Soon, inevitably, Kleat and Duncan began arguing. There was no excuse for it. The evening was quiet except for animal noises, and each of the men was occupied, Duncan with his sketch pad and Kleat cleaning his pistol. And it was the same argument they’d had that morning. The only difference was that now they had real artifacts to fuel their positions. They were no longer talking about the hypothetical. Duncan had found a city. Kleat had found war relics.
“We have to retreat,” Duncan said. “First thing in the morning, before anything more gets destroyed or pillaged, we need to pack up and leave. We’re not prepared for this. The city needs protection. We have to get this right.”
Kleat rejected it with a grunt. “Not going to happen.”
Molly didn’t know what to say. She felt safe in here. She felt found. And yet Duncan was inviting the world in before they even had their foothold.
“But we could lose everything,” she said, trying to reason with him. Once word of the find spread, the eight- hundred-pound gorillas—the
Kleat picked up the theme. “This is what I’ve been saying. We’re here. It’s ours.” He dripped solvent onto a patch and pumped the rod down the barrel.
“We’ll come back again,” Duncan said, “but on our terms, not theirs.” He gestured at the brothers. “We can get them to drive us down to one of the towns, and bring us back with supplies to last us through the next six months. That gives us the monsoon.”
“And what makes you think they’ll keep the big secret down in town?” said Kleat.
“They won’t. That’s a given. They’re human. They’re poor. We’re in a race against time. Which makes you, Molly, the most important one of us. Everything depends on you. You can document the city before the jackals pick it clean. It’s not just these guys. Once the news breaks, the Cambodian army and government will step in. That’s when the real looting begins. You’re our witness to all the greatness the way it is. It means staying through the rains, though. I’d send the drivers away before the river swelled. After that, we’d be shut inside, alone.”
“Yes,” she answered him, though he hadn’t asked the question. Yes, she wanted to be here. Shut inside. Alone.
“Get all the snapshots you want,” Kleat said, “while we search for the men. They come first. There’s not going to be any mission creep here. We came for the bones, not a city. We can beat the rains. Once I have the bones, this pile of rocks is all yours. You two can stay until kingdom come, I don’t care.” He started assembling the pistol.
“We can spend the next few days preparing,” said Duncan. “And the next six months exploring.”
“You and your city,” Kleat said. He fit the spring onto the barrel. “What about the men?”
“If they’re here, we’ll find them.”
“There’s no if. They’re here. And we’re here. And we’re staying.”
Molly dabbed at the sweat trickling down her temples. Was she getting sick?
Now was her turn to try reasoning with Kleat. “What if we can’t find them before the rain comes? Duncan has a point. It’s the difference between having a few days to search or having six months.”
“I need this.” For a moment Kleat sounded desperate. “Before it’s too late.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The captain will come, or someone like him,” Kleat said. “Once they hear it’s us up here, they’ll come to take it over. The river won’t stop them, they’ll fly right over it and banish us again. And that’s not happening. They had their chance.”
“Their chance?”
“These bones belong to me,” Kleat declared. He fit the barrel into the frame with a metallic
Molly and Duncan exchanged a look. The bones belonged to him? “John,” Duncan said quietly. “That’s not right. What about your talk of honor?”
“One buys the other,” Kleat said. “These dead buy my dead. It’s the only way I’ll ever find my brother.”
Molly remembered Luke laughing—barking like a monkey—at the claim that Kleat had a brother.
“That’s why you’re here?” said Duncan.
“The captain sent us off like traitors. Here’s their wake-up call. Every year, the missing die a little more. Wives remarry. Children grow up and forget. New wars eclipse the old ones. Soon it will be too late.”
“What do you think the captain and his people are doing in the dirt and mud and sun?” said Duncan. “Searching for the lost ones.”
“They need to search harder, then. With the bones to shame them, I can make America sit up and listen. That’s why you’re important,” he said to Molly. “You and your newspapers. Shame them. Destroy the old rule. We need fresh blood. New direction. My brother is out there somewhere, and one way or another I’m going to take him home.”
The fire crackled outside. No one spoke for a minute.
Finally, Duncan said, “I’m sorry it’s come to this, Molly. I’m trying to think of a middle way. But nothing’s coming to me. It seems we have to choose between the bones and the city, and I know where I stand. And we know where John stands. But there are three of us.”
He looked to Molly for the deciding vote, and she made a face. “What can I say?” She was genuinely at a loss. Kleat had all but persuaded her, and yet the city needed her. “You both have strong arguments.” She was about to ask if there was really no compromise to be made, but Kleat spoke up.
“No need to fret over it,” he said. He clapped the magazine into the grip and chambered a round. He looked at his pistol, then at them.
“Are you threatening us?” Molly asked.
“Please,” he said. “It’s just that sometimes we get carried away with this democracy thing. And we shouldn’t.”
19.
According to her watch next morning, she rose at 9 A.M. the previous morning. It was darker than nine, though.
Gray rags of fog drifted in the mist, as if the morning could not make up its mind which way to blind her. She had her bearings, though. In less than five minutes she found Samnang’s bright orange fire and the men all gathered.
She feared that Kleat and Duncan were battling for the brothers’ loyalties, the one to stay, the other to leave. But as she quickly learned, the brothers had their own loyalties to attend to. They wanted more money.
“Otherwise, they’re leaving without us,” Duncan said. He was good-natured about it. “It makes sense. Why stick around? They scored a few thousand dollars’ worth of pots, and as far as they’re concerned, the city belongs to them. They’re bringing some friends back with them.”
“What about leaving
“More money.”
“Pirates,” Kleat fumed.
“We knew that coming in,” said Duncan.
“They’d strand us?” Molly looked around. Vin kept his eyes on the ground. The other two brothers held their chins high and their rifles prominent.
The mist was churning. The forest breathed.
Samnang brought her a coffee. “Sugar?” he asked.
“No, Samnang.” It was all spoiled. They needed food to stay. Blankets. A generator to recharge her batteries. Umbrellas. More malaria pills. A toothbrush. They needed solitude.
“This is your doing,” Kleat said to Duncan.
