Chapter One - Richard Lewis

The editorial thundered that the mysterious Luhde Srikandi was the heart of the
traitorous evil on the island. She must be unmasked, and all her treacherous followers.
All of them must be made secure down to their very roots.
On the margin of the paper, Reed wrote down Bambang's name and the phone
number Harry had given. "That's Naniek's brother in Singapore. Could you phone him for
me and ask him if he's heard anything. She's supposed to be on her way to Bali. Tell him
that her godfather is no position to help and has asked me."
Arini's weariness lifted a little with surprise. "Subandri? He asked you? In
person?"
"It's a long story. I'll tell you later."
Arini tucked the strip into her pocket.
An hour later, Reed and Wendell were sipping coffee with Dharma in his guest
pavilion. They sat cross-legged on mats. Wendell still wore his shoes, having giving
Reed a cold look and saying "I'm not getting hookworms" when Reed suggested it was
polite to take them off. A flight of doves circled overhead, their whistles softly sounding
in the golden air, but over the mountains, thunderheads billowed in towers of gray.
"It's like this, Pak Wendell," Dharma said. Reed had introduced Wendell as a
senior colleague, and since Wendell knew only basic Bahasa, Reed had stepped in to
smooth over the translations. "This is Bali. If the PKI are being slaughtered in Java, good
for Java, but that is not here. Here, we and the Communists are two cocks who have
brought to the cockpit. We're circling each other, heads down and cockles spread.
Governor Suteja is still in power. The PKI have many members."
Wendell pressed a finger to the bamboo mat. "Start something. Get it going. We
will support you. Could you put that to him, please, Reed? Make sure he understands."
Dharma waved his thick hand. "I understand very well."
Reed opened his briefcase and pulled out stapled sheets of paper, with lists of
names typed on them. "Start by securing these people," Wendell said. "But one name is
missing." With his fountain pen, he printed on the bottom of the first page the name
Naniek Rahayu Sastrohartono. He fixed his radar head at Reed, something twinkling deep
at the bottom of his eyes. "Could you explain that, please, Reed?"
Reed pulled himself far away and calmly translated.
Dharma flipped through the pages and then handed them back. "We know all
these people. We don't need your help."
Auntie ordered Reed to stay on in Bali and keep up the good work. Apparently
he'd been granted absolution, if not exactly forgiveness, but he knew there was no future
for him in the Company.
November came with wind and storm. The tension on Bali built to palpable
portions but there was as yet no violence despite the news coming from Java. The
classifieds of the local newspaper were filled with remorseful confessions of PKI
members who condemned the killings of the generals and renounced their party.
Governor Suteja, the loyal Sukarnoist and leftist who had long supported the PKI agenda,
became a faded, furtive presence. Ompreng quit working as Reed's watchman. He put on
nationalist militia garb and declared to all that he'd been an undercover nationalist all
along.
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