have made facing that loss … easier somehow.
But the secret would have to remain secret.
Swearing under his breath, Tombstone rose from the bed and padded naked
across plush carpeting to the bathroom. When he returned, he stopped,
staring at the still form of Pamela, masked by shadows. There was
something …
different.
A new smell, a presence which hadn’t been there before …
Before he could piece together his impressions, shadows moved in the
darkness. “Who’s there …!”
Something hit Tombstone a glancing blow across the side of his head. He
went down, groping for a shoe, a chair, anything he could use as a
weapon.
“Rah vang!” a harsh voice barked to his left. Tombstone pivoted in that
direction.
Then the room exploded in light.
As his vision cleared, Tombstone was engulfed in a swirl of rapid-fire
impressions. There were three men in the bedroom, wearing close-fitting
black clothing and carrying silenced automatic pistols. Pamela, sitting
up naked in bed, still had one hand on the bedside light switch as she
opened her mouth to scream.
A hard, metallic something collided with the back of Tombstone’s head
and he pitched forward to his hands and knees, the room whirling around
him. He tried to rise, to get his legs beneath him.
He was struck again, much harder, from behind. His face ground into the
carpet as his vision dimmed in blood and blackness. Desperately,
Tombstone fought back against the waves of pain-shot darkness that
threatened to engulf him. He fought … fought …
And failed.
CHAPTER 16
0945 hours, 19 January
Near U Feng
The camp had awakened at four in the morning and begun moving south,
traveling through night-shrouded jungle with a confident certainty that
Batman found astonishing. It was so dark that he could barely make out
the shape of Phya walking a few feet in front of him. Somehow the
Karens at the head of the long, snakelike column picked their way along
forest trails that were all but invisible, and the rest trailed after,
walking in touching distance of the person ahead.
Eventually, the sky grew lighter, but there was no true dawn. By the
time Batman could clearly see his surroundings it was raining, a misty,
intermittent drizzle that turned the ground to soup and soaked the
Americans through to the skin in minutes.
By Batman’s calculations, they’d been traveling south long enough that
they must be in Thailand by now, but there was no sign of a border, no
challenge by either That or Burmese patrols. For some time he’d been
aware of the sounds of jet aircraft overhead, though the planes were
hidden by the low overcast. They were passing on what might have been a
regular schedule, one following another at intervals of three or four
minutes. No doubt the Royal That Air Force was up in force searching
for the two of them. The engine sounds weren’t right for Tomcats or
Hornets. Possibly, he decided, they were That F-5 Freedom Fighters.
At last, the column halted. Batman crouched at Malibu’s side just off
the trail, as Karen tribesmen moved silently through the thick
vegetation on all sides.
Suddenly, all were gone.
Malibu, still lying on his stretcher, propped himself up on his elbows.
“What’s going’ on, buddy?”
“Beats me,” Batman replied. “No one’s told me anything.” Even Phya had
vanished into the bush, and for several long minutes it felt as though
the two Americans were completely alone. Insects Reeked and chirped
among the branches as rain continued to drizzle through the leaf
canopies overhead and drip to the wet ground. Once more, the wilderness
seclusion was shattered by the jet-thunder noise of an airplane flying
low overhead, traveling north to south.
Two camo-fatigued shapes materialized at his side so suddenly Batman
started. He wasn’t yet used to how silently these people could move in
the forest and how well they made themselves blend in.
“Phya!” he hissed, recognizing the girl. “What in the hell is-”
She laid one slim hand across his mouth. “No talk,” she said, her voice
scarcely above a whisper. “Leave friend. You come.”
Batman’s mouth tightened. “Look, lady. I don’t know what the hell your