‘Why did they choose a volunteer project inland? Usually the kids head to a beach somewhere like Koh Samui, just lie around and smoke weed for a few months.’

Alfie answered for her. ‘Jake didn’t want to go to the usual places, to the south, the beaches. They all agreed that they wanted to help someone. We researched it—found out about the Karen people who have been displaced from Burma. There’s been a civil war going on there for sixty years. The hill tribes are forced out of their villages, they end up in refugee camps along the Thai/Burma border…They were going to help build a school there. We thought it would be a great opportunity for him.’

Magda held up her hand. Alfie paused.

‘I thought it best to go there.’ Magda closed her eyes and clenched her hands in mid-air as she shook her head emphatically. ‘It was my idea. I was so wrong.’

‘It’s not your fault, Magda.’ Alfie placed his hand over hers. ‘You are not the one to blame.’ Magda smiled gratefully at him and sighed deeply.

‘So, what have you been told?’ asked Mann.

‘We got a phone call from the people at NAP to tell us that the camp had been attacked.’

‘Is that the company that sent them out?’

‘Yes. Netherlands Adventure Project. We got a call from Katrien—I call her the Bitch—who runs it. She told us there was likely to be a ransom demand. She didn’t know how much then. But she said we should get our homes on the market, look at taking out loans, anything we could, as the Dutch government were definitely not going to pay.’ Alfie gave a grunt of disgust as he swigged his beer. ‘I tell you.’ He shook his head with disbelief. ‘She is the coldest bitch on the earth.’ He slammed his beer down. ‘She talks to us as if Jake being kidnapped is a trivial matter. They are supposed to look after the kids—they take big money from them to send them into this. She is a lying little bitch.’

‘Alfie, please…’ Magda held up her hand.

‘Sorry…sorry…just makes me so mad,’ Alfie said and went back to drinking his beer.

‘What did you tell her?’ Mann asked Magda.

‘I said we did not have any money. All the parents said the same. We are all doing everything we can; we have our homes up for sale, but people are not buying at the moment. We don’t have any savings—even if we did, it would never be enough.’

‘She came to see us,’ added Alfie.‘She walked in here, dressed all in black as if she was coming to a funeral. She looked around the place as if she was trying to see how much we were worth. Then she said they were asking two million US.’ Alfie shook his head. ‘It may as well be fifty million. We don’t have it.’

‘Did she say where the ransom demand came from?’

‘She said it was from a breakaway group of Karen freedom fighters.’

‘Did you talk to anyone in the government?’

‘Yes, some stuffed shirt. They say only that the Burmese are doing everything they can to help. There is a Commander Boon Nam from the Burmese army who is leading the rescue mission. This is him…‘ Magda pointed to a photo on the board of a stocky-looking man with a moustache in full military uniform. He looked smug, vain, thought Mann. His eyes looked coldly back into the lens. ‘…but when it’s Burma, who knows?’

‘And then the political situation kicked off,’ said Alfie. ‘Suddenly we stop getting any news. There’s trouble in Thailand, a military coup about to happen, there’s trouble in Burma, it’s politically unstable and they’re killing the monks. Laos has fighting on the borders.’

The room fell silent as the fridge hummed away and the cat ate its food. Laughter drifted up from the street below. Magda held her face in her hands and closed her eyes as she said: ‘We can’t wait any longer. We don’t have the time. I don’t have the time. I must have him home now. Please God, before I die, let me know he is safe. They say we have to be patient. They tell us—it will be all right. They will survive. They will come home. No one will die.’ She shook her head as if suddenly it was all too much, all hope had left her. She stared at her hands for a few seconds before lifting her head and looking straight into Mann’s eyes. Her eyes were glassy like cloudy sapphires. ‘It doesn’t matter what they say. I am so close to my son. We dream the same dreams sometimes.’ She gave a sad smile. Tears fell freely now and landed on the map. ‘Now, every bone in my body, every beat of my heart, tells me my boy needs me, and every day takes him further from me and takes us both closer to death.’

9

Jake knew how much his mum would be missing him right now. He managed to slip his hand into his pocket and pull out the piece of paper. It was a photograph of them together on the beach. He unfolded its corner just enough to glimpse Magda’s smiling face looking back at him. Jake didn’t know what had made him print out the photo when they stopped at an internet café on the way up to Chiang Mai but he was so grateful that he had. Now the photo gave him hope that he would see his mother again. He knew that she would be thinking of him at that exact moment because they were so alike. Silently he told her that he loved her. He folded it back up and eased it into his pocket; he would not be able to open it again many more times; it was deeply creased where it had been folded too many times. From where they lay on a rough mattress of ferns and forest debris Jake could see the distant lights of a town. Across from them, the five porters, four women and an old man, huddled together forlornly. Saw had forced them to come with them from the last village they had stayed in. Jake hadn’t seen them eat anything for days. They were being worked to death, carrying the heavy loads and never allowed to stop for a rest. He looked around at Saw’s men, they were drinking heavily and fights were breaking out. It was always the same when Saw left them.

He had disappeared as soon as they made camp for the evening. From his place by the fire Weasel was watching Jake and the others. Jake looked across at Thomas. He felt terrible for him. He felt frightened for them all. Until today the attacks had just been threats: now they were real.

‘If he comes near me again—I will fucking kill him.’ It was the first time Thomas had spoken all evening.

‘It’s all right, Thomas. It’s all right…‘ Silke wrapped her arms around him as Thomas buried his head in his knees and continued rocking. Eventually he went quiet as he lay on his side. Jake could see that his eyes were wide open. Jake wanted to say something to help Thomas but he didn’t know what. Jake had never felt more helpless in all his life as he did now. He looked over at Weasel watching them.

‘Silke, sit up…‘ said Jake.

‘But Thomas is my brother. He needs me.’ Silke held Thomas and hugged him.

‘You will make it worse for him. They think we’re all pathetic enough,’ whispered Jake.

‘I don’t care…‘

‘No, Silke, Jake is right. Please…‘ Thomas gently pushed her away and drew his knees back into his chest. ‘Don’t worry. I’m okay.’

‘Walk in the middle of us tomorrow, Thomas,’ said Jake. ‘Don’t give Weasel a chance to…‘ Jake stopped mid-sentence as Thomas rocked violently back and forth and moaned and cried. Silke went to hold him again but he turned away from her.

‘You don’t know what he tried to do to me…If Saw hadn’t stopped him because he was in such a hurry to keep moving, he would have done more.’ In the moonlight Jake could see Thomas’s eyes were full of tears, his face stretched tight and terrified. ‘You don’t know what he did to me, Silke.’ Silke put her hand on his arm. ‘No. Don’t, please, Silke, don’t touch me.’

‘You couldn’t have done anything, Thomas,’ Jake whispered as he looked across at Weasel, still with his eyes fixed on the group. ‘That bastard Weasel is a psycho.’