'An American officer has been calling my office all day,' Kriangsak said reluctantly. 'One of their pilots. He's talked to several of my people, says he wishes to discuss the possibility of his helping out in the search for the Americans who vanished the other day near U Feng.'
Hsiao nodded. 'Excellent. Excellent! Call him. Set up a place and time to discuss it with him. And you will take some of my people with you.'
'Sir, I don't-'
'This may be the best opportunity we have for capturing one of their people. Two would be better if you can manage it. We can use one against the other that way.'
'But General-'
He was interrupted by a long, shuddering, drawn-out scream from behind them. The scream went on and on and on before lapsing into a throaty gurgle.
Then Phreng's voice could be heard once more, harsh and insistent.
Hsiao kept his face impassive. Perhaps Kriangsak simply needed to be reminded of the stakes in this game.
'Yes, General,' Kriangsak said slowly. They reached the door, where a guard saluted. 'I will see what can be done.'
As the door closed behind them, the screaming started again.
CHAPTER 14
They'd left the camp in the late morning, traveling not on the road which descended down the valley, but up the forest-clad slope to the north, following a maze of nearly invisible paths which zigzagged among the trees toward the crest. The girl, Phya Nin, had been put in charge of the Americans. Two teenage boys under her command were detailed to carry Malibu in a bamboo litter. This made for slow going, but it was faster than if Malibu had tried to negotiate the climb on his crutch. From time to time the way grew too steep for the litter bearers, however, and Malibu had to get off and walk, helped along by Batman and one of the Karen boys.
They walked for three hours, negotiating one forested ridge after another. As nearly as Batman could tell, judging by the sun and his compass, they kept heading north, deeper into Burma. His fears that the natives were going to double-cross them somehow grew sharper.
While they were inside Burmese territory, control of this section of the country was still an open question. The Golden Triangle was the private preserve of various warlords. If the Karens somehow suspected that he and Malibu had come to this remote corner of the globe as part of the ongoing war against the drug producers, they might reason that those warlords would pay handsomely for their capture.
The thought made Batman shiver. If Malibu had been able to travel freely on foot, Batman would have urged an immediate escape. But he couldn't abandon his RIO, and it seemed certain that the Karens would run them down in minutes if they tried to E&E together.
No, they would just have to wait and see what happened.
In mid-afternoon, the group stopped for a twenty-minute rest. When they set out again, it was toward the east. By the time the sun was setting that evening and the group stopped again, Batman was certain that they were now heading in a generally southeasterly direction.
Toward U Feng.
His second night in the jungle was more comfortable than the first. The Karens built small, closely guarded fires, and Batman gratefully accepted a bowl of hot rice mixed with chunks of some unidentifiable meat, the origins of which he refused to question. He ate the meal with his fingers, sitting by the fire between Malibu and Phya. The night sounds of the jungle surrounded them, a cacophonous symphony of shrieks, chirps, and insect twitterings. The air smelled of wet earth and rain. Mosquitoes swarmed from the darkness, and the shadows of huge bats darted and swooped beyond the circle of the fire's light.
As Batman ate, he watched the girl. He wanted to talk, to make conversation… but he was at a loss as to how to begin with this young woman, barely out of her teens but wearing fatigues and carrying an assault rifle. Her conversation during the long day had been limited to phrases like 'Hurry up,' and 'More quiet! Don't thrash in leaves so much!'
'I understand your people have been fighting for a long time, Phya,' he said at last. He slapped at the mosquitoes gathering on the backs of his hands despite the repellent coating them. 'Why do you do it?'
'For Katoolie,' she said, echoing what Colonel Htai had said that morning. Somewhere in the darkness, near another fire, a child laughed. The ghost of a smile played at Phya's lips. 'Children see country perhaps.
Someday.'
'No, I mean you. Why are you a soldier, Phya?'
'I kill Burmese.' Her eyes glittered. 'Kill Burmese forever.'
He heard the ice in her voice. 'Why do you hate them so much? I mean, you've been fighting them for forty years! You can't hope to win!'
'We win. Someday. Or we die. Mostly we win.'
'Against the Burmese Army?'
She bristled. 'You no believe?' She paused. 'When I bring you to camp today, leave you by tree. You remember tree?'
The tree with the letters made of empty brass cartridges hammered into the bark. Batman felt cold. 'CJ,' he said. 'Initials?'
'Not letters. Numbers,' she said. 'Burmese way write number twelve.'
'Twelve?'
'For the 12th KNLA Brigade. Is way we mark victories. We take place from Burmese, we mark. That camp, we take from Burmese two months ago. Kill one hundred fifty enemy.' She fingered the red triangular patch on her hat.
'Take this from Burmese soldier.'
The matter-of-fact way she said it sent a shiver down Batman's spine.
She might have just admitted stepping on a spider. He swallowed. 'You sound like you enjoy killing them.'
'Not enjoy, no.' Her dark eyes watched him from beneath the brim of her boonie hat. 'Is not much choice. Either fight… or die. Burmese want kill all Karen. Wipe out forever.'
Her words had a cold finality about them. Mass genocide? Surely Rangoon wasn't bent on exterminating these people. 'You not believe?' she said.
'It's a little hard to accept,' Batman admitted.
'Americans help Burmese… not know they want kill Karen?'
Batman didn't like the way the conversation was going. Did she blame the United States for helping the Rangoon government? More to the point, did she hold him and Malibu responsible? 'Believe me, Phya, I don't know anything about the Burmese! I certainly don't know about them trying to wipe out your people.'
'Hell, Phya,' Malibu added. 'We didn't know anything about this war until we landed in it!'
'War last many year,' she said, staring into the fire. 'Burmese not beat Karen, until they start killing villages.'
Batman exchanged glances with Malibu. His RIO shrugged. 'Sorry.
Killing villages?'
She gestured toward the dark jungle around them. 'This place, this part jungle not our home. Not Katoolie. Karen live… far southwest. One hundred… two hundred mile. Mawchi. Pa-an. My village near Mawchi, on Salween River.
'Burmese come my village six… maybe seven month ago. Their… how you say? Sky machines, make noise like thunder.'
'Helicopters?' Malibu volunteered.
