As Sue was talking, Mann was staring at her. She looked beautiful, like King Arthur’s ‘Lady of the Lake’, the moonlight tracing the curve of her breasts and silhouetting her bare shoulders. Her hair, loose now, pooled on top of the water, gold turned to liquid platinum in the moonlight. Mann was almost lost for words.

‘Talking of love…’ said Mann. ‘You’ve known Riley for a long time, haven’t you?’

She smiled. ‘We are good friends, Johnny. We have been through a lot together. I love him like a brother now.’

‘Does he know that?’

‘Yes, he does. We split up ages ago; we only live together out of convenience.’ Mann took a step closer towards her and she rose a little out of the water. He cupped some water in his hands and poured it over her shoulders. The water dripped from the tips of her erect nipples; her breasts had goosebumps. There was a rustle of noise behind them.

‘Dinner is ready.’ Riley appeared on the riverbank behind them. Sue dived back under the water.

‘Thanks, Riley, coming.’

‘Okay, look away, boys, I’m coming out…’ She waded out of the water, naked.

Mann had no intention of looking away. Riley scrabbled to find her clothes but Sue was in no hurry to cover up. Riley looked as if he was seething, and he wasn’t going anywhere.

‘Did you need to borrow the phone again?’ Mann asked him. ‘Go ahead, it’s in my bag.’

Riley hesitated. ‘No, you’re all right, mate. Not tonight. Thanks for lending to me last night, hope you didn’t mind. It all got a bit lively at the table.’

‘I don’t mind. As long as we keep it to emergencies. The battery on those things isn’t massive and there’s nowhere to recharge it out here.’

‘Oh yeah.’ Riley paused. ‘I needed to speak to a new guy in charge at the camp…I just have to keep an eye on stuff, that’s all…’

‘Just wanted to make sure there haven’t been any more incidents.’

‘Face it, Riley. You’re just a control freak, aren’t you?’ Sue smiled at him affectionately and gave his arm a squeeze as she finished dressing. She picked up her bag and started walking back up to the camp. ‘The camp will be fine, Riley. They won’t attack it twice in such a short space of time.’

He shook his head and shrugged as he smiled after Sue. ‘Yeah, you’re right—as always. But you know me—I just have to make sure.’

‘You coming?’ Sue asked them both. Mann shook his head; he didn’t intend to be hurried. He walked out of the water and started drying himself.

‘Five minutes,’ answered Riley. ‘I just want to have a word with Johnny.’

Mann started getting dressed. Riley waited until Sue was out of earshot before he spoke.

‘Look, mate, this isn’t some fucking camping trip for singles dating. We are here to do a job. I know Sue. She can get hurt easily. She looks tough but inside she is very fragile.’

Mann held up his hand.

‘Let me stop you there, Riley.’ Mann’s temper was like a lit candle inside him, always burning, never going out; and occasionally someone came along to breathe gasoline on it. ‘Don’t ever fucking tell me what I can and can’t do. I will do my job and anyone else’s who doesn’t make the grade and don’t think for one second that I will take my eye off you, Riley. You lied to me when I asked you about Louis in the camp. You said you didn’t know him very well—that’s bollocks. You lied to me about the kids having their own transport. The soldier who you had words with yesterday was murdered just feet from where you were on the radio last night. To my mind, you have to be the number one suspect here.’

‘It’s not how it looks. I didn’t want to get Louis or myself into shit for maybe bypassing a few rules when it came to qualifications. Louis isn’t the normal type but I wanted to give him the work. And don’t talk to me about that soldier’s death. You carry a knife just like the one used to kill him.’

‘Yeah, but you know who the killer in stories never is, Sherlock? It is never the fucking detective who comes halfway around the world to help. Who it turns out to be is a local with a motive. And maybe that’s you, Riley. As far as I can see, you’re a liar. You lied to me once and you will do it again. Now, until I make sense of what’s going on, I won’t believe a word you say. We have five missing kids and as many loose ends as a bowl of spaghetti right now. I still don’t know where you fit in to all of this, or why you wanted to come on this mission, but, believe me, I will. By the end of this “camping trip”, as you call it, we will all know each other much better. And, Sue and I? That’s none of your fucking business.’

Mann finished dressing and picked up his bag before heading back up towards the camp. Riley was left at the water’s edge. He stood there for a moment, then ran to catch up with Mann.

‘Sorry, mate.’ He held out his hand for Mann to shake. Mann did not take it and he retracted it after an awkward few seconds. ‘Believe me when I say I had nothing to do with the soldier’s death. I haven’t got a fucking clue who killed him or why. But you’re right. Sue and I have been over a long time. I just feel protective towards her, that’s all. But, of course, she can more than handle herself and it’s no bloody business of mine.’

‘Let’s just get on with the job, Riley. Even if you did come on this mission just to stop me making advances to your ex-girlfriend. A handshake won’t get you off my list of suspects.’

‘Don’t be bloody ridiculous,’ Riley scoffed. ‘I came because I thought you might need me. Whatever else you think of me, you have to realise that this is my world. I don’t want it shat on. Where do I go if all this disappears? If we don’t find those kids alive then nothing will be the same here and here is all I care about. I will do everything I can to preserve it.’

He was right, admitted Mann. Thailand attracted people like Riley. They might be escaping from the past but they cared passionately about hanging on to their present.

As they rejoined the others, Alak was busy talking on the radio. Sue was waiting for them and scanned their faces anxiously. Mann gave her a smile and shook his head, as if to say there was nothing to worry about. She looked relieved. Riley was about to say something when Sue put her hand up for silence.

‘Wait…’ She was listening to Alak’s conversation.

‘Something’s wrong. Alak’s on the radio to Mo. I heard him ask her about details of an attack.’

Run Run was waiting at Alak’s side to speak to her mother. She bowed her head and her shoulders shook with sorrow as she listened to her mother’s account of the attack, then she handed the receiver back to Alak. He wound up the conversation, stooped briefly to comfort Run Run, and then came over to update the others.

‘There has been an attack on Mo’s village.’ His face was dark with anger. ‘Boon Nam has killed many women and children.’

‘Mo?’ asked Riley. ‘Is she all right?’

‘He could not have known who she was. If he had known she was the infamous fighter, responsible for wiping out many Burmese army regiments, he would have made sure he killed her. As it was, he sought to punish her for allowing foreigners to stay in her village.’

‘How many dead?’ Riley asked.

‘Thirty. The school burnt. The houses destroyed.’

‘Bastards,’ said Riley bitterly.

‘That means they are on to us,’ said Mann. ‘They know we are here and why.’

Alak nodded. ‘It means that the Burmese junta knows about the kidnapping and is helping Saw. We are going to be attacked from all fronts—anyone who knows or helps us will be slaughtered.’

70

The next morning the atmosphere in the camp was subdued. No one had really slept except Gee, who seemed to thrive on the basics and didn’t feel the stress levels. After washing and cooking up some coffee, they headed off just as the dawn was filtering through the tops of the trees. All around, the earth was coming alive with the sounds of calling birds. They struck away from the river in order to stay hidden and crossed over what appeared to be a well-used path. Louis stopped to check for signs that others had been that way.