Guns for Hire - Script Fifty Three

Pier 2, North Harbour, Manila, Philippines 9.11am 08/08/17

Still playing the inquisitive & camera happy tourists Alex, T-Bird, Vrasten & Skinpin joined the milling crowds at Manilla's north harbour & eventually found themselves in the sweating queue on Pier 2 boarding the Negros Navigation Shipping Line's MV Don Julio for the twenty-two sailing to Puerto Princesa All were happy to note that security & customs sailing out of Manila to Palawan were almost non existent however they weren't expecting it to be quite so lax at Puerta Princesa.

Finally the MV Don Julio cast of her lines at just after ten thirty am.

The ship had obviously seen better times however with the vastly reduced numbers of European & particularly American tourists now traveling to Palawan the majority of the people traveling were of local extraction & not prepared or able to pay the international tourist rates that were the normal prior to Kuratong Balelang rising to power.

Eventually the four were guided to their cabins which at least gave some relief from those crowding the deck complete with children & chickens.

MV Don Julio, Verde Island Passage, Philippines 6.13pm 08/08/17

Having strolled the decks & rattled off numerous touristy photographs as the Don Julio sailed out of Manila Bay & through the Verde Island Passage & into the South China Sea & having sampled extensively the ships remaining bar the gang of four lent on the port rail sipping cocktails watching the sun settle into the sea.

As they took their ease Alex commented that having had a good scout around the vessel that whilst there was plenty of options for carrying on board secreted personal protection, the ship did not offer much in the way of cargo cover so if they did take the contract all the way they'd definitely need a privateer on board, whether by boat or air, to transport the "merchandise" onto the island.

MV Don Julio, South China Sea, Philippines 7.41pm 08/08/17

Heading back to his room for a quick wash up before sampling the delights of the Don Julio's restaurant immediately Vrasten entered his cabin he new something wasn't right, it was the small things, a glass moved so as somebody could use the table, a buckle on a bag loose rather than fastened, checking the door latch it was worn but still lockable however fresh scrapes on the battered door frame suggested somebody didn't need a key.

Flicking through his bags it was clear to his trained eye that somebody had carefully gone through his kit however it was soon apparent that all that was missing was loose cash, admittedly several hundred dollars worth, but nothing that he couldn't loose as a necessary expense when it came to making a claim to the client, shrugging his shoulders he headed for the restaurant to rejoin the others making sure that he still had his assorted ID & payment cards in his inside pocket.

Back with the others it appeared he was the only one of the four to suffer any on board petty theft so far.

MV Don Julio, Palawan Island, Philippines 7.03am 09/08/17

To the ringing of bells followed by an all stations call the captain of the Don Julio announced to all that they would be docking in around one hours time, he also advised all international passengers to ensure that they had identity cards & passports to hand along with immigration & visa documents as these would be required for inspection by the Palawan security service immediately upon debarkation.

Puerta Princesa, Customs & Immigration Hall, Palawan Island 8.16am 09/08/17

Walking down the covered gangplank it was immediately obvious to all four that there was a distinctly differing process for local traffic & international tourists, particularly those who were European or more specifically US citizens. Whilst the bulk of those disembarking cattle class were ushered towards & through the "nothing to declare" route anybody who was patently non native to the southern oceans was treated with courtesy but with much keener interest

It was also obvious to anybody remotely paying any interest that whilst these clearance checks was being made by uniformed & smiling officials they weren't actually in charge.

At strategic points around the arrivals hall casually dressed spooks stood watching all who passed, occasionally there would be a tip of a head, a casual glance or a discreet cough towards a particular traveler which would instantly be acted upon by one of the uniformed officers, similarly if a uniform was asking to many or unwarranted questions of a traveler a quiet word from one of the watchers would magically ease the way.

With papers stamped & certified the hundred or so non native tourists filtered out of the immigration hall towards the various waiting minicabs & taxi's having been wished a pleasant stay.

Puerta Princesa, Palawan Island 8.16am 09/08/17

Stood outside of the Harbour gate Skinpin watched the last of the tourist pre-order taxi's, hotel minibuses & hired vehicles slide away & rolled a cigarette while Vrasten & Alex lamented T-Bird for not booking similar or for that matter a hotel when he'd arranged the ferry tickets, shrugging he pointed towards a peak capped PNP officer suggesting it was as good a starting point as any,

Straightening her skirt & with barely a pout Alex walked up to the officer & smiled, in her best chip inspired dialect she pleasantly asked the officer if he could assist in locating a taxi, all smiles he happily obliged suggesting that his very own brother could provide such a service for such a beautiful lady & her friends for such a modest fee, feeling like she'd suddenly been undressed Alex played along & chatted amiably until a large but ancient saloon pulled up along side the kerb, from the half rolled down window a belligerent greeting emanated demanding a equally loud response from the uniformed officer, before things got to relaxed however one of remarkably unimpressive watchers emerged from the exit of the immigration hall, instantly both the cop & the drivers' attitude stiffened noticeably.

Under the watchful eye of what was assumed to be one of Balelang's Mapang-api Lalaki the PNP officer doffed his cap to Alex & her companions before moving along leaving the driver of the unmarked & presumably unofficial taxi to load the trunk & roof rack with the collectives bags.

With all their kit loaded up they pulled away from harbour buildings, out of site of watching eyes the driver visibly relaxed, with one hand on the wheel he half turned to look into the back of the truck & stuck a well chewed cigar back into his flabby mouth,

"So my banyaga's, my well respected but stupid brother back there tells me you maybe need a hotel yes, I know plenty places yes, but I take you to the best OK, very nice, very clean, guaranteed no mice or snakes, well maybe a few yes"

Near mesmerised they allowed themselves to be driven across the capital city to what they were reliably informed was the best & most affordable accommodation the city could offer, in support of his, Francisco Reynoso Blanco as he introduced himself, claim, Franco, suggested that any hotel that his second cousin worked at had to be the best.

Hibiscus Hotel, Puerta Princesa, Palawan Island 9.27am 09/08/17

When they finally pulled up along the hotel it actually didn't look half bad, admittedly it wasn't new but it looked clean, quite classical actually, very old skool.

Before Franco left them T-Bird negotiated exclusive chauffeuring services for their first three days or so on the island whilst they found their feet & continued the charade of being tourists, with a fee of 4,500 PHP agreed plus breakfast per day Franco cheerily waved good-bye promising to be back at seven-thirty the following morning.

Inside the hotel Alex bartered enthusiastically for the cost of their rooms siting the regular power cuts & lack of air conditioning as reasons for the rate to be reduced, eventually she settled on free breakfasts.

Hibiscus Hotel, Puerta Princesa, Palawan Island 4.32pm 12/08/17

For several days they'd allowed Franco to ferry them around the many tourist attractions & beauty spots in & around Puerta Princesa, they'd been relatively easy going with tips ensuring that wherever they ate the staff were friendly & the food plentiful, it was clear that the people of Puerta Princesa were proud of their city but reluctant to criticize or even openly talk to foreigners about island politics in case their "insurgence" was reported by followers of Balelang regime to their presidents secret enforcers.

Over this initial period they'd interacted as much as possible with events within the city, again just playing at being dumb tourists, for some, according to Alex, this was a natural born task. Once or twice they'd witnessed a number of "disappearances" Simply put an unmarked unremarkable car would appear, its occupants would appear, undoubtedly Balelang's Mapang-api Lalakim, & an apparently innocent member of the public would find himself their guest.

Even when such events were blazingly obvious to one & all, talking to tourists was clearly not the done thing.

On the day previous, a Friday, they'd got caught up in a PR stunt run by Balelang's entourage, it seemed that Kuratong Balelang was to be photographed being adored by a typical crowd of Puerta Princesa residents as he opened a new school, allowing the crown to carry them along they soon found themselves in the thick of it. The majority of the crowd, despite their fears, had presumably come along to watch what happened feeling relatively safe in numbers. Under clear orchestration from government cronies & enforcers as well as selected supporters the arrival of the president's armoured sedan was a relatively noisy if not joyous affair captured on film by government sponsored media to show how wonderful President Balelang really was.

Quite by accident T-Bird found himself isolated from the others, turning to push his way through to where he thought his friends were he suddenly found himself at the head of the queue & staring Kuratong Balelang in the face, without hesitation Kuratong grabbed & pumped T-Bird's hand enthusiastically making an impromptu speech to the thrusting camera that all were welcome to the shores of Palawan including their long lost friends from America, fortunately T-Bird played along muttering words guaranteed to please the regimes supporters.

T-Bird even asked if he could have an autographed copy of the photograph.

Hibiscus Hotel, Puerta Princesa, Palawan Island 11.23am 13/08/17

At breakfast T-Bird's smiling face was festooned across the local government monitored scream-sheet.

Having extended their initial reservation at the Hibiscus, even though Alex's attempts to fix the antiquated aircon system had ended in failure & despite the frequent power cuts as well as the infrequent availability of hot water, they decided to push their exploration of the island a little further & requested the hotel source them a cheap but reliable hire car, with the car unlikely to be available until the next day they decided to have a poke around the last unexplored area of the city streets, those immediately surrounding the former parliamentary house & provincial governmental buildings.

Puerta Princesa City Hall, Palawan Island 11.23am 13/08/17

Again playing wandering snap happy tourists Alex, T-Bird, Vrasten & Skinpin meandered through the crowded city streets, passing through the former business district the number of people about reduced noticeably, by the time they stood before the stagnating fountain they were effectively alone, milling about the streets of the capital buildings taking pictures of anything that looked vaguely interesting it wasn't long before watching eyes were observed.

After several hours of this they were eventually approached by an unassuming chap sporting a dark glasses & lack of hair, whilst he was pleasant enough & rather well spoken the two silent gorillas behind him ensured that he got the attention he required.

He politely inquired if the four of them were enjoying their holiday, where they'd been & how long they were on the island for whilst all the time gently moving them towards the more populated areas of the town indicating places of greater interest that might care to visit. Apologising for the interest he'd shown he played his role superbly showing his sadness for the lack of communication between his homeland & other parts of the world but that he hoped, nay dreamt, that one day this could be rectified, sorrowfully shaking his head he wished them a good day & accompanied by his "helpers" departed the scene.

Hibiscus Hotel, Puerta Princesa, Palawan Island 1.16pm 29/08/17

For the last couple of weeks & with the benefit of a hired truck they'd covered a significant part of the tourist haunts as well as a few less salubrious areas of the island, they'd also spent several tiring & very expensive days fulfilling the role of wannabe big game fishers allowing them to genuinely inquire as to whether said charter boats would be interested in ferry them around some of the other islands, whilst the high priced big fish chasing boat owners weren't particularly interested in this as they made far more money taking wannabe heroes after billfish they had suggested a number of cheaper local run pleasure or fishing boats that might oblige, subsequent checking of these had left this as a option if required at some later date. One issue they hadn't followed up & with their visa nearing expired they thought they'd check up on was the presidential retreat a couple of hours up the coast that the local media had made reference to a couple of times when it announced that President Balelang has enjoyed his weekend in the country & was now back behind his desk doing his best to improve the . . . . . . . . . . blah, blah, blah.

Thinking back over their stay they did recall seeing the presidents entourage leaving town at least once or twice for destinations unknown, discreet inquiries had located the property as being around seventy miles north of the capital past Tulariquin & overlooking Reinard Island.

Deciding it was definitely worth a look their own local acquired fishing gear was loaded up along with associated bed rolls & coffee to again play the role of tourists with to much time on their hands.

Puerta Princesa Road North, Tulariquin, Palawan Island 3.08pm 29/08/17

Having passed a faded sign announcing they had entered the locale of Tulariquin, & despite there being nothing other than the sign post to suggest there was anything in there other than the signpost, they kept their eyes open for a track to their right through the scrub & increasing numbers of trees which supposedly lead to the presidents coastal abode. The drive out of town had, like previous trips, proved interesting, the road surface was, well, variable, from cracked blacktop to compacted stone to rutted dirt, in the wet & dark it was frequently lethal, on humid days like today it was merely dusty & dangerous.

On a stretch of unsurfaced road shortly after Tulariquin they trees on the right had thickened sufficiently to obscure any sign of the island, presumably Reinard island, just off the coast suggesting they were nearing their target, as the road curved towards the coast they came upon a track through the trees on their right that was likely the route to they wanted however blocking the turning was a battered van with its hood up, the van, loitering around the van, which was parked at an angle across the junction, were three t-shirt & short attired figures. Slowing but not stopping Vrasten cruised past & continued north whilst the others rubbernecked, Alex & T-Bird both reckoned the goons were unarmed but Alex added that there was definitely a rifle leaning nonchalantly against a tree beside the van, half mile or so up the road Vrasten pulled over.

With the main road north of the turning heading inland they decided to turn back towards Puerta Princesa & try & pull of the road south of the presidential track & cut through the trees on foot to the coast which they reckoned was no more than a couple of miles.

Driving back past the parked van the hood was still raised however there was no activity to suggest anybody was trying to fix it, in fact the three figures seemed far more interested in anybody driving past backing up their thoughts that they were Mapang-api Lalakim guards,

"Who knows" suggested Skinpin, maybe the presidents at home" Vrasten gave them a cheery wave.

Puerta Princesa Road North, Tulariquin, Palawan Island 4.21pm 29/08/17

Having parked the hire car out of the way of casual observation the four had trekked through the woods & eventually reached the foreshore, a mix of near tropical beauty & rocky outcrops with Reinard Island clearly visible & slightly north of their position about a mile of the Palawan coast.

Moving slightly north along the beach they openly set up camp around two miles of where they reckoned the inlet was that housed the presidential home, in fact stood in the shallows Vrasten with his inbuilt optics reckoned he could see low lying timber jetty running from the shoreline.

With a fire lit & coffee on the boil Alex & Vrasten left T-Bird & Skinpin & walked along the surf line expertly beech casting as they went for Tangigue, Mamsa, Talakitok or Green Jobfish. For the first mile or so they were left alone however as the began to approach the inlet Vrasten confirmed they were being watched from the jetty, ignoring this observation they continued to walk north & fish.

Half a mile from the inlet but yet unable to see anything more than the jetty the noise of a engine broke the silence & a sleek powerboat eased out of the inlet heading their way.

Reinard Beach, Palawan Island 5.09pm 29/08/17

As the boat approached their position Vrasten waved & held up their catch Alex shouted a greeting, the boat, engine idling, touched the white sand beneath the water maybe fifty yards off the shore. On board were two casually dressed men, whilst the driver kept an eye on the boats position ensuring it didn't get pushed ashore by the strong tide the second stood & addressed Vrasten & T-Bird, ever polite he explained that they were in fact approaching a private residence & section of beach that the owner was in residence & would prefer not to be disturbed, unfortunately this did mean that Vrasten & Alex would need to back track, he concluded by apologising for this inconvenience to their enjoyment but suggested he would need to insist on their cooperation.

Apologetically Vrasten & Alex graciously accepted the friendly advise having not realised this was the case or having seen any signs advising of private property, waving good-bye they retraced their footsteps towards the camp.

Reinard Beach, Palawan Island 10.17pm 29/08/17

Left alone since the earlier warning Alex, T-Bird, Skinpin & Vrasten feasted on the plentiful abundance of fish they hauled out of the sea & considered their next move, from the presence of the goons at the head of the track & the comments of the dude on the boat it seemed likely that President Balelang was actually in residence.

Alex, despite the near impenetrable darkness under the canopy of the trees & her lack of experience at tracking, announced that she was going to go have a scout around, Vrasten didn't think was a sensible idea however T-Bird, who considered himself somewhat of an expert at this kind of thing, said he'd go along for the ride & make sure the kitty didn't get lost.

Annoyed but accepting T-Bird's assistance they set off.

Reinard Beach, Palawan Island 11.51pm 29/08/17

Moving through the dense trees & following the near silently ghosting T-Bird Alex grunted an acknowledgment to her self that the little shit actually knew what he was doing, unfortunately she had to almost admit to herself as another branch cracked beneath her foot that she didn't.

Maybe quarter of a mile from where T-Bird guessed the residence would be T-Bird held up his hand to stop Alex going any further, in the distance their was a hint of light through the trees suggesting that maybe not everybody had yet gone to bed, not only that but he could see a shadow in the moonlight leading up to what looked like a CCTV camera mounted about fifteen foot off the ground on the side of a tree.

Having pointed this out to Alex they spent the next hour working east towards the coast & then west from which they picked out regularly spaced cameras forming what looked like a semi circular perimeter inland of the beach, in addition their were armed guards secreted at positions between the cameras.

Disappointed that they really couldn't go any further Alex suggested they head back to Vrasten & Skinpin, T-Bird nodded in agreement & wondered again if when they returned back home via Manilla he'd have time to spend a few dollars with Cindy & her friends.

Reinard Beach, Palawan Island 12.17pm 30/08/17

Near mesmerised by the flames & listening to Skinpin's gentle snoring Vrasten almost missed the sound of the approaching boat & its sweeping searchlight, hurriedly he stuffed jackets etc in sleeping bags to mimic Alex & T-Bird & woke Skinpin carrying out one sided conversations to suggest everybody was present & correct.

Under the glare of the spot light Vrasten & Skinpin waved & raised a bottle to suggest they were drunk, well, drunker than they actually were, inviting the dude watcher on the boat to come ashore & share a drink.

Smiling the watcher suggested he would like to but his employer would not be happy however he was pleased they were having an enjoyable time & had just wanted to make sure they were safe for the night, with that he turned the light away from the beach camp & the boat eased itself away from the shore returning in the direction from which it had come.

Pleased with his impromptu ruse Vrasten settled back in his sleeping bag to await the return of Alex & T-Bird.

Reinard Beach, Palawan Island 7.43am 30/08/17

T-Bird woke top the sound of Skinpin pissing about in the surf, absentmindedly he scratched his bollocks & wondered if he had crabs.

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