Chapter One - Richard Lewis

At Benoa, Reed barreled down the causeway through thick mangroves to the
harbormaster's office, where he told his contact that he needed to use the shortwave. The
contact hustled him to the radio room, but the sparky was dubious. A hundred dollar bill
convinced the operator to have a long cigarette break. Alone in the room, Reed put on the
headset and tuned to a memorized frequency. He chanted the call sign mantras, got
through, announced his coded credentials, and waited for Wendell to be summoned to the
embassy radio room.
Through the choppy staccato of overs and the hollow background yowling of the
short wave frequency, Reed said that he'd heard the RRI broadcast and what the hell was
going on?
"Auntie is an emergency meeting with Uncle," Wendell said guardedly.
"Roadblocks on the way to work but they let us through. Between here and Playboy's hut
are a whole bunch of red musketeers." Playboy was the in-station codename for Sukarno,
his hut the palace on the north side of the square across from the Embassy. Reed
interpreted this as meaning that least some of the military had turned PKI and were
involved in this September 30 th Movement. "Things are in flux here," Wendell said. "We
assessing."
Which means they don't know what the hell is going on, Reed thought.
"As for you," Wendell said, "See what you can see and let us know."
Whatever was happening, the most obvious sign would be at the Udayana
Military Command by the public square. Reed was expecting a tense bustle of activity,
but strangely, all was calm, civilians sauntering in and out of the gate, idly watched by
bored guards.
Perhaps Arini knew something, but the receptionist at the Bali Hotel said she was
out and didn't know when she'd be back. Reed hiked around the corner to the
telecommunications office by the Governor's mansion, where a gardener swept fallen
leaves off the lawn.
The operator shook his head even as Reed was speaking. No lines to Djakarta, he
said.
Figuring he'd better stock up on gasoline for the jeep, just in case, Reed stopped in
at Hwa Chen's shop to buy a couple metal jerry cans. He got there as spindly Chinese
storekeeper was closing shop, sliding the wooden shutters across the store front. In the
back of the shop a radio crackled its news.
"The Air Force has backed a coup in Djakarta," Chen said. He explained that the
radio had broadcast an order of the day from the air force commander supporting Lt-
Colonel Untung's action to secure the revolution from reactionary elements. The 30 th
September Movement had also broadcast a second decree, announcing the comrades of
the New Revolutionary Council.
"They say it is strictly an internal army affair, but these things have a way of
getting out of hand," Chen said. "Close shop and wait."
The Bali army command finally reacted, imposing an island-wide, dusk to dawn
curfew. The next morning when Reed drove into Den Pasar, he encountered road blocks
with armored cars, but after taking a look at his ID, the soldiers waved him through. He
tried the central phone office before resorting to the harbor radio, and to his surprise
found that phone lines were back in service.
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