CHAPTER 14
THE ROAD TO ILIGAN AND MARAWI
Cagayan de Oro-Iligan Highway
T.A. simply wanted to get this unexpected trip over and done with. He felt he had been hijacked and he was annoyed that Yamada was presumptuous enough to think that the arrangements he made would automatically appeal to T.A..
Without being impolite, T.A. was a little abrupt in his responses to Yamada's conversation. But as time passed, to T.A's surprise, he began enjoying the drive. Yamada showed he had a sense of humour which T.A. appreciated and told several jokes which T.A. had not previously heard. Occasionally Yamada would become serious when he wanted to continue the business side of his proposed investments outside of the Philippines.
T.A. noticed Ueda and Iti had their oversized waist bags on their laps and that they were unzipped. Occasionally they would slip a hand inside the bag as if to reassure themselves that the contents were still inside. These actions seemed to confirm T.A's earlier suspicions that the bags contained pistols.
The driver of this left hand drive vehicles made no obvious attempt to conceal his weapon. A bracket below the dashboard near his right hand, held a holster. Though T.A. could not see the entire weapon, the pistol grip could be seen with a cursory glance.
Ueda and Iti seemed to be taking their job seriously. From T.A's view of the back of Iti's head, he appeared to be watching every group of people they approached.
Ueda, sitting in the backward facing seat, forward of where Yamada and T.A. sat, watched with concern if it seemed any following vehicle was gaining on them. None had.
"Ueda's English surprised me," said T.A.
"It surprises most people," replied Yamada. "He is modest about it, but he is a qualified metallurgist and chemist. He spent seven years in England including three years at Oxford. He is an Oxford blue in martial arts."
T.A. looked at Ueda for any response to Yamada's statement. Ueda continued the sweeping of his eyes towards anything they had passed, but a grin was on his face.
"They seem to take their job seriously."
"That's what I pay them for. It was Ueda who insisted on these seating arrangements. It's not just to make it a nice conversation area."
T.A. felt his eyebrows rise.
"No," Yamada went on. "The steel plate behind the back seat and between Ueda's seat and the driver’s seat would stop most bullets. I thought the steel in the doors would pull the hinges out. But Mr Metallurgy there solved all those problems. The windows are also supposed to be bulletproof too. We haven't tested them though have we Ueda?"
"No sir," replied Ueda without taking his eyes off any activities outside the car.
T.A. felt himself frowning.
"Oh, I didn't mean to cause you any worry. In the twelve years Ueda has been with me, even all the years before that, nobody's even tapped on the window to ask for money. It's just that the possibility of kidnapping for ransom is a problem for the unprepared wealthy businessman. Fortunately I am wealthy. Also I'm well prepared, so nobody would even bother to try."
"I'm pleased to hear that," said T.A.
Yamada leant forward slightly and tapped a narrow toolbox fastened to the inside of the door, barely extending out from the door covering.
"This is what would really be used if there was trouble."
Yamada flicked a latch on the front of the toolbox and the front fell down revealing a small automatic weapon clipped on the lid that opened out. Clips on the sides of the toolbox held spare magazines.
"Great little weapon these. Mini Uzis the Israelis called them."
T.A had only seen them in Chuck Norris and Claude van Damme movies, never this close.
Yamada slipped out the magazine from the handle, pulled back the cocking handle on the top to allow the inserted round to eject, and handed the weapon to T.A.
He leaned over in front of T.A., undid the latch to a similar toolbox in the door panel on T.A's right to reveal another Uzi clipped similarly to the first. He repeated the actions of removing the magazine and ejecting the round 'up the spout'.
"I'll show you how it works."
T.A's mind flashed back to the M16's he handled on Apuao Grande. He wondered if anything different might have resulted if he had known more about how to operate the M16. That, he remembered, was to a great extent his own fault. If he had not been so self conscious, he would have asked Pater to show him how they operated. Alternatively, he could have taken the time to sit down and figure it out for himself.
It was not as though he was totally ignorant about weapons. He had owned a .177 slug rifle or Bebe gun in his early teens, then a .22 rifle in his late teens which he used for rabbit hunting. He had been in his High School shooting team. But what he was holding now and what he had in his possession on Apuao Grande were two very serious and far more lethal weapons than the toys of his youth.
He concentrated on what Yamada was showing him.
"These fire a 9mm round. The magazine holds 31 rounds or 32 if you have one up the spout. There are two safety features."
Whichever way Yamada turned his Uzi, T.A. mirrored the move to locate whatever Yamada was instructing him about.
"This three way switch on the left of the pistol grip is the mode selector. Forward is single shot, centre is safety, back is automatic. We keep this set in the centre."
T.A. nodded and flicked the switch through the modes several times.
"On the back of the pistol grip is the second safety feature. It's a safety pressure catch which is released using the thumb of the hand around the pistol grip."
T.A. again checked the action several times to try and familiarise himself.
"Now, holding it like this." Yamada stretched out his left arm and gripped the short flat stock on the barrel. "Cocking the handle at the top locks the breech block. Once the two safeties are released, it’s all ready to fire."
T.A. mimicked the action.
"Gee its small isn't it," said T.A. not expecting a reply.
Yamada showed him how the shoulder stock folded back if it was wanted to be used. Then how the magazine was inserted and released including how to put 'one up the spout'.
"Well, do you reckon you could use one?"
"Maybe, but I hope I never have to find out."
Yamada's mobile phone rang. He spoke to the caller for a few minutes in one of the Filipino dialects. While he was talking, T.A. practiced the procedures with the Uzi.
Yamada finished talking and began speaking to Ueda in Japanese.
"I'm sorry for my rudeness by speaking in Japanese my friend. I just had a call from one of the suppliers who tells me he can't deliver fruit for a processing run we had planned in the next few days. I know he's holding out for a higher price. His fruit has been ready to ship for days. He thinks if he delays trucking it to my plant he can panic me into paying a higher price to keep the cannery in production."
"Hey, don't worry about me. You have to deal with your business. I'm happy to wait," said T.A.
"We'll still get you to Marawi and into my shops, it's just that I mightn't be able to get to the first shop with you."
"I'll fit into whatever plans you have to make."
"Thank's for understanding. I know what I can do."
Yamada pulled out a small pad from under his seat and began writing. Then he turned the page and seemed to write the same note again then a third time. He folded each of the three pages and wrote the name of a shop on the outside of each sheet.
Leaning forward, he called to Iti, then, he kneeled on the seat next to Ueda while he spoke.
"I have just told Iti that after Ueda and I get out, he is to take you to my shops and to give these notes I have written to each manager. That is to make sure you get whatever you buy at the price it cost me. No profit."
"How do I communicate with Iti?"
"I'm sorry. He can't speak English. My driver only speaks Visayan and Japanese, but they both know what I want them to do. I wish I could leave Ueda with you but I will need him with me."
/> T.A. wondered if he would still get as good a deal without Yamada with him in the shops.
"If we can settle our differences with this supplier quickly, I will follow along very shortly. Perhaps in time to get to the second shop."
"But, how will you get there?"
"Easy, this supplier has one of my other Nissan Patrols that he borrowed last week. I'll just get it back."
Yamada placed his Uzi back in the case recessed in the door and T.A. did likewise with his into the door on his side.
A few minutes later, the driver slowed and turned left into a narrow dirt road. The quality of the road surface dropped considerably. The size and number of potholes required the speed of the Nissan to slow to not much more than a running pace and the road began a gradual upward incline. Acre after acre of pineapple plantation bordered the road, interspersed with blocks of coconut trees. The occasional occupied nipa hut, the dwelling of the locals, bordered the edge of the road for the first couple of kilometres until a signpost warned all travellers that beyond the signpost was the private property of Paradise Plantations. No visitors without appointment.
The rough road continued its steady and gradual climb the further it moved away from the coast. After travelling for a further 15 minutes and another two kilometres uphill, a large area covered in road-metal appeared on the right of the road. In the centre and set 30 metres to the back of the open area was a large open sided storage area. To the left was a smaller covered vehicle shed, open only at the front. A small nipa hut nestled further back into tree-line to the right of the storage shed.
The driver turned into the gravel area. It made loud crushing noises under the tyres, even audible through the supposedly soundproofed Patrol. The Nissan pulled inside the storage shed.
"I'm sorry, I must get out here. The driver knows where to take you."
He shook T.A's hand and exited the Nissan, followed by Ueda who nodded at T.A. before he too got out.
The driver reversed out of the shed and took only twenty minutes for the return journey to the sealed highway. The boss was not in the car, so there was no concern for the passenger’s bumpy ride.
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