At the CO’s office he found out why he had been sent for. ‘Your plans are changed. I have just had a personal phone call from the Director of Operations himself, apologising for the short notice but I have to send one rifle company to Kota Bharu for operations under 1 Malay Brigade and I’ve chosen you. Do you know where it is?’
‘Yes, sir, I do but I have never been there.’ He remembered being slightly shocked when told that there was a ‘Beach of Passionate Love’ in the area.
‘You will go to Gemas where the East Coast line leaves the main north-south line in Brigade transport and from there by rail on the Blowpipe Express. Movements Branch will organise your return similarly. You will be based in Kota Bharu until the 23rd of this month. You will not be extended as you will need to send men on the leave party that is about a month away. Normally, of course, it is earlier than now as we try to get our men to enjoy Dashera at home but, for some unknown reason, it’s later this year. And I might as well tell you now, more as a reward for doing so well on Janus as for any other reason, I am detailing you as OC Troops on board as it is our battalion’s turn to provide someone for the job.’
Jason grinned. ‘Thank you, sir. I’ll like that. Both ways? There and back?’
The Colonel nodded. ‘I hear that the East Coast line is dangerous. Just in case take one of the medical corporals with you, with a pack, complete with morphine and stitching needle and thread. Can’t be too careful.’
‘If it’ll be as bad as that, thank you sir. Can you tell me my aim, sir, in Kota Bharu?’
‘Your aim is to pick up any guerrilla movement is what the Director of Operations said. Nothing has been heard about them for a long time and some inquisitive patrolling might find something. The population is chiefly Malay: I gather there are few, if any, Chinese or Indians around there but you’ll be briefed in such details when you get there. Maps and any transport requirements will be issued from the local HQ. The “why?” Because the Malay Regiment battalion that should have gone there has been forced to spend another month’s training to let their new recruits reach the required standard. One of the things I do want you to do is search for any Gurkhas who fought in that disastrous Malayan campaign in 1942. There are rumours that some tried to escape the Japanese by going to Kelantan. Apparently after the war they stayed on there, not having been able to return to Nepal. If you can find any that would be great. Ask them if they want to return to Nepal or not. They could well have married local girls and raised a family by now so maybe they won’t want to move. I also want you to phone the OC in the Gurkha school in Singapore. He’s a friend of mine. He was a prisoner of the Japanese and may be able to give you some background details. Tell him I was too busy to talk to him but give him my salaams. Any more?’
‘Two points, sir. What time am I to move out and who will I liaise with if anything untoward occurs on the journey up, an ambush on the railway line for instance?’
‘Yes, you won’t be able to catch today’s train so I’ve told Brigade to pick you up at noon. You’ll bivouac for the night at Gemas and catch tomorrow’s train. This is the answer to your second query’ and he handed over a piece of paper on which the wave length to be used was written. ‘You will be call sign 5 and Roger Nan Tare is the local HQ up in Kota Bharu. Sorry, I should have given you that earlier.’
Jason saluted and went back to give out his new orders.
***
Jason asked the battalion exchange to ring the Gurkha School in Singapore. ‘I’ll ring you back,’ said the operator. When he was put through he asked if he was speaking to the OC.
‘He is not here,’ came the answer in fluent English. ‘May I know who you are, sir?’
‘I am Captain Rance of 1/12 GR, calling from Seremban. And you?’
‘I’m Sergeant Padamsing Rai. I joined 1/12 GR after being recruited in 1948 but you won’t remember me, but I remember you. Can I pass a message for you, sir? The OC won’t be in for a while.’
‘Sergeant, I am taking my company to Kota Bharu and my CO, Lieutenant Colonel Williams, wanted to ask your OC if he could say anything about any Gurkhas who might have settled there during or after the retreat down Malaya in 1942 rather than be taken as prisoners of war as was your OC. In any case my CO wishes to give him his salaams. Do that please. That is all I have you. Have you anything for me?’
‘Do you know when you’ll be back, sir?’
‘Sergeant Padamsing, in three weeks or so. The autumn leave party will be leaving a week later and men have to be got ready first.’
‘Thank you, sir, that is more than all.’ It was only later that Jason recalled the unusual answer.
As he put the phone down, the office runner shyly asked him who it was he was talking to at the school.
‘That’s a strange question. It was Sergeant Padamsing Rai. Why do you ask?’
‘Saheb, I am asking because Sergeant Padamsing Rai was an instructor on the education course you sent me on and he was one of two ustads who tried to convert us to being a Communist and not to come back after our next leave.’
Jason looked astonished. ‘Really? Have you told anyone else?’
The runner looked uncomfortable, ‘No Saheb. I haven’t. He also wanted to play with me but I wouldn’t let him’ and the soldier, to whom nothing like that had ever happened before, looked embarrassed. ‘I told him I was not a woman. Saheb, may I say something else, please?’
‘Of course you may. Out with it.’
‘The gora sergeant instructor in the school is also like that.’ The soldier turned his head to one side and shed tears.
Most unusual. That’s the first time I’ve heard of such Jason thought angrily. I’ll fix it when I get back.
‘Why have you not mentioned it to anyone, say the Gurkha Major saheb?’
‘We were told that if we did it would be serious for us and our family when we went on our next leave.’
‘Don’t worry, keta, I’ll look into it when I get back.’
The young man seemed relieved. He trusted his OC in every respect. They all did.
***
After Padamsing had replaced the phone he sat back, an idea forming in his head. I’ve got my answer for Comrade Ah Ho but instead of a company in Kota Bharu I’ll make it a battalion. Nobody concerned need know that it’s a leave party that’s going off to India by boat. I’ll tell him it’s my success that’s getting them demobilised. He chuckled malevolently. I’ll ring him up now. As he reached for the phone another thought struck him, and I’ll tell him to make sure someone responsible in Kathmandu is informed otherwise it may not work.
***
Comrade Xi Zhan Yang’s address had been given to Ah Fat who, with the Bear, had gone to Kuala Lumpur, not only to contact him and the ‘sleeper’ in Police HQ but also to visit their families, a cherished but seldom achieved event. It was also a superb chance to contact his friend, Too Chee Chew, affectionately known as C C Too, a brilliant propagandist who headed the Special Branch of the Malayan Police. The two of them had known each other long enough for voices to be recognised on the phone.
On his third day there, after taking his children to school, which was a treat for them, Ah Fat tried to contact Comrade Xi but was unlucky. On contacting the woman ‘mole’ he learnt that Xi had already gone to Singapore but before he and the Bear moved there, he rang C C Too, without announcing himself, in English, by saying an old schoolboy joke, ‘It’s a good day for the race,’ to which the answer, ‘The human race’ meant that each caller had recognise the other.
‘Can I pop round this evening for a drink and, if you’re feeling kind, a bite of some of our favourite dish?’
‘Of course,’ and C C Too put the phone down. The less said always, especially on the phone, the better.
At C C Too’s house Ah Fat told him just what was happening ‘up north’.
‘Now that is interesting. “Operation Tipping Point” shows how serious they are. This is entirely new to me,’ which Ah Fat thought was, for him, probably a first.
‘Somehow this seems incomplete, not enough to act against and counter but most useful background knowledge. What else have you for me?’
Ah Fat went on to describe plans to go to Calcutta, that he was to collect tickets for the next voyage of the SS Eastern Queen whenever that happened to be.
‘Who is your contact in Singapore and where is he?’
Ah Fat told him.
‘Now, shall I alert my opposite number there now or wait till you come back? He’s Reggie Hutton whom you know from war days. You don’t know the Gurkha’s name but you do his unit. I’ll get Reggie to find out any details of interest and’ he looked in a note book he took out a drawer in his table, ‘take down his phone number.’
‘Yes, you’re quite right. I remember him as a thin, austere, bespectacled man, slightly balding. Clever, a good linguist,’ Ah Fat said, making a note of the phone number. ‘Makes sense and it could be of help.’ He thought for a moment and said, ‘Tell you what. Would it be possible to let him know now? He may be at home and we could have a word together.’
C C Too nodded assent and, as there was no direct dialling, asked the telephone exchange operator to connect him through to Singapore and gave the number.
After quite a while the phone rang and was straightway picked up. ‘Hutton here.’
‘Reggie, tighten your seat belt! I have an old friend who needs no introducing so I’ll hand him over to you.’
Ah Fat took the phone and said, ‘Mr Hutton have you your hat on?’
