Indian Ocean Drama - 1. IOD Chapter 1

It’s been a month since our wedding, which took place 3 months after that letter, Sebastian wrote to me, and the wedding was held in a beautiful old church in Liechtenstein, with the twins sharing the honour of best man, and Sebastian’s cousin – Xander being his ring bearer. For me, I had Kylie as my Best Women, and my nephew – Mitchell as my ring bearer.

Sebastian’s three house staff, and his two friends, Reverend Annette Davies and her son – Kyle, were his only other wedding guests, while I had Kylie’s husband – Marcus, and son – Emmanuel, my brother – Jeremy and his family, plus my sister Margaret, and my half-sisters – Susan and Amanda, as part of my wedding guests.

After the wedding, we announced to all our guests, that they were receiving a week’s holiday with all expenses included, onboard our yacht the Southern Explorer, cruising the Mediterranean. Meanwhile Sebastian and I spent two weeks on the Falkland Islands, were we visited the gravesite of his dear cousin, who had died unexpectantly a few years ago, and explored the islands natural beauty, and the farm that Sebastian still owns.

It is still hard to believe that I am married to an extremely wealthy man, asI was just as happy with simple things in life, and I had insisted on a honeymoon that didn’t involve a lot of luxury, and that is exactly what I received. Unfortunately, I had to return to work as Administrator of the Indian Ocean Territories of Australia, and Sebastian announced that he was working on a more permanent home for us to live in, but he wouldn’t tell me exactly what it is and where.

Thanks to all of Sebastian’s work, all three Indian Ocean island groups were thriving, there are now several new, environmentally friendly hotels that have been built, and the number of bed & breakfast and holiday homes has tripled. The flights from Darwin and Broome had increased to four flights a week, and the local councils were very happy with the increase of tourism on the islands.

I had reluctantly agreed to live onboard the yacht with Sebastian and travel the short distance by boat to the island, to go to work, with the work load in the house greatly reduced, for my housekeeper. My two-administration staff, however, were always very busy, especially with me making trips to the Cocos Keeling Islands and the Chagos Archipelago every month, to deal with magistrate duties, for four days at each location, and Sebastian providing an executive jet, to get me and my one assistant there and back.

Thankfully the issue of the illegal Indonesian residents was resolved, with them agreeing to return to Indonesia, after we agreed to allow those illegal residents, permission to visit Christmas Island, a maximum of twice a year, on a two-week tourist visa. Once they had returned to Indonesia, the Australian government lifted the trade embargo, and everyone seemed to be happy once more.

The council had elected to keep the village at South Point, but the mosque was demolished, and the rubble was used to fill in parts of the mine that is no longer in use. The council also decided to make the houses at South point, council property, and they would be made available for rent to permanent residents of the island but are not to be used for tourist purposes.

Three days after returning to work from my honeymoon, Captain Watts entered my office and placed a copy of the local newspaper on my desk. “Thought you would like to see this as soon as possible sir” the captain said, before heading back to the administration office.

“IOA Administrator marries Millionaire - Sebastian Wagner”

“The Indian Ocean Administrator, His Excellency, Baron Sir Lewis Shaw, married Mr Sebastian Wagner, in a small wedding in Lichtenstein recently, and honeymooned on the Falkland Islands, while his wedding guests enjoyed a holiday cruise in the Mediterranean.

The baron and his new husband currently reside onboard their luxury yacht, the MV Huon, which is anchored just in the bay, below the Administrators work place. The Christmas Island Shire President stated, that he and the council, wished the couple a happy life together”.

I buzzed the Captain, “Yes sir?” the Captain said when he walked back into my office, “Can you get the yacht on the phone for me please” I asked, and the Captain walked back to the office to make the call. “Sir, they say that your husband has flown to Darwin, do you wish to speak to one of the twins?” the captain said on the phone. “No, that is fine thanks” I responded.

At the end of the day, Captain Watts drove me down to the jetty, where a boat was waiting to take me back to the yacht, and the twins were waiting for me when I arrived. “We can’t tell you why he has gone, he just said that he will be home in 4 days” Louis said to me, “Ok, not happy about it, but there isn’t much I can do about it now” I replied in an annoyed tone, and I headed to my suite to have a short rest before dinner.

The following morning, before breakfast, I packed a small bag, and asked to be taken to the island early, and with me expected in over an hour, I enjoyed the walk up the hill to the Administration building, surprising Mrs Masters with my early arrival. “Sebastian is away for a few days, so I will be staying here till he returns” I announced after walking through the back door to the kitchen.

Mrs Masters made a cooked breakfast for me, before taking my luggage up to my room, and tidying up a bit upstairs. After breakfast, I headed to my office, to start a new day, and half an hour later Captain Watts and Staff Sergeant Lister arrived in the office, and got to work, without asking me why I was so early.

At lunch time, I asked Captain Watts to bring forward my next trip to the other islands, a week early, and to leave tomorrow, and by the end of the day, he had everything arranged, including bringing forward all court cases to be heard in Chagos and the Cocos Keeling Islands. I was about to head to the library, to relax a while till dinner is ready, when Staff Sergeant Lister informed me that I had a call from the yacht.

“Joachim here, how come you left the yacht so early, and why have you taken some clothes with you?” came a concerned voice of my brother in law. “Some of us do have to work you know, and I am heading off to Chagos and Cocos Keeling in the morning, so I will be back in two weeks” I responded, “Oh ok. Sebastian called at lunch time, to say he will be home tomorrow afternoon” Joachim responded.

“Well, he can call me when he likes, I have work to do, so I will see him in two weeks, and tell him not to follow, as I have a large case load to get through, and I can’t have any distractions, even if he is my husband” I said and I ended the call abruptly.

The next morning, as arranged, Staff Sergeant Lister and I flew out of Christmas Island, for the 45-minute journey to Cocos Keeling Islands, and we landed at 8.30 am, giving me an hour to get organised before the first court session begins, with the Staff Sergeant acting as my court clerk.

During the lunch break, while I was relaxing in the bungalow that we use for our stay each time, the staff sergeant brought me my lunch and shortly after my mobile phone rang, which he hangs onto when I am at work, and he whispered Sebastian, as he handed the phone over.

“Hello handsome, how are things over your way?” Sebastian said to me, “Ok I guess, just a typical day at work, nothing exciting” I replied, “I am sorry that I took off like I did, I had some important business to deal with in Darwin, and I am a bit disappointed that you are not home, when I arrived back just now” Sebastian said to me.

“Well you know that my work is important to me, and when I have to travel, there is not much I can do about it” I said, “You could always resign, and spend more time with me” Sebastian suggested, “No Sebastian, we have talked about this before, I enjoy my work, and I will continue it no matter what” I said sounding annoyed, “Yes I hear you, but I wish we could spend more time together” Sebastian replied.

“We both have work, so we just have to settle with what time we can get, there is no way that I am giving up my job, and you agreed to that, when you proposed to me” I reminded Sebastian. “Yes I did, but I was hoping that I could convince you to give up your work, so we can travel together, when I need to be somewhere” Sebastian said, “No Sebastian, that is not going to happen, I don’t like being taken care off, I am my own person, and I will not change for anyone, including you” I replied.

“Ok. I miss you, see you when you get home, bye” Sebastian said sounding disappointed and he ended the call. I battled through the rest of the day, finding it very difficult to concentrate, after the telephone call from Sebastian, and as the day came to a close, I turned to Staff Sergeant Lister, “From now on, if Sebastian calls me when I am doing court work, I am not available” I said to my court clerk. “Yes sir, I understand, and will do just that” my clerk replied, and we packed up and left the courthouse, and headed to the bungalow to relax.

A few days later, as we were getting close to closing the last of the court cases in Chagos, Staff Sergeant Lister placed an email in front of me. “His Excellency, Baron Sir Lewis Shaw. Sir, can you please represent me at the APEC planning Committee in Singapore? Kind Regards, your humble servant, Federal Minister for Trade”. Below the short message was the dates and a summary of the planning meeting, plus information on where I would be staying.

“That is the day after tomorrow! Ok, send a reply to say I will be attending, with you as my assistant, notify the flight crew of the changes of plans, and organise accommodation for them in Singapore, then let the yacht know that I am travelling to Singapore for the APEC planning meeting, and will be away for a further week at the most” I said to the Staff Sergeant, “Yes sir, right away” my assistant responded, and headed off to the office at the back of the court room.

As I brought the last case to a close, Staff Sergeant Lister re-entered the court room, and placed a note in front of me, “Flight Crew and I did not bring Passports with us” the note read, and I groaned in annoyance. “Ok, let the flight crew know, we will be leaving in an hour, and we will be heading back to base. Tomorrow, when everyone has their passports, we will fly north to Singapore” I informed the Staff Sergeant.

When we arrived in Singapore, two days later, after a one-day delay, due to Sebastian demanding that I take a day off, before flying off to another meeting, we went directly to the Australian High Commission, which is located right next door to the USA Embassy.

After a short formal meeting with the High Commissioner, we were shown to our quarters, which are within the grounds of the High Commission, and for the next few days, I was kept quite busy with meetings. During one of these meetings, we were interrupted by one of the High Commissioner’s staff, who was handed a piece of paper, and when he read it, he didn’t look to happy.

“Sir, Lewis, I need to speak to you privately” the High Commissioner said as he stood up and left the conference room, and I hurriedly joined him, as we went to his Private office, where he handed over the note to me. “Singaporean Police have a Mr Adam Lister under arrest, under section 377A of the Penal Code”.

I was shocked when I read this note, as I had no idea that Adam was gay or bi. “Can you have one of your staff take me to where he is being held please?” I asked the High Commissioner, and he soon had one of his staff direct me to a car, and we drove to the police station.

When we arrived at the Police station, the High Commission Officer – Liana, and I showed our ID cards, and we were led to an interrogation room, where we were shocked to see that Adam had slight bruising on his face, and he was bent over, with his head resting on the table.
“Are you ok?” I asked concerned, “Yes sir, just a few punches and slaps, are all I have received so far” Adam responded, as he sat up, and I saw that he was very pail. Shocked at seeing this, I went to the door and banged on it to get a guard’s attention.

“This man needs urgent medical assistance, I want to speak to one of your superiors” I demanded, when the guard arrived. A few minutes later another man arrived and demanded to know what I want. “Officer, this man had been physically assaulted and he needs medical attention now” I stated calmly. “We are waiting for him to be charged, then we will look at getting him some medical attention” the officer responded, “When will that be?” I asked.

“Tomorrow” the officer replied, “Tomorrow is not soon enough, I want to speak to your superiors” I replied, “Then go home, wait till tomorrow” the officer replied. “Excuse me officer, but that is not good enough, my name is Sir Lewis Shaw, a representative of the Australian Government, this man is my assistant” I said, and I produced Adam and mine diplomatic passports.

“Under International law, persons holding diplomatic passports have immunity, so I demand for this man to be released” I said to the police officer. “Why did you not say that before?” the officer asked, “Because you bloody well didn’t let me” Adam growled, and he winced in pain. “I will have to check on this, you wait here” the officer said as he started to exit the room.

“We will not, we are going to leave here right now, so I can take this man to hospital” I insisted, and the officer looked at me, then to Liana. “I suggest that you do as he asks Mr Rani, he knows people in high places, from all over the world” the High Commission officer said to the police officer.

Five minutes later, we were in the limo, and heading for the Raffles Private Hospital, and Liana called the hospital, to let them know that we were on our way. A long wait and many tests later, I was informed that Adam was resting comfortably, and that he had received bruised kidneys, a cracked rib, and a few cuts and bruises.

While Liana headed back to the High Commission, to report back on what has happened, I elected to stay at Adam’s bed side, until he wakes up, and I dozed in the chair for a few hours, until I heard some coughing, and stood up right away, to see that Adam was awake.

“Hello Soldier, how are you feeling?” I asked, “Like an Army tank has run me over, sir” Adam replied with a half-smile, “So tell me, what happened that led to you getting arrested, and bashed up?” I asked, and it took Adam a while to respond to my question.

“It all happened so fast sir, I don’t know why it happened, one minute I was sitting in a park bench enjoying the wonderful surroundings, then suddenly a young man sat next to me, and he looked around the park for a few moments, before he unexpectantly leaned over and kissed me.

Some blokes shouted, and the young man dashed off, and a group of men came up to me and started to get stuck into me, until some police officers turned up and the group of men disappeared, after stating that I was a poofter” Adam explained, “Well that is quite an unfortunate event” I stated.

“I am Bi, but I have been careful not to do anything while we are here in Singapore, as it is illegal here” Adam admitted to me, “Well, your sexuality is not an issue with me, as you well know, and it appears to me that you are the victim of a set up by a group of unknown people” I said.“The doctor wants me to be in here for at least three days, but I have work to do for you sir” Adam said to me.

“You just worry about getting better, and I will worry about the work, I am sure that I can handle things till you get out of here” I said to Adam, and seeing that he was getting sleepy, I let him sleep and I headed back to the High Commission, with a Limo left to take me back.

Back at the High Commission, I found Liana, and I asked her, “why is there was a police guard outside of Adam Lister’s hospital room, don’t they know he had diplomatic immunity?” I said to her. “Well sir, they are disputing that he has immunity, as they are very strict with how foreigners behave in Singapore” Liana replied.

“Well I suggest that you speak to your boss right away, because, as soon is Adam is well enough to travel, he is coming home with me” I demanded in a raised voice.

“What is going on in here” a man demanded when he walked into the foyer area of the High Commission, “Oh, you must be Baron Sir Lewis Shaw, I am Oliver Crompton, deputy High Commissioner, do we have a problem?’ the man said as he introduced himself to me. “Yes, why are the local police disputing Adam Lister as not having diplomatic immunity?” I asked in a calm manner.

“I am not sure sir, but I will speak to the police right away and try and solve this issue for you” Mr Crompton said, and he dashed off to an inner office somewhere, while I headed to my guest quarters. Less than half an hour later, there was a knock on the door, and I called out enter.

“Sir Lewis, it appears that there is no Adam Lister registered at the private hospital, are you sure that he was admitted to that hospital?’ Mr Crompton announced to me, “What… I don’t believe this, Miss Liana and I just saw him less than an hour ago, I spoke to the doctor, who told me he had a cracked rib, bruised kidney’s and some cuts and bruises.

This is an outrage, I suggest that you demand to know where he is this very moment, I will not have my loyal staff member detained illegally in this country” I demanded loudly.

As the hours passed, there was still no news on where Adam Lister was, no matter how hard I tried to demand action, and in the end, I decided to take some direct action, after the deputy High Commissioner came to me with no news of his whereabouts. “Who are you calling Sir Lewis” Mr Crompton asked nervously, “Someone I should have called ages ago, your boss and mine” I responded.