Sue didn’t respond. She looked at Louis and Mann. Mann knew what they were all thinking—they would now lose half their team. Louis put it into words.

‘It will take four of us to get him down alive. The two porters will have to carry him and Sue and I will have to look after him. We have no choice—otherwise he will die.’ Louis started assembling the stretcher. ‘That means you have no guide, Mann. I am sorry. You’ll have to find another tracker.’

‘Somehow I don’t think we will need one.’ Mann looked at the sky. The explosion had sent a vast cloud of dust and debris upwards. ‘I think they will come to us.’

Alak was already preparing to leave. Run Run came over, knelt beside Riley and kissed his forehead. For a second his eyes stopped rolling and focused on her.

‘Sorry,’ he snorted through the agony. They watched as he was lifted gently by Dok and Keetau. Gee was talking to them, giving them instructions. With anxious voices they answered him, and nodded their understanding. Gee knelt and murmured some encouraging words to Riley. Riley didn’t answer but he nodded.

Sue stared, panic-stricken, at Mann then at Riley.

‘You need me here,’ she said. ‘I am staying. Louis will manage to get Riley down.’

Louis looked shocked. He lowered his voice, speaking in an urgent whisper that could be heard only by Sue and Mann.

‘There’s a good chance he will die anyway, even with us both helping. He will definitely die with just me looking after him. What if something happens to me? It will take three days to reach the river. If you don’t come, his chances are next to nil.’

Sue turned to Mann, her eyes full of anguish.

‘Louis is right, Sue.’ Mann smiled at her. ‘You have to go.’

‘Yes, of course.’ She looked resigned. ‘Take care of yourself,’ she said to Mann, sadly. ‘I want to see you back at King’s, you understand? We have un finished business.’ She smiled bravely.

Dok and Keetau were already negotiating the stretcher over the uneven ground as they headed back down into the forest. Sue followed. Mann watched them until they were out of sight.

Gee and Alak were already repacking the bags. Run Run was looking at Mann. He smiled back reassuringly.

‘Riley’s a tough guy.’ He felt in his pocket for the piece of hessian sacking he had picked up with the company label printed onto it. In the explosion, he had temporarily forgotten about it. Its faded lettering was once brightly embossed—the head of the orchid imprinted on top of elaborate Chinese script, signify ing the union of China and Thailand. He would ring Ng as soon as they stopped and get him to investigate it. Just as he was studying it, a light flashed and he looked towards the distant mountain. Alak saw it too.

75

From less than a mile away, on the side of a hill, Saw heard the explosion and he watched the cloud of dust rise. His knife flashed in the sun. He smiled to himself. Alak must be getting careless, he thought, to have fallen for the old tricks that they both knew so well.

Toad came alongside him and stood with him to watch the plume of grey smoke rise.

‘Alak is soft now,’ said Toad, laughing.

‘Yes,’ replied Saw. ‘When the time comes he will be easy to kill.’

‘When is that time? When will this journey be at end?’

‘Soon. Tonight we camp near the border. We wait for someone.’

The stumps of felled teak trees lay all around them, like a tree graveyard. On the side of the far hill, a light blinked as a farmer cooked his dinner. Jake looked up at the stars and wondered which one was Daniel. He looked away quickly and swallowed, his dry throat cracking. He looked at the sky again and didn’t fight the tears this time. He wondered if Magda looked for him amongst the stars. Did she think he was dead like Daniel? Had everyone given up on them? Was there anyone out there in that world that he was staring at, in the massive universe, was there anyone out there who knew they were sat on a hill, between the huge stumps of fallen trees, waiting, waiting for someone to come?

Saw looked at Jake and the others and then back at his men. He watched his men skulking nervously. He knew there were plots against him. They thought he had led them badly. There would come a time when Kanda would challenge him. Saw shook his head and kicked out at a scorpion that had come to investigate his rum. The men needed him to have answers now and he had none. They had run out of places to go. Boon Nam was coming for them. The forest rang with whispers. Saw felt alone. But…he lifted his nose to the air, smelling the wind…the smell of woman was in the air—a woman with a fire in her heart like his own. She would come and counsel him, in all her wisdom. She had been at the heart of this; without her none of this would have happened. She was as clever as she was beautiful. Saw stood as the whistles ran out around the forest. And then he saw her striding towards him.

‘Saw, my darling…it could have been over by now, but it wasn’t your fault…politics got in our way. I am here now.’

‘What is to be done now?’ asked Saw.

‘Now people are scared. Things have become more complicated. But you mustn’t worry. We will still make you the new Opium King…we will get there, just believe in me. There is a new deal on the table.’

‘Will you get me back what was promised?’

‘That and more,’ she answered.

‘But Alak is here. He is tracking me.’

‘I know. He is with Johnny Mann. But you mustn’t let your hatred cloud your judgement. Don’t let old grudges get in the way now, Saw. You will have your revenge when you are richer than all of them.’

Saw howled to the starry sky; her words made him happy again.

‘We will have it all, but only if you keep your head now and do as you’re told.’ She rose and stood close to him and touched her palm to his naked chest and held it there as she smiled up at him from seductive eyes. His heartbeat quickened beneath her hand. He went to hold her but she pulled away playfully. ‘Now, my beautiful Saw.’ She stood a few feet away from him and began unbuttoning her trousers. She wriggled her trousers down to her ankles, she pulled down her panties. ‘Take them to Mae Sot, hide them in the market under the bridge until I come.’ She turned and bent over. ‘Now come and fuck your bitch.’

76

Alak picked up his pack. ‘We will head towards Gee’s village just as we planned. As soon we stop again, I will radio Captain Rangsan. We need to meet up with my men quickly. We are too vulnerable now.’

‘Yes, yes,’ Gee agreed, nodding enthusiastically. ‘Just as we planned. My village isn’t far now.’

Run Run brought a bucket of water up from the lake for Mann to wash his hands, which were still covered with Riley’s blood. Mann splashed his face and emptied the bucket of water over his arms and legs.

‘Come,’ said Alak, ‘we have seen enough here. There is nothing left for us now. We must move as fast and as carefully as we can.’

Mann was ready. They were no longer the ones doing the hunting. They had become the prey. He looked back at the building. The wild she-dog was waiting by the barn entrance, her shoulders hunched, her body poised to scuttle back into the barn.

They headed deep into the forest and upwards into the mountains and made good ground before nightfall. They took paths where they did as little as they could to disturb the undergrowth and leave a trail.

At dusk Alak signalled for them to stop.

Mann took out his own hammock and found a suitable place to hang it. It was not a night to light a fire. The evening air was full of trepidation as each of them busied themselves in their own way. Gee had put his hammock up and was now settled down for a smoke, cupping the cheroot to hide the glow. He rocked gently and stared at the stars, just visible in patches between the tops of the teak trees.