The Karen party had walked for hour upon hour, stopping rarely, always moving south. Batman lost track of how far they must have come; each forest-shrouded ridge was much like the one before… or the one ahead. His legs, especially his knees and thighs, shrieked agony at him throughout the morning. By mid-afternoon he felt a kind of bludgeoned numbness all over, and he had to concentrate with a single-minded fanaticism simply on placing one foot ahead of the next.
There were increasing signs of settlement, however. More than once, the Karens filed out of the jungle and across a road, usually a deep-rutted jeep trail, though occasionally it was pothole-cratered blacktop, a sure sign of civilization. They skirted several villages, and once crossed a large open space with the watery gleam of a rice field off to the left, reflecting the brooding gray of overcast sky and mountains.
The final climb left Batman breathless, and it was so steep that Malibu had to get off his stretcher and hobble along supported by two of the camo-clad natives. By the time the slope leveled off at last, the overcast had begun to break up, allowing intermittent shafts of light to illuminate the green-clad face of the mountain rising above them. The Karens halted at a point where jungle gave way to open ground and a dirt road winding along the face of the mountain.
Htai walked up to Batman. 'It is time we parted,' he said. 'We have brought you as far as we can.'
'Now wait a minute,' Batman said. 'What you're just going to drop us off in the middle of nowhere?'
Htai gestured. 'Follow that road. You will be able to find transportation there.'
Batman looked up the road. More jeep trail than road, it looked as though it rarely saw traffic. If Htai was expecting the two of them to hitchhike back to civilization…!
He turned to argue with Htai, and stopped. The jungle was a green wall along the road, leaves and fronds stirring with the breeze. The Karens were gone, vanished.
'Htai!' Batman yelled. 'Son of a bitch… Htai!'
Malibu leaned against his makeshift crutch and eyed the jungle. 'Shit, buddy,' he said. 'I get the feeling they don't care for our company anymore!'
'Looks that way.' The way the Karens had disappeared into the forest was eerie. What was it they were afraid of? 'C'mon. We can't stay here all day.'
Batman was tempted to walk down the road ? the going would have been a lot easier ? but Htai had pointed in the other direction. Batman didn't know what the Karen colonel's game was, but it would be better to do things his way, at least until this scenario played itself out. They followed the curve of the road along the mountain's flank for perhaps another hundred yards, as Batman's legs threatened to buckle with the unaccustomed strain and Malibu limped along with a grim and stoic silence which said something about his own pain and exhaustion.
The cave opened in front of the two Americans like an unfolding dream.
More grotto than cave, it was visible in the side of the mountain like a slash between house-sized limestone boulders. Inside, the afternoon light filtered through a hole in the cavern's roof illuminating the alabaster face of a gigantic, carved stone Buddha.
Other carvings emerged from the dim recesses of the cavern, but Batman was momentarily spellbound by the sight of that largest figure. He took a clumsy step forward. The scene was so remote, so otherworldly it might have been a dream. Already, the light was changing, the carvings receding once more into shadow as the magic of that single shaft of illumination faded.
'Yoot!' The voice carried the whip-crack of authority. 'Yah klihun vahee!'
They turned slowly and saw the That Rangers behind them, M-16s leveled.
'Lieutenants Wayne and Blake, sir,' Batman said automatically. If these people didn't speak English, the two of them could be in a lot of trouble.
'United States Navy.'
One of the Rangers looked puzzled, and then his face creased in a broad smile. 'Navy! You long way from ocean!'
The place, it turned out, was Chiang Dao Cave, normally a busy tourist site but deserted since the insurrection began. The only people in the area now were a detachment of That Rangers.
Batman looked past the man at the cavern, where the shadows were swallowing the stone Buddha. Nearby, the spires of a chedi, or temple, gleamed white against the sky. After days of mud, insects, and nagging uncertainty, the breeze-swept peace of the shrine, of civilization, seemed like a breath of heaven.
Within an hour, Batman and Malibu were in the back of a jeep, bouncing down the dirt road toward the town of Chiang Dao, where a government station had been established to assist the hill tribes living on the slopes of the surrounding mountains. An hour after that they were in a Royal That Army truck, jolting down Highway 107 toward Chiang Mai.
A telephone call from the government station had already been placed through to Sattahip and the Jefferson. By the time they reached the airport west of Thailand's second-largest city several hours after dark, a Navy helicopter was already there, waiting for them with rotors turning.
In another two hours they were back on the ship, and Batman had sworn that he was never dating another stewardess for as long as he lived.
It was dark outside as Hsiao completed work on the last set of operational orders. They were committed now, with Sheng li hanging on a single toss of the dice. Leaning forward at his desk, he used the intercom to summon Phreng.
'You sent for me, General?'
'Yes. Get the prisoners.'
'Yes, sir.' Phreng hesitated, then grinned. 'Are we going to start working on them again?'
Hsiao heard the man's not very subtle emphasis on the plural 'them.' He knew Phreng had been looking forward to working on the girl, and the thought angered him. For Hsiao, torture was a tool, not a means for the gratification of twisted personalities.
He was not going to let Phreng enjoy that pleasure… not yet, at any rate. The Americans might yet have some value as hostages, and he didn't want them permanently damaged.
There was no need. Bayerly had given him all the information he needed.
'They are not to be hurt. Either of them.'
Phreng's expression fell. 'Yes, sir.'
'Make arrangements for a truck… an army truck with a canvas top. We will take them out tonight.'
'Yes, sir. Where are we taking them?'
'To U Feng.' Hsiao tapped the end of his pen against the maps spread out on the table before him. 'We will want to be clear of the city before the festivities begin.'
'Festivities, sir?'
Hsiao allowed himself a shallow smile. 'Tonight we begin the final phase of Sheng li.'
'Tonight!'
'Yes. Now… have my driver bring the car around.'
'Yes, sir. And your destination?'
'Lumpini,' he said, reaching for the telephone on his desk. That was the name of a large park on Rama Four Road, less than two miles from Klong Toey.
He'd used it for meetings with fellow conspirators before. 'I have some final arrangements to make.'
Phreng made a wai and backed out of the office. Minutes later, Hsiao was speaking the innocuous code phrases which would inform Colonel Kriangsak where and when his master would speak with him.
The attack on the Jefferson had to be carried off swiftly, before the Americans were aware of their danger. It would not take long for the helicopters, already prepared for their mission, to reach the carrier from the air base at Sattahip.
CHAPTER 18
