Gee helped Mann to stand and he tapped Brigitte’s trunk and commanded her to kneel so that Mann could stand on her leg and pull himself up into the basic wooden boxseat, which had a bar across it to stop him falling out. Gee picked up all he wanted from the camp—the cooking pot, the mosquito nets and two hammocks—and then did his best to cover their tracks, before ordering Brigitte to lift her knee again so that he could straddle her neck and guide her.

Mann was jolted back and forth in the wooden box. It was like riding a bucking bronco set at the slow setting. Gee reached back and wedged Mann in with the bags, so that he could sleep. As they made their way through the jungle, Mann looked down on the world and became mesmerised watching the frayed edges of Brigitte’s ears, speckled pink on the underside, gently flapping.

Gee looked towards the hills. Tomorrow he would turn towards them; tonight, he needed to stay by the river. He was glad Mann was asleep, so that he would not ask him why they were going the wrong way.

92

Mo was drinking rum, one shot after the other. Sue and Louis sat with her, having arrived a few hours ago. She had gone to Gee’s village to recover Run Run’s body and had brought it home. Now she sat forlornly snuffling as she wiped her nose with her sleeve and drank her rum. Phara brought her something to eat—she pushed it away. She looked up from her drink, her eyes brimming with angry tears.

‘I intend to kill him with my bare hands. If I cannot find Saw, I will at least find that bastard Boon Nam and I will roast his flesh over my fire for what he did here to my family.’ She wiped the dribble of snot from her nose. ‘Then we will leave this place. We cannot rebuild it now. We have only unhappy spirits here.’ She was heavily drunk. She got up and lurched into Louis. She pushed him away as if he had fallen into her. ‘Come. Come and see my daughter, Run Run. Tomorrow she goes on her journey to the heavens.’

They walked across the scorched earth, the smell of charcoal still in the air, the melancholy feel of things left ruined and broken.

They came to one of the few houses left untouched by Boon Nam and his men. They took off their shoes and climbed the ladder. There, laid out and wrapped in white cloth, was Run Run’s body.

‘I will rip his throat out with my bare hands.’ She squeezed her fists in the air and her arms shook as her hands knotted around an imaginary throat, and then she started to cry, heaving big drunken sobs, before she wiped her eyes with her T-shirt and looked mournfully across at Sue and Louis.

‘I have given you the coordinates of Gee’s village and where I think you will find Mann—what is left of him. Now leave me. I need to be with my daughter.’

They left her lying beside her daughter’s body, wrapped and embalmed and made ready for the cremation. Beside Run Run’s was another body; it was Alak’s.

93

‘Brigitte must rest now.’ Mann heard Gee’s voice as if it came from a great distance. ‘We will rest a few hours. We will eat something, then we go on.’

Mann was hardly aware of the day. They had been travelling for ten hours. It was too dark to see further and they had no choice but to wait till dawn. Gee helped him down from Brigitte’s back. He had already prepared a small fire to boil water and make noodle soup and he now made Mann’s hammock ready.

‘You will take a little rest and some food now, my friend, then I will leave you just for a few hours whilst I follow the river and see if it is safe and which path we should take in the morning.’

Mann forced himself to eat and then he sank into a deep sleep as he listened to Brigitte’s breathing; she sighed as she lay on her side and slept.

Downriver, Sue and Louis were also setting up for the night. They had brought enough provisions to last them four days; after that, they would need to head back.

‘How far are we by Mo’s coordinates, do you think, Louis?’

‘A day and a half, but if we stick to this route we might find him earlier. This is the way we came last time. It is the best route for anyone retracing their steps.’

Sue made a fire whilst Louis set up camp, then picked up her bag. ‘I am going to wash,’ she announced as she went down to the river. She stood for a few moments looking across to the other side, watching the stars twinkling, the moon gliding on the river. She remembered the last time she had had any time with Mann had been almost at this exact spot. She unbuttoned her shirt and stripped naked and left her clothes on top of her bag as she waded in and washed her body with the cool water.

‘Did I come at the right time?’

Sue gasped and ducked down into the water as she turned and saw Louis watching her from the riverbank.

‘What do you think you are doing, Louis?’

‘What does it look like?’ He grinned. ‘Don’t worry. Just looking. I came down to tell you that dinner is served.’

‘Okay, coming. Now…if you don’t mind…’ She ducked down under the water until he had left. After drying herself, she returned to the camp. Louis handed her a cup of something as she passed him.

‘What’s this?’ Sue asked. It smelt a lot like rice wine.

‘It’s medicinal.’

‘Really?’

‘I was thinking…we are out here in the middle of nowhere and this could be our last night. So…’

‘So nothing, Louis. I have heard all the reasons…’ She ruffled his hair as she stood and made her way to her hammock. ‘The end of the world one never cut it with me. Well, tomorrow is another day. Night, night.’

Sue awoke the next morning as the canopy above their heads came to life. She slipped out of her hammock and re-packed her bag whilst she waited for Louis to get up. She looked across at him, still in his hammock. He seemed to be able to sleep through everything.

‘Louis, get up, you lazy bum,’ she called. His back was turned to her. Years of being a backpack medic had taught him to be at home in the jungle.

She called again. He didn’t answer. She walked to his hammock and bent over him to wake him. Louis’s eyes stared lifelessly back at her. Sue looked down at his chest. There was a single wound, an inch across, straight into his heart, with bruising either side, exactly like the dead soldier at Mo’s camp.

94

A mile away across two hills, Jake helped Lucas onto the mule. Anna helped to tie him on. Anna had hardly spoken for days. She moved like a zombie. Jake knew that she had given up hope. She lived on the edges of her nerves and every breath she took was pained. She was constantly terrified. Jake knew that, because he felt the same way. Since the fight in the village, Saw was losing control. It was left to Handsome and Weasel to keep the men in check. Every night the men fought and killed each other over the female porters. Now there were only Handsome and Weasel and four of Saw’s men left.

‘Faster.’ Saw came alongside Jake who was leading Lucas. The mule was lame. It had a split in its hoof which every day had got bigger. Now it was so sore that it struggled to keep going over the uneven terrain.

‘The animal has a bad leg,’ answered Jake. ‘It can’t go any faster.’

Saw watched it take a few more steps. ‘Take the boy off,’ he said to Jake. Anna helped lift Lucas from the mule’s back. Lucas slipped to the ground. Saw said something to Weasel and he appeared beside them, knife in hand, and slit the animal’s throat. Saw turned to Jake.