Gajan returned to the clinic. The blackness in his fingers had spread. Most of the hand needed to be amputated, but he refused.
‘We have to go,’ he said urgently. ‘A new shipment is coming this afternoon. Commander Seran says the seller is coming too, from India. He wants to talk to him about new weapons.’
‘Why would he come himself?’ Arjuna asked. ‘It seems risky.’
‘I don’t know. I think he’s meeting all the Tiger commanders. We are going to begin fighting again.’ Gajan flinched as Arjuna gave him his antibiotics injection. ‘The commander says we must end it with a big bang, in all the cities. That’s why the supplier is here.’ He slid off the examination table.
‘Where are you going?’ Ellie asked.
‘To take you to the jungle,’ he said. ‘To show you the supplier. It’s a three-hour walk.’
‘Wait a minute, Gajan. We can’t just go running into the jungle,’ Ellie said.
‘Bring your soldiers. The tall one and the nice one,’ Gajan said urgently.
A frisson of warning trickled down her back. ‘Where’s your pendant?’ she asked, holding Gajan’s naked wrist. He was supposed to wear it at all times. ‘Did you leave it at the camp?’ Scott could lock into the camp location and get drone footage of the seller.
‘I lost it in Mannar. We were swimming in the ocean. It fell off. I’m sorry.’
She held his arm a moment longer. She felt closer to Sathyan when she was with the boy.
‘I’ll talk to the guys,’ she said. ‘See if they’re up for a trek through the jungle.’
•
Before they left, Ellie called Scott. He checked her sat phone and made her replace the battery with a fully charged one.
‘I’ll be fine,’ she reassured him.
‘We have Special Ops teams doing crosswords in the Embassy Rec room, Ellie. Just send them in.’
‘There’s no time. This is surveillance only. We’ll get eyes on the seller and then we’ll get out.’ She inserted her earpiece and adjusted the induction loop under her shirt. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she repeated.
‘I guess BS and Arjuna are with you. I’ve got a drone and Bravo 9 is in position.’
‘What did Solomon say?’ she asked.
‘Solomon doesn’t debate departmental resources when our own people are in the field,’ he replied. ‘That’s what we’re here for.’
‘Thank you, Scottie.’
‘No problem. See you on the other side.’
•
They set off with Gajan leading the way. Sharkey, Bradfield and Arjuna were armed and wore their vests. Bradfield had kindly instructed her to stay behind them. Ellie carried a 9-mm but she hoped she wouldn’t have to use it.
The walk through the jungle was slow and hard. Gajan stopped frequently to rest, the infection in his hand weighing his body down. Ellie shared her water with him until she was out. He smiled gratefully. He looked more like Sathyan today. Maybe he was growing up.
The air cooled around them and a chorus of birds echoed off the towering palmyra trees. The sun was setting, its pink and yellow hues seeping into the emerald canopy above.
Three hours later, they arrived at the outskirts of the Tiger camp. They stopped on the underside of a ridge that overlooked the small settlement. Arjuna held his canteen out to her. She refused, but when he shook it at her, she drank deeply.
‘The supplier is here,’ Gajan whispered. ‘Let’s get closer.’
‘No,’ Arjuna pulled him back down. ‘This is far enough for now. Ellie, call Scottie to make sure he has our location. We haven’t checked in for an hour.’
She unzipped her pack and reached for the sat phone. It was gone. She rifled through the bag. Her medi-kit and empty water canteen were there, but the phone was gone.
‘Shit.’
‘Ellie!’ Arjuna hissed.
She looked up to see Gajan running down the steep side of the ridge, falling over roots and scrub, his bandaged hand held against his chest. His other hand clutched the phone. He scrambled towards the camp, sounding the alarm.
‘Jesus!’ Sharkey shouted. ‘Fall back! Run, Ellie!’ He picked her up by the scruff of her shirt and threw her down the ridge, back the way they came.
She slid down through thorny bushes, skinning her arms and scratching her face. At the sound of gunfire, she looked back at ridge. Sharkey, Bradfield and Arjuna had spread out and taken positions, using trees and fallen logs for shelter. Two provided cover, while the third emerged from behind the tree to shoot at the oncoming Tiger soldiers.
Scott could locate her phone, even if she hadn’t called it in. He could still find them.
‘Fall back, all of you!’ she shouted. ‘Fall back! We run, now.’
Too late. Sharkey cried out in pain, blood flowing from his shoulder. He clamped it with his other hand. She ran back to him and dragged him down behind a banyan tree, its aerial roots creating a fragile curtain around them.
‘Fucking vest. You have to get out of here, Ellie,’ he whispered through clenched teeth. ‘We can hold them off.’
‘I’m not leaving you.’ She opened her backpack.
‘No time and no options. This was planned. Not going to end well. You need to run.’ He pushed her away.
‘No.’ She held onto him and he tightened his arm around her. ‘I’ll stay with you till the end.’ They heard the click of a rifle being chambered above their heads.
•
They were pushed into the open circle of the camp. The Tiger cadres cheered and shook their rifles. Ellie stumbled under Sharkey’s weight. He had hooked his arm around her shoulder and was leaning on her more and more, losing blood fast.
Gajan stood next to the Tiger commander. He looked flushed; with fever, regret or happiness? She couldn’t tell. He was so young. How had she not realised? She had been desperate to save him. No, she had been desperate to use him and then get him out. She was so desperate to get him back to Sathyan, she hadn’t realised that he wanted to stay right here.
Commander Seran raised his hands and the soldiers fell quiet. The jungle still squawked and sang, wildly impervious to his authority. ‘We are very fortunate today. Our brother Gajan has brought us a gift: four CIA agents, hidden in a Western medical team. Who knows how many more there are out there? Pretending to help us, while spying on us for the Army. After tonight,’ he walked up to Ellie. ‘There will be a few less.’
He raised his gun and shot Sharkey in the forehead. A mist of blood coated her face. She shuddered, her mouth open in a silent scream. Sharkey’s lanky body sagged and slipped to the ground, his blue eyes open in the dirt.
Her hands shook. Her body shook. She felt Sharkey’s blood, warm on her face. Warm and full of life. She looked down at his body. Red fire ants scurried towards him, their bulbous bodies crawling on his face. They collected droplets of his blood and carried it away.
She turned to Bradfield and Arjuna. Both of them stood tall and still, bodies braced and firm. They had lost a friend. They had no weapons, but they were ready to fight and kill. People weren’t born that way. The world made them like that.
Sathyan had once told her that the Tigers were the same. They weren’t born ready to fight and kill. Sri Lanka’s war forced them to be like that.
The commander walked over to Bradfield.
‘Wait, please!’ she shouted. She lunged forward and five soldiers raised their rifles to her. ‘Wait, I beg you! Don’t do it. We’re CIA. The US government will trade for us. They will negotiate. Please don’t do it.’
‘I’m not going to do it. He is.’ The commander called Gajan over and pushed the gun towards him. Gajan shook his head and took a step back. The commander retracted the weapon’s bolt, sliding another bullet into place. He turned the handle towards Gajan. ‘Neengal chayango, thambi,’ he said, his voice reassuring. You do it, little brother.
The boy took the gun in his left hand. His right was clutched to his chest in pain. His eyes shone with fever, his breathing fast with infection and adrenaline.
‘Please don’t, Gajan,’ she whispered. ‘Please, think about your mother and your brother. They love you. You’re not a killer.’
He turned to face her, tears streaking his face. ‘How do you know what I am? I’m nothing but a spy to you. You tried to make me betray my own people, my brothers.’
‘They are not your brothers. You have a brother. Sathyan. Sathyan, Sathyan.’ She repeated his name like a prayer. ‘He loves you. He misses you. Please.’
‘This is my family now.’ Gajan turned back to Bradfield but couldn’t look him in the eye. His body trembled, the weapon too.
‘It’s okay, kid,’ Bradfield said softly. ‘Remember to keep that hand clean.’ He looked at the gun. ‘Drop it a little lower, that’s the way.’ He glanced at Ellie and winked.
Gajan pulled the trigger.
•
Ellie screamed and screamed and screamed. She held Bradfield in her arms as blood bubbled out of the base of his neck. Arjuna had his hands clamped on the wound but the blood wouldn’t stop.
Bradfield tried to smile at her.
‘Should have watched that movie, Ellie,’ he whispered.
‘Shh, shh.’ She wiped his face gently.
‘Finish it,’ the commander ordered.
Ellie looked up. Gajan stood over them with his gun poised, his hand still wavering. She placed Bradfield’s head gently on the ground, raised her hands and stood up, shaking her head. The soldiers around them raised their weapons as she walked slowly towards Gajan. He stumbled back.
The commander said something in Tamil. Gajan flinched and looked from him, to Ellie, to Bradfield. He stepped forward and the gun swayed from Bradfield to her. She took another step closer.
‘Gajan, you don’t have to do this. You have choices.’
‘No. No, I don’t. Stop moving. Stop moving or I’ll kill you,’ he cried.
She took another step and grabbed his wrist, pulling it down and twisting the gun out of his hand. She raised it in the air, holding it by the trigger guard. There was nothing she could do with it. More than twenty rifles were trained on them. All she could do was wait for help.
‘Wait!’ The commander ordered his men—so many of them only children. ‘Wait. No one shoots her.’ He moved over to Gajan and gave him another pistol. ‘Finish him,’ he said gently. ‘The soldier has to die.’ He looked at Ellie and spoke without malice. ‘There are three bullets left in that gun. I’ll let you use them all.’
Gajan stared at the commander, confused.
She understood. She could kill Bradfield and Arjuna. Bradfield had always told her to save a bullet for herself.
She could kill her people.
Or she could kill Gajan.
Would Scott find them? Bravo 9 should be heading towards her on a Black Hawk. Scott would find them.
She flipped the gun on her finger and held it firmly in both hands. Its black weight was cool and balanced.
Redmond called it the hierarchy of life: why we deemed some lives to be more important than others. Why we chose to kill some, in order to save others.
‘Don’t do it, Gajan,’ she pleaded.
The boy took a deep breath in and out. He steadied his gun on Bradfield’s chest, which was rising and falling in shallow gasps.
She saw Gajan’s hand tighten.
She didn’t hesitate. The boy reeled back from the force of the bullet and looked at her, surprised and hurt. He raised his gun once more, this time at Arjuna’s head. She stepped forward and shot him again. He dropped to his knees, stunned.
He lifted the gun again, this time at her.
He was just a child.
She finished it.
•
Arjuna stood with his arms tied behind his back. His Kevlar vest had been stripped and he felt naked in the simple civilian clothes of a WHO medic. His shirt was stained with the blood from his broken nose and torn lip. Two Tiger soldiers stood at each arm, holding him upright.
Commander Seran flexed his fingers, his knuckles split where they had connected with Arjuna’s bones. He took the knife from his belt and slashed it across Arjuna’s chest, cutting his shirt open and leaving a thin line of blood oozing from his heart to his belly.
He could hear Ellie screaming behind him. ‘Stop it, stop it! He’s a high-value hostage like me! He’s worth more to you alive! Imagine what you could get for him!’
The commander didn’t take his eyes from Arjuna. ‘He’s not worth anything. A spy for the Americans, a traitor to his own country. You think I intend to trade any of you?’ He shook his head. ‘So many of our children are buried in this jungle. I intend to bury you with them. You and the others.’
He motioned to the pile of bodies lying in the dirt.
Arjuna heard the sound of liquid sloshing towards him. He knew it wasn’t water.
He prayed for a bullet to the head.
A boy appeared at his shoulder. Arjuna recognised him from the clinic and almost smiled. The boy handed a small bucket of petrol to the commander.
‘In the south, they prefer tyres,’ the commander noted.
Arjuna wondered sometimes what his father’s final moments were like. Did it take long? Please God, he prayed it was fast.
The commander poured the petrol onto Arjuna’s chest.
Arjuna gritted his teeth as the petrol stung his open wounds. The oily smell filled his nostrils. He blinked rapidly, shaking off the sweat falling into his eyes.
‘In 1983, your people hacked and burned our people to death. You tore us from our homes, our offices and our school buses. You stopped us on the streets and you asked: What is this?’ He shook the bucket in Arjuna’s face. ‘What is this?’ he demanded.
‘Vaali,’ Arjuna replied in Tamil.
When Sinhalese mobs had roamed the streets of Colombo, if their victims knew the Sinhalese word for bucket, they were allowed to live. Bhaldiya. Such a simple word. Said the wrong way, it would be their last.
Twenty years ago, that was how their war started.
The commander took a lighter out of his pocket. It sparked and flickered in the breeze. ‘You burned us and the world did nothing.’
‘I know,’ Arjuna said. What else was there to say? He had studied his country’s history. He knew more than his fellow countrymen. He cared more than his fellow countrymen. But they weren’t here.
He was alone, in the jungle, with this man who had been a monster of their making. Now, a monster in his own right.
The commander turned to Ellie. ‘This is your doing. You brought this on him. You interfere in our country, in our war. If you want to help us, tell the Sri Lanka Army to leave our homeland. Tell them that this red earth is ours. Tell them to stop killing our people.’
‘I’ll tell them,’ Ellie cried. Her clothes were streaked and splattered with crimson.
Arjuna felt a familiar vibration in his chest. Too quiet, unless you were listening for it; too distant, unless you were hoping for it; too impossible, unless you were praying for it.
Ellie pulled away from the cadres and stood in front of Arjuna, trying to shield his body with hers. The wind picked up her hair, plastering thick black lines across her face. The vibration became stronger, its rhythm steady and syncopated against the erratic beat of his heart.
It was close but not close enough.
‘Please wait,’ she begged. ‘I’ll tell them exactly what you said. I remember every word. You don’t need to do this. I’m sorry we’re here. It was a mistake.’
‘Yes, it was.’ The commander flicked the cigarette lighter.