by Lee Weeks
‘The job of every Karen person is to fight for their homeland. That is what I do, in my own way. I will play my part before I die, just like my mother has played hers. She has killed many Burmese and she has helped many villagers.’
‘How will she be involved in this mission to find the five?’
‘She will pick up arms again if she must. We all understand that it is vital we find the five volunteers, otherwise there will be no more money to feed the refugees, to fight for our homeland.’
Whilst Run Run was speaking, Mo had appeared at the entrance. ‘My daughter is correct. We are beggars, living on handouts. We all know that we are approaching a time when the Karen might be forgotten, might be hounded out and murdered so that we will be no more. If the world thinks that we took these five young people, then the world will turn its back on us altogether and we will have no chance. I cannot allow that to happen. We can never give up and we can never surrender. That is what the Englishman said, wasn’t it…Churchill? He was a good man in history; he supported the Karen people. The five principles must stand and those are the code we live by. Are you a man of principles, Mr Mann?’ There was a hint of intrigue in her eyes. ‘What is your code?’
‘I have strong principles. I try and get justice for people who cannot get it for themselves,’ he replied.
She studied him for a minute before she smiled and nodded her head approvingly.
‘Good. Then we will be fellow soldiers, you and I. We will fight alongside one another. You will watch my back and I will definitely watch yours.’ A grin spread across her face and her silent laugh grew into a coughing fit that rattled her lungs and produced a mouthful of phlegm that she spat over the balcony. Then, without waiting to be asked, she went to Run Run’s pack and emptied it out. From inside the bundle, she spread out the contents: a pack of explosives, a belt of grenades, ammunition, detonators, knives and medical supplies. Mo said something to Run Run in Karen. It looked like she was expecting more. Run Run began to argue back, but Mo held up her hand for silence and shrugged, resignedly.
Mo looked at Mann, and smiled.
‘Do not worry, Mr Mann. We are a peaceful people. We only defend. We will need these weapons to save the young people’s lives.’
The dog was barking. She stopped to call over her shoulder for quiet. The jungle was sending up its alarms through birds and trees. Someone was coming. Mann followed her eyes towards the jungle. The dog had found more intruders. A troop of KNLA soldiers were walking single file out of the jungle. Alak was at the front. Mo turned and glared at Run Run. Mo obviously hadn’t been expecting Alak to come in person and neither had Mann. But, from the expression on her face, Run Run obviously had.
66
The darkness descended fast in Mo’s village. All around the sounds of women soothing their babies for the night could be heard. Alak’s men were washing in the nearby stream. The smell of cooking began to permeate the thick, hot night as blackened cooking pots were stacked over red coals and the evening meal of fish curry and sticky rice was prepared.
Mann stood on the platform of his dwelling to check his satellite phone. He heard a giggle behind him.
‘Men and their gadgets. Who are you trying to call?’
He turned and grinned at Sue as she came up the ladder. Her hair was wet from the wash in the stream and hung down her back in flaxen strands.
‘Just wanted to make sure it worked.’ He grinned sheepishly. ‘No, actually, you’re right—new toy, dying to use it.’
‘Don’t suppose it will matter but satellite phones are illegal here. The Burmese junta can’t tap them so they ban them. We never carry them just in case we run into the military. Especially if you’re a woman; they have a habit of planting stuff on women for the guys down the road at the next road block to find. Gives them the excuse to hold on to the girl and rape her.’
‘Don’t worry. I will take full responsibility if we get caught with it.’ He shut down the phone, put it back in its case and stowed it away in his bag.
‘In any case…’ Sue said, ‘there will be no one to call for help. There will be no one to rescue us if we run into trouble. Normally, as backpack medics, we spend weeks on the road with just the bush telegraph.’
‘I’m beginning to think I should have made a will.’
Sue laughed. ‘I’m counting on you to keep us all alive.’ She stood in front of him and looked up into his face and gave a sweet smile. She had the fresh scent of jasmine soap on her, along with the bloom of fresh sweat. He had a sudden urge to reach out and pull her close.
‘I would like to get to know you, Johnny Mann,’ she said, as if she had read his mind. Then again, maybe the look in his eyes wasn’t too hard to read. She took a step closer towards him.
‘Sounds good to me.’ He put his hands on her waist and pulled her in towards him. She pressed her hips against him and gave a playful grind. Just then Riley appeared. Sue quickly pulled away.
‘Did you manage to get your hair washed, Sue?’ Riley said, looking from one to the other.
‘Yes, thanks.’ Sue had looked momentarily embarrassed but she recovered quickly. ‘What about you, Riley, did you talk to Mo about setting up a school here?’ Mann had the sense he was watching two people who had known each other intimately for many years.
He shook his head. ‘I will try again later. She’s not in the mood for learning at the moment. She’s busy with Gee.’
‘What about using Alak’s radio?’
‘I’ll do that later, too. He hasn’t set it up yet.’
‘Here, use my new toy.’ Mann pulled his sat phone back out from the bag and handed it to Riley.
‘Ah, been dying to get my hands on one of these. I bet this was expensive, wasn’t it, mate?’
‘I live in Hong Kong, remember? Go ahead, be my guest. Just don’t chat for long.’
‘I will then. Thanks, mate, I’ll grab it later.’
Gee appeared at the top of the ladder looking smug. He was still wearing his red baseball cap. He hardly seemed to sweat, he was so used to the climate. He spotted Sue’s mosquito repellent that she’d left out beside her bag and began slapping it on his arms and face.
From down below, Mo bellowed: ‘Come and eat. Come to my table.’ She looks in a good mood, thought Mann, looking down at her over the edge of the balcony.
‘Happy lady.’ Gee grinned up at Mann from under his cap. ‘She likes my contribution.’
Gee’s bony shoulders shook as he chuckled.
Mann watched from the balcony as Mo wandered back in the direction of her house and began inspecting the contents of the canvas bag lying outside it. She had a Kalashnikov AK-74 in one hand and a grenade launcher in the other. Sue took the mosquito repellent off Gee and replaced it in her pack.
‘Okay, let’s not keep her waiting,’ she said, adding under her breath, ‘She’s not the kind of woman I’d ever want to piss off, frankly. And now she’s trigger-happy—great.’
They walked across to find Run Run helping with the food preparation, still carrying Kanya on her hip. Alak was sitting nearby, talking with some of his men, though Mann noticed he still kept a close eye on Run Run. It could easily have been the usual village domestic scene, thought Mann—the husband watching the wife as she made dinner, a child on her hip, another running around at her feet. Childhood sweethearts they may have been, but it didn’t look like the love had gone away. Whatever bond they once had was still there. Mann watched Sue walk on ahead. He wasn’t the only one watching. Alak’s soldiers paid her more than a little attention. Mann had a feeling she encouraged it and he smiled to himself. That didn’t bother him. Mann’s thoughts were interrupted by one of Alak’s men who finished watching Sue walk by and then grabbed Phara and pulled her onto his lap. She struggled to release herself.
Mo looked up from her canvas bag. Alak ordered his man to release Phara. Either the man didn’t hear, or he didn’t want to hear. Riley marched over and pulled Phara from his lap. He picked the soldier up by his shirt.
‘Step out of line again, and I’ll deal with you personally.’
The soldier looked at Alak. Alak glared back at him. The soldier backed down with a dismissive shrug of indifference.
Mo’s eyes lingered coldly on the soldier and then on Alak. She gave a flick of her head and went back to examining her new toys.
Alak and his second-in-command, Captain Rangsan, got up, leaving the rest of the men eating their dinner, and came to join Mann and the others as they gathered in front of Mo’s hut. Mo held up one of the rifles to her face, closed her eyes, and breathed in its smell as if it were a newborn baby.
‘Ah…’ She waved it in the air triumphantly. ‘It’s been many years since I held a new rifle, many years. All thanks to my new friend here.’ She reached out and pulled Gee close to her, squashing him to her large breasts. ‘I think I have a new lover.’ She kissed him hard on the cheek, squashing his face in her hand. Gee looked terrified.
Riley didn’t look happy.
‘Didn’t know we were gun runners now.’ He stood with his arms folded across his chest. ‘I thought we were on a rescue mission, not a military one.’
‘The two will be hard to separate in the end, Riley,’ Mann answered. ‘We can’t afford to meet up with these men unarmed. We will need all the help we can get to rescue these kids. These guns were not bought with NGO money—they were a private donation, hey, Gee?’
Gee gave one quick sharp nod of affirmation. He was still restrained by Mo’s vicelike grip and was frightened to make a move in case she crushed him further.
‘Food!’ Mo was hungry. She picked up a bottle of rum in one hand whilst still maintaining her grip on Gee with the other. She signalled the way and propelled Gee forward to the other end of the compound. Alak and Ransang followed them. ‘I will show you my new building,’ she announced.
‘You’ve been building since we were last here?’ Riley asked. He stopped in his tracks as they came to a newly cleared area in the forest and they saw an open-sided building with a raised floor, furnished with benches and tables. ‘What’s this, Mo?’ He looked amazed.
‘You don’t know what this is?’ Mo looked slightly put out. ‘This is the school you keep telling me to build.’
Riley nodded approvingly, a wide grin splitting his face. The group moved to sit at some of the long rows of desks.
‘So, we are the first to sit in this school,’ beamed Mo. ‘Let us hope it will not be burnt to the ground next week, huh? My heart tells me that my village will soon be moving on. We are running out of places to hide in this world. We are running out of friends.’
Mo poured herself a glass and then put the rum bottle in the middle of the table. Louis came to join them. Mann had seen him talking to the villagers earlier. He was preparing for his job of guiding them and tracking the five. It was a big responsibility. Louis acknowledged everyone with a grunt, but didn’t speak. Lamps were dotted and incense sticks lit to keep away the mosquitoes. Lizards ran across the tables and up the beams of the open-sided school.
Phara brought over bowls of rice and sweet hot curry for them. Mo finished her rum, poured herself another, and then handed the bottle around. Mann didn’t have to know Mo well to read her expressions. She was in an aggressive mood that had been exacerbated by Alak’s appearance, and the drink was bringing it to the fore. She drank plenty during the meal. Once they finished eating, Phara cleared the table and Alak spread a wellworn map in front of them. Run Run placed a candle in its centre.
Alak said, ‘Since we left you, we have been talking with the hill people.’
‘Do they think the five are still in the area?’ Mann asked.
Alak nodded. ‘They have been seen here.’ He used a stick to reach over the map to point. ‘I have sent six trackers out looking for them. Three have returned and say that the kidnappers have journeyed as far as the Laos border, up to the opium hills of the Golden Triangle. But now they keep moving, only staying one night or two in each place, and they force the villagers to help them carry their loads. That’s how we will find them.’ He traced the line of dots already drawn onto the map. ‘The villagers will tell me. They have taken porters and demanded food and somewhere to sleep here on their way north, but not straight north—they take a twisting path. They are not trying to escape, they are waiting for something…someone.’ Alak pointed out the kidnappers’ course with the tip of his stick as it zigzagged across the hills. ‘They move every day, but they go nowhere. The mountains of the Golden Triangle will hide them.’
‘What about the hill tribes?’
‘These are people high up in the hills, opium growers. They will say very little as the food in their children’s mouths depends on silence. The people will be too afraid to stop them. You cannot stop the Shwit. They will keep going and not care whether people like it or not. They will push the five until they get what they want.’
Mo wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Her lips looked burned from the strong dark liquor. In the firelight her eyes were hard and her face jowly. She had been drinking for hours and now her drunkenness slurred her words and she growled rather than spoke. Her demeanour turned cold as her shoulders slumped and she stared at the map.
‘Pah! We have killed plenty of Shwit in our time.’
‘It’s not just the Shwit.’ Alak looked across at Run Run. ‘They are led by an old enemy—Saw Wah Say is their leader. He left a message for me when he killed Mongkut. He is challenging me.’
Mo’s expression changed. Her eyes narrowed with hate as she glared at Alak.
‘See!’ Mo stood, swaying, and banged her glass down onto the table. ‘All the bad things come back to you in time.’ She spat her words at Alak who did not move. ‘Mongkut died because of you…’ She slumped back down onto the bench, her fire disappearing as quickly as it had flared. ‘He was a brave man, a good man; he was my friend. I knew him all my life. I fought with him in many battles. You killed my only son and you killed Mongkut.’ Her voice trailed and her eyes filled with tears. She poured herself another drink, and then turned, her eyes flashing with hate in the darkness. ‘You have caused so much suffering in your worthless life.’ Mo glared at him. Her fire had returned. She was suddenly upright, poised and spoiling for a drunken fight.
There was an intake of breath from Run Run as Alak’s shoulders stiffened and he glared at Mo. For a few seconds he seemed ready to leap across the table at her throat; but instead he remained in his seat, fuming but controlled.
‘When Saw and I were taken away to fight for Khun Sa we committed terrible crimes. We were wild and lawless. But I have paid for my crimes, Mo. I cannot pay for them for the rest of my life. I am a Buddhist. I have made amends.’
‘Hah!’ Mo laughed sarcastically as she turned and spat into the darkness. ‘Your God? Your God divided the Karen people. Your God works for the Burmese junta and kills his own people.’ She rocked forward and waited, daring Alak to retaliate. Mann waited too, watching Alak, who gave him a resigned smile and shook his head slowly. Then he reached for the bottle and poured himself and Mo a drink. He gave a small sigh before he raised his glass to Mo.
‘To the fight. To the four principles and to the gods—we beg their forgiveness. And to Mongkut—he was a brave man and a good friend to all of us.’
‘Pah!’ Mo did not raise her glass. Instead she wiped her mouth as if there were a bad taste in it, before sitting back down and reaching over and snatching up the bottle once more.
Mann kept his eyes on Run Run. She remained silent but her eyes, her shoulders, her soul seemed filled with a sad hopelessness as she watched Mo and Alak, still fighting after all the years. Alak sat back against the bench and he took a few deep breaths. He was a man well versed in the art of warfare but he would back down from Mo. Not only because he had too much respect for her, but also because he returned Run Run’s love and her eyes were begging him not to retaliate. But whatever it was that Alak had done to offend Mo, it wasn’t something she was ever going to forget, Mann thought.
The evening seemed in danger of degenerating into a slanging match and Riley got up and excused himself. Mo sat muttering under her breath as she watched him go.
In the rest of the village, a quiet was descending. People began to excuse themselves and drift away to find a few hours’ sleep before dawn. Only the dog still continued its wakeful patrol, and now he began to growl at the undergrowth. As they all paused to see what the concern was, Mann could make out Riley talking on the phone to someone. Mo picked up a stone and threw it at the dog to shut it up.
‘We must rest now. We set off at dawn,’ said Alak. ‘Two groups, to cover more ground. My men will travel in one and we will travel in the other. Mo will remain here. We need someone to coordinate and Mo has the radio.’
Riley rejoined them. From the corner of his eye, Mann could see the shape of someone moving through the undergrowth. He looked around at the others. Only Louis seemed to be looking in the same direction as him but he looked away. Mann looked again and he knew he was right—two eyes were staring back at him from the blackness.
67
The day was just beginning to surrender its nighttime moisture to the air. It was already warm. There was a pre-dawn stillness, broken only by the coughing coming from Mo’s hut as she stirred from her bed to spit her phlegm off the side of her platform.
‘Are we set?’ Sue was looking at Mann as she stood beside him on the platform while he drank the last of his coffee. She followed his eyes out to the jungle. Mann was still looking for any trace of what it was he’d seen the night before. ‘What is it? Didn’t you get any sleep?’
‘I slept okay…you?’ Mann turned to see that Sue had got herself kitted out in her jungle outfit once more for the day’s journey.
‘You must be kidding, it’s an oven in there.’ She looked back towards the entrance to the inner room of the dwelling. ‘You feel like your skin is crawling. But at least everyone goes to bed early.’
‘Yes, no chance of catching a late movie here.’ Mann was still distracted by the forest, still hoping to catch another glimpse of whatever it was he had seen.