Hwang Sok-Yong - The Shadow of Arms

Minh went back home and changed his clothes. Then he picked up the disguised bundle of leaflets and headed for Hoa teahouse, the rendezvous point for cell B. He drank some tea with the leader of cell B and exchanged a few words before leaving.

“Any other orders?”

“None.”

“The date is unchanged?”

“Changes, if any, will be handed down from above.”

On Wednesday morning Minh put on black Vietnamese clothing and went to Nguyen Cuong’s store for his first day of work. Over his shoulder he slung a canvas bag containing two bananas, a shaving kit, and one of the dictionary covers. It was about seven thirty when he reached the warehouse in Le Loi market. Cuong was already in the office and the female clerk was making Tonkin-style coffee, boiling water over an alcohol burner.

“Ah, welcome. Let’s have a cup of coffee together.”

Cuong and Minh sat down across from each other.

“Let me introduce the two of you, since you’ll be working together. This is Miss Ran.”

Minh and the clerk nodded to each other. The coffee was strong and aromatic.

“We open the store at seven in the morning,” Cuong said, “like our competitors in Le Loi market. It’s the early bird that catches the worm, you know. From seven till twelve we move merchandise in and settle payments for transactions closed the day before. Lunch and siesta go from twelve to three. From three to six we ship goods going out of town and continue with collections. At six o’clock you can head home. Of course, things vary occasionally, but that’s more or less the routine. Now, Miss Ran, you have that detailed list of the incoming and outgoing merchandise for today, don’t you?”

Miss Ran handed the typed work orders over to Cuong, who passed it to Minh.

“Check the accuracy of the newly delivered stock as shown here and let me know. Same with the things being shipped. I’m doing the bargaining myself, but completing the deals will be your responsibility, Mr. Pham. I don’t think you’ll have any difficulty.”

“I’ll do my best, sir.”

Cuong pulled the telephone closer. “I’d better inform your brother what we’re up to,” Cuong said, looking over at Minh. He asked the switchboard at the provincial government office to connect him with the governor’s office.

“Major Pham, please. Not in yet? This is Nguyen Cuong Trading Company. Yes, yes, please do.”

Cuong hung up the phone and said to Minh, “Now let’s go to the warehouse.”

As they opened the back door leading to the warehouse, it was still dark inside but for a few beams of morning sunlight streaming through the cracks in the big door. Cuong turned on the light. He took out a set of keys and handed them to Minh.

“So, this one’s the key to that door over there that opens from the side path. This one opens the warehouse from the office, the way we came. And this one is for the front gate. Hold onto these.”

Once Cuong had left, Minh did a count to confirm all the stock on hand in the warehouse. Three hundred bags of cement, twelve hundred galvanized iron sheets, two hundred fifty sacks of fertilizer, two hundred bags of food, and five hundred sheets of plywood. Then he checked the delivery orders and opened the main gate all the way up. Bright sunlight flooded in, bathing almost half the warehouse. He moved the desk and chair into the shadows to avoid the heat and sat down.

The door from the office opened and Nguyen Thach came in. “Ah, already in, I see,” Thach said. “Contacts with the cells on Monday and yesterday went fine, I hope?”

“Yes, I delivered the books.”

“Where do you meet C today?”

“An open cafe down by the pier. All the members will be there. Am I to be dropped from cell C, sir?”

“There’s been a call up of reinforcements. I’m afraid only the leader will show up today. Now I’d like you to become friendly with some of the clerks and shop owners in the market. The sooner the better. Might not be a bad idea to treat them to lunch in a few days. As for the traders who bring trucks from outside Da Nang for pickups, you’ll meet them through your work. One of the merchants on our side is coming up today, so I’ll introduce him to you.”

“What’re my orders for next week, sir?”

“Each cell in turn will change their contact days. By then you’ll have new tasks. Reports will have to be made on the results of dissemination of the leaflets. The training period is four weeks. After that, the real missions will begin. But you, Comrade Pham, will have to help me with my responsibilities for procurement and finances. C-rations and arms are what you should have in mind. We have to keep the guerillas on the outskirts of Da Nang supplied with ammo and mortar shells as well as food and medicine. We’ll also have to find weapons for the recent reinforcements.”

“Will each cell be supplied with weapons, sir?”

“Yes. Pistols and automatic rifles are the most useful arms in Da Nang. Then, too, there’s a need for hand grenades, explosives, and blasting caps.”

“Are we stealing them?”

“No. . there’s plenty of such stuff floating around this city. Over across from the smokestack is the center of the black market for arms. We have to secure as many mortars, rocket launchers, artillery pieces, and shells for them as we can from the US forces. We also need a lot of antitank mines. And then. .”

Nguyen Thach looked at the list of goods to be delivered that Minh had set down on the desk and said, “Didn’t your brother tell you about the phoenix hamlets project?”

“Yes, he also mentioned cinnamon up in the highlands.”

“Cinnamon?”

“Yes, sir. Looks like he plans to mobilize troops to harvest cinnamon.”

Nguyen Thach gently laughed. “He did come up with a brilliant idea. The two of them will soon recover the glory of the Bao Dai era. Cinnamon operations. . probably more than half of all the AID-funded supplies for the phoenix hamlets project will be channeled through the provincial government here. Three hundred hamlets are to be built. Already relief food for the refugees is moving through here. . there’ll be a mountain of rice pouring in. But what we have our hearts set on are the new carbines, M1s and M2s, to be supplied to arm the militias in the new hamlets.”

“My brother would never get involved in such risky business. He’s a very cautious man, sir.”

“I’m not saying you should talk to your brother about this. Make friends with Lieutenant Kiem on the adjutant’s staff at the provincial government office. I’m certain he’s now scheming to find a way to develop some business of his own. The money that falls into his lap for helping Major Pham is chicken feed. As far as I know, militia matters are under the jurisdiction of the ARVN Second Division, but since their headquarters are up in Hue, the commander who should be in charge has no practical control. Acaptain dispatched from First Division Headquarters, along with Colonel Cao, superintendent of military police in Da Nang, will be delegated power to conduct the training and take command of the militias. Lieutenant Kiem, I think, will be responsible for liaison between those concerned.”

“Plan?”

“Just think about it. Three hundred hamlets, each with between fifty and one hundred households — even if we assume only one adult male per household we are talking about at least thirty thousand guns.”

“Administrative tricks, maybe?”

“Sure. A few thousand ghosts can easily be fabricated on paper. Statistics are in flux because new hamlets are being created, the population is on the move, and the count of the dead changes daily. Depending on Kiem’s capability, the quantity could be even higher. If that works out we’ll have a regular supply of ammunition and other supplies for a whole division of local guerillas. That should do for small arms. We can start with one hundred and gradually increase the supply to one thousand or more. That’ll enable us to open a steady channel for continuing sales of weapons and ammo, but best of all, the money for training these ghosts and for related administration will roll into their hands and then straight into their pockets. We won’t even have to throw them any bait. Since we already see this opportunity, all we have to do is move fast and grab the chance before other merchants get the same idea.”