With Jack’s first look, he knew this place couldn’t run on the income from tourists. Three 18-foot river craft were tied up at the dock. Two of them sported what looked like twin hundred horsepower outboard motors. The other one was powered with a jet engine. Built up in the trees 15 feet off the ground, Jack counted 10 two-room thatched huts in very good repair. In the center of the compound was a circular building with a four-foot-high river stone wall base supporting a strong-looking thick, wire mesh for another 10 feet. The building had a thatched roof. Bahadur said the communal building was the newest. It housed the kitchen, dining area, lounge and bar. The elephants eased up to a platform leading up to one of the thatched huts to let the riders step off.
Bahadur said the tree hut was theirs, and they would find spare clothing and equipment for their trek inside. It was now 9:30 a.m. and Bahadur said to be ready to leave in an hour. On their way up the steps, Jack said quietly to be careful what they said inside. All the huts were probably wired for sound. He also said he had expected Bahadur to be more suspicious than he seemed to be.
As they moved inside, he pulled Anita and Kathy aside and said quietly, “Keep up the acting, we don’t need this guy to suspect we are on to him.”
Inside they found three well-designed backpacks. The bunks were covered with a change of clothes for each of them, trail rations, a small stove and a number of cans of jellied fuel, light-weight rain gear, four light-weight sleeping bags and self-inflating air mattresses. On a long table were two kukris, the famous curved Gurkha knives, waterproof match containers, three two-quart canteens, two compasses, a trail map and, best of all, two 12-gauge Remington pump guns and 30 shells.
Jack thought, don’t underestimate this guy. He is very clever. The gear he has laid out is more or less what I would have selected, although it would have been nice to have a couple of nine millimeter handguns. Somehow he didn’t think it would be a good idea to ask for any. After they had adjusted their packs and put on the web belts with pouches and stowed all the pocket-sized equipment, Jack said, “Let’s go for a little walk around. I want to get a couple of sandwiches before we go. From a distance, you ladies could pass for men in those bush clothes.”
Going down the stairs, Jack told Kathy and Anita not to count on the shotguns. The loads were blank. The number two shot, a killing load at 30-plus some yards, had been taken out and replaced with sand. He’d opened a shell in the bathroom and found the number two load of steel balls and most of the powder was missing. Jack said he wanted to get his hands on some real shotgun shells. He had seen what he thought must be the camp armory, and it was unlocked. He pulled Anita and Kathy in close and asked them to distract Bahadur long enough to give him a chance to slip into the unguarded armory shed. Jack was sure Bahadur was not going on even a one-day walk with them. Bahadur would make his play on the river or just as they unloaded and started their trek.
Anita asked Bahadur if he had a communications capability and could she and Kathy use it to send some messages. Kathy chimed in and said, yes, it would be wonderful if she could send a message. Bahadur told them he was sorry, but the system was down. However, they could write out some messages and his man would send them as soon as they were back in operations.
Anita said, “Fine, and maybe you could show us something about your operation while Jack does his habitual last-minute check of our supplies and equipment. He’s a bit of a worrywart.”
Bahadur looked hesitant, but when Anita took his arm, he willingly went up the stairs to the communications center.
Inside, Kathy was surprised to see such modern equipment. A small satellite dish looked out to the western horizon, and inside were three fully equipped desktop PCs and a couple of notebooks. After a few minutes, Bahadur warmed up to their flattering questions and got into a much deeper explanation than he had intended. Kathy wrote a few business-type messages to Jack’s attorney using a wrong address, name and fax number, and one to the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi. She was nearly 100 per cent sure these messages would never be sent. Anita checked her watch and saw they had been in the communications office for 15 minutes. She thought that was enough time for Jack to steal some real loads for the shotguns, and said, “Bahadurji, I’m sorry, our need to send a few business messages is putting us behind schedule.” Bahadur smiled and said, “No problem. We can make up the time.”
Facts and Fictions 