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powerful Salima Family who maintained controlling interest in the APC Bank, and requested a two-year grace period before recommencing loan repayments. He was introduced to James Salima, the effective CEO of APC, and a deal was struck. Unbeknown to Eric Baird, his forty percent share in P. T. Subroto & Associates (which his sponsor had previously been held in trust) was surrendered to the wealthy Chinese, cukong family, and Subroto’s debt was forgiven.

      Although his borrowings greatly exceeded the value of Baird’s stock in the company, the Salima group made it quite clear that Sub-roto could be called upon, at any time, to assist their family should the need arise. Subroto blamed his predicament on Kremenchug and would have arranged for the man’s visa to be cancelled had Baird not appealed, arguing that they were close to closing a deal which would recover all their losses. Against his better judgment, Subroto had agreed, now pleased that he had done so as Baird’s advice of that day seemed to support this decision.

      Now, the only outstanding issue was having Eric Baird marry Pipi, which would not only satisfy his favorite niece, but would keep her mother off his back. With the Australian married into the family, the question of Baird’s shareholding in P.T. Subroto & Associates could be easily addressed. When the question arose, as he expected it would, Subroto would explain that Baird’s stock was then held in trust for his wife, Pipi, and who could argue with that?

      Subroto knew that there had been no offspring from Baird’s former marriage, suspecting that neither would there be from his union with Pipi. This in no way offended the retired General – in fact, having the foreigner marry his sister’s daughter and not produce children resolved another family dilemma. Genetics had not been kind to Pipi’s father’s line; the incidence of Albino children running through that side of the family unusually high. All in all, Subroto thought, having Baird involved in business and the family, could only be a positive factor for all.

      ****

      As Baird lay quietly contemplating his disastrous state of affairs, he recalled not having explained to Subroto that their stock in the new Canadian mining company would be held in escrow.

      ****

      In the months that followed, the Borneo Gold Corporation (BGC) was launched in Canada, the shares rising meteorically as public relations’ rhetoric grossly exaggerated results from work carried out around the Palangkaraya concession. Air Vice Marshal (retired) Sub-roto, Kremenchug and Baird all waited with great expectations as their stock in BGC rose to more than double their par value then hovered, filling their futures with promise. When drilling of the Palangkaraya leases failed to produce the predicted results, the company moved operations further afield to the East Kalimantan areas. There, independent geologists oversaw a costly drilling program designed to substantiate earlier claims that the BGC acreage was amongst the most promising gold fields in Indonesia. The results proved otherwise, and before the first year of operations had come to a close and the Baird-Kremenchug-Subroto stockholders could offload their stock, Borneo Gold Corporation all but collapsed.

      ****

      Chapter Three

      December 1990

      Dayak Longhouse Village – Indonesian East Borneo (Kalimantan Timur)

      Jonathan Dau watched silently, observing the young child’s fascination with the spider’s clever weaving, the web drifting occasionally with the wind, as an insect struggled to escape the gossamer trap. The child raised a long, thin stalk, intent on teasing the captured prey and prodded the tiny grasshopper several times; annoyed when it failed to move. She then turned her attention to a column of ants, creating chaos within their ranks as she twirled the stalk amongst fallen leaves. She quickly lost interest with this game when a giant butterfly winged its way past in majestic fashion and settled, just out of reach. She rose slowly, enraptured by the kupu-kupu’s magnificence, the soft-beating wings casting their mesmerizing spell over the child and she cried out in delight, calling for anyone who might hear, to come and see.

      Away from the forest’s edge, villagers toiled in dry fields, tilling the ladang in preparation for the rice seedlings. While younger children played, their older siblings, bent to the knee, assisted parents with the arduous task of turning soil and removing weed as the elderly looked on, reminiscing of more youthful times.

      The child called again, startled when Jonathan Dau swept her off her feet and playfully tossed her into the air. She shrieked with surprise then, as the chief caught her midair, giggled with glee. Jonathan smothered her playfully, pretending to crush her to his powerful chest, gradually releasing his hold permitting the child to slip gently to the ground. Not wishing an end to the game, she refused to let go, winding her arms and legs around his ankles as a monkey would a pole. With strong, but loving hands, Jonathan tugged her loose, lifting her once again into the air, placing her astride his shoulders. The girl wrapped her arms around his head, her world from upon this perch reaching out and across the fields from where she had strayed. Jonathan’s graceful strides returned the child to her grateful mother, the unspoken words of gratitude delivered with a fleeting smile. No sooner had the girl been reunited with the group, she was off and running again with the other children, in pursuit of an overly inquisitive chicken that had strayed into their midst. Jonathan stepped back allowing the children room to run past, encouraging the lagging child as she ran breathless in her attempt to keep up with the others. Satisfied that the girl might now remain within safer confines the shaman returned to the Longhouse to attend to matters that required his attention as village-head.

      ****

      Nestled amongst towering coconut palms, overlooking one of the many tributaries that flowed into the Mahakam, Jonathan’s Aoheng-Penehing community setting had not changed greatly since he was a child. Apart from the three-meter, parabolic dish mounted like some great saucer atop the water tower, and the cables running from the recently constructed generator block, the village remained much the same as it was when his great-grandfather had hunted clouded leopard along Bukit Batubrok’s slopes.

      Jonathan’s forefathers had migrated in nomadic fashion, down from the mountainous northwest, Kayan River headwaters more than two hundred years before. These Kayan tribes, which included the Bahau, the Modang, the Long Gelat and Busang, had left the Apokayan, invading the upper Mahakam, displacing and, in some cases enslaving the original inhabitants, the Ot Danum and Tunjung people. A century of headhunting raids throughout Borneo’s east left a legacy of lingering hostility, the surviving ethnic groups never hesitant in declaring their loathing for each other, at any given opportunity.

      Jonathan had been more fortunate than most. Born in the year the Japanese invaded Balikpapan, three hundred kilometers to the east, he was to be seven years of age before sighting another being that was not of Dayak blood.

      ****

      Although it may have been considered unusual for a hereditary chief to simultaneously hold the highly respected position of chief and that of the spiritual dukun, commencing with Jonathan’s great-grandfather, the powers for both had been passed unbroken, from father to son. Even as a young child, Jonathan’s unique talents had become apparent, the special gift he had inherited being first manifested whilst he was still a child, and for all who witnessed the event, confirmation that Jonathan Dau was, indeed, a blessed phenomenon.

      The incident had occurred when the villagers were fare-welling a young woman who had died during childbirth. In his role as dukun, or shaman, Jonathan’s father was not only the village healer and its priest, but also the psycho pomp responsible for the long and skillful prayers offered to accompany the deceased’s soul on its journey to the ‘other’ world. The village girl’s body had been prepared for burial, and final, protracted prayers were being offered when Jonathan approached the corpse, reached up and touched her lifeless body. Then he fell into a trancelike state, reciting the entire prayer sequence all over again, verbatim.

      At that time, Jonathan was just five years of age and had never been instructed in such verse, nor had he previously attended a funeral. Elders, the village council and even his family

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