Blood Is a Stranger (30 page)

‘Look, I didn't make a mistake!' Rhonda said.

‘You must have, Ms Mills,' the officer said.

‘The taxi driver checked the numbers too.'

‘So, it probably had false plates. Did it have any other markings?'

‘I can tell you it wasn't a bloody bread van!'

‘There's nothing else we can do, I'm sorry, Ms Mills.'

The thought of being followed, and the conversation with the police left her uneasy.

The sound of feet crunching on gravel woke Cardinal. A second later he was startled by a stern face peering at him through the Mercedes window. It was a security guard at tiny Bogor airport. Cardinal had slept in the car after arriving at four and finding the hangar locked up.

‘What are you doing here?' the guard asked.

Cardinal sat up and pointed to lettering above the hangar entrance. ‘Have business with Ausminex,' he said, opening the car door.

‘Who?' the guard said, switching to English.

‘Mr Webb,' Cardinal said, rounding each syllable. ‘Ausminex.'

The guard frowned and his left hand slid to a gun-holstered belt.

‘Spider Webb,' Cardinal said. ‘I come to see . . .'

‘Ahh, Spider!' the man said. His face broke into a broad grin. ‘He come at six. You half hour early.'

Cardinal's fears were mitigated as the guard unlocked the hangar door and began to slide it across, exposing the company's fleet of planes. Cardinal drove the Mercedes to the Beachcraft as instructed by Perdonny. He tried its cabin door, but it was locked. He hoisted his suitcase from the trunk of the Mercedes and placed it under the plane.

A late model Saab stopped outside the hangar. Webb bounced out, an overnight bag in hand.

‘You're on time,' Webb said with a strong handshake. ‘I like that.' Webb unlocked the cabin door and lifted Cardinal's case in.

‘Weather's good,' he said. ‘We'll be off in fifteen minutes. We're first out this morning.' Webb taxied out on the deserted runway and used binoculars to focus on the
control towers.

‘Buggers aren't even awake yet.'

‘Does that mean we have to wait?'

‘No bloody fear.' Webb adjusted his headphones.

‘Do you want me to hide in the back?'

‘Why?'

‘In case I'm seen.'

‘Don't worry, mate. The guard has already seen you. Won't make any difference.'

Minutes later they were airborne without any official clearance.

‘Next stop Bali,' Webb said, ‘we hope.'

‘What do you mean?'

Webb held up a hand. ‘Something's going on,' he said. Webb looked concerned. ‘Bali's not on.'

‘Why?'

‘Place is crawling with militia. Something's being set-up for somebody. We'll go for Ambon.'

‘Why can't we go straight for Darwin?'

‘Too dangerous. The Indonesian airforce has been buzzing our commercial carriers. Don't trust the bastards an inch.'

When they had levelled off at three thousand metres, Webb removed the headphones.

‘You fought in Korea?' he said.

‘Yes, why?' Cardinal replied.

Webb grinned slyly. ‘Ever remember a Willow Wilson?

‘Sure, I do. Willow Wilson and Ernie Stone. I fought with them.'

‘Willow's my uncle. He's married to my father's sister.'

‘How in the hell did you know that I knew Willow?'

‘After Perdonny pushed me about taking you to Darwin, I began to think about your name. I haven't known too many Americans, but I had heard your name. Then it twigged. My uncle often used to speak about you when I was a kid. I pestered him to tell me about his war adventures. Your name used to come up all the time. Uncle
Willow said you were a bit of a hero.'

‘Willow and Ernie were mates and mentors. I was just a kid of seventeen. They had fought in the second world war. They were real pros.'

‘Those adventures caused me to join the army,' Webb said, ‘because all I ever wanted to do was what you'd done. I really wanted to join the Australian SAS, but you always had to have a regular army background to get in.'

‘Ever seen action?'

‘Plenty in Vietnam,' Webb said, ‘and elsewhere.'

‘You know your uncle was a deserter,' Cardinal said.

‘Bullshit!'

‘I'm not kidding. We heard that the Australians had landed a battalion in Korea and the next thing we learned was that every one of them had deserted. It's the truth,' Cardinal said with a laugh, ‘but let me tell you, everyone of them had deserted to join us at the front line.' Webb's eyes sparkled as Cardinal added, ‘They were the best brawlers I ever knew. Boy! They never stopped it. If they weren't smashing the enemy, they would be beating up among themselves. They were crazy!'

‘Are you going to look Willow up?'

‘If I have time,' Cardinal said.

They flew on over some low cloud, and Cardinal felt a surge of freedom.

‘I hear you got Chan.'

‘Did Robert tell you that?'

‘Yeah,' Webb said. ‘That was a pretty gutsy effort, mate.'

‘Is Chan dead?'

‘Nobody seems to know. But Perdonny reckons somebody is. They buried someone in the embassy grounds late yesterday. Did you do it alone?'

‘I don't want to talk about it.'

‘Did Perdonny help you?'

‘Did you hear me?' Cardinal snapped.

‘Okay, pal,' Webb said. ‘Keep your shirt on.'

The cloud began to get darker and soon they were being bounced around. With little warning they found them' selves in a vicious electrical storm. It thoroughly tested Webb's considerable flying skills. Cardinal hung on grimly as the pilot fought the controls. The strain showed as perspiration formed rivulets from Webb's forehead to his chin.

‘Yell if you see rock!' he shouted above the thunder. ‘We're bloody close to mountains!'

Cardinal strained to see through the rain obscured windows and cloud.

‘That was the worst I have ever been in!' Webb said. The plane slipped into calmer skies.

‘Glad you didn't tell me before,' Cardinal said.

Webb laughed.

They flew on untroubled for an hour.

‘Ambon,' Webb said, pointing to an island ahead. He began nosing the plane down from a terrace of flimsy cloud. The Beachcraft made a tight turn to avoid a mountain that guarded the airport, and then made a smooth landing. Webb taxied from one side of the field to the other in search of a landing space.

‘Lot of military people in this morning,' he said, ‘but we should be okay.'

The German Shepherd stood crouched in front of Perdonny's villa, its lip curled, as a Subaru sedan pulled up. The driver sounded the horn, and moments later a guard and servant were at the front entrance.

‘Put that dog away,' a smartly dressed Javanese in the back seat said angrily, ‘or we'll have it shot!'

The guard spoke to the dog, which trotted to the side of the villa with some reluctance. It twice stopped to look at the men getting out of the car and had to be cajoled by the guard into continuing on to the pool area.

‘Is Robert Perdonny at home?' one of the four men said.

The guard ordered the servant to fetch Perdonny, who appeared in a white towelling robe. The visitor stepped forward. He seemed on edge as he bowed and handed over a letter.

‘You are under house arrest, sir,' the man said.

‘On whose authority?' Perdonny asked. He tore open the letter.

‘The president.'

‘There are no reasons in this,' Perdonny said. ‘On what grounds am I to be held?'

‘The president has not specified any, sir,' the visitor said, deferentially.

‘What are the conditions for this detention?' Perdonny said.

‘You and your wife must remain inside this property until further notice.'

‘My wife is on Ambon,' Perdonny said.

The man said something to one of the others out of earshot of Perdonny.

‘She may stay there.'

‘Are you a Bakin officer?'

‘Yes, sir.'

‘I would rather be held there,' Perdonny said.

‘We must ask you to remain in your home,' the Bakin officer said.

‘My official home for all purposes is on Ambon,' Perdonny said coolly. ‘I suggest you speak to your superiors and remind them of this.'

The four men glanced at each other.

‘I'm sure the president won't mind,' Perdonny added with the hint of a smile. ‘I am more out of the way there.'

A search light swept the Ambon airport perimeter. Cardinal had been cooped up in the plane for twelve hours when Webb returned at nine.

‘Sorry, mate,' Webb said, ‘the place was crawling with
cops and soldiers. Couldn't risk comin' back till now.'

He handed Cardinal a tomato sandwich and a beer.

‘Had to check in with the customs and immigration people,' Webb said. ‘They're pretty bloody thorough. This is one of the islands for illegal immigration and drug smuggling to Australia.'

Cardinal munched in silence.

‘Don't worry, we're in good shape,' Webb said, pointing to seismic equipment at the back of the plane. ‘Just got to deliver that gear in the morning and we're off. There are no plans to hold up flights.'

‘When exactly can we take off?' Cardinal stretched and did some knee-bends.

‘With luck by mid-morning. I've notified local authorities that I'll be staying with the plane overnight.'

‘Why are you doing that?'

‘The bloody army around here is starved of its own planes. They like to commandeer commercial planes to hike soldiers around the islands.'

‘Will I stay here too?'

‘No. You'll have to get out. Soldiers will be checking every plane before midnight. Jakarta has alerted the locals. They're on the look-out for terrorists.'

‘Does that mean me?'

‘I don't know. But we can't take chances. I've got accommodation for you.' Webb pointed beyond airport buildings. ‘You'll see a car dip its headlights in a couple of minutes. Wait until the searchlight has passed over the plane, then go for it. The driver's one of Perdonny's people. He'll take you to town.'

Cardinal picked up his suitcase.

‘I'll phone you when we get the all-clear in the morning,' he said. ‘The driver will bring you back here.'

Webb gave him the thumbs up sign. ‘Sleep well and relax. We'll make it to Darwin, no worries.' He walked across the tarmac and was bathed in the searchlight.

Cardinal kept his eye on the road leading to the terminal. He saw the signal and gripped the suitcase. The moment the light slid over the plane he jumped out. Cardinal waited a few seconds and then began jogging to hangars. He could see the silhouettes of soldiers in the terminal lounge about forty metres from him. He reached the car and slipped into the back seat.

‘You Aussie?' the driver said, near the end of the one-hour journey around the coast road.

‘No, American, why?'