“He asked me to tell you, soldier to soldier, that he hopes you find true peace one day. To you, Shanti, he asked me to say that there is no greater cause than justice.”
Shanti swallowed the lump in her throat, what Dempo and Mya had done for her and Connor overwhelming. “You may have saved our lives. Thank you.”
Mya smiled. “Myanmar is a beautiful country, but we have suffered under many empires. We are a young democracy, and like a hot-headed young man, we make grave mistakes. My father and I love this land. We would see it grow into a just and enlightened nation. I am sorry you have been caught up in our struggle.”
Shanti pressed her palms together, touched them first to her forehead and then to her chest, and bowed. “Namaste.”
From downriver, came the sound of an engine.
“Border Patrol. Go quickly!”
“What about you?” Connor asked.
Just like he had with Pauline, he was thinking of Mya’s safety, not just Shanti’s. Shanti loved that about him.
“Take my rudder with you.” She handed it to Shanti, who found it heavier than she had imagined. “I will tell them I lost it and that it drifted downriver. Hide quickly, or all of this will have been for nothing!”
Pack on one shoulder and rifle on the other, Connor pushed Mya and the skiff out into the current and then ran for cover. “Let’s go.”
Rudder in hand, Shanti ran beside Connor, ducking down behind a dense growth of ferns, the two of them watching as a motorboat came around the bend, four men with rifles standing inside.
They drew up alongside Mya, idled their engine, greeted her. They spoke for a moment and then tied her skiff to their boat and started upriver. Mya glanced over her shoulder in Shanti and Connor’s direction as the boat disappeared around the bend.
Shanti exhaled, relief washing through her. “She’ll be okay. Now what?”
“You know the drill. We make camp, get some sleep. The sun will be up soon. I want us gone before that village wakes up. Then we make for the border.”
Connor waiteduntil the boats were out of sight and then led Shanti farther away from the river, alert for any sign of the villagers Mya had warned them about.
“Look.” Shanti stared at the ground. “It’s been razed. They’re erasing it.”
There was just enough moonlight to show a wide, flat area, charred bamboo that had once been huts piled up to one side. The bastards had cleared the scorched remains of the village away, erasing any sign that hundreds of Rohingya families had once lived here and been brutally murdered.
“This was Sareema’s village. They burned her sister alive. They raped her and beat her and caused her to lose her baby. Now there’s nothing left. People died here. I don’t want to make camp here.”
“Yeah, neither do I.”
It was too open, too exposed. Though there were some trees, the land here had been cleared to make fields for farming. That left them with almost no cover.
He was overdue to check in with Cobra. “Let’s find a spot that’s more out of the way, and I’ll call in. They might have something for us.”
“Maybe we could just follow the river. Mya said it runs into the Naf.”
“Yes, but it might meander twenty additional miles along the way. We want to get to the border as efficiently as possible.”
They went back to the place where they’d hidden from the Border Patrol, Connor stepping out of the tree cover to call in.
“Where the hell were you?” Shields asked. “Twice today, you just disappeared.”
He gave her the short version of the story. “Do you have our location now? What’s our best chance for cover, and what route should we take to reach the border?”
“There’s not much cover. It’s mostly fields. Your best bet is to head due west right now, if you can, before all the farmers and villagers wake up.”
“We got about five hours of sleep this afternoon and real food, so we’re good.”
“Luxury! You’re sixteen klicks away from the river. We’ve got the fishing boat there with a team ready. The plan is to slip across the border and meet you in the water while SEALs in a couple of RHIBs create a distraction downriver.”
“Good copy, Cobra. We’ll reach the water. You be ready to fish us out. I don’t want to lose her to some damned current.”