Indian Ocean Invasion - 4. IOI Chapter 4

I agreed to his suggestion, and he said he would contact his island office, to let them know that we would be evacuated by boat this afternoon. After an afternoon swim, about an hour after lunch, we returned to the cabin, and I sat down at the dining table.

“Mitchell, I need to have a chat with you, there is something that you need to know,” I said to my nephew, “Is it about this cyclone?” Mitchell asked me, “Yes mate, but there is a bit more to it than that, you remember your dad saying that we have a safe place to stay on the island, in case of big storms and cyclones… Well, the time has come for us to move to that location, so I want you to have a shower and get changed, then get all your luggage packed.

I have already packed, so I will clean up the kitchen and pack up all the food and drinks, and make sure everything is secured, before we head off,” I said to Mitchell. “Ok Uncle, where is this place we are going to?” Mitchell asked me, “Well it is a big secret, your dad and his friends who are also owners in this, a lodge built it some years back, and only they and I know of its existence and location, so you can not reveal it to anyone,” I said sternly.

“Sure Uncle, that is no problem, I can hardly wait to see it, sounds like an awesome place,” Mitchell replied. Half an hour later, with a large suitcase each, the scuba gear and one box of food supplies, we headed down the walkway towards the carpark, and a little while later, I asked Mitchell to stop.

“Why are we stopping Uncle Lewis?” Mitchell asked me, and I smiled, “because dear nephew we are almost at the secret location,” I whispered, which made Mitchell look around, turning several times in all directions, making him almost fall off the walkway. “I see nothing Uncle Lewis,” Mitchell said to me confused, “That is because you are not meant to see it,” I said, as I retrieved the first rope, from behind the tree.

The look on Mitchell’s face was priceless and I chuckled at his shocked expression, “Now hand me that box, and I will be right back,” I said to my nephew, who did as I asked, and I was soon swinging through the trees, to the first large fallen log. When I returned to the walkway, Mitchell was still looking shocked, “Haven’t you seen a modern-day Tarzan before?” I asked him with a big grin, and he thought about this for a moment, as I began laughing.

Five minutes later, we had all the luggage and supplies at the log, and I showed Mitchell how to hang onto the rope, and land on the large log, and not let go of the rope, then swing it back to me. When the rope returned to me, I immediately grabbed it and swung into the forest to the large log, before securing the vine. “What now Uncle?” Mitchell whispered, “we do those two more times, and then we are at the secret location,” I replied.

Nearly fifteen minutes later we had all the luggage, supplies and us both at the base of the tree house. “Ok, so where is this secret place, you are talking about Uncle?” Mitchell asked me, as I heard the rumble of an afternoon storm approaching.

“Look up Mitch,” I stated simply, which he did. “Holy sh… a tree house, that is so awesome” Mitchell exclaimed, as I pulled on the rope that releases the rolled-up rope ladder.

“The reason for the swinging ropes is to not leave any traces of us leaving the walkway, so we cannot be found, as we are located in a National Park, and I don’t think the park ranger would be very happy if he saw a treehouse in the middle of the forest, stay there a moment,” I said to Mitchell as I began to climb the ladder.

Once on the verandah, I lowered the small winch lift for bringing up supplies, and Mitchell loaded all the luggage and supplies into it, before he began to climb the ladder, while I winched up everything.

“Wow, this is amazing, but there isn’t much here, just one big huge room in the middle surrounded by a wide veranda,” Mitchell said when he arrived at the top, and he began to unload the luggage and supplies.

“All a bit of an illusion young Mitch, you will see shortly,” I replied smiling. We had arrived just in time, as the first large drops of rain arrived, and the rumble of thunder filled the sky, quickly it was pouring down with rain, and I was glad that the veranda shutters were already down, to protect us from the rain and wind.

I showed Mitchell where the store room is, and we put our luggage in there for storage, then I showed Mitchell the bathroom and the kitchen. “This is amazing Uncle, but where do we sleep?” Mitchell asked me, and I grinned, “In the storeroom, there are some hammocks, and sleeping bags that we sleep in,” I commented, and Mitchell thought I was telling him the truth, as I made my way over to one of the lounge benches and sat down.

“Oh, I have never slept in a hammock before, they look very uncomfortable from what I have seen,” Mitchell replied, as I stood up and unlocked the safety pin, and swung the seat around, to reveal the bed, and Mitchell looked shocked again, “Holy cow, this place has so many surprises,” he said, and I chuckled at this.

“We don’t have any proper dining and lounge furniture, just fold away stuff that is in the store room, you will find a table and four chairs in there, can you bring out two chairs and the table please, while I start organising dinner.

I jumped at the low tone of the sat phone ringing on my belt, and quickly answered it. “Hello Lewis, have you moved yet?” Jeremy said over the phone, “Yes mate, we arrived a short time ago, as you can hear it is raining at the moment,” I replied.

“Good, the staff are on their way over to collect the furniture and electrical goods, from the cabins, so they won’t get damaged by the cyclone. Lewis, take care won’t you, it is already a category two cyclone, and it is heading straight for the island,” Jeremy said sounding concerned.

“No problems mate, remember you are talking to a trained military man, we will both be fine, now I will hand you over to your son, while I start preparing dinner,” I replied, and I gave Mitchell the satellite phone.

After just two minutes, Mitchell ended the call and handed the phone back to me, and I put the phone on silent, so as not to make any noise. “Mitch, I will have to delay preparing dinner for a while, as the lodge staff at the village are coming with a truck to collect all of the furniture and stuff from the three cabins, so we will need to stay quiet for an hour or two,” I said to my nephew, “Ok Uncle, I will just read my book,” Mitchell replied.

Over the next three hours we heard the distant noises of people going up and down the walkway, carrying all the equipment, and using a pair of binoculars that I found in the storeroom, I could see glimpses of them through the trees.

When the area went all quiet again, I told Mitchell to stay quiet, while I went to check to make sure that everyone had gone, and I was about to make the final swing towards the walkway when I heard some chatter of people, and I ducked down low, so as not to be seen.

“Do you think they were locals taking all that furniture from those cabin tents, or thieves?” I heard one voice say, “No idea, maybe we should contact the island police, when we get back to our accommodation at the village, we better get going, before it starts to rain again,” the other voice replied, and their voices became more distant over the next few minutes, till I could hear nothing.

I waited for another ten minutes before I made the final swing, and secured the rope behind the tree, so it was out of sight, and I quickly made my way towards the small cove, and the cabins. When I reached the first cabin, which is the one that Mitchell and I were using, we found all of the furniture had been removed, along with the fridge and microwave.

All that remained, was the outdoor coffee table and the two outdoor cane chairs, and cushions. Quickly looking at the other two cabins, I found the same and dashing back to the first cabin, I picked up the two cane chairs, with the cushions, and carried them back towards the ropes, and one at a time, I swung them over to the large log, before going back for the cane coffee table, and carried that over to the first log.

Once I had completed that, I quickly swung back to the treehouse and called out to Mitchell and asked him to come down and help me, and fifteen minutes later, we had the three pieces of furniture in the treehouse.

“If the winds do start to get quite strong, we will have to remove the cushions and tie the furniture to the walls, so they don’t blow away,” I said to Mitchell once we had finished moving the furniture.

After dinner, we listened to the steady rain and the winds getting stronger, and we slept on and off during the night, as we watched the neighbouring trees swaying heavily with the winds, Thankfully the steel poles that hold the treehouse up, are very solid, and were barely moving.

When daylight finally arrived, we could see that the cyclone was creating havoc around us, with trees bending over wildly and blowing through the treehouse at an incredible speed, while the rain was pelting down hard.

In the early hours of the morning, we had moved to the store room for safety, and we remained there till the late afternoon, when the winds started to slow down a little, enough for us to venture out the main area of the treehouse, to see if there was any damage to the treehouse and the surrounds.

I was pleased to see that the treehouse was still in one piece, but I would have to wait till the wind has died down a lot more before I can check the solar panels on the roof, which were tied down with camouflage netting, to hide their existence from the air.

The furniture secured to the wall and the beds had managed to stay in one piece also, which we were pleased about, and I made myself busy with preparing a meal, before it gets dark, as we both had eaten very little since dark the night before.

After dinner, with most of the wind now gone, and listening to the radio station for an update, the cyclone which had reached category 3, when it passed 50 km east of the Island, was now heading southeast towards the main Western Australian coast.

The local radio station stated that there was minimal damage on the island, with just trees that had fallen, but power and other services are operating normally, but because the cyclone is still active, there would be no aircraft coming from the mainland, until the all clear is given in a day or two.

Able to sleep in normal beds again, Mitch and I retired early, once we had finished dinner, and swept away all the dust and leaves that the cyclone had left scattered all over the treehouse, and we both were soon sound asleep, due to the lack of sleep from the previous night.

Sometime later, I woke up to the unusual sound of aircraft approaching the island, and it wasn’t just one, but quite a few, and they were coming from the northerly direction, and they soon flew straight overhead, before turning left and heading for the airport.

“What is all the noise uncle?” I heard Mitchell ask sleepily, “Shh… be very silent Mitch, do not move or make a sound, I can’t believe it is happening, but it sounds like an invasion, the island is being invaded, if we stay quiet and hidden here, we will be fine” I whispered.

I didn’t get a reply, instead, I heard a slight whimpering sound, and I quietly climbed out of my bed and moved towards, Mitchell and put my hand over his mouth. “Stop that noise or you will get us in trouble, now is the time to man up and do as you are told, that means total silence,” I whispered in his ear, and I felt him move his head up and down, and I removed my hand.

“Good man, now slowly and quietly get out of bed and get dressed, leave your boots off, for now, do not use the bathroom, try and hold it if you need to go, or pee over the side of the veranda, go into the storeroom, and lay on the mattress that is still on the floor, and stay there. I may need to go and do some checking, to see what is happening, but I will be back.

If I don’t, then stay put, eat and drink what you find in the store, fresh food first, and if I am not back in twelve hours, turn on the sat phone and call your dad, but keep the ring tone on silent,” I whispered, “Uncle, I am scared,” I heard Mitchell say softly with a shaky voice, “It’s ok mate, I am trained for this sort of thing, so you’re safe, just stay up here, and keep the rope ladder up and out of sight” I replied quietly.

I went to the storeroom, where I had left the sat phone and turned it on, and dialled a number I knew by heart, “Campbell Barracks after hours, how may I direct your call” came a half-sleepy voice.

“This is Lt Commander Lewis Shaw, currently on leave on Christmas Island, I need to speak to the CO right away, there is a hostile force that has landed on the island, I repeat a hostile force has landed on Christmas Island, this is not a hoax,” I said to the lady at Campbell Barracks.

“Can you verify your identity please sir,” the lady asked me, “Lt Commander Lewis Shaw, ASIS Intelligence Officer, Bravo Echo 571 Alpha Golf Charlie” I replied, giving my security clearance code, “Ok sir, I can confirm that, please hold while I contact the CO,” the lady replied. It took nearly five minutes before a sleepy voice came onto the phone line.

“This had better be good, Lt Commander,” the base CO said to me, “Sir, I am currently on injury leave, on Christmas Island, as you may have been aware we had a cyclone pass by us yesterday, and approximately fifteen minutes ago, six aircraft flew over my location, coming from the north and landed at the airport.

Sir I also think but have yet to confirm, that there may be an approach from the sea, and several locations. I am located near Martin Point, on the northwest side of the island, I have my 15-year-old nephew with me, and we are well hidden and have a plentiful amount of supplies, to last us a few weeks if need be,” I said to the Colonel, “Ok, I will call the authorities to confirm your information, keep in touch,” the Colonel said and ended the call.