‘Who makes these tracks, Louis?’ Mann caught up with him as he was examining some donkey droppings.

‘Drug runners mainly.’

‘I thought the Thai government had stamped that out?’

‘They don’t move the drugs by road any more. The only way to move the stuff is by mule.’ Louis stood. ‘You’re never going to stop it. Just because the Opium King surrendered, it didn’t mean anything had to stop. He left a fully-functioning supply chain from grower to smuggler. It was never going to stop just like that. Others slotted straight into a very well-oiled business whilst he made a deal to live the rest of his life under luxury house arrest in Rangoon. The Burmese government are expanding their opium production daily. They have moved their refineries away from the Thai border, that’s all.’

‘Have you ever been to this old refinery that we’re headed to?’

‘Yes, I’ve stopped there sometimes with the backpack medic team. It’s an eerie place. Things were just left abandoned. It feels like a place full of ghosts. Doesn’t it, Alak?’ Louis called softly across to the captain as he passed them, ever watchful, his eyes alert for any signs of trouble. Mann thought again how haunted Alak looked. He had the demeanour of a man who had never known a day without struggle. They caught him up and walked alongside him.

‘Why do you think he will go there, Alak?’ asked Mann.

‘I know him well. I feel his fear. He is scared now. He has had the five for two weeks. Whatever he hoped to achieve, it has not happened.’

71

Alak was getting more edgy as the day wore on. The oppressive stillness of the forest seemed to suck out all the energy and oxygen from anything that tried to move through it, as if they were not welcome there. Alak had halted them many times in the last hour. It was as if he sensed something in the air. As they neared the first set of three peaks, he disappeared. He returned ten minutes later.

‘There is a scouting party, out looking for us. It must be part of Boon Nam’s unit. We must kill them.’ Alak looked at them all. ‘Come with me.’ He nodded at Mann and Louis. ‘No guns. We must have complete silence, understand?’

Mann and Louis both nodded. Mann undid his shirt and added more throwing stars to the pouch he wore looped around one shoulder and across his chest. He held Delilah in his boot. He strapped his six throwing spears—especially weighted, feather-tipped, six-inch deadly spikes—to his arm, and he carried his most lethal star, capable of decapitating a man, the Death Star, nestled in a pouch on his belt.

‘How many of them are there?’ asked Louis, as he added a hatchet to his already well-equipped knife belt.

‘I have seen ten. We will need to strike fast and strong with everything we have, before they have a chance to fire their weapons. Ready?’ Mann and Louis nodded again. Alak turned to the others. ‘Stay here and stay quiet. If we are unsuccessful and they run this way, use these.’ He handed Riley and Gee two handguns. ‘Only use them if you have no choice because the noise will bring Boon Nam straight here.’

The three men stayed together as they reached the start of a ridgeway of trees and the first of the mountain peaks. They lay down in the stubbly grass at the edge of the forest and watched the line of soldiers walk stealthily across the clearing on the side of the second rise. They crawled forward on their bellies until they were crouched just in front of the approaching soldiers. Their weapons at the ready, they waited. The soldiers were still twenty feet away, moving warily across the open side of the ridge. Just as Mann undid his shuriken pouch and slipped the throwing stars into his hand, there was one single clap of gunfire that echoed around the hills and sent a flurry of alarm across the canopy of the forest. It had come from the direction of the camp. Had they missed another scouting party? They looked at one another for the answer. The only thing they knew for sure was that the others were under attack.

Up ahead, the soldiers turned at the noise and broke into a jog as they dropped down into the valley and headed towards the sound. Mann reached for his first set of shuriken. He knelt up in the grass and fired off all five at once. They sang in the air as they found their targets and sliced into muscle and bone. Three of the men dropped to their knees. Before they had time to reach for their weapons, Mann had fired off his second set of shuriken and three more fell. Louis and Alak were on their feet charging forward, knives in hand. Alak plunged his knife into one man’s chest and he fell to the floor. Louis slit another’s throat. Only two of the men were still standing when Mann reached for his throwing spikes and he threw with such force they struck the first man dead. The second man was struck with a shuriken in his neck and another in his chest. Alak plunged his knife into the last man’s heart as he lay there twitching then they turned together and ran back towards the forest.

Riley stood, and pointed his gun at the young soldier flying through the forest towards them. He didn’t seem to see them. He had lost his senses. He just wanted to escape from the army. He wasn’t looking for them.

‘Stop,’ Riley shouted to him in Burmese. ‘Or I will shoot.’

It was too late as Gee fired his gun into the trees but missed the soldier. The young man, beautiful in his youth, came to a standstill before them and stood there panting, his eyes panic stricken as he stared at Riley. He looked desperate to find a way out but he was frozen with fear.

Silently Run Run stepped up on a rock behind him, yanked his head back and slit his throat. His arms flailed wildly but his eyes locked onto Riley’s in panic before they rolled back in his head and blood spurted from his gaping throat.

‘What happened?’ asked Alak as the three men came running back through the forest. Run Run was standing silent with a knife in her hand. Her face was splattered with blood. She bent and wiped the blade in the grass. Gee stood, his hand shaking, still holding the gun. Riley answered.

‘The young soldier came from nowhere. Gee shot at him and missed. Run Run killed him.’ Riley shuddered.

‘It was my fault.’ Gee stood, his head bowed beneath the red cap. ‘I had the gun ready. I saw a person coming, I panicked, I shot at him. I missed. I am sorry. I was scared.’

Alak looked down at the dead soldier and then at Run Run.

‘Was this the only one?’

‘Yes,’ Run Run replied.

‘Okay, it is done. We need to move from this place quickly; Boon Nam is coming.’

72

By dusk the next day, Mann and the others came across the track that led to the old refinery. Louis looked anxious. Mann could see why. It was obvious that many people had been there recently. The grass was squashed; there were fresh mule droppings, covered in flies.

‘Keep to the track,’ Alak whispered along the line. They followed the lane until they stood above the plant, looking down on the abandoned refinery. The manmade lake below still contained water, though there were holes in the palm-thatched roofs, rust on the corrugated iron. Outside were piles of obsolete equipment and, more significantly, there were glass bottles glinting in the last rays of the sun, signs of recent habitation and a night of heavy drinking.

Mann felt his heart begin to race, a knot in his stomach, his hands sweating. He knew that something lay waiting to be found in those dilapidated buildings. He needed to keep himself calm and his pulse low. He needed to be ready.