Blood at Yellow Water (19 page)

The senior AFP officer, John Jenkins, spoke
to the local policeman and then questioned Jake, Bill and Shoni
about their involvement with the Chinese. The policeman confiscated
Bill’s rifles for forensic analysis and took statements from each
of them.

Jenkins said accusingly “You guys were told
to stay out of this and leave it to the experts. Now look at the
mess you’ve made.”

Jake took offence at his officious manner
and retorted,

“Well if we’d waited for you to turn up they
would have escaped clean away and be on their way to Vanuatu or
somewhere by now. How come you guys took so long to get here? I
alerted Colonel Williams hours ago.”

The AFP officer answered back defensively.
“Our resources were tied up in Mataranka with the attempt on the
Japanese P.M.’s life and the fire at the hospital. You guys were
told not to get involved. Anyhow the local police arrived here
quickly.”

Jake remained unimpressed. “Not quickly
enough unfortunately. Can we go now? We’re heading back to Bill’s
camping ground in the town.”

“O.K., but stay there in case we have more
questions. One of my men will contact you to write up statements. I
need to have the signed statements by the end of the day.”

The fire brigade had put out the fire and
pulled out three blackened bodies from the remains of the aircraft.
They were placed in body bags in the ambulance and taken back to
Mataranka to the morgue until they could be identified.

Bill, Jake and Shoni drove back to the
camping ground still shaken from the turmoil at the old airport.
They all went into Bill’s cabin and Bill found some mugs and made
them coffee. He produced a bottle of whisky and laced each mug with
a liberal amount. Jake put his leg up on the couch with a sigh of
relief. Fortunately the stitches in his calf muscle had held tight
despite the stress he had put on it in the last few hours but the
wound was still painful. Bill was still shaky from shooting down
the aircraft which led to the death of the two Chinese and the
pilot. They were all on a high as they reflected on the
entanglement with the Chinese. Jake expressed his disgust with the
delay in the police arriving at the airport.

Shoni made the point. “When you two got out
of the truck at the airport, I rang the police station at Daly
Waters and spoke to Constable Hobbs. It was news to him about the
Chinese being at the airport, so obviously the AFP didn’t ring the
local police here.”

“That was quick thinking on your part Shoni.
Yeah, I think Colonel Williams has a lot to answer for,” responded
Jake.

“He might have just contacted the police at
the Mataranka Station which was why they took so long,” suggested
Bill.

“Yeah well, the guys that arrived were AFP
not locals. You’d think they would have at least rung Constable
Hobbs, the man on the spot here. Anyhow, I’ll talk to John Fisher
about it,” said Jake savouring his coffee.

Bill was checking his phone messages when he
cried out, “Oh Christ!”

“What’s up, Dad?” said Jake with concern on
his face.

“It’s a message from Lizzie. Her brother
Barry has died from a hit and run car accident after being released
from the cop shop in Jabiru. I’ll call her back, she’ll be
devastated,” said a shocked Bill.

Bill phoned Lizzie and spoke to her for ten
minutes. He turned around to Jake and Shoni and explained the
circumstances surrounding Barry’s death.

“I’m going to have to go to Lizzie. She’s in
Mataranka now and needs to go up to Jabiru to support the family
before the funeral. She’s in shock so I’ll have to drive her up
there.”

“Jeez, Dad, that’s horrible news. I really
liked Barry, I can’t believe he’s gone. Would you like me to come
with you?”

“No, you’ve had enough excitement and need
to rest that leg. Use the same cabin as you did last week. You can
stay as long as you want.”

“Who’s going to run the place while you’re
gone?” queried Jake.

“Gwen Mackie will look after it. She does
the cleaning and knows how the camping ground runs. I’ll go and see
her now and give her the heads up. Oh, and I’ll arrange for a mate
to drive your rental car down from Mataranka.”

“Thanks Dad, I wish I could be of some
help.”

“Don’t worry son, I’ll be back in a couple
of days. I’m gonna get cleaned up, make a few calls and be
off.”

“O.K. but let us know how things are going.
I’ll come up for the funeral.”

“That’d be good son. I’ll keep you posted.
See you soon,” Bill said as he strode off to his house.

After farewelling Bill, Jake and Shoni
walked over to the cabin. They were both exhausted after their
ordeal. Shoni helped Jake take the bandages off his leg and he
inspected the wound. There was a large nasty-looking bruise around
the gash but the stitches had held up well. He took the rest of his
clothes off and with Shoni’s help he hobbled into the bathroom to
have a shower. She quickly disrobed and got into the shower with
him washing carefully his leg and other cuts and bruises on his
body. Despite his condition he felt himself getting aroused under
her gentle touch and pulled her glistening naked body to him. They
kissed fervently as their bodies thrust against each other under
the warm gush of water. Jack turned off the shower taps, pulled her
out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her and laid her on the
bed. Their tiredness disappeared as they made passionate love
before dropping off to a deep sleep.

*

SUNDAY - JABIRU

The news of the rescue of the Japanese Prime
Minister spread quickly around the media. Helen Kwang was one of
the first to hear it and rang Anna Sentoro’s press secretary for
confirmation. She verified the story and indicated that the Acting
Prime Minister would be calling a press conference that afternoon
at the resort to provide details. Helen repeated the rumour that
the Chinese assassins had been killed in an air smash but the press
secretary would not confirm this.

Helen had also been following up the other
big news story of the death of Barry Buckstone. Accompanied by her
photographer, she had driven to the township of Jabiru and observed
a large group of protesters outside the police station. She had
interviewed a number of the local inhabitants who claimed that
Buckstone had been beaten up by police while being questioned over
the attack on the Australian and Japanese Prime Ministers. One of
the people she spoke to was Larry Wilpena, a wizened old aboriginal
man, who had shared the cell with Buckstone and confirmed that
Barry had a number of cuts and bruises when he was released from
his cell after his interrogation.

After some more questioning, Wilpena let
slip that Barry claimed he had acquired evidence that some members
of the Land Council had been bribed to relinquish their land rights
so that the mine at Jabiru could go ahead. Helen took notes on
this, determined to find out whether there was any substance or not
in what Wilpena was alleging. She had put in calls to the local and
federal police but no one was returning her calls.

She watched as the protesters waved their
signs outside the police station. There was a large group of police
and security personnel keeping watch around the station. One of the
protesters threw a rock which shattered a window of the station and
the crowd started getting angry. They started yelling slogans and
waving placards saying “JUSTICE FOR BARRY BUCKSTONE”. Suddenly
another raced up to the front of the station and threw a Molotov
cocktail through the window which set alight one of the wooden
office desks in the station. The police responded by moving in on
the crowd using pepper spray and swinging their batons around and
arrested the demonstrator. The crowd quickly dispersed to avoid the
onslaught. The police inside the station immediately dowsed the
flames with fire extinguishers.

Helen kept a safe distance while the
National’s photographer, Percy Usifail clicked away with his
camera. She would have another lead story and pictures for the
National’s morning paper. She and Percy drove back to the Yellow
Water Resort in time to attend the Acting Prime Minister’s press
conference.

*

SUNDAY AFTERNOON - YELLOW WATER

Anna Sentoro had little sleep over the past few days
and was not looking forward to giving another press conference. She
had been briefed by Fisher as to the events leading up to the plane
crash and had decided not to mention Jake and Bill’s involvement in
the shooting down of the aircraft which killed the Chinese. She
braced herself as she walked over to the podium blinking from the
numerous flashes from the cameras. She was flanked by John Fisher
of the AFP and her Press Secretary. A large part of the reception
area of the Yellow Water Resort had been cordoned off for the
briefing and was packed by representatives from all the major
Australian media networks as well as a large contingent from
Japanese, American and other international news outlets. The news
of the Australian Prime Minister’s assassination and the
disappearance of the Japanese Prime Minister had made headlines
around the world.

She announced that the Japanese Prime
Minister was safe and was on his way to Darwin where he would meet
with her that evening before flying home to Japan. She then also
advised that the assassins had been killed and had been identified
as Chinese. Three of them had been killed fleeing the scene and two
others and the pilot had died while trying to escape in a small
aircraft. She commended the Northern Territory police and the
Australian Federal Police for their efforts.

She then asked the press gallery for
questions. A barrage of questions was shouted out by several
reporters and she gave succinct answers to each one as best she
could. The main line of questioning was as to the cause of the
explosion to the aircraft carrying the Chinese and the
identification of the Chinese assassins. She responded that the
aircraft had exploded after take-off for reasons unknown to date
but the wreckage was being examined by aviation experts. The bodies
were badly charred but everything was been done to identify them
and their associations with any terrorist groups, but at this stage
it was too early to draw any conclusions. She deflected questions
which related to any political motives of the Chinese Government
and indicated that police were working closely with their
counterparts in China to identify the assassins.

Helen Kwang managed to get in a question
about the death of Barry Buckstone outside the Jabiru Police
Station. Sentoro deferred this question to John Fisher who
explained that Buckstone had died from injuries received in a hit
and run accident and that the Northern Territory Police were
pursuing the matter. The AFP was also investigating his treatment
by police prior to the fatal car accident. Fisher was stung by her
follow-up question as to whether he knew of allegations that a
certain member of the Land Council had received bribes to allow
mining to take place on sacred aboriginal ground. Fisher stated he
had heard the rumours but had no information that would
substantiate such allegations.

The questions kept coming and Sentoro
patiently answered them for another thirty minutes before thanking
the media for attending and closing the briefing session. She
walked back to her suite and started packing for her trip to Darwin
for a farewell meeting with Prime Minister Koshi.

MONDAY MORNING - JABIRU

Bill pulled up the truck outside Barry Buckstone’s
house in Jabiru, climbed out and knocked on the front wire door of
the old weatherboard house. He could hear voices inside, said
“Hello” and let himself into the front room. Lizzie was sitting on
the sofa comforting Elsie, Barry’s widow, as he walked in. Lizzie
looked up to see Bill and rushed over and hugged him. Elsie was
sobbing, rocking backwards and forwards on the sofa, devastated by
the loss of her husband. Bill put his arms around her and expressed
his condolences. Elsie’s sister, Bonny, came out of the kitchen
holding a tray carrying a teapot, cups, milk, sugar and biscuits.
She embraced Bill and started passing teacups around.

Having drunk the tea, Bill followed Lizzie
out to the kitchen. He could see she was upset but also angry. He
put his arm around her. She looked up to him, tears falling down
her cheeks.

“Bill, we’ve gotta do something about this.
We can’t let the bastards get away with it. It was no accident that
Barry was run down after being beaten up by those cops.”

“There’ll be an inquest into it Lizzie and
the truth will come out,” suggested Bill.

“No it won’t, they’ll cover it up and
nothing will happen. They’ve been trying to shut Barry up ever
since he started investigating the deal between the mining company
and the Land Council to open up the Jabiru mine. Barry said he had
evidence of some dodgy deal involving payback to Bert O’Shea, the
President of the Land Council, for giving approval to the
deal.”

“Does Elsie know where this evidence
is?”

“No, but she said their place was done over
a few weeks ago, left in an awful mess, but nothing of value was
taken. She reckons whoever went through their stuff must have been
disturbed cause it looked like they left in a hurry. Barry was
worried about it but couldn’t find anything missing.”

“Well, if Elsie agrees, perhaps we can
search the house while we are here.”

Lizzie nodded her head in agreement. “I’ll
ask her about it tomorrow.”

“Elsie said we can bunk down in the
sleep-out for a couple of days till the funeral”.

“O.K., I’ll bring my bag in,” responded Bill
and walked out to the truck.

MONDAY MORNING - DALY WATERS

Jake was woken up by the ringing of his mobile
phone. He rolled out of bed and picked it up.