spindly ladder up to the entrance on his bad foot, remained outside.
Inside there was no furniture but a kind of low, foot-tall desk on the split bamboo floor. Tacked to one wall was a British Army topological map dated 1952. A number of weapons leaned against another wall ? M-16s, AK- 47s, and several RPGs ? beneath a faded color print of Jesus.
Htai seemed to note Batman's surprise at the picture. 'Most Karens are Christian, Lieutenant,' he said. 'Does that surprise you?'
Batman admitted that it did.
'We are also anti-Communist, and we forbid our people to deal in opium.
We fight to have our own nation… one where… what is it you say? There is liberty and justice for all.' He squatted cross-legged on the floor behind the desk and gave Batman a hard look. 'You Americans do not seem to know much about our struggle here.'
Batman remembered having heard something about the Karens in a briefing about the That-Burmese border, but beyond the fact of their existence, he knew nothing. He accepted the man's wordless invitation and sat down. 'I'm afraid not, sir.'
Htai shook his head slowly. 'We do not understand the American attitude.
Burma is ruled by a vicious socialist military dictatorship, by communists in all but name, yet your country and many others send them money and weapons, have done so for years… hoping to buy their friendship.' He gestured toward the weapons against the wall. 'Still, we manage to provide for ourselves. We survive.'
'What are you fighting for?'
'For our country, Lieutenant. For the land we call Katoolie.' Htai leaned over and spat, expertly directing a stream of red betel nut juice between two bamboo slats in the floor. 'Year after year, the bastard Ne Win tries to exterminate us. Always he loses.'
Ne Win, Batman remembered from his briefings, had been the military dictator of Burma for many years. He'd been replaced by a coup several years before, and the colonels who ruled that unhappy country now had promised democracy and a new constitution, but most analysts felt that he was still the real power in Rangoon.
Batman heard a step behind him and looked around. The girl who had brought him here stood in the door. The colonel said something in an unintelligible language, and she replied in a rapid-fire barrage of singsong words.
That red patch pinned to her boonie hat… When Batman had first seen the gold-star-on-red device, he'd assumed it meant his captor was Communist.
He saw now that it had been cut from a uniform. Probably a Burmese uniform.
The device was a war trophy.
It spoke of this people's abilities… as warriors, and as survivors.
If he and Malibu were going to survive, they needed the Karens' help.
The soldier left, and the colonel turned to face Batman again. 'You seem to have attracted some attention here, Lieutenant. An enemy column is approaching our valley. They search for you and your friend.'
Batman licked his lips. There'd been ice in Htai's voice when he spoke of not understanding American foreign policy, as though he might hold Batman responsible. He plunged ahead, speaking quickly. 'We need your help, sir.
Somehow, my friend and I have to get to Thailand. I know you don't have any special love for my government, but I can promise that you will be rewarded.'
Htai looked away, his black eyes going to the picture on the wall.
'Rewarded how?'
'I don't know, Money perhaps. Gold. Something can be worked out, At the least Your help will generate sympathy for your cause back in-'
'We do not need sympathy, Lieutenant. We need mortars. Assault rifles.
Ammunition. Grenades.' The colonel's lips quirked back in what might have been a smile. 'With a thousand 81-mm mortars we could drive the Burmese from our land once and for all.
He was tempted to promise the colonel any thing, but sadly, Batman shook his head. 'I can't promise you anything like that, Colonel.' If the U.S.
government was trying to buy Rangoon's friendship, Batman doubted that military aid for the Karens would be forthcoming.
Htai appeared to consider the question for another moment. 'At least you are honest,' he said at last. 'We will help you. Money we need too… for we must buy rice from the Thais to feed those of our people who live in camps along the border.'
Batman let out his breath. 'Thank you, sir.'
'You may not thank me later. The Burmese have been in this area in great numbers lately. The trip will be hard and dangerous.' He nodded toward the open door. 'The woman who brought you here is Sergeant Phya Nin. She is waiting with your friend. Have her get the two of you something to eat, then make ready. We leave in one hour.'
Batman left the hootch wondering if he and Malibu could trust these people. The colonel seemed willing enough… but if the Burmese were closing in, the Karens would be a lot better off without having to look after a pair of tenderfeet on an overland trek through the jungle.
It would be so much easier to dispose of the Americans quietly or sell them to someone who might be interested in them like the Bunne se or the drug lords.
But as Batman stepped back into the filtered green light of the jungle floor, he saw the armed Karens gathering outside and knew that he and Malibu had very little choice in the matter.
Tombstone leaned back from the table, his mind racing furiously. He was unaware of the clatter of silverware and dishes in the mess, or the low murmur of conversation among the other officers around him. The submarine sandwich he'd bought lay untouched on his tray. He'd been chewing on the problem of Batman and Malibu for three hours now, and he could think of little else.
CAG had said there would be no SAR flights off the Jefferson, that the Thais were insisting on handling the search for Batman and Malibu themselves.
It was possible that the other problems breaking loose ? rumors of invasion in the north and an impending coup in the city ? were enough to make them sidestep the whole issue. The two Americans could easily get lost in the cracks.
But there were many ways to address the problem. The Thais didn't want massive U.S. intervention, and Tombstone could appreciate that… but what about a single plane on TARPS recon? Sure, it had been a TARPS aircraft which had been shot down the first time, but that didn't mean it would happen again.
Perhaps a flight of RTAF planes in the area could be diverted as escort. They were supposed to be up there looking for Batman anyway, weren't they?
CAG had mentioned that Batman and Malibu might have gone down on the Burmese side of the line… but what if they hadn't? Or what if they were close to the line, a few miles to the north, close enough that a friendly plane making a sweep could pick up their SAR broadcast? At least Jefferson would know then that they were alive, and could work out a decent plan for bringing them out.
And maybe the Thais, with all of their political problems, would actually be glad to be rid of this one extra problem. If he played his cards right on this one, maybe the Thais would wind up asking for his help…
What was the That liaison officer's name? Kriangsak. Maybe there was someone in his office he could talk to. CAG had told him yesterday to take an evening off. He wasn't scheduled for duty this night… so why not? He could check out with CAG after chow and catch a bus into Bangkok.
The chances were that no one in the That bureaucracy would be able to help, but at least, Tombstone thought, he'd be trying to do something. it was better than moping in the wardroom, picking at his food and feeling sorry for himself. And besides, he might get lucky.
'Come in.' Admiral Magruder looked up from his desk as Captain Fitzgerald and Vince Glover, the ship's Exec, walked in. He knew there was trouble by the look on their faces, before they even said a word. 'Let's have it.'
