1.             Checkmate

Baguia, East Timor

I wanted to travel from Los Palos back to Dili via the south road from Los Palos.

‘I’d like to get through to Baguia,’ I announced.

Joâo, one of my staff who came from the area was wary. ‘You may find it a little difficult,’ he said.

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘Two reasons,’ replied Joâo. ‘First, let’s just say that the area along that road is unsettled.’

‘Unsettled? Does that mean impassable?’

Joâo shook his head. ‘I mean that it is under lock and key,’ he said. ‘The military controls all movement along that road with an iron fist.’

‘Why?’

‘They have a port near Lori where they bring military equipment and men unnoticed,’ he said.

‘Does that mean they will stop us?’

‘It has happened,’ said Joâo.

‘And the second reason?’

Joâo grinned. ‘There is no road!’

‘There is a road on the map! We have a military pass. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!’

‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ sighed Joâo and wished me a safe journey.

‘You are coming with me!’ I said and Joâo shook his head dolefully.

Robin joined me again having spent a few days in one of the guerrilla camps near Los Palos.

The following morning we collected a rather unwilling Joâo and left to test Joâo’s unsettled road theory. We made our tortured way southeast from Los Palos along the narrow and excellent road as it crossed the low hills amidst the grassy plains of the south coast.

The quality of the road suggested it was well maintained for military purposes. Joâo pouted and peered out of the car window. Three times we stopped at roadblocks. Few people, if any, knew me in this area of the province. The soldiers at the roadblocks asked what we were doing. I replied that I was surveying sites for new water sources. My vehicle’s red ‘government official car’ plates and my pass from my minder Colonel Soedarto got me through the checkpoints, plus my fluent Indonesian.

‘At this rate we will reach the turnoff to Baguia before we check out any villages,’ I laughed, but my smile vanished as we entered Iliomar. Soldiers lined up across the road, rifles at the ready. They motioned me to stop and for us all to get out of the car. I obliged.

‘Careful, Dad’, warned Robin.

The commander approached me. His nametag, Yusup, suggested he was from Flores. I was wary. Christian soldiers were often the most difficult to deal with and capable of at least as horrendous atrocities as their Muslim counterparts, if not more.

‘You cannot go any further. There is no road,’ he snapped, jerking his rifle toward me. ‘Go back.’

‘I can’t do that,’ I replied. ‘I have a meeting in Viqueque tonight and I need to be there. If I go back I will not get there till tomorrow.’

‘The road is not passable to Viqueque,’ he said. ‘You have to go back via Los Palos and Baucau.’

I looked round the village.

‘Where is your vehicle?’ I asked.

‘We don’t have one,’ replied Yusup. ‘Now turn round and go back.’

I smiled, took out a pack of cigarettes and offered one. Yusup calmed down a little, lowered his gun and signaled his men to follow suit. He lit up. I relaxed, a little.

‘The place looks deserted,’ I remarked.

‘They are safe,’ said Yusup and the way he gritted his teeth as he spoke made me wonder.

‘What are you really doing here?’ asked Yusup.

‘I need to get to Viqueque,’ I lied, ‘but on the way I need to survey the area to see if there is scope for providing wells or pipelines and so on.’

Yusup nodded. ‘Indeed there is. We have to go to the river to get water.’

‘Do you mind if I drive down to the river and check out the water flow?’ I asked.

Yusup narrowed his eyes as he exhaled a perfect smoke ring. ‘Make sure you come back.’

I got back in the car.

‘Dad,’ said Robin, ‘Are you sure we will be OK?’

‘According to the map, an old road to Baguia branches off along that river…’

’Don’t even think about it!’ Robin shouted. ‘There is no fucking road! Joâo has said so. How the hell…’

‘Shh. Wait till we get to the river,’ I said.

The bridge over the river had long since been washed away. The river was impassable, even with our four-wheel drive. The road to Viqueque was well and truly closed. We got out of the car. I turned and looked back at Iliomar where Yusup and his soldiers were observing us.

‘Let’s go down to the water and pretend to measure the river flow,’ I said.

We clambered down the bank. I checked out the mountains to the west.

‘The old road to Baguia should follow the river bank,’ I said.

We made a show of measuring water flow. I clambered up the bank and pushed my way into the tall grass. Suddenly, I stopped and grinned.

‘That must be it,’ I said.

‘You are mad,’ protested Robin, ‘it is a goat track.’

‘No, look closer,’ I said. ‘You can see odd bits of bitumen and stone. It was once a road, that’s for sure. Let’s give it a shot. It’s only twenty kilometres or so. Don’t panic. We can always turn around.’

‘But what about the soldiers back there? They expect us to return!’ Joâo’s good humor began to desert him. He was concerned.

‘They have no car. They can’t follow us. Once we get to Baguia, we will be OK. I know the military commander there and we can smooth things out with him if there is any problem,’ I assured him.

Joâo gulped. Robin shook his head. I stared him down.

‘Are you the one frightened?’ I challenged him. ‘You jump out of planes, fall off bridges and fjords in Norway and call it base jumping. Don’t tell me that a drive through grass worries you?’

‘It’s not the grass, dickhead. Joâo is right. Those guys up there scared me and I don’t scare easily. We go against what they ordered and we might be in deep shit.’

‘As I said,’ I continued, ‘we can do it and my mate in Baguia is the military commander. He will settle any troubles. We can always argue that they threatened us and we were afraid to go back.’

We returned to the car. I turned and waved at the soldiers who were still watching us from the ridge. Yusup waved back. I indicated that I was going to drive a little further up the bank. Maybe they understood. Maybe they did not. I turned the car into the wall of grass.

We bumped along the path, the grass and scrub scraping the car. Indeed, it had once been a road. It was easy to follow.  After a few minutes, we burst out into a grassy field. We followed it up the side of the mountain until we reached the top of a ridge. There the road ended at a rickety gate. I stopped, took out my binoculars and checked out the Iliomar military post.

‘They don’t look too worried,’ I said. ‘I think they are playing chess.’

I pause.  A thudding sound broke the silence.

I said as I searched for the source of the noise. ‘A helicopter is landing at Iliomar.’

‘Maybe they are chasing us,’ said Robin.

I looked at him and frowned.

‘Just joking,’ he said.

I could see Baguia on the opposite side of the valley. All that stood between us and Baguia was a steep, trackless slope, a ravine, a raging river and a cliff on the far side.

‘There must be a road along that cliff on the other side of the river,’ I said.

‘Like there is a road down this slope to the river?’ smiled Robin.

‘Hey — we got this far, didn’t we? We can get there. Trust me!’ I smiled.

‘Idiot white men,’ mumbled Joâo.

I checked out the slope in front of us. A few buffalo grazed. Bucolic. A couple of fences stood between the river and us.

‘See,’ he said. ‘Fences. Civilisation!’

‘Idiot white men,’ mumbled Joâo again.

We set off down the slope. It had few trees. It too had been napalmed. Slithering left and right, bumping through depressions and skirting the mud stirred to quicksand consistency by the buffalo, we made good progress. We reached the bank of the river.

‘You see, this is why they make four-wheel drive vehicles,’ I said. ‘All we have to do now is find a way across the river and up that cliff. Let’s get out. You and Joâo go left; I will go right and look for a place where the cliff on the other side is not so cliffy!’

Robin looked at me. I could see that he doubted my sanity. Sometimes the feeling was mutual. Once they rounded the bend of the river, Joâo and Robin sat down and had a cigarette. I searched. I called out to them.

‘I’ve found a way up.’

I heard the thudding again. I squinted up as a helicopter flew low along the river. It hovered above me. I could see soldiers in the helicopter looking down at me. I recognised Yusup. I waved. Yusup pointed his rifle at me and jerked it in the direction of Baguia. Grimly, I realised that I might be in for some flak. There was no way we could turn back. Getting back up the mudslide of a hill would be almost impossible, even for the Suzuki.

‘Who was in the chopper?’ asked Robin as he and Joâo clambered into the car.

‘Just some military guys,’ I said, lighting a cigarette to hide my shaking hands. ‘Let’s go.’

I edged the car into the river. We crawled across, the water surging over the bonnet, until we reached the opposite bank where a small gully cut its way down the cliff to the river.

A stream clattered down the gully between a rock fall that looked like a scree slope on Everest.

‘You can’t get up there?’ Robin protested.

‘Watch me.’

‘How do you know there’s a road up the top if you get there?’ Joâo asked, just as a utility crowded with villagers clattered past. No one looked down to the river. People did not drive out of rivers.

‘You were saying?’ I asked and Joâo shrugged.

Joâo and Robin got out of the car and clambered up the slope. Once again, I edged the car forward and growled up the slope. I reached the top with little difficulty.

‘If you silly buggers want a lift in to Baguia you had better hurry up. The bus is leaving in thirty seconds.’

Robin sat next to me. ‘Well done, old man.’

‘Oh ye of little faith.’

Joâo sat in the back and shook his head. He was used to less rigorous adventures.

‘Shit,’ I said as I rounded a corner to enter the town and slammed on the brakes. Yet again Yusup was not smiling. Nor were the troops standing behind him in a line, their rifles pointed at the car.

‘How did he get here?’ asked Joâo.

‘On the chopper, obviously,’ muttered Robin.

‘Get out of the car,’ ordered Yusup. ‘One of my men will drive you to Baguia.’

Slowly, I got out of the car and sat next to Joâo in the back seat. No one spoke as they drove us in to Baguia. The townspeople watched as the small convoy entered the town’s main street. The boom gate opened and we were driven into the old pousada, which now served as the region’s military headquarters. Yusup motioned for us to get out of the car. Guns drawn, they escorted us into the commander’s headquarters. With a rough shove, he herded us into an office and ordered us to stand and wait for the commander.

‘Don’t worry, I know the commander.’

The commander arrived. Instead of my friend Krisnanto, a stocky Javanese Major strode in to the room. He glared at us as he took his seat behind his desk, primping himself to impress on us how important he was. I checked his nametag. Sudibyo. Yusup took up a position to Sudibyo’s right. I frowned. Something about Sudibyo was familiar, but I could not work it out.

‘Captain Yusup tells me you are on a water survey mission,’ he said.

‘That is correct,’ I said. ‘I have a pass from…’

‘Hold your tongue!’ shouted Sudibyo. ‘He also tells me that he ordered you to turn back and disobeyed.’

‘I explained that I…’

‘I told you to be silent!’ Sudibyo glared at me. ‘Tell me what you are really doing here? Why has he got all those cameras?’

He pointed to Robin who had two cameras slung around his neck.

‘He is…’ I began before Sudibyo cut me off again.

‘Spying?’ suggested Sudibyo and his lips curled in what might have been a smile under different circumstances. Yusup sneered.

Sudibyo stood up. He paced to the front of his desk and stood in front of me. The left corner of his mouth twitched a little and I thought I detected the echo of a smile. Once again, I racked my brains. Why did he seem familiar? Sudibyo leant back on the desk and sucked on his cigarette, blowing perfect smoke rings over my nose.

‘I know about you,’ he said and again the ghost of a smile flickered on his face. ‘You are a trouble maker.’

He walked behind us. I turned to watch him.

‘Face the front!’ shouted Sudibyo. Yusup was enjoying things by now. His sneer had widened into a ‘smarl’; a cross between a snarl and a smile.

‘Now explain yourself’, Sudibyo said and returned to his seat and sat down, holding his fingertips together.

‘I want you to let these two men go’, I began. ‘Your argument is with me. I am the one responsible.’

‘He is the one with the cameras’, barked Sudibyo. ‘He is a journalist isn’t he?’

‘He is my son,’ I said.

Sudibyo snapped his head round to peer at me.

‘Really?’ he said. ‘He looks nothing like you. He is skinny and you…’ — he turned and sized me up — ‘you look like an overweight buffalo.’

Yusup snorted and only with the greatest effort stopped from sniggering. Even Robin managed a smirk. I suddenly had an inkling that we were going to be fine. I had met this guy before, but I could not work out where.

‘Then we share something in common,’ I said.

Yusup flinched. Joâo gasped. Robin took a deep breath as once again Sudibyo walked over to me and shoved his face into mine.

Suddenly, he collapsed backwards onto the desk. He put his hands to his head. He snorted into them until, unable to contain himself any longer, he burst into gales of laughter. We watched in amazement as he split his sides. Yusup frowned. Finally, Sudibyo recomposed himself. He raised his hands as if he was a priest about to lay his hands on a supplicant and, looking at Yusup to make sure that he was listening, spoke.

‘You are very foolish. Some might think you are brave,’ he said. ‘Under different circumstances I might even shake your hand, but…’

He walked behind his desk, stubbed out his cigarette and glared at us. His smile disappeared.

‘You may well have a pass and a government car but you have no authority to do anything which is contrary to military orders. If you are given an instruction by a military officer, you obey it.’

He turned to look at Yusup, who, on cue, nodded and ‘smarled’ once more. Sudibyo barked an order in Javanese that I did not understand. The door of the office opened and three soldiers marched in and saluted.

‘I think it would be wise…’ I began.

‘Surely the time for being wise has passed?’ retorted Sudibyo. ‘I am holding you while I consider what should be done next. I am taking this action to be seen to support the legitimate and commendable actions of my men.’

 He turned once more and looked at Yusup who nodded and tried to hide his expanding ‘smarl.’

He turned back to fix his gaze on us. ‘Of course, I will contact Headquarters and brief them.’

I frowned at the way he spoke and at the same slight twitch of his mouth, accompanied this time by a perplexing slight nod as if it were some kind of signal.

What was it that was familiar about this man? I could not for the life of me work it out. I turned away as the soldiers took my arm rather more forcefully than I felt was appropriate. I caught a glimpse of Yusup still ‘smarling’ as the soldiers marched the three of us off to a holding room.

Robin glared at me. ‘I told you so, fuckwit!’

I watched as the door closed. I looked around the room. Maps on the wall, a few hard backed chairs, a sideboard and a table marked it as a military command room, a far cry from its original purpose as an elegant dining room for Portuguese officials.  A dusty chandelier dangled from the cracked ceiling.

The window framed the view down the valley through which we had just passed,. Three soldiers lounged under the window playing chess. Something clicked in my memory. I frowned. Chess? Soldiers?

Sudibyo and Yusup walked down the entrance stairs of the pousada. Yusup saluted and boarded the helicopter. The rotors built up speed. Sudibyo watched as it lifted off, pirouetted and thudded its deafening way down the valley and back to Iliomar.

Sudibyo turned and glanced at the bay window. I caught his eyes. He winked. I smiled to myself. Now I remembered where I had met him.

‘We’ll be out soon; mark my words.’

Robin looked at me. ‘What on earth are you blabbering about? We have been arrested! We are about to be interrogated!’

‘Do you still have your mobile phones?’ I asked.

Robin and Joâo both nodded.

‘Why didn’t they frisk us before putting us in this room? If we were in real trouble, why are we not in the cells? Why didn’t they lock the door?’

The door burst open. Sudibyo walked in.  I looked at him and grinned.

‘Kalimantan. 1986. Helicopter. Forced landing with mechanical trouble near Kabuang en route to Tarakan from the Malaysian border. Two nights playing chess in the jungle. When I saw you at the chopper it clicked.’

Sudibyo threw back his head and laughed. ‘Have I changed that much?’ he said and he rushed over and pumped my hand up and down. He turned to Robin and did the same.

‘Let's just say that in those days you were slightly smaller,’ I said and Sudibyo howled with delight.

‘So were you!’ he retorted. ‘Not doing all that much jungle trekking in your old age I suppose?’

‘They took you off foot duties a few decades ago as well, I see,’ I replied.

Robin and Joâo watched open mouthed. Sudibyo turned to Robin.

‘Bad weather forced our chopper down. We were in the jungle for two nights. It was a good thing your father had a huge can of biscuits and a chessboard in his bag.’

‘Ah yes, the chess. I won didn’t I?’ I said.

‘Brengsek! Like hell you did! I did,’ he shouted and both of us grinned.

‘It was all I could do to keep a straight face while I was giving you a dressing down in there,’ said Sudibyo. ‘I had to do it to support Yusup.’

I nodded. ‘I know.’

Sudibyo turned to Robin. ‘You should be proud of your father,’ he said. He looked at Joâo. ‘And you work for him, don’t you?’ he said.

Joâo nodded and held his tongue.

‘Good for you.’ He turned again to look at me. I was still shaking my head in disbelief.

‘Now, gentlemen, tea or coffee?’ he asked.

‘I wish I had a beer,’ said Robin.

‘No problem,’ said Sudibyo and snapped his fingers.