With a hardened expression as he tried to control his emotions, the prime minister took a leaf from one of the greatest speech ever given.
PM : We shall fight them ………………we shall fight on the seas and oceans……
Mohan grunted as he sheathed his machete into the pouch.
PM : We shall fight them in the streets….. on the roads…. On the very path your kids take to school……
Nelson got up and started to put on the rifle sling.
PM : We shall fight them on the beaches,…… we shall fight them in the streets of the CBD…… no matter where they may be….. we shall fight them
Derrick grabbed a handful of ammunitions and started to feed them into the magazines together with Tommy.
PM : We shall fight them in the hills, in our alleyways…………………we shall defend our island home…… no matter the cost…..
I got up, handed a rifle to Soh who took a loaded magazine from Tommy.
PM : We shall never surrender………..
There was a moment of pause as the prime minister gathered his emotions before wrapping his message up.
When he looked back up at the camera, he delivered a message to LFO.
PM : And to the organisation responsible for this ………you did not cripple this country……
The lot of us got on our feet as Soh lit up another cigarette.
PM : You just woke a sleeping lion…
Right on cue, the TV crackled again to a static screen and Soh spoke to everyone in the room.
Soh : Last chance to walk away…….
No one spoke.
Soh looked at each of us in the eye, nodding as he did before settling at a empty spot where Eric should have been standing.
Soh : Promise me one thing…… that we all make it back home … promise me….
Everyone nodded and Soh took a deep puff of his cigarette.
Ah peng looked on nervously and asked, clutching his phone with his shaky hands….
Ah Peng : What do we do now????
Soh : Now we wait…….. .now we wait…….
………………………………………………
Thank you for all the comments and for reading my work.
I apologies for being unable to reply to each and everyone but i do read all of them.
Hope you enjoy the read.
Cheers
James
I could not sleep that night.
The humid weather coupled with the buzz of bugs around my ears kept me fidgeting for the better of an hour.
Ah Peng’s place is not a slum but it’s not a luxury resort either.
There were 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms and if you want to go au natural, you can just step out of the house and pick a spot. Hell, you could take a dump by the side and no one will care. Not a single vehicle has passed the road by Peng’s house since delivery by Anurak’s men.
I checked my phone and saw a few messages from Denise. Nothing out of the ordinary, just checking in to see if I’m ok. I told her I’m out for work, will be back in a few days.
My heartbeat was irregular.
Now that the euphoria of the moment has passed, I’m filled with mixed feelings.
One moment I’m hit with all the negative thoughts of what will happen if something goes wrong, what if in the middle of the night, the authorities charge in and arrest all of us ?
What if we are not the only clients Anurak has ? What if he is also dealing with the same assholes that hit us ? Would he sell us out ?
He knows where we stay, just a simple message is all it takes to fuck us up.
What if Ah Peng decides to bail in the middle of the night, disappear altogether ?
Then how ?
I turn to look at Ah Peng who was curled up on the floor beside Soh.
He was wearing a gold watch, I could see the stack of dollar bills he has in his front shirt pocket. He’s got to be loaded from smuggling in shit all these years. He could probably retire somewhere, enjoy the rest of his days but there he was, lying on the same thin mattress on the floor just a few steps away.
I could hear Nelson and Tommy talking in the living room.
They were taking the 1st watch. Soh wanted to make sure no one sneaks up on us, and to make sure Peng don’t run off in the middle of the night.
I adjusted myself and turned to my sides, touching the rifle beside me.
It has to be one of the weirdest feeling ever.
Sleeping on the same mattress with a rifle. I touched the weapon, running my hand down the carrying handle, letting my finger trace all the bumps. I could smell the oil, I could smell that cold musty metallic scent.
Some dogs bark in the distance and it set off a chain reaction with more dogs barking for about a minute or so.
Then for no reason at all, the barking started again, it’s intensity went up a notch before stopping abruptly.
I got up and tried to look out the window but it was pitch dark.
Tommy and Nelson had stopped talking. I crawled on my fours over to the bedroom entrance and I could see the 2 of them peering out the window openings.
Jim : What’s happening ??
Tommy : I don’t know… I can’t see shit….
Nelson : Probably just dogs fucking around….
I went back to the room and somehow manage to fall asleep.
16th March 2017
Thursday
6am
We were woken up by a rooster.
Yeah. A rooster, or a chicken I don’t know.
It started crowing and everyone started to stir.
6.30am
Peng was up and there’s a kettle of water on the stove.
He made 3 in 1 coffee in a large pot and we helped ourselves to the drink.
Stepping out into the wilderness so early in the morning, I shivered as I sipped my coffee.
The air was so fresh that if I closed my eyes, I could practically imagine myself in some exotic island having my holiday.
It brought back memories of my in camp training days.
That aching feeling in your back and bones when you first wake up during your field camp.
7.15am
Rizwan, Soh and Peng took the car and went out to grab breakfast for the group.
We switched on the TV and tried to catch up with the latest news back home.
The dedicated channel was showing re runs of the speech by our prime minister.
Nothing happened the entire day.
Not a single vehicle passed the road too, it’s truly a nice and quiet place to chill out if not for the situation we are in.
We rotated our duties, ate our food, read the papers and we waited.
And we waited.
17th March 2017
Friday
3am
It was my turn to stay up with Rizwan and the distant barking of dogs started to act up again only this time round it lasted only a short while.
I peered out into the dark plantation and I had this uneasy feeling in me.
It’s as if someone or something is watching us.
I shook it off and went back to the couch where Rizwan was taping up his backpack with tape. The metal buckles, the zip, any metallic parts that could reflect light were all covered up with black tape.
Rizwan : You ok bro ?
Jim : Yeah… just a little nervous….
Rizwan : Me too man…. Me too….
8.30am
Peng and Soh were in the midst of unpacking breakfast of fried noodles and roti prata when the phone rang.
Everyone froze for a second and Ah Peng looked at Soh.
Soh put a finger to his mouth, gesturing for everyone to stop whatever they are doing and for Peng to answer the call.
Peng put it on speaker and tried to answer it as naturally as he could.
Peng : Hello…. Yah……
Edward : Peng ……….. where are you…..
Peng : At home……. What is it….
Edward : Which home ? ….
Peng : My old house …. You ask me to wait here right…..
Edward : we need to meet…… I need to get more stuff into Singapore … it’s urgent….
Peng : errr.. Urgent…. But…. But the situation now….
Edward : I’m sure you can do it….. money is not an issue……
Peng : ohh… but it’s still…..
Edward : we have to do it soon….. before Malaysia shuts herself down as well….
Peng : huh ? … what….what do you mean ??
Edward : hahaha.. you will see… I have a surprise for the locals here as well….
The lot of us exchanged looks and I swallowed a gulp of saliva.
Fuck. He’s going to hit Malaysia as well ?
Edward : The same place outside the plantation….. that coffee shop….. we always meet……. You know right….
Peng : Oh… ok… yes….
Edward : It’s not there….. take the same road, go in deeper for about 6-7 km……I’ll see you there later…. 12pm… there’s another makeshift outpost…..but before you turn in…. stop at the coffee shop…..
Peng : oh… why…
Edward : buy coffee la… hahahah….
Peng : Ok…. Ok…
Edward : get 6 coffee…. Black…. And if anyone wants to hitch a ride in….. give them a lift… you understand ??
Peng : Oh…ok… ok….
Edward : don’t be late…. Hahah… you need to try and get my stuff across to Singapore by tomorrow night…. Empty your car boot….. my guys will help you load….. See you later… hahaha….
The line disconnected and Peng immediately ask Soh what to do.
Mohan : We need to tell someone…. Warn someone… if they are going to hit the schools here….. how many more will die ?? … fuck !…
Soh : Tell who ?? …. You tell me… who can we tell ? …. Where can we go ?? ….. who would believe us ?? …..
Soh slammed his palms on the table as he kicked a chair in a frustrated manner.
He paced up and down the room, trying to think.
Peng lit up his cigarette again, puffing so fast that I could see the red glow of the tobacco burn down the length of his fag at twice the normal speed.
Soh took a deep breath as he brushed back his hair.
Soh : We cannot wait… we have to hit them….. we hit them before they make a move….
Jim : How ? …
Soh pointed to Peng and laid out his plans
Soh : One thing at a time…. Peng will go…. And he’ll tell us everything…. How many of them…. Are there….
Soh put his finger to Peng’s chest.
Soh : give me the location…..and when you are there… you will tell me the layout….how many rooms, how many windows, how many doors…. You here me …. Do you ?? Peng !…
Ah Peng nodded as he said he will try.
Peng : i…. I will try….
Soh gestured for a ipad lying on the coffee table and Derrick brought it over.
Soh : Map… map… open up the map…
Soh got Peng to show us the location of the meet on google map.
Peng : We’re here…….. the main road….. over there…. That’s the coffee shop Edward is talking about….
Soh orientated the map and zoom out a little to get a better picture.
Soh : The oil palm plantation is too open….. the might see us coming…. We probably have to bash through the jungle and approach them from the back….
Jim : It’s a long trek….. look…. Using the google map scale as a reference… we’re looking at…. Probably a 4km trek….
Soh : We can’t exactly approach with the vehicle….. Look… there are 2 dirt roads heading into the spot Edward is supposed to be at…… we can take the dirt track , circle around the entire plantation and get there……. There must be a reason why Edward wants Peng to grab the coffee first at the junction…..
Rizwan : It’s a long straight road from the coffee shop all the way in….. the plantation here are all pretty young…… They’ll have a good line of sight to see whoever is entering…. Probably give them ample warning if he see some unwanted guest….
Soh asked Peng about the other dirt road heading in.
Soh : What about here….? No one takes all these back roads ??
Peng : Hardly…. Once in a blue moon….. the dirt road is dry… in this heat… it will kick up a shit load of dust… they’ll be able to see you if you go too close….
Soh took a screen capture of the map and using his finger, he marked out a couple of spots.
Soh : You’ll take this road to the coffee shop later…. This back road….. we’ll follow you…. and we’ll stop here…..this will be our form up point….. any dust you kick up will provide cover for us in case anyone is looking….
Soh marked it out on the map.
Peng will take note of everything he sees along this path, while he makes his way to the coffee shop.
Soh : This spot…….. when we make our move, Peng… I want you to park right here tonight…. At this junction….. when we are done… we give you the signal … you will come in and pick us up….use the truck…. You car won’t be able to fit us all….
Peng nodded.
Soh : Straight road in…. direct to the house…. Come in only when we give you the signal… not too early… not too late…
Peng ; Ok… ok… can…
Soh : we have a total for 5 vehicles in this compound…. 2 of our SUVs, Peng’s truck and his car…. And the one that delivered the rifles… that’s probably stolen….we’ll need to get rid of that as well….
Soh took a deep breath and lit up a cigarette.
Soh : Clear the SUVs and the stolen car from this compound…. Peng… show us somewhere to park them….
Peng : My neighbour… down by the other street…. He comes back only once a year… we can park it behind his place…. This one…
Peng pointed to a smaller house we passed by on the way in. He asked us to just go ahead and take the car into his compound and parked it behind the building.
Peng : you’ll have to double park… but you cannot see it from the main road….
Soh : ok good….. Mohan… take Rizwan and Nelson… you guys load up some water into the truck… later when Peng makes a move… you follow behind… go to the FUP……. Check out the surroundings….. I want pictures, videos… whatever is there… I want to see it…
Mohan nodded.
Soh designated 2 large carton boxes in the living room.
Soh ; Everything… every fuck thing you wore including your underwear, gloves…. Goes inside there… we’ll burn it when we’re all changed after we get back..….
All of us nodded and I could feel my heart beating faster. It’s finally happening.
Soh : We’ll spilt up into 2 groups after we’re done……. Group one will head straight to the coast where the mangrove swamps are…. that’s where we will dispose of the rifle…. I saw a spot this morning ….that will work… group 2 come straight back to Peng’s house to wash up and change..….. there after… go get our SUVs from the neighbour’s place….. clear ?
Everyone nodded.
Me, Soh, Derrick and Tommy will be in group 1
Mohan, Rizwan, Nelson will be in group 2.
Soh : We’ll head back over the border in the same pairs and groups… using the same checkpoints…after everyone is back…. Any questions ??
Soh wanted us to pack up the place.
Soh : Clear your shit…. Everything…. Everything you don’t need goes into the SUV…. When we bail we got to hit the road fast…..keep only your spare set of clothes….
All of us sprang into action.
10.00am
Soh : Ok…. We’re shifting the vehicles… Peng, Jim… you stay here ….…. Rizwan , Mohan… 1 SUV each…. Derrick, take the durian car…. Nelson , Tommy, take Peng’s car and truck….. go fill it up…. I saw the gas is low when we bought breakfast this morning…. Move !..
After hiding the extra vehicles, the guys will wait for Nelson and Tommy to be back from the gas station and hitch a ride back to Peng’s place.
The guys cleared out within seconds leaving only the 3 of us in the house.
Peng : SOh… i… I very scare leh… how… how…
Soh : Fuck you… you think I not scare ah…. I also scare ah !
Peng : KNN… this time… this time really hong gan.. ( gone fuck ) already….
Soh : don’t worry… we’ll get them… we’ll get them….
10.30am
There’s a fallen tree behind Peng’s neighbour’s place, it’s blocking the clearing where they were supposed to park. Mohan text Soh to say that they’ll take care of it.
10.45am
We were done at the house. I had stashed all our weapons in a crate under the bed together with each of our backpacks. I stacked up the mattress into a corner and tried to tidy up the bedroom.
Soh was trying to follow up on the latest news from the crank TV.
I looked out the window of the bedroom and I could see a cloud of dust being kicked up the dirt road a distant away.
The guys must be coming back.
I was about to look away when I paused.
Mohan and guys were still clearing the fallen tree, it’s a bit too fast to be done so soon.
I peered out once more and I realised that there were 3 motor bikes heading down the road to Ah Peng’s place.
I dashed out to the living room and told Soh about what I saw.
Peng : Are you sure ???
Peng ran to the window and take a look.
Soh : fuck…. Are they coming here ??
Peng : I don’t know… there’s really no reason for them to take this road…. It leads nowhere….
The motorcycles got closer and closer. Then we saw them slow down.
Jim : They’re slowing down.. they’re coming here…. Fuck…. Look’s like the party is going to start a bit early….
Soh : No.. Jim… calm down….
Peng : How Soh.. how ??? fuck !!.. how ?? they will surely ask me….. why are you doing here…
Soh asked Peng to calm down.
Soh : calm down… … relax… you are supposed to meet them at their place… not here… just say you rented the place to us….
Peng : What ? …
Soh : There is nothing wrong…. We need a place to lay low or something.. you rented it to us….we are just tenants…
Peng caught on to what Soh was trying to say and he nodded nervously.
Soh called Mohan and told him to stay put and to get in touch with the refuelling team as well. Everyone was to hold their position while we ride this one out.
The bikers turned into the compound and switched off their engine.
I tried to act casual and pulled out some snacks and water.
Peng was literally shaking.
I jabbed him in his sides.
Jim : Peng !!!…
Peng : yah ??
Jim : Relax… say we stay here on and off…. And that we are part of your crew….
Peng : huh ??
Jim : To help move stuff into Singapore ….
Peng’s eyes lit up as he nodded his head eagerly, accepting that the story I offered was a better one that Soh cooked up.
There was a total of 6 men at the door, their helmets still on.
They fanned out, 2 went to the back of the house while the rest stayed at the main entrance.
Peng went to the door and asked what they wanted.
Peng : What is it… who are you ??
The 1st biker removed the helmet and gave Peng a wide grin.
Edward : PENG !!!how are you !!!
Peng : Edward ??? what are you here ?? I thought we are meeting at 12pm ??
Edward grinned as Peng opened the door to welcome him into the house.
That name.
I finally could put a face to that name.
That man was the one responsible for all this.
If not for him, dozens of people would still be alive. I felt this twitch in my right index finger, the twitch that made me wish I could fucking gun him down on the spot right there and then.
The moment the door opened , Edward paused. He eyed Soh and me suspiciously as we ate the snacks on the table.
I stared at Edward in his eyes and I felt the spark of fire being lit in my belly.
Edward.
He’s tall, 1.8m at least and he’s well built. He definitely hits the gym often, I could tell from his well sculpted arms and chest. He had this cocky look on his face.
His skin is tanned, I don’t think he is Chinese, probably mixed blood. His jawline is a little squarish, and as if his cocky face is not bad enough, he has that sideway glance.
That sideway glance that is a sure ticket to trouble if you are at the wrong place staring down the wrong crowd.
Edward : Peng ….. Who are they ??
I lost my cool for a moment and I replied before Peng did, suddenly realising I was dangerously close to breaking out into a all-out brawl with Edward.
Jim : And who the fuck are you….!!…
I angled my body towards him and our eyes met.
Soh touched me on my arm and I could see Peng on the verge of breaking down beside me and it took everything I had to keep my cool.
I turned to Ah Peng and literally shouted at him.
Jim : Peng !!!… what is this… you said no one will come here…. Who the fuck are they..??
Peng was at a loss for words at my sudden outburst and I quickly went on.
Jim : You know the risk we are taking now ??? bringing your shit into Singapore…. Do you know how hard it is to do it??? !!!… we agreed no 3rd parties !!…now the whole fucking village knows who we are…… who the fuck are they ??
Peng gasped and I saw him stand up, laughing nervously as he tried to diffuse the situation.
Peng : brother… relax.. he’s the client….. he’s the client… hahaha…
Jim : Peng… I say many times already…. I only deal with you…
Peng quickly turned to Edward.
Peng : Edward.. they’re my crew… can Chiong one…. Oh… by the way… why are you here ??… I thought we are meeting at your place…. That’s why… that’s why I got them here to discuss something….
Edward’s demeanour changed immediately as he broke into a smile.
Edward : yo brother…. Hahahahah…. So you all are the ones doing the dirty work… hahaha…. Well done man… hahaha… have you seen the news ?? … hahaha have you seen what I have accomplished ??? hahaha
Behind his laughs I could see he had an ulterior motive. His men did not even move, their helmets are still on. He wanted to see our reaction.
Edward gesture to his men and they removed their helmets. I looked at each and every one of them, burning their images into my head.
Everyone.
Every single one.
Edward gestured to a tablet one of his men was carrying and he turned it to face us.
He started the video player. I felt my toes scrunched up in my boots as I tried my very best to hold it in.
That video was taken across the road from where Eric died.
Edward : see … see… come.. I show you….see… this is the 1st master piece….
I could see the shaky camera trying to focus on the childcare.
I could not even clench my fist for fear of giving myself away.
Edward : look… look… this car… fuck… park here… block our view… hahaha… hahha..
The fire in my belly started burning as I looked at that car.
That is our car, the one that Eric was driving.
I could feel a lump in my throat as a face came into view, I recognised him as one of the guys standing behind Edward.
Edward : see… see this one…. Jamin…. He’s the first to kick off… hahaha…haha…
I watched in horror as Jamin put himself in the selfie video, holding up a phone as he grin and hit a button on the phone.
There was a 2 second pause before the camera shook violently as the childcare was engulfed in smoke. Laughter broke out in the video as Jamin giggled and laugh, trying to take a selfie of the childcare covered in smoke in the background.
That fucker is clearly mad.
He’s giggling on the screen as if this was some practical joke he played on his friends or something. Jamin did a victory sign with his fingers before the video cuts off.
Edward : nice ?? I have many more you know… you want to see?? I show you ?? you want to see ?? hahaha…
Edward immediately played the video of a group of kids crying on the floor. Then my heart fucking dropped when a masked man jumped in from nowhere and stomped a little boy on his stomach.
Then another jumped in and kicked a little girl on her face.
I squeezed my toes so hard that I thought my toes would break. I tried to work out how much time it would take me to run into the fucking room to pull out my rifle and just pump this fucker full of lead.
I could not care it was in broad daylight.
I never felt such an urge to take another human being’s life before.
Edward: hahaha..hahahahha.. look..look… hahaha see….see….
A childcare teacher dashed into the frame , trying to shield the screaming kids with her body.
Then a masked men grabbed her by her hair, and slit her throat, orientating her burst vessel towards the toddlers, spraying them with her blood.
Edward : fuck man.. this is classic… ahhaha..haha.. I have more… nice right…
Soh turned towards Edward and cursed at him.
Soh : Fuck you…. you hear me…. Fuck you ….
One of Edward’s man walked forward but was stopped by Edward as he eyed Soh with a grin.
Edward : hahaha.. good !….. good !…. hahaha.. that’s the reaction I want…. Yes … hahahaha…. That’s normal… hahaha.. that’s normal….
Turning to Ah Peng, Edward shook his finger at him.
Edward : If it was Peng answering me…. he would surely smile… try to bring it across with nervous laughter… trying to pretend it did not bother him at all…. But you… hahaha… I like your frankness….hahah… it’s normal…. Hahahahaha.. it’s normal to be angry… hahaha…
Soh : Yeah…. Well you can go fuck yourself….
Edward : Isn’t it beautiful ?? … like a work of art ?? hahah.. haha..
Soh slammed his palm on the table and stood up.
I got up as well and shouted at Peng.
Jim : Peng…. This is not what we agreed…. Our stand is the same… we only deal with you….you mentioned this will be the last big one ….. that’s why we’re here…. Get this fucker out of our sight….
Edward : hahahaha… chill man… you are too tensed up…. Hahaha…haha.. they are just kids… noisy…. Irritating kids…. Strawberry generation… useless one… only know how to play ipad… hahaha..
Peng : Relax.. relax… guys…… I’ll sort this out…. Edward… what’s the deal man …. So we still meeting at your place or not ?? don’t come and fuck up my business…
Edward : Well…. I just wanted to drop by…. And … you know…. Say hi…because you see….tskk tsk….
Edward walked around the living room, looking around Peng’s house.
Edward : and to also look for my men….
Peng : What are you talking about ?? look for who ??
Edward grinned.
Edward : I know you arrived here a couple of nights ago…. So i…. I sent a man down to take a look….. but…..
Peng : but what ? ….
Edward : but he disappeared…
Peng : What ??
Edward : then I sent another one last night….
Peng : What the fuck ??
My heart was thumping. If Edward had people watching us, he would know. He would know we have more men somewhere, but what the fuck is he talking about.
What men ?
We didn’t see shit.
No one even came along the road.
Was this the reason why the dogs were barking in the middle of the night ? Was it because of the men Edward sent ?
If so, then where the fuck are they ?
Edward : but he’s gone too….. this worries me… that’s why… I’m here to take a look… and see if they are here… hahahaha..hahah…
Peng : What are you talking about ?? … no one came… there’s only us here….
The 2 men than fanned towards the back of the house entered, shaking their head at Edward.
Edward : well… I don’t know…. I just don’t feel good when my men go missing…. Hahah..hahah…
Edward grinned and he looked around once more.
Edward : I have a question…. I don’t see any cars outside…. How did you all get here ar ?? hahahah…
Soh : It’s none of your business….
Peng : haiyah… haiyah…. Edward !!!…… CHEE BYE LAAA!!! .. what is this man…. They came by car…. I also got my driver here just now…..
Peng lit a cigarette and spoke in an exasperated manner.
Peng : I need to talk shop with them…… I ask my driver and their driver fuck off… go pump petrol… and shit… if not how to talk…. Then now you fucking come in and fuck up my whole meeting….. I was supposed to iron out the details with them so they can standby to move your shit….!!
I looked at Peng who inhaled such a deep puff of his cigarette that he built up a good cm of ash at the end.
That came out pretty well.
Edward grinned
His grin looked like that ugly painted clown’s face at some cheap carnival van. I fucking want to punch his face in.
Edward : alright… fine… hahaha… maybe it’s just me being paranoid… hahah.. hahah….i’ll see you later ok… haha… oh and guys… sorry ah… ahhaha
Edward gave us a mock salute.
Edward : Bring my stuff in properly ok ?? … hahaha… it’s important… hahaha
Edward told Peng that he will see him at the meeting spot at 12pm.
Edward : maybe my men chicken out at the last minute perhaps…. Hahahah.. after all… my next present will be a lot bigger… hahahaha…..maybe they decided to bail… hahaha….
Edward gestured for his men to leave and we looked at them start up the engine of their motorcycle and went back the way they came.
I could feel myself holding my breath and when they were finally out of sight. I lost it but Soh lost it first.
He shouted like a wounded animal, flipping the table in the middle of the room before lifting the chair and smashing it against the door.
Soh : I’m going to kill that motherfucker. !!!! I’m going to squeeze the life out of him with my bare hands… !!!! FUCK!!!
It took a while for Soh to calm down and we waited a few more minutes before calling the rest of the guys back.
I updated the team what happened and everyone was perplexed as well.
Rizwan : What ? but… we didn’t see anyone… no cars or motorcycle passed us either…
Mohan : maybe the dogs ate them…. Mother fuckers….
I sighed and looked out into the plantation. Come nightfall, you really can’t see shit out there.
Well, on the bright side, Edward has 2 fewer men for us to deal with.
11.30am
The team proceeded as plan and Peng went for the meeting while the rest of us waited.
12.45pm
Peng text us to let us know he’s on his way back.
I finished up my 1.5 litre of water and Derrick immediately passed me another one.
We’re all adults, no need to remind us to hydrate ourselves. We all know what we are going to be up against.
It’s going to be one hell of a night for us.
1.20pm
Peng got back from the meeting and he updated us what happened.
Peng : Edward…. Edward wants us to move 2 large boxes of improvised explosives… they’re all in the car….
Soh : what ? good… give them all to me !!! … I’ll fucking blow his fucking head off…
Peng shook his head.
Peng : It’s of no use… they’re all not fixed yet… just a mess of different bits and parts…. But he says its important…. That he can make a dozen of them with the parts…. He still has some leftover stockpile in the country…
Soh : what else ??
Peng told us the house he went to had 8 men excluding Edward.
5 of which came along today with Edward.
The other 3 back in the house looked like students.
Peng : probably I don’t know… 15, 16 years old….. they…. They are all armed…. I saw guns… glimpse of it…
Soh : Go on…
Peng : There’s a girl in the house… or maybe more than one… I don’t know… they have someone in the room… I can hear the girl crying…. She was being raped …. I don’t know…
The group grew silent as we listened to Peng. He drew a picture and fed us the information in bits and pieces, whatever his memory could call up, he would tell us.
By the time he was done, it was 2.15pm
We filled out stomachs and tried to drink as much water as we could.
We took turns to catch a quick nap. The trek through the jungle is going to take it’s toll on our body.
4km is probably a leisure 45 minutes walk if we were in the city.
4km in a tropical jungle, it’s going to take us easily 90 mins or more depending on the terrain.
11.30pm
Everyone was up and ready to move out.
We loaded up into Peng’s truck in the pitch darkness. Soh strapped a torchlight at the bottom of the bonnet, illuminating just the small patch of ground in front of the truck, give and take 2 metres or so.
No one spoke during the short drive to the designated location.
We reached the bent where the road turns left and all of us unloaded.
I checked my phone, reception is still good. Even my google map works and I could make out a rough indication of where we are.
We drank up again and I checked my rifle one last time. All good.
Tommy was the first to cock his rifle.
I pulled the charging handle as well, chambering a round into my weapon, and flicking the lever to safe.
All of us were dressed in long pants and long sleeve work shirts. Those thick grey and dark coloured work clothes you typically see construction workers in. Soh handed out tubes of camouflage cream and we all knew what to do.
I smeared my face with the cream, taking in that familiar smell. There was no need for a mirror, I’ve done this enough times to know what to do.
I pulled on my glove and adjusted my backpack. There was nothing much in it, just 2 full bottles of water, a small first aid kit which is pretty much useless. What can plaster, zambak, and mopiko do anyway.
A click of the tongue was all we need to start moving .
Mohan moved first, his machete cutting a path from the road we were at into the forest.
I went next, followed by Rizwan, Tommy, Nelson, Soh, with Derrick taking up the rear.
We were lucky the terrain was pretty much flat, at least for the 1st km or so.
Still, it was fucked up.
That humidity of the jungle made my shirt heavy with sweat to stick on my body. Mosquitoes buzzed around my ears.
We made detours after detours when the trees and shrubs were too closely packed together to even hack our way through.
Palms with spike like needles branched out like the tentacles of a forest monster. I could hear the occasional curse when someone slipped, missed a footing, or held onto a branch he should not have.
Some portions we literally had to squeeze out bodies through thick undergrowth of bushy shrubs. Veins like branches of trees stabbed into the ground like the bars of a prison, forcing us to turn away.
1 hour in and we just covered slightly less than 2km.
We took a break and by then all of us were panting.
Fuck, we are no longer the 18 year old we used to be. Soh was panting and wheezing, years of neglect to his body coupled with heavy smoking was finally rearing it’s ugly head.
After a 10 minutes break, we carried on.
The jungle is pretty noisy at night. The call of the insects, the belch of toads. You could also hear the occasional scurrying of footsteps.
You will hear weird noises, you’ll see weird shadows.
Your mind will play tricks on you.
Mohan paused as he tried to see if he could cut down the palm in front of us.
I saw a clearing to his left and I tried to move forward and it was a mistake.
Jim : arghh.. fuck !..
Mohan chuckled as I felt the scratch of the angry spider run across my face and head before disappearing into a nearby bush.
The spiderweb I walked into is huge, probably spanning across a carpark lot. I wiped the mesh of spiderweb off my face.
The web isn’t those thin wispy strands you get at home. It’s thick, it’s sticky and dotted with the crispy shell and carcasses of insects. I wiped it down and I could rolled it into a thick later of silicon like gel. Even then, it took a bit of slinging and wiping to get it off me.
Mohan : why you use your face to go and fuck the spider Jim ? hahah..
Jim : fuck you… no wonder you didn’t go there…
Mohan : Fuck that spider is like the side of my head la dey….
He chuckled and a click of the tongue from Soh was all it took to remind us why we are there that night.
We continued our trek through the jungle. Mohan checked the bearing on his compass every once in a while to make sure we are heading towards the right bearing.
I don’t know how long it was or how far we had gone when there was a commotion from behind the column.
Everyone halted, rifle at the ready.
It was Soh.
He had collapsed .
Mohan : we’re close… lower your volume… fan out…
Nelson and Tommy dragged Soh to the middle of the group while, Derrick, Mohan, Rizwan and me each covered a quadrant , forming a protective circle of sort.
Nelson : Soh… Soh.. you ok ?/ SOh???
Soh panted really hard, he was wheezing for air.
We gave him some water and helped him to sit up.
Soh : I can… I still can…. I want to kill that mother fucker…
Tommy gave us a signal, shaking his head slightly to say that Soh is out of the game.
Soh : I can… you fucker… I still can… wheezzz.. wheeszzz.. wheezz…
Mohan : SHHHH!!!
Mohan’s sudden warning drew a blanket of silence across the lot of us.
I was too afraid to even breathe as I clutched my weapon tighter, trying to make out what was happening.
Mohan pointed out what he saw. I could see it.
There was the flicker of lights perhaps 50 metres or so ahead of us.
Jim : Nelson… stay with Soh….
He nodded and he dragged Soh against a large root of a tree.
I was closer to the direction of the light and I took point.
Each step I took, my heart seemed to beat a little faster.
My throat was parched dry despite me drinking shit loads of water.
As I got closer and closer to the light, I could hear voices.
The jungle thin out, it was not as dense.
I could hear men laughing, singing.
I could see the clearing surrounding the house.
Mohan came up beside me and he nodded his head, indicating that we’re here.
I pointed to my sides as the group of us spread out, finding a appropriate cover.
18th March 2017
Saturday
2am
I could still hear music and loud laughter coming from the house.
Cheers rang out every now and then.
We’re right there, right in front of the fucking house.
This is it.
Then what ?
Then what ?
Good question.
I never thought about this before I got there.
What do we do now?
I can’t fucking spray the house with bullets, if what Peng said was true, they’re a woman inside.
I looked to my friends, they all had eyes on the house as well but no one seemed to know what to do either.
It’s like we were all waiting.
Waiting for something to happen.
Suddenly there was the spill of light into the clearing. The backdoor to the house was opened and 2 men walked out, talking at the top of their voices. They lit up a cigarette and laughed.
One more man came out, he was agitated and angry.
I could hear the screams of a woman. Another man dragged the woman out by her hair.
She begged for him to stop but he just slapped her.
As if that was not bad enough, a little boy ran out.
He went over to the woman, I could hear him crying for his mummy as he hugged onto her.
Then I watched another man come out of the house, he was carrying a infant.
Woman : no !!! NO!!! NO!!! please !!! NO!!! I already did what you asked me to !!! NO!! please !!! AHHHHHHHHHH….
The screams of the woman pierced the peacefulness of the jungle.
Little boy : Mama!!!! MAMA!!!!! MAMA!!!!….
That man holding the baby. I could make out his features.
Jamin.
That fucker.
I bit down on my teeth as I watch him pushed his lighted cigarette onto the infant.
The screams perforated my ear drums as squeezed down on my rifle’s handguard.
I could feel the pain from that helpless infant he was carrying and the anguish the mother was experiencing.
Then I watched Jamin lift the infant up above his head.
I immediately brought my rifle up to my shoulder and took aim but Mohan came and stopped me.
Mohan : JIM…JIM!!.. it’s too far.. it’s too far… you might hit the baby…. You might hit the baby…
My heart was thumping so fast. I was breathing through my mouth.
Then there was this sickening crack followed by the painful screams of a heart broken mother.
I shuddered and fell onto my buttocks as I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
The infant was no longer crying and the mother was hugging onto the bundle of lifeless baby.
The little boy was crying and rubbing his eyes.
WHAM!! WHAM!!!
The 2 loud report from the gun really woke me up.
It was like a slap in my face as I shuddered.
There was no hesitation.
Jamin just fired point blank at the mother and the little boy.
Mohan too was shocked beyond words as he covered his mouth.
The men finished their smokes and went back into the house.
It took me a good 10 minutes to recover from the shock.
The lights in the house went off.
The music stopped.
The jungle was quiet.
The crickets stopped singing.
The calls of mating insects came to a halt.
There was nothing. I could hear nothing except the howl of the wind from the clearing.
It’s like as if the jungle went silent, sobbing quietly for the mother and her defenceless child.
I looked at the clearing and felt a weird pain in my heart. I could see the bodies.
The mother cradling her children.
Suddenly I realise something.
My heart was no longer beating faster than normal.
My eyes, they had adjusted fully to the dark.
My breathing, regulated and calm.
I dropped my backpack onto the ground with a thud, and slipped my spare magazine into my back pocket. 20 rounds in each magazine, I have 40 shots in all.
I heard a few other thuds and realised my friends were doing the same thing.
I took a step forward, from my peripheral sight I could see my friends moving in as well.
Closer and closer, step by step we came right up to the edge of the clearing.
One more step, one more step we would all be out in the open.
Nothing between us and them.
I hesitated for a moment and I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I turned and saw it was Rizwan.
He gave me a squeeze and a smile.
I smiled as well, to myself that is.
How true the words of the song we sang.
Right here at that moment, I had my rifle and my buddy, and me.
My right thumb fingered the textured lever just within reach, feeling the grooved metal.
CLICK!
That click
That metallic click. A sound I would never forget.
CLICK,,,,,CLICK…..CLICK…………………CLICK CLICK CLICK…..
I smiled again , the foreign sound that don’t belong to the jungle as we switched our rifle out from safe mode.
I exhaled brought my weapon up and lined up my sight.
Stepping out into the clearing, I felt the gentle caress of the cold wind on my face.
I don’t know what will happen.
I know I’m a long long way from home. ….
I know I miss my daughter so. …
My friends and I closed in on the house, accompanied only by the constant cold wind on our backs.
And the cold wind blows.
And the cold wind blows……………..
…………………………..
Thank you for all the kind words of support and comments.
It’s a difficult piece to write, i’ve never written a story of this genre before.
Was still worried if i could bring out the flavor and emotions i want readers to experience.
I know some scenes are sick but while working on the plot, i asked myself a very simple question.
What would it take for a rationale, law abiding man like me to break every single rule there is ? The only thing i can think of is revenge.
And what would break my heart so much that i would go all out to get the people responsible. The answer would be kids.
I love kids, and as a father myself, i too teared every time i edited the drafts.
Everytime i edit the scenes, i would get affected emotionally.
I think i attracted a few stares from retirees when i edited the drafts in the library. They must be thinking that i’m weird, typing away on the keyboard and wiping my eyes with a tissue.
Probably think i’m awfully late for a report or something. haha.
I hope you enjoyed the read so far.
It’s not meant to be a long piece. There’s a few more updates before it wraps up.
Hopefully sometime in the future, i can write something that is not purely erotic in nature.
I apologize if reading this makes you uncomfortable. It’s meant to be uncomfortable, a little thought provoking perhaps ?
I think sometimes in the hustle and bustle of city life, we forget about the skills we learn back in the army days.
Writing this brought back some nice memories with my friends, buddies and brothers.
Most of my friends and me included can be pretty anal when it comes to NS and ICT. I would be the one to say it’s a waste of time, IPPT, no use…. ICT, affect my performance review and deprive me of time with family….go in camp…. wait and wait…. wait for book out….2 weeks inside there…. eat, sleep, go emart… haha
Everyone says shit like this, but i believe deep down somewhere, we appreciate the skills we picked up.
We value the friendships we cultivated over the years.
And when the time comes, if need be, we would do the right thing.
Anyway, this is a work of fiction. I hope it kept you entertained on your way to work.
Next couple of post will offer a glimpse into another full length work i’m setting up for the 2nd half of 2018.
Happy 2018.
This will be a good year for all.
Huat ah !
Cheers
James
Every step I took felt heavy.
I could see the stumps of fallen trees on the ground, the clearing was made not too long ago. Probably a couple of months before.
Like a noose tightening around the neck of a condemned prisoner, we closed in , maintain an arc as we got closer and closer to the side of the house.
As I got closer, I could see it in more detail.
It might look like your typical timber hut in the middle of the plantation but it’s not. It’s a concrete structure with timber panelling on the walls. Some of the walls were still exposed and bare.
Stacks of wood lay on the ground, probably waiting for workers to layer them onto the building. I was barely 25 meters away from the house.
It was pitch dark inside the house. Everyone must have turned in for the night.
I already knew what I wanted to do.
Charge in, shoot anyone that resists and round up those that didn’t. Check if there were any other hostages around, beat the fuck out of the men that I didn’t shoot for information.
Then I’ll shoot them.
Before I could carry on my line of thought, my heart skipped a beat as the door opened again.
A man walked out, talking to the one behind him.
I froze for a moment as my index finger left the trigger guard and wrapped around the cold steel trigger of my weapon.
There was no way I could miss at this distance but there was that moment of hesitation.
I could hear the metallic fling of a zippo lighter as the man behind the 1st lit up his cigarette, the naked flame illuminating his face.
The moment I registered that face, I lost it.
I fucking lost it and I was not the only one.
Mohan’s roar ceded any tactical advantage we had and I saw Jamin’s eyes widen before pushing his friend out in front of him as he ducked down for cover.
The entire forest erupted with gunfire as my friends and I fired upon the doorway.
The recoil of my weapon punched into my shoulder as I fired round after round at the man who was already on the ground. The fresh smell of blood carried into my nose as I registered the dismembered corpse of the fucker on the floor.
His right hand was ripped from his shoulder while a quarter of his face was blown off, leaving a cavity where his cheeks should have been.
I quickened my pace as I advanced towards the doorway.
I could hear Jamin shouting as he tried to kick the door close.
Wood splinters chipped and flew as Mohan and I were the first to reach the front of the door.
Rizwan was shouting for the rest of watch their line of fire.
My ears were ringing as we shouted to communicate. Firing without a earplug could easily wreak havoc to your eardrums.
Before we could we fight our way in, the windows lining the length of the house opened up with a loud slam.
A total of 3 windows opened up and I could hear Tommy shout for cover as Rizwan shoved me onto the ground.
There was a return of rapid fire from the windows and tracer rounds lit up the night skies.
Young trees with trunks barely 2 inches thick were split apart as the rounds cut right through them.
Rizwan : FUCK!!
I looked up and I could hear the men in the house shouting as well.
There was mass confusion on their end and on our end as well.
It’s worse than a fucking mass orgy.
Mohan crawled out of their field of fire and he started shooting through another set of windows from the other elevation of the house.
Mohan : Fuck you !!! fuck you ALLL!!!
I looked up and I saw Tommy trying to hug the ground as the tracer rounds flew dangerously close to his position.
Jim : Give Tommy some cover !!!!
I brought my weapon up and aimed it at the muzzle flashes form the window.
Another click from the push of my thumb and I switched the rifle to fire at automatic.
I squeezed the trigger, feeling a succession of recoil hit my shoulder. Rizwan and Derrick joined me as we laid down a hail of bullets towards the window.
The angle was wrong, we were fucking panicking.
The shooters in the house were panicking too.
It’s not hard to tell everyone of us is doing this for the first time.
What do you expect ?
That we magically become some special ops personnel capable of doing headshots in the dark ?
From their elevated position in the house, the men fired randomly, shouting and cursing into the jungle beyond.
For us, we were trying to shoot inside the house from below, most of our shots ended up on the ceiling.
The timber door was transformed into a beehive with dozens of holes being drilled into it from both sides.
Tracer rounds came from inside the house while we fired what we could from the outside.
This is not working.
Suddenly I could hear the rumble of a truck. It was sounding it’s horn rapidly as well.
The rapid honk probably a signal of sort to the men trapped in the house that help was on it’s way.
Fuck, they probably had more men stationed at the coffeeshop along the main road. They would definitely hear the gunfire from their location.
It’s like fucking national day with fireworks going off.
Rizwan : Tommy ! get the fuck out of there !!
Tommy got up and ran towards us as we laid down more cover towards the windows.
The firing stopped for a brief moment and I could hear them cursing as they reloaded their weapon.
Jim : Get back to the treeline…. We’re exposed out here !…
We would only have a small window of opportunity to turn back. Rizwan took a kneeling position and started firing a series of shots at the window.
RIzwan : GO!!
The lot of us ran towards the treeline, I stopped about 4-5 meters behind Rizwan and took a knee as well.
Wham !…WHaM!!..
I took over the role of providing cover as I shouted for my buddy to start running.
The clearing lit up almost immediately after Rizwan started running.
It was like watching a star wars movie as the tracer rounds flew and embedded itself into the trees and shrubs around us.
Jim : GO !!! GO GO !!!
I squeezed the trigger again and again until I heard the snap of the bolt as I sent the last round in the magazine towards the house.
I heard Mohan shouting for me to start running from behind me and I took off as fast as I can.
We were lucky it was fucking dark.
The men inside the house were shooting randomly. Some of their tracers flew so high it went up and above the crown of the trees.
As I turned to run, my body moved on it’s own.
Or rather my hands moved in it’s own.
With a simple press of the lever right within reach of my right index finger, the empty magazine fell onto the ground the same time I reached for my spare magazine in my pocket.
I could hear the shouts of them men that just arrived.
I could even hear the heavy slam of them closing their car door.
Slapping the magazine into my weapon, I hit the ease spring, chambering a fresh round into my weapon as I dashed past Mohan who immediately got up as well as we ran back to the safety of the jungle.
We hardly had time to take a breather as we tried to regroup.
Rizwan : JIM.. here !!.. over here !!…
Mohan : where’s Derrick ?? where are you.. ?
Derrick : I’m here… I’m here… !…
Jim : Tommy …. Where the fuck is Tommy ??
The voices were getting louder. Strong beams of torch light pierce into the jungle as we immediately slammed our bodies to the ground as one such beam sliced across the area we were standing barely seconds ago.
Mohan : fuck !…. there’s at least 8 or 9 more of them.
I could hear the people in the house shouting at those that just arrive.
“fucking find them and kill them …fUCK!! FUCK!!”
Jim : Tommy … where are you Tommy !!..
We heard a groan and a gasp from a distance away and my heart dropped.
I saw a figure moving and I crawled towards the slight depression on the jungle floor filled with dried and decaying leaves.
Jim : No… no FUCK..no!!
Tommy was pressing onto his shoulder and his face was pale.
Tommy : I’m…. I’m sorry man…. I’m sorry…