Toad picked Lucas up as if he weighed nothing, although Lucas was a foot taller than him, and he dumped him onto the animal’s back. It stood patiently waiting, taking the opportunity to eat the young shoots that sprung from the forest floor.

Saw was coming up behind them. Jake felt his fingers tingle with adrenalin and his guts twist. Saw stopped at Anna. Anna stared back. Jake admired her for her courage. She was always defiant. Saw walked past Silke and Jake’s breath caught in his throat as he watched Saw pull at her clothing. He saw Thomas twisting the piece of wood in his hand. He hadn’t been able to drop it without attracting attention. Jake looked at him. Thomas glared back as if begging Jake to let him try. Jake shook his head and his eyes dropped to the piece of wood in Thomas’s hand. Thomas let it fall.

Silke flinched away from him and Saw’s eyes rested on Jake. For a minute Jake thought he knew everything. He knew about the failed escape attempt.

Saw spoke to Toad before turning to Jake.

‘Friend?’ Saw gave his men a sidelong glance as he sneered and pointed towards Lucas. ‘Friend?’ He repeated it and pointed again towards Lucas as if the word conjured up a ridiculous image.

Jake nodded. Saw turned to Weasel and grinned. Weasel giggled and mimicked Jake. ‘Friend. Friend.’ He wiggled his hips like a woman.

‘Friend sick—maybe fall from mule, huh?’ Jake didn’t answer. He knew that it was best to keep quiet. Saw wasn’t looking for conversation. Saw jabbed him to make Jake look at him again. ‘Soon, come Steep Pass—only room for one person.’ Saw looked back at his men; he was speaking to the audience, not to Jake. ‘Your friend fall, I think?’ He called to Handsome to pass him some rope. As the mule looked at him incuriously, Saw tied the rope around Jake’s waist and looped the other end around Lucas; pinning Lucas’s arms around the mule’s neck, he secured them together. Jake’s side was pressed against the mule and he would struggle both to keep up and to avoid catching his legs in the mule’s hooves. His body would get in the way on the narrow path. Beside him the steep ravine plummeted and, below, the tops of the teak trees seemed a long way off.

‘He fall—you fall. He friend? You keep him alive.’

Saw laughed and his men whooped and seemed to walk with a new energy as they dragged their captives onward.

Saw stopped by Anna and looked back at Jake and grinned—his mouth dark red, he spat phlegm into Jake’s path. He looked Anna up and down and nodded knowingly in Jake’s direction as if he knew that they were lovers. Saw did know. His animal senses detected every weakness, every failing. His perception of the world was animalistic. He smelt her body on Jake. He smelt her sex. Saw walked back past Jake, fixed him with his black eyes as he grinned, leaned towards Jake as if about to strike him, then slapped the mule hard on its rump.

19

Mann waited whilst Ng ticked off his preferences from the dim sum menu. Bamboo baskets full of steamed dumplings were already arriving before he’d finished his order in the small side street café in Western District.

‘Thanks for meeting me, Ng.’

‘What is it you need, Genghis?’ Ng and Mann had known one another for so many years that Mann had come to regard Ng as his friend, not just his colleague. Ng named him Genghis because in his youth he had looked like a wild man. Nowadays Mann was more groomed but inside he was the same lost soul. Ng was full of wisdom, both street and ancient. He knew the world and its failings. Ng saw the broad picture. He didn’t have Mann’s hot-headed temper. Ng was calm—a deliberator and negotiator. They had seen one another through difficult times. When Mann’s world collapsed after Helen was murdered, Ng was the one who Mann leant on, and when Ng needed back-up Mann was the first to risk his life for his friend. Mann trusted his opinion. Ng looked at him now with his puppy dog eyes. ‘It looks like you haven’t slept recently. You should cut down on the gym and eat more.’

‘I’m all right. I went away for a couple of days. I’ve got jetlag, that’s all.’

‘No, it isn’t. You haven’t been all right for a long time now, Genghis. It is five years since I saw you happy. You need to get yourself a woman. Did you ever get back in contact with that Eurasian girl?’

‘Georgina?’

‘Yes! That’s the girl. She was just right for you.’

‘She went back to England, as you know. She wanted to go home; she’d been through a lot.’

‘You could have stopped her.’

‘Wrong time, wrong place, Ng. Anyway…’ Mann shook his head. ‘That’s what it always comes down to for you—food and females. The last thing I need is someone who needs me, Ng. I can’t give it the time or the dedication. I’m strictly a single man, in love with his work.’ Mann smiled.

‘Huh…I thought being single was supposed to be fun. You don’t look like you’re having fun. You haven’t taken any time off since that investigation in the Philippines, that’s over a year now. Take some time off, go lie in the sun, go wave riding—what’s it called, surfing?’

‘Yeah, maybe you’re right…’ Mann smiled and rolled his eyes in defeat. ‘I’ve had a lot on my mind. Actually, I have put in for some leave starting tomorrow, but it’s unpaid.’

Ng lifted the tops from the dim sum baskets and began piling dumplings onto Mann’s plate. Mann put his hand up to stop him.

‘Eat,’ Ng said, as he filled his own plate. ‘Where are you going? Back to the Philippines?’

‘Thailand.’

Ng looked at him and almost choked. ‘You mad? No one is going to Thailand at the moment. Those kids were kidnapped, they haven’t been released. It’s not safe.’

‘Those kids are why I’m going. I found out something about my father. I got an email from a Dutch woman, Magda. She told me she and my father were…lovers. Not just lovers, they had kids together. One of them is one of the kids who’s been kidnapped. I am telling you this, Ng, because I trust you to keep it to yourself. Mum would hate the whole world knowing.’

Ng looked confused. ‘Did your mother know all this?’

Mann nodded. ‘She found out after my father was murdered, when Deming’s will was read.’

Ng stopped eating, placed his chopsticks on their holder and thought for a few minutes.

‘That’s very sad, Genghis. Sad for everyone. But what does the Dutch woman expect you to do, exactly? Things are kicking off in Thailand and Burma. It’s not a safe place to go right now.’

‘If I go soon, I will be okay. I will always be able to get out overland and by boat.’

‘I read the latest on the kids—they say they are almost certain to have crossed into Laos. It’s a mess out there.’

‘I can at least investigate what actually happened. The parents are being told nothing. I am going to take a day here to get all I need and then I fly to Chiang Mai tomorrow and follow their footsteps until I get to the jungle and then we’ll see.’

‘What do you know about tracking kids through jungles?’ Ng stuffed a dumpling into his mouth.

‘Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ng.’ Mann grinned at his old friend. ‘Don’t hold back.’

Ng gulped down some water.

‘I am just concerned, that’s all.’

‘I know, and you’re right; it’s new territory for me—all of it—but I am hoping to buy myself some help along the way.’ Mann looked across at Ng. He knew by the look on Ng’s face that, although he would always support Mann, he didn’t think Mann should go. ‘In reality, I have no choice. The fact that he is my brother makes this a situation I cannot ignore. I am glad she came to me. It makes me feel somehow good. I can’t explain it—I feel as if I have some purpose to my life again. I might be able to uncover more about my father and I might fill up some of the emptiness I feel inside.’ He smiled, embarrassed. Although he was close to Ng, he wasn’t one for sharing confidences or pouring out his heart. ‘Anyway, I can go out there and talk to people, suss out what happened. I might not be an expert at trekking through jungles but I am sure I can find someone who is.’