‘Yes, that is what I have heard the hotheads on the estate say and I am sure you are clever enough to know what will sound genuine. I’ll try to keep out of sight.’
‘You two also try and keep out of sight although I’d like you near me in case instant firing is needed,’ Jason told Sergeant Hastabahadur and Kulbahadur. ‘I can’t give orders as this is something new to us. If we react to the unexpected in true Gurkha fashion, the gods will be on our side.’
At dusk they decided to doze, with one man awake one hour at a time till half past one.
There was enough moonlight to approach the house quietly but, on nearing it, two dogs started barking furiously and came running towards them. Jason had the bones ready and threw them away from the dogs which immediately smelled them, searched for them, found them and started gnawing them, one each. An agitated voice came from inside the house. ‘Who’s that outside? I am armed. I’ll shoot if you come nearer.’
It was Jason’s turn. ‘I am a messenger from Comrade Lee Soong and have lost my way. I have a message for you. Keep your dogs off and I’ll come up to the window. You can let me in to spend the rest of the night with you.’
‘How do I know you are telling the truth?’
‘Bou mat’ Keep secret. ‘Dei haa dau zang.’ Remember the underground struggle. ‘My knowing that’s proof enough, isn’t it,’ Jason answered harshly and arrogantly as only a ranked Communist would.
‘Who are you?’ the Collector again queried. ‘May I know a name?’
‘Keep quiet. Zyut shuei bou mat.’ Absolutely Necessary to Keep Secret. ‘I have a message for you from Comrade Lee Soong. It has to be obeyed. He has many methods of punishing people he doesn’t like. He told me he thinks you three are nothing but dog shitters, idle boasters so you had better be good. I have his message with me. Come and get it.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘Would I waste my time on an idiot like you if I wasn’t?’
The Collector tried not to show his burgeoning rage mixed with complete bewilderment.
‘What is your name? You are not that arrogant Ah Wong from the Hai San are you? If you are you are as good as dead.’
Jason’s Chinese gutter repartee came to his rescue after which he said, ‘so do I sound like him? Would the comrade be so utterly stupid to do anything like that? You really are a dog-shitter.’
‘No. Come into the house and we’ll talk.’
‘I’ll give you the message when you come and get it.’
They heard the door open. A torch was flashed at Jason’s group. The Collector saw Kamal Rai. I’ll recognise him if I see him again.
‘Turn that off or I’ll shoot you,’ Jason snarled. Off it went. Jason stuck the piece of paper on a twig and shoved it forward. ‘Read it. Not Friday, Saturday is what we’ve been told.’ Silence. ‘Did you hear that?’
Jason flashed his torch at the voice just long enough to see a green dragon tattooed on one shoulder.
The four men almost slid away.
‘Why don’t you answer? Where are you?’ came the querulous voice.
Lying low they saw the Collector come out of the house and move to where Jason had spoken from and take the note before going back inside the house.
The four men moved off. For the three Gurkhas there was nothing but amazement at the British officer’s language skill.
Next morning the Collector took the message to the Killer to tell him what had happened. The Killer read it and said ‘This is insulting. How can one so much younger than we are write like that? We must ask him, carefully mind you, as he can be savage and has more men than us few. Did the messenger have anything else to say?’
The Collector felt it better not to say anything.
A thought occurred to the Killer. ‘Did you recognise the voice? It was not our enemy in the Police Station, surely?’
‘No, I know his voice and he would not dare to come in the middle of the night. I don’t think he knows where I live. No, it was someone else.’
‘How could Comrade Lee Soong’s messenger have known where you house is unless he was a local man? We’ll check with him when he comes.’
Back in base Rance had another ‘O’ Group. ‘First, the two Sumatrans and our visit to the arms dump. We must be back here, job done by Thursday as we must be ready to ambush some visiting guerrillas on Saturday.’ He went into details about the arms’ dump’ and, at the end, asked Kamal if he had anything to add.
‘It is beyond where we went to talk to the Collector. It is a difficult journey: a winding track, small streams to cross, shacks, where dogs bark, and in the dark. People don’t move around at night in this area so if we are heard a warning will be somehow be given. Your men must move most quietly. I’ll see if I recognise the guides. I’ll stick near you unless you tell me otherwise.’ I like this man: so much easier than my boss.
Rance said, ‘I do have two other important points. First, if any of your section has anything wrong with his feet or a cough, do not take him. Second, how many of you have torches? The Troop Sergeant needs one as does each Section Commander.’
It transpired that two torches were needed and new batteries for the others. Rance called his batman, Gunner, no longer Rifleman, Kulbahadur Limbu who, he knew, was not far away. He told him to go down to the village, armed and with one other, and buy two torches and four batteries. ‘Here is an old battery to show the shop keeper what kind you want and enough money to buy them. Off you go.’
Something unusual is happening, thought the shop keeper. They’ll have to know about that as well.
Kulbahadur gave the new torches, the batteries and the loose change to Rance. ‘Those Cheenas, Saheb, they’re cold-blooded people. Wary, grudging, suspicious, unsmiling and silent.’ The men listening in nodded in agreement.
On Wednesday evening, fed, watered, expectant and alert, it was time to fall in. Magazines loaded but no rounds up the spout. ‘Embuss!’ and they drove off in two vehicles, Kamal in the back of the leading one surrounded by soldiers. Their drive through Sepang was duly noted by ‘eyes’.
Some time later Rance said to the driver ‘We should be fairly near the RV by now.’ Luckily the roads in Malaya were well provided with legible mile stones. ‘Keep your eyes skinned for mile stone 14. Sing out if you see it and I’ll do the same.’
They had driven slowly, the better for the rear vehicle to keep the front one’s lights in sight.
‘Saheb, there it is,’ exclaimed the driver shortly afterwards.
‘A few hundred yards beyond there should be a turning to the right.’ And there was. At the same time a light flashed by the side of the road and Ah Wong stepped out and waved them down. Behind him were two men, dressed in black, only their outline visible.
‘Halt!’
Rance jumped down from the vehicle, went round to the back and himself lowered the tailboard so it did not bang. In a low voice he said ‘Here we are. Out as quietly as you can,’ and went to the back of the second vehicle as it came to a standstill, opened its tailboard and gave the same orders.
Ah Wong came up to him. ‘Spot on. We’re in plenty of time. No one knows we are here.’ But he was wrong: ‘eyes’ had watched and were watching, everything and everyone.
Rance told Kulbahadur to fetch the NCOs and the two drivers. ‘Right! Five minutes for a pee and a last fag. No smoking from now on unless given permission. You can sling rifles, no need to carry them in front of you. And no shooting unless shot at or on my order.’ Although there was no curfew there was little chance of their being spotted and even if they were, there was no telling their destination. Nor would any local be crazy enough to try and follow them when they moved off.
‘Drivers?’ Yes, both were there. ‘We won’t be back until, oh, hard to say. Certainly not before 0800 hours. Go back to Sepang and be back here by that time tomorrow, with two containers of hot tea. To stay here the rest of the night is to be eaten alive by mosquitoes.’
Indeed the voracious creatures were whining around everyone’s head. Rain water in untapped parts of a rubber estate ran down the trunk into the little clay pots that normally collected latex and made perfect breeding grounds.
Rance turned back to his NCOs. He had given out their order of march beforehand. ‘Keep closed up. If necessary catch hold of the equipment straps of the man in front. No torches unless I say so except in an emergency. Section Commanders, all your men present?’
Yes, they were.
‘Every time we halt you must ensure that all your men are present. If not I must be told immediately. It is too easy to miss a man if anyone has to make a stop and can’t catch up. Sergeant Ruwaman, at the back you must make sure no one gets left behind. If you want to pass a message to me at the front, do it as quietly as possible.’
Ah Wong introduced the two Sumatran guides, Imbi and Mandeh, to Rance and one of them told him they were happy to take the soldiers to the arms’ dump and gave a brief description of its location.
‘All ready now?’ loud enough to be heard.
