‘Let me explain,’ Jason said, sipping his coffee. ‘I have been tasked to go to the border and bring down a Chinese man of huge political importance and that is why my squad is one of SEPs. We are going to walk up to the border to meet him and bring him back …’
‘Yes, your boats will be here on the evening of the 26th to meet you at the boat point on the 27th.’
Jason nodded agreement at the dates. ‘Not having operated in the part of the country yet, although I had an aerial recce yesterday, my first two questions are how much river traffic is there and what is the CT situation? By that I mean how much is that activity out of the ordinary and/or how much would it alert the CT?’
‘Since the Baling peace talks life has been much quieter. In this area there has been a Special Branch operation, “Bamboo”, for some time, winning over the orang asli, or trying to win them over from the CTs. It is possible that any CTs who heard yesterday’s and today’s air activity would be suspicious.’
Jason thought about that. ‘You will have noticed I have no radio. That is on purpose. Also we are not carrying anything heavier than pistols. The last thing I want is a firefight. What I am asking is, is it at all possible for a squad of yours to move with us to the boat point, walk up and down in the vicinity, leaving tracks that show them to have gone back down river? The boats can wait half an hour at the disembarking point for the crew to stretch their legs. Also, a patrol moving around this area locally might make the CTs think the heli reinforcements were for here and not upriver.’
The Inspector looked at his Deputy and asked, ‘What do you think of that? I think we can manage that, can’t we?’
‘Yes,’ the Sikh answered. ‘The stand-by section is always rationed and ready to move. Let’s send them.’
Jason thanked them saying it was a great bonus and it made him feel much safer than before.
Orders were given and the two boats, one with Jason and his four and the other with the police, moved off at a quarter past ten.
To start with, the journey was of interest with flocks of hornbills, and monitor lizards on the sandy banks, otherwise it was much of the same: thick jungle either side with, initially, an occasional Malay village. The river narrowed and was slowed by his boat breaking its shear pins on underwater snags several times. As the hours passed it grew uncomfortably hot with no awning, and cramped. The river wound around the contours, with a strong current in the main channel. There was one place where the river fell a couple of feet – this is what I saw from the plane – and Jason asked if they could get out and walk the short distance to where the river was calmer. ‘It will make the boat lighter and let us stretch our legs.’
It was early evening by the time they reached the point where the boats could go no farther. Out they got, glad the uncomfortable journey was at an end. The boat drivers were adamant that it was too late to start going back. They and the police squad were prepared to spend the night where they were. Jason said to Goh Ah Wah that there was time to go on farther. ‘We can’t change into guerrilla clothes with these people watching, can we?’
‘Sinsaang, no. That is wise. In any case those people make too much noise for us.’
‘Goh, let them. Any guerrilla will concentrate on them and not on us.’
Two of them recced forward a couple of hundred yards, saw nothing and came back by which time Jason had found a small cave. At the back of the cave they hid the sack with their Security Force clothing in, wedging it into a corner. ‘We won’t cover it with leaves as they will be out of place,’ said Goh Ah Wah. Half an hour later there was just enough light to make a rude camp, collect wood to make a fire, take out their hard tack, eat it and before they went to sleep Jason got them to listen to his plan, which he had yet to tell them. ‘You know we are going as far as the border. That was why we had that recce yesterday. We need to move quickly and act as though we were not Security Forces but as real guerrillas. That means all four of you will walk in front and I come along at the back. If you meet any guerrilla your cover story is that you are escorting a European from the government who is a turncoat going to join the MCP in Betong. I will hide till then and, when you call me as proof, I will join you with a camouflage veil over my face. There should be no difficulty as we will be on the same side and not hostile to one another. Incidentally, the chief guerrilla’s name is Ah Soo Chye and his lieutenants are Lo See and Tek Miu.’
The four Chinese were greatly amused at Jason’s plan and laughed softly. It appealed to their sense of humour. ‘Sinsaang, that is fine for the way to the border. What happens if we meet these people on the way down with the Emissary?’
‘Oh, I have a different story. I am a Russian pretending to be an Englishman. I travelled from Moscow to Peking and my job is to try and join the government and spy for China. The Emissary, the man we are escorting back, is my Chinese guarantee that I have been accepted as genuine. When we get to Malaya I will find him a job to work with me.’
That unheard of ruse was meat and drink to the four men: they already had a high opinion of the Buddha-hearted Leopard and now it was higher still. Jason felt what he thought of as ‘friendly vibrations’ emanating from his four and felt more confident that he had yet to feel. They stoked the fire then settled down and went to sleep. Next morning, dressed as guerrillas with Jason’s camouflage veil round his neck for instantly covering his face, they set off for the border.
The track that ran along the river was easy to follow and they made good time. They found signs of men moving both ways and only once met anyone, a group of orang asli with their blowpipes. No words were exchanged, neither party taking any notice of the other. Jason felt it was almost too easy but none of them ever let up their guard. Game abounded in the area: bear, elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, deer and pig, recognised by their spoor. They also found a large patch of trampled and bloody undergrowth and a pig and a python that had fought to the death. They heard high-pitched animal noises and had the rewarding sight of three otters fishing in a stream as they were making their way for the pass to the west of Gunong Gadong on the border.
They reached the pass over Gunong Gadong on the 24th. By then they were alert as wild animals and, although none mentioned it, tired, dirty and hungry. They looked around and found the stone border marker with a scratched hammer and sickle in the stem. Against everything that had been said about not crossing over the border, Goh Ah Wah and Kwek Leng Ming went about five hundred yards over on a patrol, looking for signs of the others.
The Bear was worried lest he was late reaching the pass. Meng Ru was so whacked that at one point up a particularly steep slope his pack had to be carried and he pulled up. At midday on the 25th the Bear was delighted to hear a cuckoo noise in the distance, thrice drawn out, pause, twice quickly, pause, thrice drawn out.
‘We’ve arrived,’ he told the Emissary and made a noise like a gibbon, thrice drawn out, pause, twice quickly, pause, thrice drawn out. Jason’s men looked at each other smiling broadly. ‘As planned,’ muttered Jason before putting his hands to his face and repeating his signal. The gibbon answered, much nearer and Jason’s men heard people coming. Jason called out ‘bird, monkey and now men, all welcome.’
The Bear’s group came into sight and automatically everyone, except a dazed-looking elderly man, waved at each other. Jason and the Bear hugged each other, and Jason shook hands with the rest of the group in that he knew them all before the Bear introduced him to Mang Ru, who had flopped down on the ground, panting heavily. Jason saw he was wearing ordinary civilian dress and a floppy hat. ‘Greetings and welcome. You have covered the uphill part of your journey. It is all downhill from now on. We will look after you as you are now ours. Your new companions are …’ and he pointed out his four men, naming them as he did. They started talking to him to make him feel at ease.
The Bear looked at Jason, nodded and moved off. Jason followed him. When out of earshot the Bear said ‘you will have a job to get him to move as quickly as you want.’
Jason nodded. ‘Yes, I can see he’s in a poor state.’
‘I have told him that I am only responsible for him until I hand him over to you. Of course he knows you will supervise him until you reach Kuala Lumpur but has no idea of details as neither P’ing Yee nor I know them, nor has he asked me about them. He seems a placid man who doesn’t fret unduly. He’ll do whatever you decide.’ The Bear looked at his watch. ‘Shandong P’aau, it is time I started on my way back. I am glad we have met. Before I go, take these two tins of Thai sardines and a jar of Ovaltine for a present for any guerrilla you might meet. He’ll know you really are from Thailand, won’t he?’
‘That’s tradecraft in a really big way! If we meet any they’ll love the Ovaltine. Thank you. And a present for your son’ Jason put his two hands in front of his face and made them talk to each other. ‘Don’t forget to tell Wang Liang I remember him,’ said one hand. ‘No, I won’t,’ said the other. He had done this in front of the Bear’s son, Wang Liang, to his unforgettable delight only a month or so back. The Bear broke out laughing. ‘I’ll tell him but I won’t be able to demonstrate.’
Jason’s four men had seen that little play. They knew he was a ventriloquist and were enraptured. Mang Ru had seen it and smiled gleefully as it was something new and unexpected.
Farewells said, the Bear’s group moved off and got back to Betong where they reported that the Emissary was now safely on his way home. It was not a lie: only which ‘home’, old or new, was not specified.
‘Sinsaang Meng Ru, I am the man my boyhood friend Ah Fat told you about. These four men are also my friends. They are all jungle trained as indeed am I. Our task is to take you safely to Kuala Lumpur.’ Meng Ru was impressed. ‘I see you have hope in your face: you may also have it in your heart. My plan for the next two days, three if you find our pace too quick, is to move on quietly along the line we came up. Until now we have not met any Malayan guerrillas. Whether we will or not is an unknown. If we do, we will claim also to be guerrillas. That is why we are wearing these clothes.’
Meng Ru nodded then said, in objection to Jason’s plan, ‘but how can you pass as a Chinese guerrilla? Nobody would ever think you were Chinese.’ He looked perplexed. ‘Surely that will prevent our getting to where we have to reach?’
Jason’s answer was a five-character Chinese phrase, ‘feigning to be a pig, he vanquishes tigers’. ‘No, I do not pretend to be a Chinese person. I will pretend I am a Russian who speaks English like an Englishman. I have been to Peking and you have come down from there with me to help me surreptitiously join the Malayan government, both working to overturn the present system.’
The Emissary loved it. ‘But suppose we meet some government troops. That will be dangerous, won’t it?’ and gloom spread over his features.
‘There are none. I have arranged for the area to be left to us. Anyone we meet will either be to t’o yan or guerrillas. Ready to move?’ Yes, they were. ‘On our way’ and slowly downhill they went.
That first day they moved slowly, confident they had no worries about where to go having only come up the track recently. At the first night stop Jason talked to them all. ‘We may meet some guerrillas. What we will do tomorrow is practise what you leading four will say if a guerrilla walks around the corner, sees us, takes us for one of his crowd and calls out.’
Yes, that was sensible. ‘What I’ll do is clap my hands loudly and that will be the sign for a guerrilla spotting us and asking who we are. You all know our cover plan but until you have done it a couple of times the answer may sound unnatural. Think up a suitable reply and call it out when you hear me clap.’
It had been on the hesitant side the first time but by the fourth time a suitable answer came naturally. ‘Something like “We are on our way south. Is the track safe for us? Come and tell us about it.” Only when you think it time to call me and the Emissary will we appear, you having told them that the other two are waiting to be called for.’
24 February
That heli we think flew to Fort Tapong a couple of days or so back. Just the one. It has only just struck me. That hasn’t happened before, has it?’ Ah Soo Chye was talking to his two lieutenants.
No, the others could not remember it having happened but it could have done without their hearing it. Certainly they had heard helicopters flying over Kerinching’s ladang area but not so far west. ‘It could be a survey group, it could be soldiers but not many so there is no real threat to us. In any case we’ll move as we normally do, a t’o yan screen in front and their dogs in front of them. That way is how we are still alive after so many years working against superior forces, both in numbers and weapons. Let’s go and check. We’ll start at the place we know the police boats stop. It will take a couple of days to get there, what with collecting the t’o yan who have no idea of time. Even with four fingers they only know how to count up to three.’
The others thought it a good idea.
