moaning sounds and taking short sharp breaths through his teeth. He could not stop himself, the pain was too acute. Tensing his face muscles to screw up his face did little to help. After a few seconds his face muscles started to cramp and ache.
He was sure he had been knocked unconscious again, but did not know why. His thoughts shifted to punch-drunk boxers. Would all these beatings he had suffered cause him permanent brain damage?
Looking through half opened eyes he could see that dull light was coming through windows to his front. Was it the last light of the day or the new light of the morning?
The light was coming from an unexpected angle. Fighting the pain behind his eyes, he forced them wider to check his surroundings. It was all different. Had he been shifted to a different room? He looked up at the ceiling. That too was different. He must be in a different house.
He could only look briefly before he had to close his eyes tight again to prevent the ache from worsening. Every place he looked he noticed something else was different. His mind flashed to thoughts of Siti. Where was she? Did she know what was happening? He wanted her gentle touch with her cool wet rags to wipe the pain away.
He tried again to move his hands to his forehead and could not. Looking down he saw the same chains that had been binding him for days, or was it years, were supplemented with ropes. Their restriction of his movement was because the chains around his wrists were also fixed around a floor to ceiling beam. A separate chain then bound his legs to the same beam. The ropes all seemed to be tied just to the plank.
When he realised that the light was getting brighter he knew that it was sunrise, not sunset.
As his sense of smell began to return, the first thing he noticed was that he had once again soiled his clothes and the surrounding floor. The urine stench, even if it was his own, was strong enough to make him screw up his nose. Did it matter? The only clothes he was wearing were his underwear anyway. Though, the thought of permanent kidney damage from all the kicking and beatings also began to worry him. Bladder control had never been a problem before.
The slow return of his other senses began to bring other discomforts. The mosquitos had enjoyed a feast while he slept. Their bites were screaming to be scratched. The restriction to his movement meant he could not. Now he wondered, if he got out of this, would he be a malaria-suffering punch-drunk boxer?
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Iligan - Day 10
Pater, with Rangi and Marivic, had returned to the hotel by taxi after leaving Henry and Nilo, parked up in a secluded, sheltered and shaded area near Iligan. The latter two were left to 'baby-sit' the trussed up Yamada.
After slipping a note under Joven's door, Pater took a long shower before crawling between the cool clean sheets. He wanted to get four hours sleep before the front desk phoned him with the 11:00 A.M. call.
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Paradise Plantations - Day 10
Ueda had rolled and dragged himself into the shadow of the nipa hut.
He estimated that he must have been unconscious for almost two hours. The position of the sun was barely above tree top level. Its heat had not yet begun to take effect. He knew he had get out of the direct sun as its debilitating effect would weaken him as he fought to free himself of the bindings. Whoever had tied him with tape knew what he was doing.
Tape bound his wrists behind his back, the backs of his hands taped together. Then tape from his wrists wrapped around his elbows several times before crossing around and in front of his body. Tapes around his ankles then forcibly bent his knees as the tapes were then run up to the bindings around his wrists.
The knife he carried on his belt was gone. That was to be expected as it would have been close to his hands even if they were bound behind his back. What he had not expected was that the small knife he hid, strapped to the inside of his left leg was also gone from its sheath.
He knew he could get free, but it would take time even using the rough corners of the nipa hut.
He cursed at the lack of curiosity of the workers that should be at the area they should be clearing. Surely at least one of them should have come to check why he was not there to give last minute instructions.
His mouth was dry. When he licked his lips to moisten them he tasted the dried blood. He knew he had fallen on his face and the stinging was from the small pieces of gravel that had embedded into his skin. He would fix that with a good sterilising wash once he was free.
As he worked the tape against the edge of the hut he was trying to recount how many people he had seen in the jeepney. It had been before sunrise. Were there two? Or had he imagined it?
Other details came back slowly. The moon had provided some outline, it had still been dark, he was just not as certain of some of the details as he would have wished. His mind kept returning to the jeepney that the priest had been in when he had visited. He would check that out once he was free. The priest had asked him to call on him and he still had the address that the priest had left.
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Linamon - Day 10
Though T.A. could hear the sounds of people talking and movement in the next room, no-one had, as far as he was aware, even looked into his room. He could only guess at the time. The sun had been up for several hours. He had once again been lapsing into unconsciousness.
Through the window he could see some trees. The angle of the shadows from the leaves and branches suggested that it was probably mid-morning.
His dry mouth and undiminished headache made time pass slower than the shadows indicated. He was wishing he could see Siti. Though he was still a prisoner as he was before, at least previously he was fed and given water.
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Paradise Plantations - Day 10
Neither of the vehicles started. They had been sabotaged. Though he was not a mechanic, Ueda knew enough to realise that he would not get either started without qualified help.
Some of the gravel embedded in his face had been difficult to remove. Blood had caked over them and they had already begun to work their way deeper into his flesh. Squeezing them out as he would a pimple had proved to be the most successful means, painful as it was. There was no disinfectant available. In the meantime he would have to tolerate any infections, and they were probable in this climate. His priority and duty was to get transport from those clearing the field and find Yamada.
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Maria Christina Hotel - Day 10
Pater had watched Henry, Rangi and Nilo come and go with their two hour shifts guarding the Japanese held in the jeepney. Food and drinks were important in the heat. Pater could not let any of his group, or the Japanese become dehydrated.
After his early morning call to the reporter, Pater had to spend what he thought of as wasted time at the bank. He knew his credit card was taking a battering but he was literally buying time.
The kidnapper was insisting on more money immediately or he would begin returning the victim in pieces beginning with the fingers. Pater had to pay the bank manager 30,000 pesos to get 300,000 pesos in cash. It irked him that even if though his letter of credit was good and the guarantors from Swagman gave additional security, the manager still wanted extra for himself before he approved the release of cash.
Although he knew the reporter held P300,000 already forwarded from Ueda through Seville, the extra was a further attempt to placate impatient demands.
By lunch time the cash was with the reporter. Both hoped it would fo
restall any action by the kidnapper for at least 24 hours. By then, Pater hoped he would have exchanged the real Japanese for T.A. If he could retrieve his cash he would, though he was not too concerned. The value of the coins inside the three jars they had removed from the nipa hut would more than repay his costs even split three ways. It was enough for them all to retire on.
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Linamon - Day 10
When the two figures entered the room, even with their faces covered with scarves and wearing malongs, T.A. instantly knew who they were. The appearance of Siti and Zahra made his heart soar with want of Siti, even with Zahra being in the room as well.
Siti did not speak as she knelt in front of him and put a glass of cool water to his lips. He coughed violently as the first drops of water hit the back of his throat. Siti placed her hand gently behind his head even though the coughing was spurting mists of water at the eyes and into the veil mask Siti was wearing.
As soon as he stopped coughing he looked at Siti's eyes. He wanted her to hold him close as she had done on too few of those previous nights at her Father’s house. Through his befuddled thoughts he could hear her whispering something. He could not make it out.
Was she whispering her thoughts and feelings? He could not understand. His ears were still ringing from his headache. And he was feeling faint again. He could not read her lips as they were covered with the veil. But the eyes seemed to be saying so many things.
After a while he had managed to consume all the water without gagging and spluttering. Siti stood up and moved away slightly. Zahra came forward with a plate of rice and fish and knelt in front of him. She avoided eye contact as she slowly fed him with a spoon.
T.A. wondered if she would blossom into the same pretty thing her sister had become. T.A. looked past Zahra at Siti, regretting that he could not discern the words she had whispered. He tried to speak between spoonfuls, but as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, Zahra would put the spoon in his mouth again.
He was too hungry to object. Though the distraction of Siti's eyes meant he could not seem to hold a constant thought in his mind for more than a few seconds before drifting onto another. It was like drunkenness. He wondered if he had already become punch-drunk and brain damaged.
As soon as the small plate of fish and rice was empty, Zahra moved back again and Siti re-took her place in front of him. She had another glass of water and slowly let its drops trickle between his lips. Again she was whispering. Again he could not understand what she was saying but he knew it was obvious Siti did not want Zahra to hear what was being said. There were only two words, widely apart in what she said that he heard clearly. His heart soared at the thought of what she might have said. "Friends" and "tonight". It was obvious that somehow she was going to come to him tonight and they would be friends together again. No matter how brief, he knew it would give him a reason to fight for his life.
He knew he should not feel this way about someone who was barely 16 years old, but he knew he needed some support and comfort. This young girl was the only thing that he could relate to at this time. She was his only taste of reality and reason in this crazy world that had thrown him into this situation, whatever it was.
He had wondered what had become of Omar. T.A. had not seen him since this transfer to the new location. Also he had not seen the one with so much hatred in his eyes since the kidnapping from the Nissan Patrol. How many days ago was that anyway?
Too soon, Siti and Zahra had left the room. T.A. was left wondering if he would see Siti this evening. He hoped so. He had long since given up being embarrassed about urinating where he lay.
He looked out the window to try and estimate what the time might be, then wondered what time Siti might be able to sneak in to see him. It seemed like late afternoon. That meant it could be many hours before he would see her.
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Maria Christina Hotel, Iligan
After paying one of the contractors to take him to Iligan and wait while he made some purchases of clothing, Ueda booked into the Maria Christina Hotel. The more he thought about the previous night's incident, the more he was convinced that the jeepney he saw was the same one used by the priest. But had they taken Yamada? Or had Yamada just gone and left him? With the exception of two gold coins on the floor, the saki jars and their precious contents had all gone.
He knew he was at a disadvantage in trying to be inconspicuous in his surroundings. His size and Japanese appearance always drew attention. That was now worsened by the gravel scratches and the red welts on his face from his fall at the plantation. He knew he had to watch for the priest without the priest being aware of his being there.
Immediately he entered his room he stripped for a long and welcome bath which he followed with a shower. He ordered room service and when the room-boy delivered the meal, he paid him well. As the room-boy was about to depart; Ueda called him back as though he had suddenly had an after thought.
"Do you have a priest staying here?"
"No sir, I haven't seen one," replied the boy.
"Oh. What about any Europeans?"
"Yes sir, there are several English speakers here at the moment."
"What about any white Europeans?”
"Oh yes sir. There is only one. I know which one you mean. He is mostly with two very large men who look like Filipinos, but they aren’t. There are about 12, maybe 15 in that group, mostly Filipino. They come and go, sometimes together, sometimes in small groups. The European often uses room service."
Ueda paid him more money and watched the eyes of the room-boy widen in appreciation. The room-boy willingly answered all of Ueda's follow up questions and volunteered more information than Ueda had thought about, but it was useful nevertheless.
After the room-boy left, Ueda ate his meal while he thought about the priest. There was more to the man than he had considered. If his new information was correct, the behaviour did not seem to be that of a priest. If he was not a priest, then what was he doing becoming involved in this sham kidnapping which had now possibly become a real kidnap? Who was this priest who was not a priest?
He tucked his newly acquired illegally obtained pistol into his newly acquired oversized waist bag and went downstairs to the reception area. He found a single seater lounge chair and moved it slightly to a position where he could see all those coming and going. Then, to the amazed stare of one of the receptionists, he moved one of the pot plant containers to make his presence in the chair difficult to be seen, though he could still see through the foliage. He noticed the hotel clock above the reception desk showed 4:48 P.M.
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Linamon - Day 10
The sun had set and T.A. was left alone in the darkness of the room. The ringing in his ears had gone and he could hear the voices through the thin door, and was sure that one of them was Siti. It seemed that the food and water he had been given had eventually stopped his headache.
As if in answer to his thoughts about Siti, the door opened. Two figures wearing scarves and malongs entered. One carried two candles, the other a glass and a bowl. Behind them, two men entered, both with handkerchiefs tied around the lower half of their faces. T.A. could not guess who the women were, the light was insufficient. He hoped one of them was Siti.
The women stood back as the men un-padlocked several of the chains which had cramped him, and removed the planks which had kept him totally immobile. With surprising care they helped him sit up. Within minutes he knew he had been given extra mobility, though they had limited it to the length of a short chain around his left leg. This at least meant he could reach the bucket for his ablutions. His hands were now chained in front of him.
The men left the room, leaving the door open. The taller of the two women advanced and thrust a glass of water at him. T.A. took the water between his palms and gulped it too quickly. He started coughing and brought up much of the water he had swallowed.
In the dull light of the back-lit face covered figure, he tried to see who
it was that had given him the drink. It was not Siti. The same women then offered the bowl. He took that in both hands. A flat wooden stick was stuck into the mess, presumably to serve as the spoon. From its aroma he guessed it was fish and rice again.
The shortness of the bindings between his wrists made the attempts at holding the bowl and using the spoon impossible. The veiled woman realised his predicament and took the bowl from his hand. Then with the care of a mother feeding a baby began to spoon feed him.
T.A. kept glancing at the other veiled woman in the room. The candles that she held were directly in front of her face. Only the eyes were visible behind the veil she wore and they gave no sign of recognition. T.A. had wanted it to be Siti.
As soon as the bowl was empty, the woman feeding him closed the window shutters and both women left. Once again he was in darkness. There was no way he could estimate the time. There was no way he could estimate how long before Siti could visit him.
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