Chapter 23

Jacky got out of the truck and walked up to Kuan-yu.

The man had managed to keep his face neutral, but he backed up a bit as Jacky confronted him.

“Nice to see you here waiting for us, Kuan-yu. I bet you are surprised that we came back,” he said with a predatory smile.

Kuan-yu looked around and realised Jacky’s team had somehow managed to totally surround the clearing and him. He still panicked and tried to run. However, before he got more than three steps, Jacky’s baton had extended, and it whipped up between his legs.

No man likes to be hit in the nuts and bolt region, and he was down for the count. Jacky leant down and touched Kuan-yu’s forehead for several seconds and then stood.

“Toss him outside the perimeter. He wishes to go home.”

Abe and Russo grabbed the downed man under the armpits, dragged him to the road and left him there. They never did find out what happened to him, and he never returned to the base camp while they were on the island.

While Kuan-yu was being dragged away, Jacky turned to Blair, “Sorry, he was a spy. He reported on the trucks and the fact a ship was coming. They had a sub waiting for the ship, but those corvettes are designed to find subs, and they gleefully told Nat that they had sunk it.”

“You may want to search Kuan-yu’s possessions. I don’t believe he told them where you are hiding as he was holding out for more money. So, you should be safe enough to stay here.”

“What about the wounded?” Blair asked, upset that he hadn’t known about the spy. He had also been told to trust Kuan-yu by a supposed friend. He would have to find out why that friend had turned on them.

“All safely aboard. Corporal Smith had the packet of letters and the reports, and he got the Captain to relay back that they arrived safely with him. We did get some company, so if the ship had any more stores for you, they are still on board it.”

“They reported to Ned that they would be back in twenty days to bring more supplies. They have to do a run to Guinea first. Keep this compass as it will let you into the area where the rest of the stores are.”

“What about freeing the locals here from the Japs?” Blair asked.

“On hold, it seems that our allies are a bit stretched at the moment and just want you to keep up the good fight. They do intend to come back for you, but not right now,” Jacky told him grimly.

“Fuck! So, we need to cause as much mayhem as we can.”

“Well, the nice Corporal Wang in Same said they are planning to move some more troops into Same and Benito. It seems someone is worried about the bridges being cut off between them, Benito, Cassa and at Beco too.”

“The new patrol is to guard the bridges at Benito and Cassa. It seems your last little escapade did more damage to the airfield at Dili than you thought. Until they get it fixed, they have to rely on the one at Suai or at Milana as they are the closest airfields. They also want your men hung, drawn and quartered.”

“The ship reported that they had intelligence from your commander. The airfield at Bucali has also been experiencing some problems, and it seems the locals don’t wish to help them fix it. The locals in Same aren’t in a hurry to help them build an airfield there either.”

“Believe it or not, they said that the roads between Surie and here are the better roads, so I think the Japs here would be more concerned about them. Also, with an Australian warship being sighted along that coast, the word is that the Japs are worried about an invasion force coming from Darwin.”

“They are not happy that we still have men running around loose on this island, and they know we are pissed about the bombing of our coast. They plan to keep harassing Darwin in the hopes the Americans don’t get a foothold in the region to help us.”

“How far is it to the bridge at Beco?” David asked the people around him.

“From here, about fifty-two miles,” Gazza, one of Blair’s engineers, replied.

“Hum, they could still go through Aniro, it is longer, and the road through the mountains west of us is nasty. Heavy lorries would be hard-pressed to use that route,” Blair said.

“So, if we took out the bridges at Beco and Cassa, it would put them in a real pickle,” Jacky surmised.

Gazza said, “If we sent a team west to Aileu as well, that would really upset them as they couldn’t use either route. It would cut them off from the east coast for a lot of miles in both directions.”

“Wouldn’t they just move more troops south to Benito?” Abe asked as he joined the conversation.

“They may be reticent if they think Aussie warships are patrolling the coast. Plus, the last time we talked to Hui-wen, she said that the Japs were fairly stretched for resources here. They were concentrating on taking Port Moresby,” Gaza informed them.

Hui-wen was a woman in Same that ran a local restaurant with her husband. The couple were part of the underground network Blair’s people worked with. Most of the people in Timor, East and West, were not happy with the Japanese being here.

“Maybe in a few days, we should go visit this Hui-wen woman,” Jacky said. “I could even have a look around and find my friend, Corporal Wang. He may have more information we can use.”

“We will start compiling what we know about those bridges and how hard it would be to take them out and if we think it is effective for the long term,” Blair told them.

He didn’t tell Jacky that they’d had trouble blowing the one in Aileu last time. But then, these people weren’t with them before, and Blair was certain that they had something going on to be so bloody effective.