Blood at Yellow Water (12 page)

He freshened up and walked up a floor and
knocked on the door of Room 202, one of the Penthouse Suites. He
could hear loud music coming from the room as the door was opened
by one of the Minister’s staff. The suite was huge with a large
lounge area, dining room, a balcony overlooking the pool and two
bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms. There were about thirty people in
the lounge talking loudly or swaying to the music, most of them in
various stages of intoxication. The younger ones were the noisiest,
taking selfies with their mobile phones. Anna came over, glass of
champagne in hand, and gave him a big hug.

“Ah here’s Jake, the wonder boy” she said,
slurring her words slightly. “Give him a glass of champers.”
Someone pushed a glass into his hand.

“Sit next to me Jake,” pointing to the large
comfortable settee. Jake dutifully sat down next to her. The party
was well and truly in full swing and the drinks were flowing
freely. Anna looked deep into Jake’s eyes.

“Jake, I need someone in my office with some
practical experience in international trade. Would you be
interested in joining my office staff after all this is over?”

“Er, I’ve still got six months left of my
contract with Austrade.”

“Don’t worry about that Jake, we’d fix that
up easily. Let me know tomorrow if you are interested. I presume
you are coming to the mine opening?”

“I think I’m invited.”

“Good, make sure you turn up, it will be an
interesting event.”

She pulled Jake to his feet and started
dancing with him to a slow ballad. Jake could tell by her sluggish
movements that she was really intoxicated. She pressed herself
close to him. Jake could feel her soft breasts through the thin
material of her dress and could feel himself responding to her
sensuality. They danced onto the balcony out of sight of the rest
of the party-goers and looked out into the tropical night. They
could see the pool below them bathed in moonlight. He looked down
at her as she reached up and kissed him hungrily on the mouth. She
whispered in his ear “Jake wait out here while I get rid of the
party-goers,” and disappeared inside.

She was back in twenty minutes looking very
woozy.

“They’re all gone, thank God,” she mumbled
taking Jake by the hand and leading him towards the master
bedroom.

“Anna, I don’t’ think this is a good
idea.”

“Nonsense Jake, no one will know. Just wait
here for two minutes while I get ready.” She left him outside the
bedroom and he could hear her open the door to the bathroom. A
couple of minutes later he heard the swish of the bed clothes as
she fell onto the bed.

“Come on Jakey boy, I’m ready,” she called
in a husky voice.

Jake hesitated, he was aroused but not sure
what he should do. He waited another couple of minutes and peeked
around the bedroom door. He could see her head buried in the pillow
and crept to the edge of the bed calling her name softly. As he got
closer, he could hear her snoring softly and realised that she was
fast asleep. Relieved, he let himself out the door of the suite and
into the corridor. Two ministerial staffers were walking past the
door taking selfies with their mobiles as he slipped out and gave
him a knowing look. He made his way back to his own room and was
asleep in seconds.

THURSDAY EVENING - JABIRU

Fifteen kilometres away, Captain Xu and Liang
carefully walked along the railway line, only a pencil thin light
emanating from Xu’s torch breaking the darkness. Xu was the
explosives expert. It took him less than thirty minutes to place
the plastic explosives in two separate parts of the track and wire
them up so that they would explode on impact. He used camouflage to
conceal the explosives so expertly that a searcher would have to
stand right on top of the track to see the tiny wire that led to
the explosives buried under the rail. Satisfied with their work
they walked up the mound to join the rest of the group. Two of
their men were sitting noiselessly in deep scrub about a hundred
metres from the point where the railroad exited the mine fence.
They were well hidden in an area surrounded by bushes and trees.
The other member of their group, a sentry, sat in the fork of a
large eucalyptus tree holding a rifle complete with infrared
sights. They had watched earlier as security officers had searched
the track but there had been no patrols that evening.

Xu had set up two similar explosives in the
mine’s production plant the night before. They could be set off any
time by the remote control in his pocket. He had easily penetrated
the mine’s security system by stealing a security pass and posing
as one of the catering staff during the day. He had hidden in one
of the portable toilets until midnight when he was able to slip
into the production plant under the cover of darkness. After
setting the explosives, he had returned to his hideaway in the
portable toilet until the catering staff arrived early the next
morning. He then slipped out of the toilet, picked up a box from a
truck and joined the staff carrying food into the kitchen. After a
couple of trips he quietly sneaked out of the mine entrance and
re-joined his comrades.

FRIDAY- JABIRU

At the mine site, the workers arrived early in the
morning busily putting together the final touches for the opening
ceremony. A huge marquee had been set up in the garden outside the
main building for the luncheon for the 150 invited guests with a
special table set up at one end for the V.I.P’s. Security staff
were everywhere, checking everyone going through the front gate.
The freight train was sitting at the start of the railway track,
each of its cars fully laden with yellow cake ready to be
transported to Darwin for on-shipment to Japan.

Jake drove up at midday, and was waved by a
security guard into a paddock converted into a makeshift car park
for guests. He was clearly one of the last to arrive and parked
right at the end of the paddock as close as he could to the railway
line. Out of curiosity he looked down at the track but could see
nothing out of the ordinary. He walked towards the marquee and
noted that the protestors had doubled in number and were shouting
their slogans in full voice. The anti-nuclear group and
conservationists from Japan were particularly vocal. For a moment
he thought he saw Shoni’s face in the crowd but after a closer
look, concluded he must have been mistaken. The aboriginal group
was also very active, waving their flags vigorously in front of the
media. A voice rang out calling his name and to his surprise he saw
Barry Buckstone waving at him. He had a white bandage on his head.
Jake walked over, shaking Barry by the hand.

“What are you doing here Barry, you’re
supposed to be in hospital in Darwin?”

“Nah, they let me out, I had some concussion
that’s all. The lawyer Lizzie arranged made some phone calls and
found out there were no charges. I didn’t want to miss this so I
checked out of the hospital and got a lift back here.”

“But the cops wanted to charge you?”

“The CCTV showed it wasn’t me causing the
trouble so they had to let me off.”

“That’s great Barry,” Jake shouted over the
noise of the protesters.

“There’s not going to be any more trouble is
there?”

“Not from our group and there’s security and
police everywhere. But there’s some strange people around so who
knows what might happen. I learnt a few things while I was in the
cell with those others. That Bert O’Shea from the Land Council has
done a deal with Energet to give up our land rights. I’m gonna dig
around and see what I can find out. Are you going in there with the
bigwigs?” Barry asked, pointing to the marquee.

“Yeah, I’m invited but as soon as it’s
finished I’ll go back to see Bill and Lizzie at Daly Waters. I’d
better get going. Take care of yourself Barry, you’ve had a nasty
whack on the head.”

“Thanks mate. I’m as good as gold. Hope we
catch up again.”

Barry watched as Jake walked up to the
marquee. He said to Larry Wilpena,“I’m taking off for a while. Back
in an hour or so.”

Barry got into his car and drove around to
the Land Council Office. He knew the office would be empty for the
next couple of hours as most of the Councillors and staff would be
at the opening of the mine. He let himself in with his key and
immediately walked to the door of O’Shea’s private office but found
it locked. He pulled out a credit card and gently eased it around
the lock until it clicked and the door opened. He quickly searched
the office for any documents relating to the mine but most of the
cabinets were locked. O’Shea’s laptop was sitting on the desk. It
was locked and he tried a couple of different passwords without
success. He knew O’Shea would have a written record of his password
somewhere and searched around for a hiding place. He examined his
desk drawers again without success. He knelt on the floor and
looked under his desk. Taped on the bottom of one of the drawers
was a piece of paper with a name and number on it. Jubilant, Barry
copied the password down and then sat down on O’Shea’s chair.

He quickly scrolled through O’Shea’s emails
and various folders. He went through his files and was just about
to give up when he saw some documents relating to the Jabiru Mine.
His heart raced as something took his eye. It was a letter to
Baobab Trustees from Northern Consultancy, the consultant that did
the study on the land rights and environmental impact. There were
also several other documents marked confidential that took his
interest. He pulled out a USB memory stick from his pocket and
copied the documents onto it. He was just about finished when he
heard a car pull up outside. He quickly finished the transfer of
the documents, pulled out the USB and walked out the door just as
one of the office workers, Mary Bloom, was coming in.

“Hi Barry, I thought you’d be at the
mine?”

Barry tried to look calm. “Yeah, but I
didn’t get an invite to the big lunch so I thought I’d come back
and pick up a couple of things.”

“Oh, right, see you later then,” said Mary
looking rather puzzled.

Barry hurried out, got in his car and drove
to his house.

*

Jake walked towards the entrance of the
marquee. He had his credentials and invitation checked and had to
walk through an X-ray machine before being allowed to move
inside.

Most of the guests had already arrived and
were being handed pre-lunch drinks. He entered just as the
announcement came for guests to take their seats. He saw Security
Chief Carstairs in deep conversation with Williams and others of
his team and walked over. Carstairs ignored him and kept talking to
his colleagues. Undeterred Jake butted in.

“Excuse me Carstairs, how’s the security
arrangements going?”

Annoyed, Carstairs turned towards him.

“It’s all under control but as you can see
we’re busy.”

“Any sign of the Chinese?”

“No, look Stafford we’ve got enough on our
plate here without chasing down every half-baked rumour. This place
is secured as tight as a drum. Now can you let us get on with our
job.” Carstairs dismissed him as he turned back to his men.

Jake found his allocated seat in the marquee
and introduced himself to other guests at his table. He saw Helen
Kwang in the distance and waved to her, receiving a warm smile in
return. An aboriginal dance group performed some traditional dances
as a welcome to the guests. Then the V.I.P. party entered the
marquee led by Prime Ministers Murray and Koshi. Anna Sentoro
followed behind the Prime Ministers walking directly past Jake. She
saw Jake but looked right through him. There’s a message there
thought Jake. The audience applauded politely as the V.I.P.’s took
their seats on the stage. Bert O’Shea from the Land Council was
among them.

An elder from the Binugy people gave the
traditional aboriginal welcome waving burning leaves to ward off
the bad spirits.

Ron Freeman, the Managing Director of
Energet, the Australian joint owner of the mine, was master of
ceremonies. He took the microphone, welcomed everyone, introduced
the special guests on stage and set out the agenda for the official
opening. He invited people to start their meal, indicating that the
speeches would commence after the main course.

Jake looked around the marquee and could see
that security was very tight. He noticed Carstairs being vigilant
on one side of the room and several security officers standing
around trying to look inconspicuous. A four-piece violin group had
replaced the aboriginal dancers but didn’t completely block out the
sounds coming from the protestors.

The company had certainly turned it on for
the guests. The food was delicious, focussing on local produce from
the Northern Territory and the best Australian wines from the
southern states. After the main course was served, Freeman walked
up to the rostrum and outlined the history to the opening of the
mine, stressing that it would become the largest producer of
uranium in the world. He introduced his counterpart, the Managing
Director of Nippan Energy, the Japanese partner in the venture, who
endorsed Freeman’s comments. Then it was the turn of Prime Minister
Murray who strode purposely to the lectern. He spoke lengthily
about the importance of the opening of the mine to Australia-Japan
relationships coming immediately after the signing of the Treaty.
He then passed the microphone over to P.M. Koshi who spoke briefly
and to the point about the significance of the uranium supplies to
Japan.

The two Prime Ministers then jointly
unveiled a plaque, officially commemorating the opening of the
mine. Photographers and T.V. cameramen crowded around the P.M.s as
they posed by the plaque.

The final event was the inaugural rail
shipment of uranium ore produced at the mine for transport to
Darwin. The two Prime Ministers were to travel with the engine
driver in his cabin for the first kilometre of the journey and then
disembark at a siding where they were to be met by their cars and
returned to the resort.