Slash and Burn

the land. Who knows? Once the mountain was broken and the swathe was cut to the nearest road, they didn’t need these guys any more. The fact is Captain Boyd was in it up to his neck and he had to go.”
    “They’d need a factory on the Thai side,” Lit said. “Somewhere to process the ore, extract the gold.”
    “And some sort of export deal with the Thai junta of the month,” said Phosy.
    “Teak,” said Dtui.
    They looked at her.
    “Teak furniture,” she said. “It’s heavy. Comes in crates. You’d just need someone on the payroll at customs in the States to sign it all through without inspection. Exotic wood products from Southeast Asia. There was a war going on. Who’d give a second thought about dining room tables?”
    “Bowry senior set the whole thing up,” said Johnson. “Business suddenly picked up during the war. He got so rich he bought himself a state. He was importing gold, goddamn it. He had Vogal, his best buddy from high school, based in Saigon altering all the orders and transferring people. He had a disbarred pilot directing things from Spook City. They had an FAC leading the bombing. Man, they had it all covered. I take back all I said about the CIA. They didn’t do this. This was a private deal. They had it worked out. Five or six guys on the inside. A bunch of hired help for the shifting and processing. It was a real neat little operation.”
    “But Major Potter got suspicious,” said Lit.
    “So Vogal had him kicked out,” said Phosy.
    “And suddenly here was Potter on an MIA mission to find the pilot they’d tried to eliminate,” said Lit.
    “It must have driven Vogal and Bowry senior nuts,” Johnson laughed. “What if they really found the boy? It would have all been over for them. They had no choice but to make sure Vogal was here to see that nothing was discovered. He couldn’t let anyone meet with young Boyd or find the briefcase.”
    “And that puts Vogal at the very top of the list of suspects in Potter’s murder,” said Phosy.
    “It sure does,” Johnson agreed.
    “Oh,” said Dtui. A new reality had just hit her. “If Captain Boyd’s father was running the show, it would have been his decision….”
    “To have his son killed,” said Phosy. “That’s correct. That’s the kind of people we’re dealing with here.”
    The soldier was crouched on his haunches enjoying all the intrigue. He had his own contribution.
    “Two villages melted,” he said.
    Lit looked at him.
    “Melted?”
    “The pink rain,” said the soldier. “When they sprayed it they burned two villages. About ten families in each one. They were well away from the Ho Chi Minh trail. No enemy activity around here. They thought they were safe. No need to evacuate. Then, one day, they were gone. Dissolved. Nothing left of them. My wife’s family was in one of the villages. Melted like ice.”
    The soldier’s brown smile belied the horror of what he’d just told them.
    “That’s what haunted Captain Boyd,” said Dtui. “That’s what made him turn on his cohorts.”
    “We’ve got to get word to the Friendship,” said Lit.
    “The radio,” said Dtui.
    “Nah, no good,” the sentry told them. “They’re all on their way to Phu Bia to have another go at the Hmong. I got through just as they were leaving.”
    “Then we’ve got to get back,” said Phosy.
    He shook the soldier”s hand again.
    “I’m sorry about your wife’s family,” he said. “And thank you for not killing me.”
    “My pleasure,” said the soldier.
    As the visitors set off down the mountain he called after them.
    “By the way,” he said. “Forgot to mention. Captain Chuan said that with all the commotion up at Phu Bia he hadn’t been able to release any of his men you asked for. Said he’s sorry about that.”
    The visitors froze and turned back to the sentry.
    “Captain Chuan didn’t send any guards up to the Friendship Hotel?” said Lit.
    “He said he was sorry. Hoped it wouldn’t be a problem.”

22
    WHEN DID WE GET TOO OLD FOR THIS?
    The head of the senator’s bodyguard detail—the four men everyone assumed were soldiers—was a Filipino named Emiliano. He’d recently returned from a trip back to Manila where he’d killed Nino Sebastian, and a swing through Pattaya where he’d made Cueball Dave’s death look like a heart attack. He was very good at what he did which justified the money they paid him. He spoke only a little Lao and very few words of Thai, which explained why