“Give us a minute to pack up and change.”
Mya stepped out the back door, while Connor and Shanti finished gathering their belongings, dressed, and put on their robes once more. When they joined Mya, she adjusted their robes and handed them each a saffron-colored robe made of thicker fabric. “Cover your hair and draw this close around you.”
Connor wasn’t easily able to reach his Glocks dressed in all of this, but it did hide his rifle. He took his flashlight out of his pack, handed it to Shanti. “Let’s go.”
Down the stairs they went, back down to the large room with the five doors, and into the tunnel with the fish painted above it.
Mya was small, but she moved quickly. “My father did not betray you. I knew that’s what you would believe, and I cannot blame you. He was forced to serve with General Naing as a boy and feels no affection or loyalty to him.”
“But Naing still believes he’s an ally.”
“Yes, and, because of that, he trusts my father.”
“Why don’t the others at the monastery know that Ashin Dempo is your father?” Shanti asked.
“It would be viewed unfavorably for him to use his daughter as his assistant. But because my father has helped dissidents and outsiders, he trusts no one else. It is not out of ego, but to protect the lives of others.”
“You’ve done this before.”
“Yes.” Mya didn’t elaborate.
This tunnel wasn’t as long as the previous one. It sloped gently downhill, its walls painted like the walls of the other one—skulls, battles, gruesome creatures gnashing their teeth. Yeah, Connor had lived through that day once or twice.
Ahead, he saw the entrance. “Shanti, douse the light.”
They made their way in darkness to the gate, which Mya unlocked. “If we run into anyone, I will talk for us. Do not pull out your weapons. I will say we are taking a sick monk to see a physician.”
“Shanti, be ready for anything.”
They stepped out into the night.