Magda took the article out and opened it out fully. Dorothy explained.

‘When the couple tried to legally adopt her they ran into problems. She had a relative who wanted her back. The couple insisted that she had been living with them for three years and she should stay. They even went back to Burma to try and sort it out. In the end, the relative was outvoted and the girl was allowed to stay with the missionaries in Amsterdam. But it was the beginning of the trouble for them. She spent a lot of time out there. I suppose it was only natural…he was her brother. But the story doesn’t end there.’ She dug deeper into the drawer and pulled out a packet of old photos. She handed them to Magda.

These were photos taken when Katrien’s village was destroyed and she was rescued. ‘There she is…see?’ Dorothy pointed to a small child in the arms of her rescuer.

‘I see.’

‘But do you see who’s holding her?’

Magda peered closely and recognised him.

‘It’s Deming.’

107

‘We are here.’ Gee pointed with his cane into the distance. Mann could see nothing but blackness ahead. ‘Gee has delivered you to a safe place. I know the fishermen here. We will be back in Mae Sot by morning. And then—where will we go?’

Mann thought back to his vision of Daniel and the monk on the shore and shook his head. ‘All I know is “We are what we think. What we think we become.”’

‘Of course!’ exclaimed Gee. ‘That is the exact translation.’

‘Of what?’

‘You saw the Buddha outside my lock-up. The inscription above it. You asked me what was on it and I tried to translate for you. That was what was on it. That is the saying—“what we think, we become”.’

Mann felt charged with adrenalin. Now he had the answer to the riddle.

They reached the jetty. Brigitte gave them a final nose with her trunk before heading back towards the forest and freedom. Mann knelt down on the jetty and splashed his face with the river water. The eels came up to investigate. He trailed his hand in the water and they swam between his fingers.

It was nearly midnight. Gee whistled in the evening air. From the bushes came a whistle in reply and a man appeared. Gee negotiated with him and a boat was made ready. Within a few minutes they were on board and making their way downstream.

‘Rest, my friend,’ said Gee. Mann put his legs up and stretched out on the seat that ran the length of the boat. Mann dozed. His sleep was interrupted by a tug on the arm from Gee. Mann sat up to see what Gee was pointing excitedly at. The fisherman was steering towards a small jetty. Mann looked and saw a sight he never thought he would—Sue was waiting for a boat.

108

Sue opened her backpack and took out her medical kit. She tore open the sealed packet containing the diluted quinine salts and gave it to Mann. He drank down the liquid.

‘What’s that?’ She had begun preparing a hypodermic.

‘It’s just a shot of vitamins; help you recover your strength.’

‘No, thanks. No shots. By the time we land I will have all the strength I need.’

Sue looked put out for a second and then she slid over to Mann with a mischievous look in her eyes.

‘You’ll need to keep your stamina up. I have lots of arduous work in store for you.’

‘As nice as that sounds, Sue, it’s not going to happen any time soon. First, I intend to find Saw Wah Say and kill him and whoever gets in my way. I am going to make sure he feels the pain he’s caused. For every time he’s hurt one of those kids, I am going to hurt him a thousand fold. And, at the end, I am going to watch him die. There will be no ransom for him. He has left it too late to bargain with me now.’

Mann got out his mobile phone and turned it on. It searched for a network and then buzzed into life.

109

Riley eased his bottom to the side of the hospital bed and reached for the crutches. Outside he saw his taxi arrive. The headlights shone through the window into the ward. He took out the gun from beneath his pillow and tucked it into his trousers. He was heavily bandaged up. His right foot had been saved but very badly cut and two of his toes had had to be amputated. He knew it was a tall order to expect it to take his weight. He had cut down on the morphine for the last two days. He needed to stay sharp. He had a job to do and it wasn’t over yet. The headlights stayed on. The taxi knew to wait for him. He put the crutches in place and gradually adjusted his weight onto his right foot. With a growl of pain and a head rush he stood and it took all he could muster to stop himself falling back down onto the bed. He wavered, grabbed on to the bedside locker for support and then took a few deep breaths to try and beat the pain that threatened to split his throbbing foot and burst the stitches on his amputated leg as the blood rushed down. Already there was a bright red patch appearing on the stump. Riley pulled his trouser leg down over it and made his way towards the door.

110

Saw pushed Anna and Jake down the unlit lane at the back of the market and through the lock-up doors into the damp, dark room. Handsome locked the door behind them and lit a lamp and placed it on a table just inside the door. Saw pushed Jake and Anna into chairs opposite one another across the table, and then he refastened the piece of material that acted as a curtain at the window. He went over to one of the boxes stacked in the corner of the room and broke it open. He pulled out a bottle of rum and went back to sit at the table with Anna and Jake. He didn’t speak for several minutes as he drank the rum and watched them both. His eyes glinted in the light of the lamp. His chin ran with rum. Jake had never seen him look so menacing as he did now.

‘Do you know this place?’ Saw’s eyes hardened as he looked at Jake. Jake shook his head. ‘I came here with the master of the refinery.’ He looked around at the walls of the lock-up. ‘We sat at this table and drank rum and we talked about things that would come.’ Jake listened. Anna looked full of fear as her eyes searched Saw’s face. ‘I brought you to this place because someone is coming here; someone I have waited a long time for and then…’ He leaned towards Jake and breathed into his face ‘…then I will have my revenge.’

Weasel came behind Jake’s chair, held on to Jake’s shoulders and pretended to be fucking him like a dog. Handsome howled. Saw drank deeply from the rum. He wiped his mouth and looked from Jake to Anna and then he reached over and stroked her hair. She turned away. He grabbed her around the neck and pulled her to him. He kissed her, his mouth wide, his teeth chewing her face, he covered her face in saliva, and then he twisted her face towards Jake.

‘This is your last night, boy. It will be a long night; the longest night of your life. By the time morning comes, you will beg me to end it. I will have my revenge and I will kill you. And your bitch.’ Anna’s eyes were shut tight and she began to cry. ‘You will watch me take her many times.’

Anna screamed as her chair was dragged out from beneath her.

111