15.3 S-O-S

USIR flags flew high over Addu Atoll and on doni carrying commuters to work in Gan. Their currency was pound sterling. Some English teachers came to serve island schools. Costain Group began to reconstruct the causeway connecting Gan and Feydu to a level that heavy vehicles could move.

Collecting vouchers was another great hobby to win goods from the NAAFI shop for tens and thousands of coupons.

Addu Trading Company was formed and the People’s Bank of Addu issued cheques in pound sterling. Adduans were having an affluent time. A selected group of British journalists arrived to interview Adaran – President of USIR and self-proclaimed leader.

The central government and Addu Authorities based in Hittadu were not talking. The Suvadives and Fua Mulak lost connection to Addu too. There were folks imprisoned on both sides. Those folks suffered most during a time of political unrest in the archipelago. The Maldive Islands depended on fish exports. Food shortage and periodic epidemics swept the islands. Neighbouring Ceylon on several occasions aided by sending thousands of bags of flour.

In September, another boatload of men who belonged to the Haevola Force lurking in the lagoon of an uninhabited island in Addu Atoll was apprehended.

On 27^th September, Shakir, Habib and Mariam Mala sailed to the sea to revitalise the equipment. It was raining. They sailed around Gan particularly to point out the location of the tube houses. It would be very difficult to find them from land deep in the woods. If it was dark, a sailing boat or a rowing boat could beach on Gan. Boats were not stopped from sailing around the island in the lagoon. Their best proposition was to let her go on her own and sneak into the tube houses. If she came across people, she could remove her dress and become invisible. They decided finally not to keep a boat near Gan during an infiltration.

It was dark and raining. It was Saturday night in October. They rode to the mosque on Malim Lane. Don Raha and Habib on bicycles and Shakir on his motorbike with Mala on his back. They took shelter in the mosque.

Habib and Mala went into the playing field in the rain for a little pump up. Shakir and Don Raha sat on the steps of the mosque facing Iris Higun, waiting for them. Nobody could see a thing in the dark.

Habib stepped out of the rain holding her attires under his raincoat – a tall useless guy.

Shakir asked, “Where is Deeni?”

“She has gone in,” he returned, “Take her dress and go to help. I will keep an eye on the building.”

“How do I find her?”

“Talk. Go inside and fire a Tilley lamp.”

Five minutes later, Shakir approached the west wing steps and the door opened on its own. He stepped inside and the door closed on its own.

“Deeni!” he whispered.

She snatched her dress from his hand and said, “I’m here.”

Shakir switched on his flashlight and picked a Tilley lamp. He attended to light the apparatus and when the blaze caught up, he began to pump it making some noise. Mala uttered, “I’m like a Tilley lamp. I’m pumped up now. When this is over, we go home together.” Mala put on her dress and she could be seen.

Adaran would be in bed by ten. He would wake up early in the morning at four to attend dawn prayer. He was a regular person. Habib could see light coming from the office through the airholes and weep openings on the wall. The windows were shut. Still, nobody would disturb assuming Adaran was at work. Habib maintained hidden and sheltered under an overhang for it would be incongruous for him to be seen at the midnight hour.

Mala and Shakir had three hours to kill, four racks of paperwork and files to search. Shakir replaced the battery of the listening device and put the thing back on the cupboard top. They looked for document that could lead to the lost boys keeping up pace. Most of the files were of tax invoices and correspondence they did not have to go through. Interesting communique in the USIR files and that too not important. Letters scrawled in Divehi made it difficult to read.

After two hours, they found files that contained correspondence to Gan within the years of the fifties. They came across written inquiries Adaran made over the lost boys and substantial material that hold evidence that he knew what happened to the lost boys.

Shakir and Mala tore some of the pages and returned the files to the shelves. Shakir extinguished the Tilley lamp. Mala undid her dress and became invisible – in order to lock the door and walk out through a solid wall.

They escaped before the mosque filled for dawn prayer. Habib and Don Raha went home. Shakir on the motorcycle returned to Etherevari to leave the contents. Then he rode to Feydu to drop Mala home.

They reached Hankendé. It was light in the sky and raining heavily. Shakir and Mala pitched on the empty beach and pumped up a Tilley lamp.