Coleman stood over the prostrate figure, watching the blood ooze from the man's nose and mouth. He had hit Hart with all the force he could muster, the first blow releasing years of pent up hostility as his fist smashed teeth and bone. Hart had not anticipated the sudden blow and, stunned, did not even see the second nor the third punches which were expertly delivered with extreme force, smashing teeth through his cheek and ripping his lips.
The injured man lay still but not unconscious. His assailant remained standing, poised to strike again, arms raised, muscles tense and fists white with the skin broken around the bone. Moments passed and slowly Coleman lowered his hands. Someone called and he turned in time to see the waiter returning with what appeared to be security. Extracting a fist full of dong from his pocket Coleman waved the large bundle of notes at the approaching men. He convinced them that the altercation had ended and that his companion had not been seriously hurt, just his pride.
Stephen explained that they had argued over a woman and immediately the men departed, accepting the fabrication, amused that the older of the two had beaten the other to the ground with apparent ease. The Vietnamese enjoyed a good fight and so why not the foreigners?
“Must have Vietnamese blood,”
joked the security officer as he looked back over his shoulder just a moment too late to witness the man still standing bend down and remove the automatic from the other foreigner's body.
Stephen waited several minutes for the bleeding man to recover. As Hart slowly regained his composure Coleman turned to see if he was still being watched by the waiter and, as he was not, bent down to position himself even closer to the half prone figure. Glancing quickly once more to ensure that he wasn't seen, he punched the prostrate body hard with severe blows to the stomach and ribs.
Coleman thought he heard a cracking sound and stopped his assault, breathing heavily. He then checked the coat and trouser pockets but found nothing of any real interest. He looked down at Hart dispassionately, he was groaning painfully.
Satisfied that Hart would survive, Coleman rose to his feet, straightened his clothing and left, the injured man still lying on the ground. The bitterness he had harboured through the years seemed to dissipate and, for the moment, he sensed a feeling of exhilaration he had not known in a long, long time.
As he stepped back into the hotel reception he heard the steel gates being pulled aside and, turning his head, he noticed that the lift had just descended. It was one of those noisy concertina shaped lifts, a restored version of the old cage models used widely during the French Occupation. Stephen waved to the security officer who had opened the exterior door to assist the guests inside.
The Vietnamese smiledwarmly andliftedhisfistsin the boxer's stance followed by which he gave the Australian the thumbs-up sign indicating his approval.
Adrenaline still flowing quickly, Stephen Coleman walked briskly back to the Rex, caught the lift to the fifth floor and settled down at the bar to plan his future. The confrontation had triggered a response which had not displeased him. He had reacted positively to a basic human emotion and now realized that he could no longer avoid the ghosts which had haunted him for more than fifteen years.
It was time to settle with the General.
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Later that afternoon, nose bandaged and his face puffed terribly the bitter and badly beaten Hart sent a further communiqué to Canberra. He advised Anderson that Coleman had attacked him and was, in his opinion, a threat to their network in the region.
The Deputy Director had responded immediately as the Intelligence Chief was away, advising their man in Ho Chi Minh City that they had initiated action and his instructions were now to avoid any further contact with Coleman.
Greg Hart attempted a smile when he received the message. Wincing with pain, he gingerly touched his swollen lips. They had required eleven stitches.
He hoped that the action his superiors had initiated would compensate for the thrashing he had received at the older man's hands. Hart knew he had never really been considered as having the right material to rise much further beyond his current position in the Service. This was only his second field posting since leaving Indonesia. The last had been seven years before and had not been entirely successful when they had to pull him out of the Philippines when he had been mistaken for another Australian engaged in one of the paedophile rings there. Still considered relatively junior in the Intelligence Organization, due to his limited abilities, he felt he really had no appreciation of what steps would be taken against his antagonist.
He leaned back in the swivel chair carefully considering this point. His pride had been seriously wounded. It would be obvious to all who witnessed his condition that he had been on the receiving end of a bloody good hiding!
âWhat if the staff at the Continental talked?' Coleman's beating enraged him. He fantasized wildly about being the one selected by his superiors to deliver the appropriate punishment to his adversary.
“Bastard!” he cursed, then wishing he hadn't as the pain shot through his broken face.
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Jakarta
Seda had never become disillusioned with the cause. He had committed his life, his being and his very existence on this earth to achieve his ambition for an independent Timor and would continue to do so until he had given his last breath. His resolve became even firmer, if that was possible, as the slow annihilation of his people continued, unwillingly conceding that the time had not yet arrived when his people could enjoy their freedom.
But he continued with his plans, adapting them to suit and rearranging them, whenever required, patiently yet impatiently reworking his strategies until he was satisfied that he had exhausted all possible scenarios available, eventually settling on one final and, what he believed, brilliant concept. Although it appeared that all was lost after the FRETILIN defeat, there was still considerable resistance to Indonesia's occupation of the territory.
Another generation had appeared. The new youth had again taken up the cry for independence from the Indonesian invaders, and they too were prepared to sacrifice their lives, if necessary, as many parents had before them.
The separatist problem just refused to go away. Support had increased after the indiscriminate shootings in Dili in 1991, and again as a result of the slaughter in Maliana in 1996. Children were taught secretly in their homes about the sacrifice their elders had made, and were encouraged not to forget the historic clashes in which their own people had won decisive battles against the much stronger adversary.
Names and dates were not forgotten. The death of Nicolau Lobato, the FRETILIN President who had been so treacherously betrayed on the last day of December in 1978, was remembered with sadness. And so too were the others, the painfully long list of their heroes who had given their lives in support of their freedom. Songs were sung softly in the mountain villages far from the ears of their enemy; songs of their heroes, and of the battles fought in places such as Bobonaro and Quelica, and of despair for the thousands of children who had died in the fierce aerial strafing attacks. The sterilization programs had continued unchecked by the international community.
The United Nations had all but given up voting on the issues relating to the enslaved state. It just wasn't in the interests of the major powers to intercede on their behalf. They had no money, no resources and now, very few weapons as, one by one their armories had been destroyed in the mountain depots. It was becoming clear that the status quo might never change as the Australians had not only signed defence agreements with the new colonial power but also entered into contracts to share the substantial reserves of oil and gas discovered within the former colony's territorial waters. The issues had become far more intricate in nature and complicated by the ever changing regional politics.
It was the hypocrisy of business, they sadly acknowledged, and their one time ally had now completely deserted them. It seemed that everyone was to prosper except the rightful owners of the land.
Even Seda's substantial wealth had grown, and with it, his power. He had discussed the offer of the Vice Presidency on a number of occasions with the President.
At first he declined. After a time, when the national mood swing supported such a decision, Seda accepted. It fitted into his general strategy, and his international standing would be greatly enhanced with the appointment. It would also permit the final touches to the strategy which could easily be his last attempt to achieve his dreams, and his destiny.
The incumbent would step down in one more year as agreed. Nathan Seda had suggested to the President that relationships with Indonesia's neighbours could be improved if, while waiting for the Vice Presidency to become vacant, he helped their Foreign Affairs Department to settle some of the main issues. Would it not be beneficial for him to spend some time visiting these countries in a gesture of rapprochement? The President was supportive of the idea.
Seda's enemies within the small powerful group of advisors, albeit few, threw their support behind the suggestion as they wanted him out of the mainstream of power and saw it as an opportunity to remove him from the political scene. This was the second time in the nation's history that the military hierarchy had become uneasy with the meteoric rise of one of the country's sons of non-Javanese stock. General Benny Murdani had caused them considerable concern when he almost clinched the post only to lose the opportunity due to his religious affiliations. National ideologies had changed considerably since the days of strict military control, producing a new generation of young men and women who were well educated, and less tolerant of the armed forces than their parents had been.
It was becoming more and more difficult to intimidate the masses. Support for non-military figures had grown alarmingly, reflected in the number of seats now held in the Parliament. Student demonstrations were not always aimed at foreign issues as they had been twenty years before. Now the youngsters had the audacity to even confront their elder statesmen with placards calling for inquiries into corruption and nepotism within the government.
The new generation of Chinese had all but forgotten the frightening tales of slaughter that occurred throughout the archipelago thirty years before. They ignored the re-emerging signs which reflected the deep rooted animosities that had predicated the deaths of many of their ethnic minority during the abortive coup d'etat, under the Soekarno regime.
The powerful military lobby was painfully conscious of Seda's evergrowing popularity with the other ethnic groups and non-Moslem Javanese.
With half the country now no longer easily intimidated by the army, their concern was real, for Seda represented a role model which many wished to emulate. He had risen from humble beginnings and had never lost the common touch. He had served his country well both as a senior military officer and as one of the custodians of their country's economic growth, throughout the term of his service. The General had become statesman-like in his demeanour and didn't kow tow to the Palace over issues that were important to the
rakyat
, the people. When the Australians demonstrated in their cities against Indonesia's position over the ongoing oil and gas shelf territorial dispute it was their Seda who had spoken out publicly threatening to support a military blockade of the drilling areas. He was different from all the others, they knew. The people could sense it. And he was a Christian.
The former General's enemies were ecstatic at the suggestion that he be appointed as the country's Ambassador as they believed that once he had left their shores his popularity would soon decline, his name would then be quickly forgotten by his following. They had all seen it happen before and believed that Seda would be no exception.
Letters containing diplomatic necessities were exchanged regarding the appointment. The Australian people, once pumped into action by the opposition, would normally not have been receptive to such an appointment as the General had been identified as one of the principle movers behind the invasion of East Timor, and also a member of the elite military establishment which had been responsible for the slayings in both Dili and Maliana.
Had it not been for the direct and covert intervention by John Anderson, the Australian Government may have been submitted to considerable editorial pressure not to approve the appointment. As it happened, two of the larger circulation newspapers supported the selection of such a prominent Indonesian, once again reflecting, they wrote in their columns, the high regard the Indonesian Government had for the Australian people by nominating General (retired) Nathan Seda. The appointment was accepted, in principle, subject to the normal diplomatic procedures being respected.
The press had printed the story and suggestions were made that his appointment was appropriate, not only because Nathan Seda had served his country in a military capacity and then had continued on to become a successful entrepreneur in his own right but, primarily, because he was of Timorese extraction. The editorial in the Sinar Harapan suggested that his ethnic origins may even assist strengthen Indonesia's negotiating position during the forthcoming bilateral talks scheduled to be held in Canberra, Australia. It was hoped that the Australians would be reasonable in their demands and assist to diffuse the current tension over the Timor shelf oil contract concession areas.