‘For once,’ said with a grin.
‘As I was saying, I’ll come clean with you. I have, as indeed we both have certain contacts, how shall I put it? “up our sleeve” as the conjurer says. You have Ah Chong and I want to use him. How is he?’
‘Cured of his wounds, I am glad to say. I had him taken for a walk after you rang and his minder said that Ah Chong had said that the kind gwai lo had bandaged him up so quickly, there were now no ill effects.’
‘Good. I want him to go to Ha La, in south Thailand.’ Moby lifted an eyebrow in surprise. ‘It was from Ha La you will remember that he got those copies of the new newspaper Red Tidings, whose editor is our common friend Ah Fat.’
‘So I am guessing you want to use As Chong as your contact man. Correct?’
‘Correct. If I was your school master I’d allow you to give out the new pencils with the green rubber at the end,’ and both laughed. ‘Please send for him.’
Ah Chong came in. Moby introduced C C Too under a pseudonym and said that ‘Mr Chen’ had a question for him. ‘Nothing at all to worry about.’
‘Ah Chong. Soon you will be a civilian. If you do not have a family, you will want to get married, buy a house and start a trade to earn some money. Am I right?’
Sinsaang Chen was right.
‘And have you worked out how much that will all come to?’
No he had not.
‘Then, with this piece of paper and this pencil, work it out and tell me.’
Ah Chong, scowling with concentration, set to work. ‘Fifty thousand ringgit to start with. If any is left over, I’ll bank it.’
‘And how do you propose to get it. How long do you think it will take you to earn it?’
Ah Chong had not thought of that.
‘Would you like it next month? All of it?’
‘Oh yes, I would,’ was the answer, eyes a-gleam and a smile.
‘You will have it if you first do something for me.’
The smile faded.
‘I want you to go back to Ha La.’ He saw Ah Chong stiffen. ‘Wait, wait. I will arrange for you to be helicoptered in a day’s walk south of the border. You will go to Ha La and give a letter to a friend of mine, the editor of Red Tidings. He will then ask the Politburo for permission to go to Kuala Lumpur and I will arrange for you to go with him. Once that is done successfully, you will get the money.’
‘Yes, I agree if I can have someone to go with me as far as Ha La.’
Hm, that’s a thorny one. ‘I think that the best way is to take some extra tobacco and cloth with you and give it to a couple of t’o yan. From what I know, they’ll help you.’
It was only after the reward was raised to sixty thousand ringgit that the deal was clinched.
12 March 1955, Ha La, south Thailand: Ah Fat had been churning out his editions of Red Tidings as best he could when he was surprised by Ah Chong’s arrival, with, unusually, an escort of two t’o yan. He saw Ah Chong take a bundle of tobacco and some cloth out of his knapsack and give it to his escorts who snatched it out of his hand and bolted away.
I’ll be told all about it in its own good time.
‘Ah Fat sinsaang,’ – no ‘Comrade!’ – ‘I have a letter for you,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Shall I give it to you here and now or after our’ – our! – ‘evening meal?’
‘Hand it over now, if you will. We’ll talk about whatever is in it after we’ve eaten,’ Ah Fat answered pleasantly.
Ah Chong gave him the letter and said he presumed the accommodation would be as before. Yes, it would. Ah Fat called his Bear over to him and, with a slight wink, told him to look after the new arrival.
Opening the envelope he saw it was from C C Too. So he’s using Ah Chong as a postman. That is clever. How much did it cost him, I wonder? The letter asked him to come to Kuala Lumpur as ‘I really want to meet you. No details now but bring some copies of your Red Tidings. I will leave it with you how you fix it with your boss.’
After their meal Ah Fat and Ah Chong, with the Bear listening in – ‘his ears are my ears’ – Ah Chong told his story, included being bandaged by a gwai lo who spoke Chinese. At the end he said, ‘now you can tell me how you can get me back to Seremban so I can start my new life.’
‘That shouldn’t be too difficult. What we’ll do is this,’ and he explained that he would have to go to MCP HQ farther into Thailand. ‘I have my own squad and I’m expected to go there now and again. You will come with me and stay with my squad who have their own place. You will not leave where they put you. This is only in case there are any inquisitive snoopers who might wonder who you are and why you have reported in without their permission.’
Yes, that was fully understood.
‘When will we leave?’
‘After you have had a good rest. Say in four days’ time?’
And that too was agreed.
16 March, south Thailand: The Politburo was in session when Ah Fat’s group reached MCP HQ. Ah Fat went to make his presence known. He saluted them and sat down at the edge of the group, waiting to be asked what had brought him there.
The meeting finished and Chin Peng welcomed him back. ‘We were wondering when we would see you again. We have had no news of the efficacy of our Red Tidings. Have you had any news from your couriers?’
‘No, Comrade Secretary General. It is really too soon for any of them to return. I am expecting one or two of the ones who had a nearer destination any day now.’
‘Comrade, from what we have read, we all believe you have done a thoroughly good job and we congratulate you. That will be in the minutes of this meeting.’
Ah Fat put on his false smile as he expressed his total satisfaction.
