The Breath of Night (39 page)

‘So they sell you the bullets that you’ll be firing at them?’

‘They are making the judgement that we will not be firing at them. Or, if we do, that they have more bullets than we do.’

‘It’s insanity.’

‘Of course. This is capitalism. This is what we are fighting against.’

For all his aversion to their methods, Philip felt considerable sympathy for the group’s green agenda and would have felt even more had it not led directly to his present plight. The NPA was spearheading the resistance to the Laiban Dam, a massive
engineering
project, which entailed diverting two rivers, destroying eight villages and displacing thousands of tribespeople, in order to build a reservoir to relieve the water shortage in Manila. The project had met with widespread opposition, and the
government
sent in the army both to intimidate the protesters and to protect the site. Alongside it came a host of US advisers to safeguard the international investment. Noah, a local activist, had taken Philip for just such a man. Under the guise of
consulting
his superiors, he had alerted Felix who, suspecting that Philip’s arrival marked the start of a covert offensive, had both arranged for his abduction and instructed the platoon to move their command centre back up to the mountains.

Philip, convinced that even the most inept American adviser would have devised a more successful cover story, had the dubious consolation of knowing that he was the victim of
mistaken
identity. Whereas her comrades were full of chagrin at the confusion, Nina clearly regarded it as his own fault. ‘You are lucky to be still living,’ she said. ‘In my mind we should have
executed
you on the spot. Now we must bring you here and go with all the cost of feeding you.’ The Philip who was acting in the film version of his kidnap – the one that Hollywood would be hiring him both to write and star in on his release – retorted boldly that
he would be happy to indemnify them for any expense, although he doubted that the squid flakes, dried sea cucumbers and rice they had served him for the past three days would amount to more than a few pesos; but the Philip who was in her custody, disorientated, panic-stricken and struggling to gain the
confidence
of his captors without revealing his hand, said only that he trusted the problem would be quickly resolved.

That prospect came sooner than expected when, later that afternoon, two weeks after his capture and eight days since his arrival in the camp, Felix walked into the glade where Philip was busy writing and told him, with a regret that sounded genuine, he would once again have to be blindfolded and bound.

‘Please, no!’ Philip said, eyeing the vegetation for somewhere to hide. ‘I promise that I’ll speak up for you. I’ll issue a statement saying that I joined the NPA of my own accord.’

‘Why is this?’

‘I can help with liaison and translation work. Don’t kill me, please!’

‘No one wishes to kill you,’ Felix said, looking both hurt and bewildered. ‘But we are having this meeting to talk over your fate – no, this is the wrong word, I mean your future. This is not just a matter for us to decide on our own. We have
representative
members of the four other platoons in our company who are coming here for this talk. It is safer – safer for you – if you see no more than you need.’

The meeting took place in the central clearing. Philip, who was permitted to observe (a concession that struck him as hollow, given that he was wearing a hood and they were talking Tagalog), sat at the back, trying to gauge the mood from the timbre of the voices. After a lengthy discussion – around two hours, to judge by the chill in the air and the tingling in his legs – the meeting seemed to break up. Shortly afterwards Irene approached, removed his hood and ropes, and offered him a scoop of water. When he had finished, she squatted beside him and described the proceedings.

‘There are many different views. There are always many
different
views, so you must not worry. Some say that it is our mistake that we have captured you, and so we must take you back to the lowlands and set you free.’

‘That sounds fair.’

‘But it is not possible. We do not have the people or the time. On top of that, it would not be safe. Since you have been
disappearing
the army has been sent to look for you.’

‘Really?’ Philip asked, trying not to betray his excitement.

‘Many of our comrades have had to escape into the
mountains
. Your capture gives the government the reason it is needing to massacre us all, while the world will look on and clap.’

‘So what about the other views?’ Philip asked in growing alarm.

‘Some say that we should take you into the forest and let you find your way down by yourself.’

‘But how?’ Philip asked, now more afraid of liberty than of confinement. ‘It took us six days to climb up here! We had to wade across a river! And take paths that seemed to open and close around us like something in a horror film. And how would I survive the nights? You might as well shoot me now and be done with it!’

‘It is true that there were some who thought that this would be the best solution.’

‘You mean they want to kill me?’

‘They are in a minority.’

‘How big a minority?’

‘We are a democratic organisation. Whether it is a one or it is many, it is the majority that decides.’

‘And what has it decided this time?’

‘That we are to keep you here and to demand a ransom.’

‘A ransom? How much?’

‘Five million.’

‘That much?’

‘Pesos.’

‘Of course.’ Philip adjusted the price tag with a mixture of disappointment and relief.

‘It has not been your intention, but you have brought us many difficulties. You have made us use up our small resources; we have given the enemy a clear view of where we are. It is only right that someone must pay.’

‘But who? My parents don’t have much money. And the British government has a strict policy of never dealing with foreign terror – freedom fighters.’

‘The demand is being made to the people who sent you here. You have shown their names in a letter in Bongabon.’

‘Yes, of course,’ Philip said, berating himself for having left it with Noah.

‘According to one of our comrades, they are rich. Much of their money comes from gold stolen from the Filipino people.’

‘Which comrade was that? It must be Julian! I didn’t know he was here!’

‘I cannot discuss this with you.’

‘But I know that he’s one of you; I saw him with Felix and Jayson when they captured me. Unless your legends of
woodland
spirits are true.’ Irene laughed. ‘No, I thought not. So why won’t he meet me? I’ve followed him halfway across the world. The least he can do is speak to me.’

‘He is a busy man. He is on the political section of the General Staff. He has responsibility for strategic planning, as well as
revolutionary
education and training.’

‘Revolutionary training? Julian? Father Julian?’

‘He is Ka Julian now,’ Irene said severely.

‘You’d think he’d want to see me, if only out of curiosity. We have a family connection. I was engaged to his niece.’

‘His niece?’

‘I mean his great-niece. I’m so muddled. And miserable and frightened. I try to bluff it out, but to tell you the truth I’m
terrified
. We’re sitting here chatting like two friends. Not that we aren’t friends. But you’re the one holding the gun.’

‘Do not give it another thought. It is just a precaution.’

‘Which means that one day it may be used. Even that threat would be bearable if only Julian would acknowledge that I exist.’

‘I understand. I promise nothing, but I will speak to him. He is now in a camp in Bicol province.’

‘So he didn’t come here this afternoon?’

‘It is a great distance away, but I will send a message to him. Until then you must be brave and not be unhappy. I am sure that when the people have received our demands they will waste no time in paying them. Soon you will again be free.’

Irene’s confidence proved to be misplaced. Ever since they had untied his hands, Philip had notched the days of his
captivity
on the mossy trunk of a giant laurel, at first as a
straightforward
record, but latterly as if it held the key to his survival. As the weeks went by with relentless monotony, he devised complex strategies to ensure that he was calculating correctly, equally afraid of missing a day as of including it twice. Boredom appeared to be as much a part of his captors’ lives as his own. Confined to the camp by the pebble-like rain, with nothing but a shortwave radio and some mildewed, broken-backed volumes of political theory to divert them, they passed the time smoking, drinking and playing cards, as mindlessly as the masses they were seeking to liberate. Philip, at least, was able to work on his novel, sitting for hours on end in the doorway of his hut, filling reams of NPA graph paper. While the rest of the platoon viewed his writing with genial indifference, Nina was as hostile as she was to any manifestation of an inner life.

‘This is paper for military purposes. Rommel has no right to be giving it to you. When this book is finished it will belong to the NPA.’

‘No way!’ Philip said, his authorial assurance emboldening him. ‘Although, if you are lucky, I may give you a share of my royalties.’

‘You English are sick. You care for nothing but money. You even call it after your kings and queens.’

Unlike his fellow writers, whom he envisaged taking regular breaks to make coffee, read the papers and ring friends, Philip found his only diversion was to visit the goats. Watching them tethered in their pen, he felt a rush of sympathy, which he knew to be little more than self-pity. That was confirmed by his
readiness
to eat the goat-and-torron-root stew, which was served up to celebrate Dante’s and Allen’s successful mission to ‘disable’ an illegal wood-processing plant in Rizal. The platoon was in higher spirits than at any time since his arrival, bolstered by a copious intake of
tuba,
a bitter but intoxicating drink brewed from coconut sap. Philip knew better than to shatter the mood with an awkward – possibly dangerous – question; nevertheless he longed to know whether anyone had been hurt in the blast, concerned as much for the manager and security guards as for the workers: men with no knowledge of the history and
function
of the forest but who, when faced with the need to feed their families, would readily have turned the most venerable tree into plywood.

His scruples, numbed by the
tuba
, were destroyed when Rommel handed him the strongest spliff he had ever smoked. He felt a surge of love for his captors, whom he was sure that he now saw in their true light: not the ruthless killers of
government
propaganda but selfless eco-warriors. Their overriding concern was to preserve the bounty of nature which, with rare generosity, they were willing to share with him.

He awoke in the early hours, to find himself lying alone by the ashes of the fire, caught in the primordial gaze of a gecko. Staggering to his feet, he dragged himself to his hut which, while neither warm nor cosy, at least offered a measure of
protection
against the dark. The next morning he detected a greater reserve in the platoon’s treatment of him. He wondered whether he had offended them while he was stoned by singing the ‘
Star-Spangled
Banner’ or uttering some other blasphemy. Finally, he plucked up courage to ask Irene, trusting that she, if anyone, would forgive him. After assuring him of his innocence, she
explained that they had just heard news that Hugh Olliphant had rejected their ransom demands.

‘Surely he’s still willing to negotiate?’ Philip asked.

‘But he is not willing to pay any cash. He says that for this to happen, he will be putting at risk all the managers in his mines in the Cordilleras.’

‘Can’t you find a formula that allows him to deny it publicly but pay it just the same? Or is that against your principles?’

‘We have only one principle: to make the revolution.’

Philip wondered how much Max had told Hugh about the tenor of his investigations. Even in his current paranoia –
compounded
by the effects of last night’s dope – he refused to believe that either man had had a hand in his kidnap. Nevertheless, it was clear that having filed his report he was expendable. ‘What happens if Hugh sticks to his guns… I mean digs in his heels?’ he said swiftly.

‘I am sure he will be seeing sense soon.’

‘But what if he won’t? Do you have a plan B? It’s all very well for Allen and Dante; they’ve been away for two weeks. But I can feel the rest of you growing edgy.’

‘You must not worry about us. We are soldiers. We are used to this waiting. And I am sure that in England there will be many people who will pay for having you back.’

‘Of course! They’ll be queuing round the block at the
Philippine
Embassy!’ Philip said, feeling a failure even as a hostage.

‘Why must you have come here?’ Irene asked sadly.

‘I’ve told you before; I was sent to assist, to monitor, to galvanise (I no longer know myself) the official investigation into Julian’s sainthood.’

‘No, I am not speaking of why you have come to the
Philippines
, but why you have come to the Sierra Madre. Why must you have put your trust in Alvin Japos?’

‘I’d had my own clash with the Church and I was looking for any evidence, however slight, that Julian might have had one too. I realise now that I wasn’t thinking straight.’

‘You can never believe any words that this man is saying.’

‘Who, Japos?’

‘Yes. You must remember that he is a criminal. We have used him only in actions in which criminals must be used.’

‘Such as?’ he asked, but she did not choose to elaborate. ‘So why should he concoct such an elaborate story?’

‘He is a small man. Such men wish to make themselves bigger. And who knows? There may have been a plot like this, but it has not worked out.’