It was raining hard when Faith finally
arrived in Melbourne. Her Army Air Corps Hudson transport touched
down at a small suburban airfield at Moorabbin around mid-morning.
The airfield was about ten miles away from the hospital at Richmond
but as luck would have it there were two servicemen aboard the
aircraft going there for treatment and Faith was offered a lift in
a car sent to pick them up.
At the hospital Faith was referred to the
nursing sister in charge of Dan’s ward. When she explained that she
had travelled from Brisbane to visit Dan, the sister said she could
see him right away.
‘Most of us on this ward have heard about
you, Miss Brodie,’ the sister said on their way down a wide
corridor to Dan’s room. ‘With so many of our patients being
long-term and so far away from home they tend to confide in the
nursing staff. I know Captain Rivers will be delighted to see you.
Especially now, with his roommate of the past few months heading
back to the States today.’
As Faith and the sister approached Dan’s
room, a tall young man stepped out through the doorway. He looked
resplendent in the uniform of a United States Marine Corps officer.
Then Dan appeared in the corridor behind him. He was wearing
pajamas and a dressing gown. The two men shook hands firmly, making
their farewells. As Major Freeman turned to leave, Dan turned and
was stunned to see Faith. She had often wondered how they would
react to seeing each other again. Now, the look on his face told
her everything and she felt her heartbeat quicken as any lingering
doubts about her own feelings towards him disappeared.
Dan moved quickly to Faith and embraced
her.
‘You must be Faith, ‘Major Freeman said when
they drew apart. ‘Now, at last I can put a face to your name.’ He
smiled approvingly. ‘And I can see everything Dan told me about you
was true.’
‘Come on, Major,’ the sister said. ‘Let’s
leave these two alone.’ She smiled and took Freeman by the arm.
‘I’ll take you to discharge. You may need help getting through the
sea of broken hearts you’re leaving here.’
As soon as Dan and Faith were alone, they
went inside the room and embraced again and kissed. Then Dan took
Faith’s hand and led her over to the easy chairs beside the window.
Outside, the rain lashed hard against the glass.
‘It’s so wonderful to see you, Faith,’ he
said as they sat down. ‘What is it that brings you to
Melbourne?’
Faith squeezed Dan’s hand. ‘To see you of
course and it’s wonderful to see you looking so much better.’
‘You should have told me you were coming’
‘I didn’t know myself until a few days ago. I
just had some time off coming and the Army Air Corps was kind
enough to supply the transport.’
Dan grinned. ‘Courtesy of the resourceful
Staff Sergeant Welenski, I suppose.’
Faith nodded. ‘He’s been a good friend to us,
Dan.’
‘I was hoping to meet him and thank him for
all he did for me in Brisbane. But there was no time then. My
transfer here was so sudden. But perhaps I’ll be able to see him
soon.’
‘Oh. Are you being discharged?’
‘Yes’
‘When?’
‘The doctors say probably in just a few
weeks—Christmas at the latest.’
‘That’s wonderful news.’ Faith looked away
and stared at the rivulets of water streaming down the window pane.
‘And is everything all right? I mean, I sensed from your letters
that you’re worried about side effects of your medication. You
mentioned the doctors were running some tests.’ She turned her eyes
back to Dan. ‘How did everything turn out?’
‘They haven’t completed the tests yet. I
won’t know until I leave the hospital. The only thing for sure is
that I’ll be discharged from the service, because either way, I’ll
need ongoing medical treatment for a very long time.’
‘You’ll be fine, Dan,’ Faith said
reassuringly. ‘I can see this is a wonderful hospital. When you
leave here you’ll be fit as a fiddle, just like your friend Major
Freeman.’
Dan smiled wryly.
‘I suppose you’ll be going home to New Mexico
when you leave the hospital?’
‘Not necessarily.’ He took both her hands in
his. ‘I’ve been thinking of getting my discharge in Australia and
starting a construction business here. But I’d only want to do that
if I had you, Faith. And it wouldn’t be fair to ask you to make any
commitments until I get a clean bill of health. I wouldn’t ask you
to marry me if I wasn’t a whole man. And besides, perhaps I have no
right to ask you at all. I sensed from your letters that there may
be someone else. Is there?’
‘I started seeing someone after you were
reported missing, Dan. He’s a nice man. We still go out but I’ve
told him I’m not interested in anything serious. And he knows all
about you.’
Dan wanted to ask questions, to find out more
about the man. But he decided against it. ‘I was thinking perhaps
I’d come up to Brisbane at Christmas time,’ he said. ‘We could have
a long talk about everything then.’
Faith smiled. ‘That would be lovely, Dan.
You’ll stay with us at New Farm, won’t you? I know Dick and Helen
will be so glad to see you. The house is so empty without
Mike.’
The rain had stopped and the streaks of
sunlight were beginning to pierce the gloom outside the window when
an orderly wheeled in a trolley with Dan’s lunch. The nursing
sister came back to the room at the same time and reminded Dan that
he was to undergo a series of tests during the afternoon.
‘And how long will you be in Melbourne, Miss
Brodie?’ the sister asked as Faith prepared to leave.
‘Just a few days.’
‘If you haven’t made arrangements, there’s an
excellent little hotel only five minutes walk from here. I’m sure
you and Captain Rivers have a great deal to catch up on, so feel
free to come and visit him just whenever you like.’
*
Faith’s visit to the POW camp at Cowra
made Koko’s spirits soar. But his joy at seeing her and hearing all
her news turned to anger and a feeling of helplessness when she
gave him Joe’s message about the Horan brothers and the
Groote Eyelandt Lady.
In the days that followed their meeting, Koko
pondered every word Faith had said, over and over again. Over time,
his anger and his despondency at being helpless to do anything to
avenge his mother’s death gradually subsided and he began to look
at things more objectively. Even though Faith had said that she
would find a way to let him know if Joe or the authorities brought
the Horan bothers to justice, Koko became determined to try and do
something himself.
Gradually he became convinced that
there was something he could do. If he could escape from Cowra and
somehow manage to get to the Top End, he could scour Australia’s
northern coastline for the Horan brothers and the
Groote Eyelandt Lady
himself. And he
could probably remain undetected and as free as the wind until the
end of the war. All he needed was a small, shallow draft
boat.
Very slowly Koko began to formulate a plan.
He paid particular attention to the most difficult aspects of the
escape and tried to foresee any unexpected problems that may arise
along the way. When he felt he had overcome in his mind all the
major hurdles that lay in his path to freedom, Koko turned his
attention to the smaller details, like civilian clothes and ready
cash. He decided to take those matters up with Yakimoto.
‘Yes, I still have the money and most of the
clothing given to us at the Hay Internment Camp by the Japanese
nationals who were allowed to return home to Japan.’ Yakimoto said
solemnly when Koko told him what he intended to do. ‘But why do you
wish to escape now? You have never mentioned it before.’
‘I am just tired of being cooped up in this
place, I need to be free,’ Koko said, not wishing to tell Yakimoto
that he wanted to track down his mother’s murderers—men who Faith
had said were spying for the Japanese.
Yakimoto’s eyebrows rose. ‘And it was nothing
to do with the woman?’
‘What woman?’
‘The one who visited you recently. Come now,
Koko. You must know nothing goes on in this camp that I am not
aware of.’
Koko decided to tell half the truth. ‘She is
a friend of mine who used to live in Darwin. My mother was murdered
there. She found out two men were responsible for her death and
came to tell me who they were. I want to escape and hunt them
down.’
Yakimoto looked skeptical. ‘How could your
friend possibly arrange a visit with a prisoner of war?’
Koko thought quickly. ‘Did you see her?’
‘Yes, she is a beautiful woman.’
‘Then you would know what she had to give to
the camp commandant and other officials before she was allowed to
see me.’
‘She must be a very good friend indeed.’
Yakimoto pursed his lips in a tight smile for just a moment, then
suddenly he became very serious. ‘But I’m afraid I cannot help you.
In fact, I cannot even permit you to attempt to escape.’
‘
But why not, Yakimoto?’ Koko couldn’t
hide his dismay. ‘Why not?’
‘We now have over seven hundred Japanese
prisoners in this camp,’ Yakimoto said. ‘Soon there will be over a
thousand. When we reach that figure, a mass breakout which we have
been planning for months will be implemented. Any individual escape
attempt would result in a tightening of security which would
jeopardize the success of that plan. We must let our jailers
continue to think they have an escape-proof camp. So you must wait
until then, Koko. And needless to say if you speak of this to
anyone you will never leave this camp alive.’
Koko ignored the threat. ‘A mass breakout?’
he said in amazement. ‘When will it take place?’
‘As I said, when we have at least a thousand
men and when we have gathered enough intelligence to plan our
objective to the last detail.’
‘And what is the objective?’
‘To attack the Australian Army Artillery
training camp here at Cowra. It will give us an opportunity to die
with honor. Our victory will be twofold. They might well mow us
down like blades of grass eventually but it will finally put an end
to our shame. Our attack will be as well planned as the first day
we bombed Darwin.
Koko felt his anger rising but tried to
remain cool. ‘And how well planned was that attack, Yakimoto?’
Yakimoto’s face beamed with pride. ‘It was
planned to perfection. Based on information supplied by our
informants in the Northern Territory, I, and every other pilot had
drawings in the cockpits of our aircraft, pinpointing everything
from fuel dumps to military installations, communication centers
and enemy gun emplacements—we even had details of all the ships
anchored in the harbor, including their names, cargoes and
armaments.’
‘If the raid was so well planned and
successful,’ Koko said grimly, ‘how did you manage to finish up
here.’
Yakimoto’s jaw tightened. ‘After we had
destroyed what little air resistance there was that day, a single
American P-38 Kitty hawk appeared from nowhere. I spotted it first
and chased it out to sea. We exchanged fire and the pilot
crashed-landed his plane into the sea. Unfortunately my Zero was
hit also and I bailed out over Bathhurst Island. A group of
Aborigines found me several days later, wandering in the bush,
delirious and half starved. They took me to their camp and fed me,
but later while I was sleeping they betrayed me to the
Australians.’
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
Gus Welenski arrived at headquarters just
after 6.30 a.m. With Faith still away and Major Hunter not expected
to return from the United States for two or three weeks yet, he had
come in early to get the jump on a steadily increasing backlog of
work. When he entered the liaison office he was surprised to hear
sounds coming from the major’s office and went to investigate. When
he opened the door he saw a grim-faced Lyle Hunter sitting at his
desk talking on the telephone.
Hunter looked up, eyed Gus reproachfully and
beckoned him into the room. Gus entered and stood stiffly on the
other side of the major’s desk. After a few moments he caught the
drift of Hunter’s telephone conversation. An Air Corps traffic
officer was calling from somewhere questioning an air travel
warrant.
‘It’s all right, Lieutenant.’ Hunter snapped
into the mouthpiece. ‘I shall personally forward a properly
validated warrant to Moorabbin today. Now, when can you get Miss
Brodie on a flight home?’
Gus took a deep breath and waited to face the
music. Hunter glared at him as he waited for a reply. After a few
moments he banged down the phone.
‘You’ve really outsmarted
yourself this time, Welenski. ‘I should have shipped you out the
last time you used your position in this office to interfere in
other people’s business. I told you to arrange for Faith Brodie to
spend her vacation at Point Danger, not for her to fly around
the
country courtesy of the Army Air Corps. I suppose
I’d never have known if I hadn’t been in the office to take that
call.’
‘But Miss Brodie wanted to go interstate to
visit friends, sir,’ Gus said defensively. ‘And we have planes
flying the country practically empty all the time I thought you
would want…’
‘Thought I’d want what, Welenski?’ Hunter
broke in angrily. ‘That traffic officer said Miss Brodie was in
Melbourne visiting a hospitalized American officer. I’m not stupid,
you know. I know what you doing.’ Hunter waved an admonishing
finger. ‘But that’s not what’s important. What is important is that
you have fraudulently issued US forces travel warrants.’ Hunter
paused for a few moments and seemed to calm down a little. Then he
said, ‘Under the circumstances I won’t press charges. But I’m
shipping you out. The boys upstairs are after admin staff in New
Guinea. Finish what’s on your desk, then clean it out. I want you
on your way to Port Moresby within forty-eight hours. And as far as
anyone around here is concerned it’s a normal transfer. Say
anything different and you’ll finish up in the stockade.’