PULAU MATI
PULAU MATI
John L. Evans
Aviation adventure, smuggling and romance in Arizona and Mexico of 1971
Post-apocalypse adventure of a twelve year old boy
Aviation adventure and intrigue in the Amazon rainforest
Outrageous short stories illustrating the power of love and what it can do, or undo
The sequel to Saguaro Express. Torrid romance, violence and aviation adventure in the search for a missing smuggler in the Sierra Madre of 1971
Techno-thriller set in the Silicon Valley. Five young geeks invent a world changing device but use it unethically. Soon they are stalked by a sinister force willing to kill for
it.
An international adventure and a love story set against a background of Egyptology and aviation
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright 2012 John L. Evans
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
For information contact
Yellow Tulip Publishing
ISBN
-10: 1470162164
ISBN-13:
978-1470162160
Visit the author’s Facebook page: johnlevansauthor
PULAU MATI
In the small Indonesian port city of Sorong where Haatim Udeen prays and teaches the followers of the one true faith, a message arrives. Allah in his exalted wisdom has opened the way for Haatim to complete the great weapon that will bring death to the enemies of Islam.
Haatim is tall and slender
with dark, piercing eyes and possesses a charismatic bearing, extraordinarily so when wearing the dishdasha he prefers in place of the local sarong. His attention drawing looks make him easily recognizable and although it chafes him to do so, he is forced to shave his beard and wear western clothes when away from the quiet port city. He must explain to his students that he shaves only to avoid attention from infidel’s eyes and their remotely controlled missiles, but someday, perhaps not in his lifetime, all the warriors of Islam may travel the world dressed and groomed as Allah intended. Although he encourages jihad for his students, he never reveals to them details of the weapon on which he is devoting his life.
Over the years
Allah has bestowed Haatim with many pieces for the great weapon. Of all the faithful, only Haatim had the knowledge to fit the many pieces together. He feels himself glow with pride and then chastises himself. In the eyes of Allah, pride is the cardinal sin. It was Allah who gave Haatim the vision to recognize how the pieces might form the magnificent weapon.
One of the first
gifts from heaven came in the form of the Greek infidel’s yacht, captured simply to ransom the crew and passengers until the Filipino army attempted to free the hostages. The failed attempt resulted in the death of the owner and his family who were among the hostages, leaving the glorious ship ownerless and forgotten. Some paint and a change of name to Zaafir, meaning victorious, and the vessel was transformed into a tool for use in the struggle against Satan.
Soon after receiving the yacht, a
nother piece of the great weapon arrived in the form of a young Saudi air force pilot, Kamil, seeing the way to atonement after disgracing himself in a relationship with a western whore. Kamil was forced to flee Saudi Arabia despite his clear justification for strangling the whore with his bare hands. Of all the cities in which he might have sought refuge, the young pilot was guided by Allah to choose Sorong and was welcomed there by Haatim.
A year later
Allah presented a key piece when word of the remote island with an abandoned airstrip reached Haatim’s ears, carried by a poor fisherman from Timor but a true believer nevertheless. The uninhabited island lay just a twenty four hour voyage south west from Sorong in the swift Zaafir. From the barely identifiable piles of rust that were once weapons and the debris and vermin filled bunkers, Haatim concluded infidels constructed the runway for use in the second Great War when they foolishly fought amongst themselves. Long ago the above ground buildings had crumbled into the earth but little of the runway had buckled and volunteers for the holy war were eager to repair it. With those gifts from Allah, the seed began to grow and Haatim Udeen envisioned his name spoken in the same breath as that of the great lion himself, Ossama.
Perhaps the greatest gift from Allah has been the
aid of the old friend and warrior, Dawoud Saleel, who shares Haatim’s view that world wide the faithful are falling away from the teachings of Mohammad. One of three generals in the organization known as Abu Sayyaf, Dawoud commands nearly 100 men. His soldiers are well disciplined as a result of Dawoud’s wise leadership, and well equipped as a result of successful ransoming of hostages and donations from Haatim.
Over tea
in Sorong and at safe locations near the Philippine port city of Davao, the two old friends refine a plan to hijack an airliner, land it on the abandoned runway and by loading it with fuel and tens of thousands of kilos of explosives, transform it into a colossal bomb capable of leveling not just a single tower but many. Kamil waits anxiously to guide the magnificent flying bomb to one of the infidel cities, Brisbane, Sydney, perhaps even the most abhorrent of the great Satan’s cities, Los Angeles, should Allah bless them with an aircraft of the necessary range.
In Sorong,
Haatim continues to teach and pray while Allah provides pieces for the great endeavor. The fervent believer Fadi Mahmoud, a former armorer in the Iranian Navy, arrives from Iraq where he has acquired valuable experience building IEDs that brought death to hundreds of the great Satan’s soldiers. The next gift makes Haatim’s heart race. Dawoud calls him from Davao and says an imam in Manila told him of a local convert whose brother is a pilot for Emirates Airline. How fitting that the airline admired as one of the outstanding examples of Muslim enterprise should provide the aircraft for the jihad. Supremely fitting because the airline’s practices are an insult to Allah and all the faithful and contribute to the world wide erosion of the faith. The airline hires infidel whores, provides them with uniforms which no believing Muslim woman would wear, allows them to serve alcohol, and most abhorrent of all allows them to serve male passengers while haiz.
Dawoud
says the Emirates pilot is flying routes out of airports where they do not have brothers in jihad employed or the airports are too distant geographically to consider. But in anticipation of when that changes, Dawoud’s men locate the home of the infidel pilot, Bayani Isagani, and the homes of his sister and mother.
A gun mount
that collapses into the deck for concealment is built forward of the Zaafir’s bridge. The mount holds an Oerlikon 20 x 128mm auto cannon with a range of 6000 meters. Dawoud’s men repair the island’s runway and the Zaafir carries fuel, explosives and anti-shipping mines to the island. Acquisition of these telltale materials and weapons is accomplished by a very limited number of true believers known and trusted by Dawoud and Haatim, assuring there is no opportunity for betrayal or chatter that might inform infidel intelligence agencies.
Less than two
weeks after Haatim and his students’ humble celebration of the great lion’s victory of September 11, a message arrives from Dawoud saying Allah has blessed their endeavor with a gift of unsurpassed generosity. When Haatim learns the details, he sees the gift is so sweet, so much more than he has prayed for that he weeps.
Alyson Marker blew a final kiss to her lover before she went through the gate for her flight to Singapore. So many emotions competed for ascendancy she closed her eyes briefly as she walked down the ramp to the aircraft door. She had no regrets for falling in love with Gray and knew he had none either. She loved him deeply and did not doubt for a moment that he loved her to the same depth, but he was right, they must part. There was no right time for it and if it was left to either of them they might never part until death took one of them.
They often
said temporary goodbyes because of the demanding travel their careers required and this parting was, on the surface, no different than others. However this time Alyson had put into motion arrangements that could change their relationship. They were so open with each other and knew each other so surprisingly well she envisioned him doing the same if given the serendipitous circumstances that had arisen. She did not know whether or not she would come to regret what she had done but there was no going back.
To Grayden Fitzgerald, the soaring, sculpted ceilings, extensive use of glass and open beamed architecture of the Kuala Lumpur airport terminal are as dramatic as the Petronas Twin Towers for which the city is famous. Grayden, Gray to his friends, and Alyson Marker arrived at the airport by taxi after dark and took the aero train to the satellite terminal. After seeing Alyson off on a flight to Singapore where she would board another to Taiwan, Gray walked back to the hub of the terminal to find the Emirates gate for his own flight. As soon as he turned into the arm of the terminal reserved for Emirates Airlines he guessed which of the gates was his. Far down the walkway a camera crew was set up across from a check-in counter and a group of well dressed men and women gathered near an eight foot high Emirates logo formed solely from brilliantly colored cut flowers.
Carrying
a small bag, Gray walked to the counter, comfortable in the air conditioning of the terminal after the humid heat of the city. Nine days ago he had left the cool, dry October air of the Sierra Nevada in California where he operated an air charter and light aircraft refurbishing business. He and Alyson had arrived in Kuala Lumpur a few days before the start of the LPGA Sime Darby. They came early for sightseeing and time together and Alyson also wanted time to acclimate to the gross temperature change after competing at the Solheim in the bone chilling cold of Ireland.
Gray
checked in at the Emirates counter for flight A402 and then took one of the many vacant seats. Moments later he returned the smile from a young woman approaching the counter. She had given him a flirtatious smile and a little ripple wave of her fingers, barely lifting her hand. Annaliese Kurtz was the willowy, graceful young woman’s name, and like Gray, asked friends to call her by a shortened version of her name, Anna, which she pronounced, “Awnuh.” She was a star golfer on both the European and LPGA tours and had easily made the cut at the Sime Darby but after the second round fell behind the field due to an injury. Alyson on the other hand had moved up as the tournament progressed. Displaying her nearly boring consistency, she had placed third in the Sime Darby.
Alyson was 25
years old and Gray 46 and until recently they had kept their affair private because of their age difference. Their relationship had matured and Alyson’s parents accepted Gray with surprisingly little drama. Alyson began introducing him to her closest friends as her boyfriend which usually drew envious comments. Although flattered, Gray was never sure whether the comments were sincere or simply to please Alyson who was so very well liked by everyone on the tour.
When
Anna was finished at the counter she glanced again in Gray’s direction and by gesture asked if she could sit in the seat next to him. He smiled again and nodded. She wheeled her small bag along the row of empty seats and sat down.
“An interesting coincidence,”
she said. Anna spoke precise English but remnants of her German accent still remained. She was tall, close to Gray’s six one, and slender but shapely with dark brown hair and eyes. Her reference to coincidence was that the flight for which they were waiting was by invitation only and its destination was Brisbane, Australia, not a connecting flight to Taiwan where most of the lady golfers were headed for the next tournament. By the dearth of passengers in the waiting area it was evident the flight would be less than a quarter full despite it being the inaugural flight of Emirates Airline’s newest addition to its fleet, a Boeing 797.
Gray considered
Anna’s statement a moment and replied, “Since there are a lot of flights out of here and you are not Australian I guess that does make it a pretty big coincidence.”
Anna
laughed softly. “I’m going to Brisbane for some R and R. And you? You are not going to Taiwan?”
“I’
m going to Cairns, work related. Is your wrist bothering you too much for Taiwan?”
The young woman nodded, an exaggerated pout
forming on her face. “Yes, too much. I will heal better in the pleasant weather of Brisbane than in Bonn.”
“
You have my sympathy. That was truly a beautiful round you shot the first day. I’m glad I got to see it.”
Anna
beamed. “Thank you! I saw you on fourteen just before I hit that five iron out of the rough.”
“I thought you did. I was afraid it was going to break your concentration but
when you hit your shot I knew it had not.”
Anna
went silent a moment, her expression pensive. She turned back to Gray with a smile.
He
asked, “Did all the ladies at Sime Darby get an invite for this flight?”
“I think so. And
probably everyone with a remote claim to celebrity within a thousand kilometers of Malaysia.”
“Interesting why Emirates chose Kuala Lumpur
to introduce this plane,” Gray said.
“
They seem to have a huge presence in South Asia. Flights everywhere.”
“Maybe
that is the reason,” Gray said. “But the flight looks like it will take off at a fraction of its capacity.”
“
Maybe Emirates wants it that way… or the delay may have caused some of the passengers to choose another flight.”
“
That’s possible. Fortunately I received an email telling me of the delay before we left for the airport. Then it worked out that Alyson’s flight left before mine.”
“
I did not think you were a celebrity,” Anna laughed. Before Gray could respond, she said, “I’m teasing. I know you are a pilot and have an airplane business of your own.”
Gray chuckled. “
Your memory is good. No, I’m not the celebrity but I already had a reservation on another Emirates flight to Brisbane and Alyson was invited on this one. She made a call and somehow that sweet voice of hers got me on board in her stead.”
A blush started on Anna’s face but before Gray could consider a reason for it,
an announcement came over the speakers. It was first spoken in what Gray guessed was Bahasa Malaysia although he had heard so many different languages spoken in Kuala Lumpur that he was not sure. The second rendition of the announcement was in English. “Ladies and gentlemen, Emirates Airline regrets to inform you special flight A402 will be delayed another two hours. The new boarding time is eleven fifty.”