I don’t know if this will be of any use, but one of my cubicle mates ranks high in penchak silat, or however it’s spelled. I’ll see if his school has any connections to martial arts groups in Jakarta.
FROM: LadyDayFan
Desi, that would be great.
FROM: Chatsworth Osborne Jr.
I took a scuba vacation in Bali a few years ago. Maybe I can contact those people and see if they know anyone with a boat in Jakarta.
FROM: Corporal Carrot
You guyz are acting like this is real.
FROM: LadyDayFan
TINAG, my friends. TINAG.
Dagmar plunged into the water, bubbles erupting around her. She arched her back, feeling the bubbles stream along her legs and the sensitive flesh of her neck, and rose through the dark water until her head broke the surface.
The night loomed around her, silent, the stars muted by wisps of cloud.
She began her laps. Arms, legs, lungs in synchrony, the warm water a midnight dream.
Her future, even her continued existence, was a question mark.
Swimming nightly laps was a defiance of that uncertainty, a statement that she was still an actor on her own stage. That there was still something in which her own will could alter events.
Even if it was just swimming, at night, hidden from the world.
FROM: Chatsworth Osborne Jr.
Sorry, but I’ve worked the Bali dive boat connection, and it didn’t
pan out.
FROM: Joe Clever
We might try sportfishermen. Do you think any of them would have
a Web site?
FROM: Chatsworth Osborne Jr.
I’ll check.
I’ve been doing some thinking. We’ve got three possibilities for getting
Dagmar out of Jakarta. Air, water, land.
If we use an aircraft, the aircraft has to find a place to land, and
then we’ll have to move Dagmar to that place by car or bus or some
other form of ground transport. In addition, the Indonesian military
isn’t allowing anyone into their airspace, so any aircraft runs a risk
of being shot down.
If we use a boat, then we still have to bring Dagmar to the boat by ground transport. It’s not clear whether the Indonesian navy is blockading Jakarta by sea or how effective the blockade is.
If it’s possible to move Dagmar out of Jakarta by ground transport (say, by bribing or otherwise coming to an understanding with the military), then even if she doesn’t leave the country, she would be safer than she is now. Even though she’d still be in Indonesia, she’d be outside the area of complete chaos.
FROM: Hanseatic
Have you considered a seaplane or flying boat?
FROM: Chatsworth Osborne Jr.
No, I hadn’t. Good idea.
FROM: Vikram
I have an uncle who’s being evacuated with the Indian nationals today or tomorrow. Once he’s out of Jakarta, I will try to contact him and find out if there’s anyone we can contact.
FROM: Desi
I got lucky with the silat connection! My friend’s teacher is affiliated with a school in Jakarta. He’s checking with them.
FROM: LadyDayFan
Great news!
FROM: Desi
We might be able to hook Dagmar up with her own bodyguard of martial artists! How cool is that?
“How are you, darling?” asked Tomer Zan.
“I’m trying to keep my chin up,” Dagmar said.
“That’s good. I just wanted you to know that we got another helicopter. It’s a Spirit, it’s got a much longer range than the Huey, so we’ll be able to stage from farther out at sea.”
“Good to know.”
“It’s on its way from the Philippines now. So we should be set in just a few days.”
“What happened,” Dagmar asked, “to the old helicopter?”
“Yes. Well.” Dagmar sensed considerable reluctance. “It was trying to land on our ship, and the winds were gusty, so it crashed into the superstructure. So we need a new ship and a new helicopter.”
“Was anyone hurt?” Dagmar felt the depression that propelled her words.
There was a brief silence, and then, “The crew of the helicopter was killed. There were some injuries on the ship, too, because there was a fire. The radio room got burned-that’s why we didn’t hear from them.”
It seemed to Dagmar as if her heart slowed, extending the long silence between beats. The breath that she drew into her lungs took an eon. Then time seemed to speed up as she hurled the words into the world.
“Oh Christ, I’m sorry,” she said.
“It’s not your fault, darling,” Zan said.
Dagmar didn’t answer.
“We’re professionals,” Zan said. “All our people have been soldiers. We understand the risks we take.”
“I’m not a soldier,” Dagmar said. “Nothing’s prepared me for this.”
“We’re coming to get you,” said Zan. “That’s what you need to think about.”
“I’ll try,” she said.
“We’re coming soon.”
After the phone call came to an end, Dagmar closed her eyes and fell into a dark, liquid sorrow, a grief the temperature of blood.
FROM: Joe Clever
I’ve found a boat and a captain. He’s a fisherman named Widjihartani, and he operates from a port in West Java called Pelabuhan Ratu. It’s something like five or six hours from Jakarta by sea.
He’s willing to take a passenger anywhere, provided his fuel and time are paid for. All the way to Singapore, if we want.
He says that Jakarta is technically under a blockade by the navy, but they let fishermen through because they are too necessary to the economy to let them go under.
FROM: Corporal Carrot
FROM: LadyDayFan
Is Widjihartani his first name or his last name? Are you sure he’s reliable?
FROM: Corporal Carrot
What do they call him for short?
FROM: Joe Clever
Widjihartani is the only name he’s got. Lots of Indonesians have only one name.
I spoke to him on the phone. His English is pretty good, he takes tourists out for fishing and sightseeing.
He seemed pretty clearheaded, really. But he didn’t know how he could afford the fuel, and with the banks in the state they are, it’s unclear how we can get money to him.
FROM: Hippolyte
I found Pelabuhan Ratu on Google Earth!
FROM: LadyDayFan
Can we set him up with a PayPal account? Then we could put money into it, and he could withdraw it whenever the bank lets him.
FROM: Joe Clever
I’ll check.
From the restaurant, Dagmar could see the Indian nationals evacuating, the line of helicopters parading neatly across the horizon.
The Chinese were going out in the morning, by sea, and the Singaporeans the next day. Even little Singapore could stage a proper evacuation, complete with a landing by their elite Gurkha troops.
The only nationality that wasn’t evacuating, besides the Americans, was the Australians. The Indonesians were still angry at the Australians over Timor and weren’t letting Australian ships into their waters.
For a moment, watching the Indians go, Dagmar felt a spasm of pure hatred for her own nation. Her country had lost the ability to do anything but make fast food and bad Hollywood blockbusters. Every city would have its very own Katrina, and the United States of America in its greatness and piety would do nothing before or after. At the embassy they handed out lies as if they were the White House budget office.
Even the saving of human life had been privatized. If you could afford your own security outfit to rescue you with its helicopters, then you were granted life; if you couldn’t, you were beneath your nation’s notice.