Turning again, he ran back towards the kampong without any caution now, disregarding the communists’ triplines which activated bundles of tins near the huts. There was shouting ahead, and then the shooting began, with the blood-chilling rattle of automatic fire.
A man with a gun of some kind came running towards him. Sturgess shot him between the eyes, jumped over his body and ran on, and suddenly he was on the edges of a battle. He dropped to the ground, for gunfire was coming from several of the huts. Mackenzie was obviously trying to edge his men in nearer to the main hut, but even as he did so, Sturgess from his position at ground level saw a burly figure jump from the latrine platform at the back into the river.
He thought it seemed a fitting outlet for Hou, but then began to fret as he realised his men were pinned down by at least two punishing automatics — one from Hou’s escape but and another from a man who must have been posted as lookout up a tree.
Raising his Sten gun, Sturgess aimed first at the man in the tree, who was not aware of this latecomer to the action. His burst of fire scattered the foliage and brought the man falling like a gigantic fruit from the boughs. The others could deal with the man in the hut doorway; he wanted the top man.
He fell back along the path a few yards and made for the river. There was no sign of the man or which way he had gone, but, knowing Hou, it would be away from the trouble. Unfortunately, that was towards where Liz Hammond was.
The major hoped Cresswell was still keeping everyone hidden, and he hoped the terrorist leader might stay on the far bank, but there were rocky outcrops on that side and Hou knew the area. Sten gun raised ready, the barrel constantly sweeping ahead and across the far side of the river, the major moved quickly.
Suddenly ahead he saw Cresswell leaping out of the jungle and running away from him, towards where he heard a cry for help, the scream of a girl.
Sturgess ran into the scene. Hou, hair still streaming from his emergence from the water, held Lee by the hair, her head pulled back, throat exposed. He had a long, thin knife poised at her jugular; in a second she could be dead. Liz Hammond supported an old woman, while two Sakais stood irresolute.
‘Drop guns and go back,’ Hou screamed at Cresswell and the major. ‘Drop guns!’ He pressed the knife. Lee made a strange, gurgling scream and a small trickle of blood ran down her neck. ‘Next time!’ Hou promised.
The two dropped their guns close to their feet, Sturgess lowering his to the ground by its strap. Hou snarled, ‘Kick near! Near me!’
Sturgess looked at Cresswell, then at his own Sten gun. The two had understood each other before in the home of the Hammonds’ old amah; Sturgess hoped his man understood now. Hoped he remembered a much publicised incident when a soldier had banged on a door with the butt of a Sten gun and the quick-reaction gun had gone off and shot the soldier behind.
He silently applauded the young man, who pretended to stagger as he went to kick his rifle forwards, giving Sturgess a further few seconds to calculate his move. Cresswell miskicked again; this, Sturgess knew, was as far as any delay could go. Hou growled again and lifted Lee off her feet, but now Cresswell got his foot behind the rifle properly and pushed it forwards towards the communist.
The animal-like growl was repeated and John knew he could delay no longer. He swung his foot back and kicked the metal butt of the Sten as hard as he could. The gun responded as he had hoped, and fired. In the split second of the shot he was diving forwards, as was Cresswell. The major pushed his hand up with all the calculation of a man trained in both assassination and defence, forcing the knife away from Lee’s throat. He felt the girl pulled away, then Cresswell was on the other side, helping him pin the savage, screaming man down. Suddenly Liz was standing over all three men, holding the Sten gun pointing unwaveringly at Hou’s forehead.
‘You’d make a good regular soldier, Cresswell,’ the major said across Hou’s body as they each hung on to one of Heng Hou’s arms. ‘Pleased to see you made it.’
Alan grinned. ‘Thanks, sir, it is mutual. We’d have walked straight into this lad and his party.’
The pleasantries having been exchanged, they both realised that Lee was sobbing hysterically and shouting, ‘Kill him! Kill him! I’ll never be safe while he’s alive.’
‘He has only to move and I’ll do just that,’ Liz promised. ‘Don’t worry, Lee, he’s going nowhere.’
Once the group had rounded up the communists left alive and Hou had been secured to Lee’s partial satisfaction, there was quite a reunion.
Pa Kasut came forward and greeted John Sturgess like a returning prodigal son, and as recognition slowly dawned John stood shaking his head in disbelief.
‘It can’t be!’ he exclaimed. ‘The Japs never got you!’ His eyes went then to Bras standing grinning broadly next to him. ‘This is your boy! The young man who — ’
‘You save from tank,’ Pa Kasut said, and for a moment the joy of reunion was overlaid by the trauma of a remembered incident. ‘Now we save this man for you.’ He indicated Alan.
‘Yes,’ Sturgess said simply. He took stock of the tall, red-bearded young man with a long flash of white mixed in with his darker hair and he saw a man, old in experience, pain — and love, he thought, looking from him to Liz, who stood close by his side. He could sense that their togetherness was unassailable. He held out his hand to Alan and wondered whether he deserved to have the younger man take it.
Alan did not smile but he did take the hand offered to him. ‘Sir,’ he said gently. Sturgess shook it hard, then, turning, put his free hand on the old Sakai’s shoulder and announced to the assembled group, ‘Of course you know what Pa Kasut means — it’s “Old Boot”, tough as old boots! That’s how this jungle hero got his name.’
Liz was surprised when, after they had all smoked together, the Sakais prepared to go back to their hill camp. She had not expected to part with their company so soon. They stood in line to shake hands and bid them goodbye. She felt a great affection for them and knew there was nothing she or Alan could ever do to repay them. They had nothing the Sakais needed. Sturgess gave them a tin of cigarettes, which Pa Kasut gave to Sardin — he of the trip to the cinema, Liz remembered.
As they set out again, Lee insisted on always walking behind the prisoners, so as to be sure Heng Hou was secure. She got a little braver as they neared the main roads, pulling at his ropes to be sure they were still tight.
‘His growl has gone now,’ she said triumphantly, ‘now he just ... ’ She skipped in front of him, glowered and pulled faces at him to Ch’ing’s consternation and disapproval.
‘I’ll feel happier when he’s in gaol where he belongs,’ Liz said grimly, wondering if the terrorist would be taken to the same gaol where George Harfield was incarcerated. It would be a strange irony.
Chapter Twenty-Five
‘Mem.’
Blanche looked up from where she was writing to Wendy, communicating without giving away the fact that she was totally alone at Rinsey except for Anna. She recognised it as the same kind of letter she had written to the girls when they were at school and university during the previous war, concealing appalling anxiety.
‘How well do you think Wendy would remember Joan and Aubrey?’ she asked.
‘Mem, it’s the manager from the mine at Bukit Kinta.’
‘George!’ She rose, her heart thudding.