The Jungle Deep

By Brett Wright

Ethan Garrick is living an idyllic life in Cairns, Australia, with his wife Julie.

He is content in his new role with the Australian Federal Police however on a sporting trip to Canberra he is approached my the mysterious ASIO officer, Myles Petterson, who blackmails Ethan, forcing him to leave behind his happy life and return to the steam

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brett Wright
• Release date: May 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9780648561439

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

The men were worn out, exhausted. Their muscles ached and they breathed heavily. They were all splashed with so much mud that their uniforms were almost unrecognisable. Grey clouds sat low and heavy over the field. In some places they appeared so dark they looked black despite it being mid afternoon.

It had rained heavily earlier forcing the crowd of onlookers to retreat under the cover of the grand stand on the Western side of the field and under the large ground floor balcony awning of the two story sandstone Leagues club that sat well back from the field on the Eastern side of the ground.

That rain had eased into a drizzle that was now close enough to sleet. The trees on the Northern and Southern sides of the field were almost hidden in a slow drifting mist. Loud crashing thunder could be heard to the West.

Ethan knew they were running out of time and he and his men were exhausted. His enemy were two points ahead and there was little more than a minute remaining before the full time siren would sound.

It was the final in the Federal Police Rugby League Cup and Ethan’s North Queensland District team had made it to the final against the Canberra AFP team in the nation’s bush capital.

It had been a tough game played at a frantic pace from the opening minute. Full of explosive hits in both attack and defence. The players on both sides were covered in mud and more than a few bled openly from cuts received during the heavy contact of the match.

Ethan looked to his right, he had identified that the Canberra halfback and centre on that side of the field had a defensive flaw. The centre had been slow to turn inside to help his halfback earlier in the game and the pair had been targeted a number of times. So much so that Ethan knew the centre had come to believe the opposition would try to run between him and his halfback every time the ball came to their side of the field. As a result Ethan had seen the centre turn inside and scramble towards his halfback twice now, leaving a gap between himself and his winger.

There was now barely a minute remaining and Ethan took his chance. He nodded to his five-eight who was outside him and then turned to his own halfback and nodded again.

Slater the big North Queensland Districts front rower got to his feet, pushing back the Canberra defender with his one free hand and quickly played the ball with his right foot. Spina, the dummy half, picked up the ball and shot a pass out to the halfback who just as quickly passed it on to Ethan. Ethan took his chance, he ran at the small gap between the Canberra halfback and centre. The halfback went low and tackled Ethan around his legs and Ethan began to fall to the ground, the Canberra centre moved from his position in the defensive line to support his halfback. The movement was not needed as Ethan was tackled and falling to the wet muddy ground with the final seconds of the match winding down and the full-time siren about to blow.

But the Canberra centre’s decision to move to his right to support the halfback had created a gap in the Canberra line and as Ethan fell towards the ground he flicked a pass behind him to his right, it was just long enough for Ethan’s five-eight to steam onto the pass, catch it and run through the gap created by the Canberra centre’s poor defensive read.

Ethan’s team mate sped through the gap and raced away to score under the Canberra posts.

As Ethan began to climbed to his feet he saw his team mates racing towards the five-eight with yells of wild jubilation. They had won, 16-14 with a conversion kick still to come. The siren wailed from the sideline and the cries of excitement from the handful of Northern Queensland District officials and supporters joined those of the players.

Ethan, covered in mud, began to move towards the celebrating players. But as he looked towards his excited team mates he saw in the distance at the Northern end of the filed a man standing alone. And the man was watching him. Ethan saw the man was dressed in a heavy black overcoat and stood very still despite a sudden downpour of rain. The man made no move to find shelter, he just stood staring at Ethan.

Two of Ethan’s team mates ran up to him and embraced him, yelling wildly with excitement. Ethan smiled through his mud covered face and the mud began running down his face in streaks as the strength of the heavy rain increased, washing the muck away.

When he looked back towards where the man in black had been standing, the man was gone.

*

Steamy hot water washed over Ethan’s body as he stood under the shower in the grand sandstone Leagues club. He scrubbed the mud off, it was good to be clean again. He liked to be clean.

His mind flashed back to the Papua New Guinea jungle, how he had been covered in dirt and sweat and filth for days. One of the first things he had done when they found their way to the small fishing village of Lateneie was to scrub the grime from his body and it had felt wonderful to be clean again.

Ethan thought about the Priest, Paul and the village youngster, Lucious, the two men who had escaped the jungle with him. He wondered how they were. He thought about Marcus, his friend who had been killed in the jungle. He pushed the dark thoughts aside so as not to be dragged down in feelings of sadness and loss.

Marcus had become a friend in the short time Ethan had known him and he missed the big man.

The media circus around Ethan when he had reached Port Moresby and then Australia had been crazy. It seemed there were a hundred news reporters wanting to speak with him about what had happened and how he had survived in the jungle, about how he had found his way to Lateneie and about his companions.

And Ethan lied to them. Well he did not exactly lie, he reasoned, he just left out some important parts of the story.

Ethan told the journalists of the violent storm their small Cessna had flown into, about how the aircraft crashed on a mountain and how the pilot, Lewis, and the photo-journalist, Marcus, had died as a result of the accident. That was all technically true, Lewis and Marcus had died as a result of the Cessna crashing into the mountain. Ethan had simply left out the fact that then men had survived the accident and been killed later, Lewis by Papuan warriors and Marcus by the villager’s who had rescued them after the plane crashed.

Ethan had dreaded being contacted by the men’s families and friends, wanting to know how they died, if they were alive after the crash and if so how long had they lingered before dying of their injuries. Had there been any final messages of love before they died. But the conversations had never taken place. Marcus had no close family or friends and Lewis’s family who lived in England had never contacted Ethan.

Ethan told the reporters how he and Paul had struggled through the jungle, finding small amounts of bush tucker to survive on and how a tribe of Papuan’s had helped them by giving them a dugout canoe and pointing them towards Lateneie.

He simply left out that a villager, Lucious, the descendent of shipwreck survivors from the 1820’s, had escaped the jungle with them. And that there was a whole village of these descendants living in a time capsule of early 1800’s life on a remote PNG mountain top.

The reporters who spoke with Ethan lapped up the story of his survival, the public watched it being reported on the news for days until the media became bored with it and moved onto the next headline grabber.

And once the story of his survival began to die down, the questions of what happened in the jungle died too.

Ethan had been interviewed by officials in Papua New Guinea and Australia and by an AFP investigation team who were all satisfied with what he told them and the matter had been quickly forgotten about.

Ethan could not bring himself to tell the world of the village. He knew that if he did a hoard of reporters and officials would search for and descend on the unknown town and the villagers world would end in a matter of days. Despite the terrible violence that existed between the villagers and the Papuan’s on the mountain top, Ethan felt he did not have the right to bring about the end of their world. Whatever was to happen on that mountain, it was not for him to bring about its end.

So Ethan had kept the story of the village and what had really happened to Lewis and Marcus a secret. The only person he had told the whole truth to was his wife, Julie.

When Ethan first saw Julie after finding his way out of the jungle, the feeling of relief and happiness had been instant and immense. The two hugged and kissed and hardly spoke a word as they held onto each other.

When they were alone, out of the media and officials spotlight, Ethan had told Julie the truth about what had happened after the Cessna crashed. And Ethan told her why he would not tell anyone else.

Julie had listened to the incredible story and had cried when Ethan described the deaths of Lewis and Marcus. And she agreed with him that sharing this truth with the world would quickly bring about the end of the village. So the two of them decided to tell no one of the villages existence.

That had been over a year ago.

Ethan and Julie had moved from New South Wales to North Queensland when Ethan had applied for and was transferred to a posting in Cairns. They quickly settled into their new community and found the move had given them both a new lease of life.

Ethan had played Rugby League when he was growing up in NSW and loved the sport so he joined the Northern Queensland Districts AFP team as a way of getting to know his new workmates and giving him a focus outside of work.

He was almost forty four years old now and that was old to be playing Rugby League, however he was fit and strong and he enjoyed the training and loved the game. So he found playing to be a win win situation. He had been chosen as the team captain and in his first season the team had just won the Australian Federal Police Rugby League Cup. Life was good.

*

Ethan finished his shower, dressed, and walked out to the bar area of the club. It was on the first floor of the old sandstone building and had an unobstructed view of the football field. The bar itself was a long rectangular design of polished old Australian Red Mahogany that stood in the middle of the large room. The bar was brightly illuminated however there were no lights on in the sounding lounge area that was cast in long shadows.

It was dark outside now and Ethan walked across to his team mates who had also showered. Many of the Canberra team were also there and the men stood around enjoying a drink, taking good natured jibes at each other and embellishing their individual feats during the game.

The walls of the club were hung with framed photos of matches and players from long ago. The walls themselves were lined with polished spotted gum timber panelling and fitted with bronze light fittings that gave off a dull light under their green lamp shades.

Ethan began to think about the many men who had stood in this room after a match over the years sharing their stories and enjoying each others company, just as he was now, and how many would stand here in the years to come. The thoughts made him feel small, insignificant, but at the same time part of a brotherhood of fellow sportsmen from the past and the future.

‘Ethan Garrick?’

Ethan turned around to find the man he had seen watching him from the sideline at the end of the match was now standing in front of him. The man had removed his overcoat and now that Ethan could see him more clearly he saw the stranger was tall with black hair that seemed unnaturally shiny, he had a thin build and a long pinched face. He looked to be in his mid forties. There was something about the man that immediately gave Ethan a feeling of mistrust and put him on guard.

Ethan gave the man a small node.

‘Congratulations on your Rugby win.’ the pinched face man said through what Ethan thought was a condescending smile.

Ethan’s feeling of mistrust turned to one of dislike. Did he really not know the difference between Rugby League and Rugby? Two of the biggest sports on Australia’s East coast.

‘Thank you’. Ethan said and started to turn back to his friends.

‘Are you not curious as to who I am?’ Pinch face asked.

‘Well you know my name, I figure you will tell me yours when you are ready.’ Ethan said turning back towards the man.

‘Might we have a word in private?’ Pinch face asked and held his arm out indicating two chairs that sat beside the open fireplace at the end of the long room.

Ethan followed the man and sat in one of the dark green leather chairs that had gold coloured studs running down the front of the arm rests. Despite being close to the fireplace, Ethan found this part of the room was colder and more dimly lit than the bar where his team mates chatted and laughed with the Canberra players.

Pinch face sat in the chair opposite Ethan.

‘My name is Myles Petterson.’ he said, ‘I work for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.’

‘Your an ASIO agent?’ Ethan asked. What the hell did an ASIO agent want to speak with him for Ethan wondered. Did ASIO know the truth about what had happened in the Papua New Guinea jungle? Did they know about the village?

‘Yes.’ Smiled Petterson with the same condescending smile he had given Ethan when congratulating

him on the game. ‘How would you like to go back to Papua?’

Ethan looked at the man who sat opposite him, his pinched face was also a cleaver face and Ethan knew instinctively Petterson was trouble.

‘Are ASIO offering me a holiday?’ Ethan asked innocently.

Petterson ignored Ethan’s jibe. ‘A team is being put together for an operation and I want you on the team.’

‘I saw enough of the jungle over there Petterson, I have no desire to go back.’ Ethan replied.

‘And that is exactly why I want you on the team. You were in the jungle there for weeks. Your knowledge and experience will be valuable.’ Petterson said with a sudden earnestness. He had leant forward in his enthusiasm but now composed himself and sat back in the deep leather chair. ‘You will be part of a team, your roll more that of an advisor on the jungle if needed. Otherwise you will simply be an observer.’ Petterson said more calmly.

‘You keep saying, will, I told you I’m not interested in going back Petterson. And I am no expert on the jungle there. I barley survived it.’ Ethan said evenly. The truth was Ethan loved the jungle and often thought about it. The lushness of the vegetation, the treetop canopy high above that let soft speckled light through to shine down on the enormous palms and ferns below, the beautiful brightly coloured leaves of the different plants and their flowers, the tiny delicate plants no bigger than a thumb nail. Crystal clear streams that cut through the jungle floor. The jungle was a place of enchantment for Ethan.

But he was happy in life, he and Julie loved their new home and they were content. And Ethan knew he had put Julie through a nightmare when he had gone missing in Papua New Guinea. His decision to go on the PNG adventure had been selfish and ill thought through. He had no wish to put his wife through anything like that again.

‘You like your new job as patrol sergeant don’t you Ethan.’ Petterson said through a thin smile.

Ethan said nothing. The posting he had transferred to Cairns for put him in charge of an Australian Federal Police patrol vessel, and he loved the job.

Petterson crossed his right leg over the left and rested his hands on his lap, the fingers of each hand interlocked.

‘You do like your job?’ Petterson asked again.

‘I like it.’ Ethan answered with a guarded tone that made Petterson smile.

‘Nothing is permanent Ethan. Nothing. I have no wish for this to be unpleasant however I have spent too many months putting this operation together and I will not see it fail. You are a small part of it, but a part none the less. If you refuse to join my team you might find yourself transferred to a far less appealing roll in the Feds.’ Petterson said quietly.

Ethan now sat back in his chair and smiled.

‘I don’t respond well to threats Petterson,’ he said, ‘I like my current role in the job but a change is as good as a holiday.’ he smiled. ‘If you wish to use your position to try and black mail me, you go right ahead. We are done here.’ Ethan finished and began to push himself out of the deep leather chair.

‘I know why you went to Papua.’ Petterson said looking up at Ethan, ‘You wanted to find out what is happening in West Papua, you wanted to find out what is happening to the people there.’

Ethan hesitated, very few people had known the truth as to why he went to Papua New Guinea, that he had wanted to find out if the Indonesian military was committing mass murders of the West Papuan’s as was being reported. How did Petterson know this was the reason he had gone to PNG.

‘Do you think this is a fly by night operation?’ Petterson said angrily, though not loud enough for anyone else in the large room to hear. ‘I know you Ethan, I have done a lot of background checks on you. I know things about you that you have forgotten about yourself. I have not chosen you on a whim, I know your character, I know your training and experience. I know where you have served and the active locations you’ve been assigned to overseas’. Petterson stopped and took a slow deep breath to compose himself.

‘You went to PNG to find the truth about West Papua because you care. If there is genocide happening there you want to know, you want to bring it to the media and try to get the world interested. Here is your chance to do just that. Because that is where we are going.’ Petterson said quietly.

Ethan sat back in the chair. His plan to cross into West Papua illegally would probably cost him his job if the truth became known. He guessed it did not matter how Petterson knew the truth about why he had gone to PNG, someone somewhere must have opened their mouth, the fact was Petterson knew, but more importantly, he was offering Ethan the chance to go back and find out the truth.

‘The various governments of Australia over the years have been well aware of the reported problems in West Papua,’ Petterson continued. ‘However no one has wanted to offend the Indonesian government due to them being a valuable trade partner and an important strategic buffer between Australia and China. This attitude of intentional ignorance however has changed in recent times and the current government wants a proper report on what is happening in West Papua. You can be a part of exposing the truth to the world.’

Ethan sat quietly. The thought of a brutal occupation in any country, let alone one so close to Australia, appalled him.

‘Why does a team need to be sent in?’ he asked, ‘With satellites surly whatever is happening there can be seen?’

‘Satellites need to know where to point to see what needs to be seen. If we are to get real evidence we need feet on the ground over there to talk to the people. We need to find evidence, to discover if there are indeed mass graves from military murders. Satellites can’t get us that without knowing where to point’. Petterson answered.

Ethan looked across to the other men in the long room. They were chatting and laughing and giving Ethan and the strange tall man a wide berth. Ethan knew they would be wondering what was going on and who the pinch faced stranger was however they were smart enough to understand the conversation that was taking place by the fireplace was private and so avoided the two men.

Ethan looked at Petterson,

‘Tell me about your team.’ he said.

Petterson gave Ethan his first genuine smile since they had met,

‘I can not say very much at the moment, but there is a special services operative from the Australian military, his roll is security. A former officer from the Indonesian army, two PNG special services operatives and you and me.’

‘And your in command?’ Ethan asked.

‘That’s right.’ Petterson answered.

Ethan turned his head and looked at the low flames of the fire. A small log, burnt through, collapsed releasing a tiny spray of bright orange sparks.

‘How long until we go.’ he asked, not taking his eyes from the fireplace.

‘Five days.’ Petterson said.

Ethan looked back at the tall thin man with his long thin pointed face.

‘Five days, that’s not much time’. He said.

‘The rest of the team has been in place for the past couple of months. I needed to be sure you were the right man to join us. You are. You don’t need any training, your AFP jungle training and survival courses are all you need. There is no reason to delay.’ Petterson answered. He watched Ethan closely to gauge his reaction.

Ethan kept his expression neutral so as not to give anything away to Petterson. In truth he did not know what he thought. This meeting was the last thing he had expected and he was trying to digest it as he spoke,

‘How long will we be on the ground over there?’ he asked.

‘About three weeks, its fluid, depending on what happens.’ Petterson answered.

Ethan did not like feeling like he was being black mailed into joining the operation, he did not like the idea