the United States for helping the Rangoon government? More to the
point, did she hold him and Malibu responsible? “Believe me, Phya, I
don’t know anything about the Burmese! I certainly don’t know about
them trying to wipe out your people.”
“Hell, Phya,” Malibu added. “We didn’t know anything about this war
until we landed in it!”
“War last many year,” she said, staring into the fire. “Burmese not
beat Karen, until they start killing villages.”
Batman exchanged glances with Malibu. His RIO shrugged. “Sorry.
Killing villages?”
She gestured toward the dark jungle around them. “This place, this part
jungle not our home. Not Katoolie. Karen live … far southwest. One
hundred … two hundred mile. Mawchi. Pa-an. My village near Mawchi,
on Salween River.
“Burmese come my village six … maybe seven month ago. Their … how
you say? Sky machines, make noise like thunder.”
“Helicopters?” Malibu volunteered.
“Exact. Hel-copters. Kill my people. Kill my village.”
“They shot your people?” Batman asked. “From helicopters?”
She nodded. “Sky machines hang above village. Use rocket. Use machine
gun. Kill people, cows, goats. All die. They land then, burn whole
town.”
She raised her head. Firelight glowed red against her skin,
illuminating the curve of her jaw, her eyes. “My … my husband there.
He die. All die.”
“How did you get away?”
“I washing clothes in Salween, with other village women. See machines,
hide. See smoke of village in sky. Karen soldiers come, tell me.
Later, when safe, I see. Then I join Twelfth Brigade, KNLA.” A sad
pride touched her voice. “I join. Kill Burmese who want kill all us!”
“They wiped out your village.” Horror pricked at the nape of Batman’s
neck.
“Not just my village, but others. Many others. You want know why I
fight? I fight for children, for place they can live.”
“War to the knife, compadre,” Malibu said quietly.
Batman nodded. His mental image of the typical revolutionary guerrilla
was of a ragged character fighting for some political goal, supplied by
one superpower or the other. The Karens were literally fighting for
their survival as a people, were carrying out that fight with virtually
no outside support … and they’d been doing it for over four decades.
Batman shivered at the thought. “Good God!”
“Yes,” she said. “God good. He give strength. We kill many Burmese.”
He watched her for a long moment as she leaned forward, arms around her
knees, rocking slightly back and forth. The top two or three buttons of
her tunic were undone, and he could see a small, gold cross on a chain,
resting on the smooth, dark skin above her bosom. It caught firelight
as she moved.
Batman remembered Htai telling him that most Karens were Christians. He
felt an overwhelming sadness. The Burmese did not have the greatest
army in the world, not by a long shot … but they had an army many,
many times larger than the scattered tribesmen living in the jungles
along the borders of their country. The Karens were a tiny minority …
among the Burmese, and among the other religions in an area
overwhelmingly Buddhist, Hindu, or spirit-worshipping animist.
“You’re fighting against such terrible odds,” he said. Somehow he
wanted to help, but didn’t know the words, didn’t know what he could do,
He wanted to reach out and take Phya in his arms, but knew that so
familiar a gesture would be wrong. Like Htai, she was not looking for
sympathy.
She looked at him quizzically. “Odds? What mean odds?”
“Uh … there are so many of the enemy. So few of you. Your enemy
outnumbers you terribly.”
To Batman’s surprise, she laughed. “No, Lieutenant.” She stopped,
laughed again.
“What’s the matter, Phya?” Malibu asked. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing matter, Lieutenant,” she said. “But you not understand. You
see, God with Karens, make us outnumber them!”
1930 hours, 18 January
Americana Hotel, Bangkok
The Americana Hotel was a survivor of Bangkok’s Vietnam-era economic
boom, when the Americans on leave found the city the ideal spot for R&R.
The boom had ended in the early seventies when the Americans pulled out
of Nam, turned their bases in Thailand over to the Royal That Air Force,