Pestilence and the Great Game: THE CHADLINGTON CHRONICLES, #5

By V.J. MANSFIELD

PESTILENCE AND THE GREAT GAME

Pestilence and the Great Game is the fifth book in the Chadlington Chronicles, spanning from 2002 to 2022 during the time of the Thirteenth Duke.

After many years in charge of a prison camp in Burma, Zeya Khaing is disillusioned with the Junta. Therefore, when offered the chance to work against it he is easily recruited by his old friend General U Htut. Initially, Zeya has access to valuable information of interest to the British SIS but when he is promoted and transferred to Mandalay, his access to sensitive information is limited but he does recruit his half-sister, Dr Eindra Khaing.

He also conceals a Chinese defector who is carrying vital but time-sensitive material. There are emergency escape routes in place but they are not available because of Covid and communication is also difficult.

Eindra is a computer expert with access to some sensitive information but a program error suddenly gives her access to all of the Government files. It is a one off opportunity, if she copies the information it will be known, she, therefore, must escape once she has done so, which means that Zeya and his wife must escape at the same time.

In London, a plan is hatched to get them out. Forced to work remotely because of the pandemic, the planning team consists of Beverly, George (the thirteenth Duke of Chadlington) and Major Zin Htut in London and Jason and Pornthip Curtis in Thailand. The decision is made, they will travel separately, with two lots of vital information nobody wants all the eggs in one basket, but Eindra will require an escort and crucially, some high speed, solid state drives have to be carried in.

Zin volunteers and is parachuted in, he visits Eindra and explains the escape plan to her and she has a near collapse. After some pressure, she explains that it is the thought of being close to a man that is worrying her. Further pressure reveals that she was repeatedly raped by a neighbour when she was twelve and has never recovered from the ordeal. Zin feels that there is little that he can do but faced with the situation, Eindra takes matters into her own hands and applies her formidable intellect to the task. She is successful, far more so than she expected and she finds that she can tolerate a man being close to her, even very close, provided that he is the right man.

The escape is successful but creates a problem for General Thant Arkar, the head of security in Burma. Once the extent of the problem is known his head will be on the block. He contacts the SIS offering his services and escapes via India leaving a trail of bodies behind him. His aide is tasked with locating him, trailing him and killing him, the stage is set for a showdown in London.

Eindra's wedding at Chadlington Hall brings visitors including Lieutenant Bob Wilson of the SBS and his fiancee, Rosie Page. A shop assistant, Rosie is normally uncomfortable at a Mess night, she is terrified at the thought of being at a ducal seat but the ordeal is not as bad as she expected and she leaves with a new career ahead of her.

There are still loose ends to tie up in Burma and two unsolved murders in London but the likely Russian invasion of Ukraine is looming. The discovery of a Belarus spy in the SIS results in George once again becoming hands on as he flies into Belarus to effect an exchange of prisoners. It is a mission that is not without its dangers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: V.J. MANSFIELD
• Release date: May 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215958049

V.J. MANSFIELD

Val Mansfield was born in, New Zealand but left in 1968 after graduating as a Civil Engineer and never returned, except on holiday. He spent three years in Australia, twenty-two years in Hong Kong and thirty years in Thailand. Before retiring, in 1998, he was the Project Director for the Bangkok Transit System. His retirement didn't last, his skills were in demand and he worked as an Independent Consultant in Malaysia, India, the Middle East, Pakistan, South Korea, Mongolia and Vietnam. Covid brought an end to his consulting work. Professionally he had written extensively and had also produced many books of his travels to over eighty countries, so he decided to try fiction, utilizing his love of history. He now lives in Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand with his stepdaughter. Another of his daughters is currently working in China and two are in New Zealand, his son is in London.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Eindra Khaing

March to June 2002

Twelve years old Eindra Khaing was busy doing her homework.  Her parents had gone off to visit friends but she had decided to stay behind and study.  Her father was in his sixties, her mother much younger.  Her father’s first wife had died in 1980 and he had married Eindra’s mother in 1984, six years later Eindra had been born.  It was a difficult pregnancy and there had been no more children.  Her only other close relative was her half-brother, Zeya, who, at forty-one, was twenty-nine years older than her and a colonel in the army.  She thought of him more as her uncle than her brother but saw little of him.

Her studies were interrupted by the front doorbell, she waited for one of the servants to answer it but none did and when it rang for a second time, she decided to answer it.  It was Aung Bo, one of the neighbours, he was a bachelor in his fifties who had inherited his house when his parents died.  Eindra had known him all of her life and she greeted him respectfully, 'Good afternoon uncle Aung, please come in.  What can I do for you?'

Aung came in, closing the door behind him.  ‘Is your father home, I need to see him.’

‘No, he and mother have gone visiting.  I’ll tell him you’re looking for him.'

‘What about the servants?  Lazing about with your parents away?’

‘They’re in the garden, I think.  That's why they didn't hear the doorbell.'

‘So what are you doing whilst your parents are out?’

‘I’m studying.  We are learning about computers at school, I want to be a programmer.’

‘That’s interesting, do you have a computer?’

‘Yes, I got one for my birthday.’

‘You must be a clever girl, I know nothing about computers, could you show me yours?'

She led the way to her bedroom where her computer sat on a table near her bed.  ‘That looks very interesting, do you play games on it?’

‘You can but I prefer to practice programming.’

Aung kicked the door shut, grabbed her and threw her onto the bed.  As she tried to scream, a hand covered her mouth.  ‘Scream and I’ll really hurt you.  We are just going to have a bit of fun.’  As he spoke, his other hand was busy pushing her skirt up to her waist and pulling down her panties.  He dropped his sarong, it was all that he was wearing and threw himself on top of her.  She struggled but he was far too strong for her, he pushed her legs apart and forced himself into her.  She was dry and small and it hurt.  When he ruptured her hymen her scream could be heard despite his silencing hand.

She felt him convulse inside her and then he pulled out and said, 'If you tell anyone, I'll say that you're lying because I caught you with one of the village boys.  Then I'll kill your mother.  So keep your mouth shut.'

He left then and she crawled into bed.  She wasn’t sure what he had done to her but she knew it wasn’t right and she knew that it was probably her fault.  She was still in bed when her parents came home, when her mother opened the door and looked in she pretended to be asleep.

She never told anyone but after that day she changed, she wouldn’t willingly go near a man and avoided the boys at school.

Three months passed; Aung had returned twice and raped her, she just tried to blot it out of her mind.  Then Zeya came back for a visit.  As usual, he arrived loaded down with presents for the three of them.  As he handed Eindra hers, he went to hug her but she recoiled from him, murmured her thanks and left the room.  Later that night, after she had gone to bed, Zeya asked, ‘What is wrong with Eindra?  She’s not the happy friendly little girl that she was.’

‘Just growing up.’ replied his father, ‘She started to change a few months ago.’  Although the explanation appeared to satisfy his father, Zeya noticed that his stepmother looked unconvinced.

The next morning was a Saturday and after breakfast, he went looking for Eindra.  He found her on her computer.  When he appeared at the door, she seemed to freeze and retreat into herself.  Zeya had seen more abused women than he ever wished to see, the signs were plain.  He began talking to her gently, asking her about her computer and school and what she wanted to do.  Gradually she relaxed and answered him more readily.  He let the conversation go on for some time before saying, 'You have a wonderful brain and I'm sure you will have a wonderful future with your computers but you are not happy.  Somebody has been treating you very badly, who is it?'

Nobody.’ she replied ‘Everybody is very nice to me.’

‘That isn’t true, Eindra.  I can tell, I’ve seen many women who have been abused and you have all the signs.  Tell me about it, whatever it is, it’s not your fault and I can make it right.’

‘I can’t.  If I tell anyone he will kill mummy.’

‘Nobody is going to kill your mother, I promise you that.  Now tell me what has happened to you and who has done it?’

Haltingly, she told him what had happened.  ‘And who is he?’ demanded Zeya.

‘Aung, our neighbour, I thought he was a nice man, I even called him uncle.  What did I do wrong to make this happen?’

'You did nothing wrong, sweetie and you don't have to worry about him any more.  I'll deal with him.  But you need to put it behind you and get on with your life.'

‘I’ll try to but I’m so scared of him.’

Zeya’s initial reaction was to storm next door and beat Aung to a pulp but he restrained himself.  If he did that, the story would somehow get out and Zeya would be branded for the rest of her life.  He needed something more subtle and more final.

The following day, he drove to Rangoon and called on a friend who was based in central planning where currently they were working on a plan to subdue the Karens once and for all.  Zeya didn’t think it had much chance of success but the Karens would still like to know the details.  Once inside headquarters, security was not tight and he managed to make a copy of part of the plan.  He returned to the family home where he waited until after midnight before letting himself out of the house and crossing to Aung’s.  Getting in was easy, nobody locked their doors in the small village.  He looked around the untidy living room for a place to hide the plans, a place where Aung would not accidentally find them.  In the end, he decided to tape them to the back of a painting of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda.  Satisfied, he returned home.

Later that day, he went to a nearby village and made an anonymous phone call to the security services.  He returned for what would be his last dinner with the family, he was returning to Mongnai the following day.

Around three, he was woken by the sounds of cars and loud bangs.  Getting out of bed, he crossed to the window and watched as a squad of goons rushed into Aung's house.  It didn't take them long to find what they wanted and thirty minutes later he watched them drag Aung down the path and throw him into the back of a prison van.  He had been beaten, it would not be for the last time, Zeya thought.

The next morning, his parents were excited about the goings-on and Zeya volunteered to find out the details.  He was in uniform and had no trouble learning all that the guards could tell him.  'I'm not surprised,' he remarked, 'I've always thought him to be a shifty piece of shit.'

He returned to the house and informed his parents that their neighbour had been arrested for spying, having been caught with some secret army plans in his possession.  They should not, he suggested, expect to see him again.

He was packing when Eindra came to his room, ‘You arranged that, didn’t you?  What will happen to him?’

‘I’m not sure, at least fifteen years in a prison camp I would think but th ey may decide to hang him.  Don’t you worry about it, it’s less than he deserves and none of it is your fault.  All you have to do is to get on with your studies and become that computer wizard of whom we can all be proud.’

On his way out he was stopped by his stepmother, 'Zeya, Aung is no spy, he isn't interested in politics and if he was he wouldn't have access to any military secrets.  You framed him, didn't you?  Why?  Because of Eindra?'

‘You knew and didn’t do anything about it?’

‘I suspected but Eindra wouldn’t speak to me and your father wouldn’t listen to me.  It took you to recognize what had happened and take action.  I thank you, I just hope that it is not too late and that she will forget it.’

‘I hope so too but it won't be easy for her, our society always blames the woman, even when she has no control over events.'

CHAPTER 2

Colonel Zeya Khaing

November 2002

Colonel Zeya stood on the balcony of his quarters with his arm around Su and watched a car drive off.  It contained three of the bravest men he had known but more importantly, a secret report that just might expedite a change in Burma.  God knew it needed one.

Driving the car was Major Zin Htut, the son of Zeya’s oldest friend, a young man whom Zeya considered to be an honorary nephew.  With him were Patrice Baudouin, who was married to Yin, Zin’s sister and Jason Curtis who lived in Thailand when he wasn’t travelling somewhere around the world.  There was also a fourth person in the car, one that Zeya was unaware of.  One of his guards had glimpsed Patrice the previous evening and was being secretly removed to minimize any risk to the Colonel.

As the car disappeared, Zeya thought bitterly that he had now been in command of the camp for far too long.  Four years now, four years during which he had been forced to order several executions and some dreadful punishments.  He felt dirty and cowardly, this type of command was not what he had trained for.  What would his old lecturers at Sandhurst think if they knew the sort of a man he had become?  Despite the many beatings and the executions that he had ordered, his worst memory was from last February when, in the last stages of a severe malaria attack, a desperately sick Patrice Baudouin was dragged from his stretcher and thrown into a car headed for another prison and possible extermination.  Zeya had been unable to do anything about it, he could only hold Yin, his weeping honorary niece, as she watched the father of her expected child dragged away.  From that day, Zeya had changed from one who tolerated the Junta to one who loathed it.

He had been relieved to learn that Patrice had survived, been rescued and had married Yin, who was now Countess Baudouin but he still hadn't managed to do anything about the Junta.  He had not even been aware that the report that half of Burma was searching for had been secreted near his quarters.  If it hadn't been for Su, he thought, he would have gone mad, only her presence had kept him sane.  Not that he was without guilt where she was concerned.

He had met Su in June of 2000, back then he had been a Lieutenant Colonel.  She had arrived with another dozen women prisoners.  Oddly, they had arrived in a minibus, not in the normal army lorry and they had driven directly from Rangoon, so they had avoided being abused by the guards at the normal overnight stop but he had no doubts that they had been abused many times since their imprisonment.

He had looked them over and one of them had caught his eye.  There were several pretty women among the prisoners, Su was one of them, not outstanding but she had a dignity that the others lacked.  When she caught him looking at her she hadn't dropped her eyes, as the others had but had looked back at him.  He had looked through the files that had accompanied them until he found hers and then he had her brought to him.  'I presume that you know what is going to happen to you?  The guards will take turns passing you around, it's wrong but it's expected, I can't stop it.  But I can save you from it if you will remain here as my housekeeper.'

‘Would my duties include sharing your bed?’ she had demanded.

‘Yes, they would; but better one bed than a dozen and it is a much more comfortable bed and the food is much better.’

She had held his eye for what seemed like an eternity and then said, ‘Very well, I’m pragmatic enough to accept.’

The first night she had looked at him as though she expected to be tied to the bed and raped.  Apart from talking to her gently, he had left her alone.  The second night had been the same until the early hours when she had cried out in her sleep and started thrashing around.  When she came to and found him holding her in a gentle embrace, she had struggled widely but had then relaxed and fallen asleep.  The third night she had come to him willingly.  Since then, their regard for each other had increased.

When Yin had been sentenced to prison for plotting against the Junta her father, General U Htut, had pulled enough strings to ensure that she had been sent to Zeya’s camp, knowing that he would look after her.  When she had moved into the house Su had seen her as a potential rival but once she realized that they shared an uncle-niece relationship she had relaxed and she and Yin had become firm friends.

Both girls had been with him the night that he had first met Jason.  Jason had entered the lounge, armed to the teeth and determined to rescue Patrice but after several shared whiskies, he had left, having to be content, for the time being, with rescuing Yin.

Now he and Patrice had visited them again, Zeya had no idea how they had got into Burma or how they intended to leave but he knew it would be extremely dangerous.  Between those visits Zin’s father had been promoted to a junior role in the Junta, Zeya hadn’t seen him since his promotion and wondered if his old friend had changed.  He also wondered if his old friend knew what his son was up to.

He shook his head, hugged Su and went back into the house.  How much longer was he going to have to endure this?

CHAPTER 3

Major General Zeya Khaing

March 2003 to November 2018

One evening in March of 2003, Zeya returned from the camp looking worried.  Su brought him his normal pre-dinner beer and asked, 'What is it?  You look worried?'

‘I’m not worried.’ he replied.  ‘I suppose that I should be glad.  I have just received the list of prisoners to be released next month.  You’re on the list, so you will be a free woman again.  You must tell me where you want to go so that I can issue you with a travel warrant.’

'I'm surprised that the time has passed so quickly.  I've not been keeping track.  I don't have anywhere to go, my parents are dead and my brother disowned me when I was arrested.  I've never really thought about the time when I would have to leave here.  I don't think I wanted to.'

There was a mixture of relief and hope in Zeya’s eyes when he replied, ‘You don’t have to leave, you know.  You can stay on here, we seem to have settled down like an old married couple.’

‘You would like me to stay?  There seems to be a continuous stream of pretty young things going into the camp, you could have your pick.’

‘I could always have had my pick but I never did.  In all of my time here, you are the only one I picked out and that was because I saw something special in you.  I think it was your dignity.  If you’ll stay, it will make me very happy.’

‘Then I'll stay because I will also be very happy.’

Another year passed and in April of 2004 a letter arrived from General U.  Zeya read it and called Su into his study, ‘Sit down, Su, I have a letter from my old friend General U, Zin and Yin’s father.  Let me read it to you:

Dear Zeya,

Some advanced warning for you.  In the June promotions, you will be promoted to Major General and appointed deputy commander of the Mandalay garrison.

You will, of course, have an official quarter allocated to you but I wonder if you would prefer to use our old family home?  These days my time is spent in Rangoon and shortly we will be moving to Naypyitaw, we very seldom get to Mandalay.  It seems wasteful to have a fully staffed house doing nothing.  All I ask is that you keep a room available for Zin when he visits.

You will be pleased to know that we have just heard from Yin, she is pregnant again.  Thidar and I are very sad that we have yet to see our first grandson, unfortunately it is still not safe for her and Patrice to visit and I cannot leave Burma.

My congratulation on your well-deserved and overdue promotion.  I know that you will be glad to turn your back on the prison camp, it has been a dreadful assignment for you but you should take comfort in knowing that, to the extent possible, you succeeded in improving conditions for the poor wretches under your control.

Yours,

U

‘So what do you think of that?  We are off to Mandalay!  It will be a very pleasant change after this place and there will be a social scene there which I am sure, you have missed as much as me.’

'But I can't come with you to Mandalay!  A general can't be seen living openly with his mistress, particularly one who is an ex-political prisoner.'

‘I hadn’t thought of that but you’re right.  So we will just have to get married before we leave here.’

‘I’d still be an ex-prisoner.'

‘Nobody need know, I’ll see what can be done.’

They were married in May and in late June they moved to Mandalay and Su found herself mistress of a large and attractive house.  They entertained often and did not limit themselves to the army, they also made friends among many of the leading citizens.

In September, they had two special visitors, U and Thidar Htut.  On their first evening, the four of them were enjoying pre-dinner drinks in the lounge.  Somewhat incongruously, U had arrived carrying an attaché case.  'I have a present for you.' he said, extracting several files from his case and passing them to Zeya.

Zeya looked through them and then passed them to Su.  ‘Is that all of them?’ he asked.

‘All of them.' replied U, ‘Su no longer exists anywhere in the system.’

Su looked up from the files, ‘This is wonderful, you must have gone to great trouble getting these.  What should we do with them?’

U indicated the fire burning in the open grate, ‘I can think of no better place for them than there.’

Su rose, crossed to the fire and dropped the files on it.  They all watched silently as all records of her detention, trial and imprisonment turned to ashes.  She was safe now, not even her fingerprints were on file.  There might be the odd guard who would think her familiar but nobody was going to challenge a General’s wife.

Two years later, in 2006, U was back but this time he was alone.  After dinner, he met with Zeya in the study and handed him a thick file, ‘Here, read this.’

It took Zeya twenty minutes.  He put the file down on the desk and looked up, ‘This is the report that all the fuss was about, the one Patrice hid in my garden?’

‘Essentially, I’ve added bits to it over the years.’

‘It’s disgusting, no wonder they wanted it recovered at all costs.  I’ve never had much time for our political masters, present company excepted of course but I never thought that they were as rotten as this.’

‘When they recovered it, Zin made a copy for me.  I was already passing selected information to the Brits but after reading this I began to pass them everything I could.  Not, you understand, aiming to return to our colonial past but in the hopes of getting a decent democratic government.  We could do with your help.  Will you help?  If you are caught it will be a long painful death and probably for Su as well.’

Zeya didn’t think for long, ‘I’ll help.  I won’t tell Su but she would want me to.  Ever since I was put in command of that dammed camp, I’ve been disgusted with them and with myself.  But based here I don’t have access to a lot of useful information.’

‘That’s why I’m approaching you now.  You are about to be promoted to Lieutenant General and placed in charge of central planning.  It’s a four-year appointment but after it, you can pick your assignment.'

‘Then I’ll choose to return here.  Su and I both like it here.’

‘Good.  I’ll set up some communications for you.  I’m afraid that you won’t find Naypyitaw, anywhere near as pleasant as Mandalay.’

A month later Zeya was in play, known to his new masters as Warrior.

Naypyitaw wasn't as pleasant as Mandalay but to some extent that was compensated for by them having U and Thidar as neighbours.  U was now well entrenched in the Junta, although he was increasingly viewed as something of a rebel and Zeya's new position gave him access to masses of useful information.  Not only that; he was also able to subtly alter plans in a way that favoured the aims of his real masters.

The four years passed relatively quickly and in May of 2010 they returned to Mandalay, Zeya was now a full General and the garrison commander.  There was not a great deal of useful information passing through Mandalay but he was a frequent visitor to Naypyitaw where his old planning team were delighted to keep him informed of what they were up to.

During their time in Naypyitaw, Zeya’s father had died and Eindra was now at university studying computer science.  She had grown into a beautiful woman but had never had any sort of a relationship with a man.  Her mother, who was living alone in their old house, tried matchmaking but Eindra avoided every snare set for her.  Zeya began to worry that the scars left by Aung went too deep to be removed.

In 2016, she graduated with a PhD.  Her mother, Zeya and Su were there for the ceremony but her mother was looking very frail and died a few months later.  Zeya insisted that the house should go to Eindra but she didn't want to keep it and asked him to sell it for her.

A year later, during her annual leave, she visited them in Mandalay.  One evening, Zeya asked her what her work entailed.  'I'm with the Central Computer bureau,' she replied, 'we have a massive computer that contains every record that exists within Government.  Part of my task is to continually review the records of the departments I’m responsible for.  The other part, the one I enjoy the most, is to monitor for any attempted hacks and continually improve the security of the system.’

Zeya played the innocent, ‘I’m not sure what a hack is?’

‘It’s an attempt to gain access to the computer, either to copy data from it or to damage it in some way.  It’s a very real threat and it’s going to get worse.  A couple of years ago a major French TV company was hacked and the main German Government’s computers have also been attacked.  It’s an international problem but the main players are governments, particularly the Russians.  Unfortunately, we don’t have many friendly governments to help.’

‘Why is that?  I would have thought all governments would be happy to cooperate with something like this.’

Eindra looked uncomfortable, ‘Well most of the big players, the Brits, the Americans, even the Israelis, view us as a pariah state and will have nothing to do with us.  They’re not likely to share any secrets with us.’

‘I see.  I do understand what you mean.  And these files, there is really everything in them?’

'Certainly everything since 2004.  They haven't digitized all of the old files yet but if you had started school in 2004 then all of your school reports would be on it along with your medical history and a lot more.  Any reports that you have written since 2004 will be on it and all of the research stuff.  The scientists and engineers aren't allowed to work on local drives, all of the files that they work with are on the central computer so somebody knows who has looked at what and when and who has changed something.’

‘And you can look at all of this data, whenever you want to?’

‘Oh no, it’s all locked up and password protected, access is strictly on a need to know basis.  I can only see the files from the departments I monitor.’

‘And those are?’

‘The Health Department, Education Department, Transport Department, Civil Aviation and two of the research establishments.’

‘Interesting.’

He left it there for the time being.  Three months later, he visited Naypyitaw and took her to dinner.  He used the opportunity to delve a little deeper into her views on the Junta and then risked his neck by attempting to recruit her.

She jumped at the opportunity.  Coming from anyone but Zeya, she would have thought it a trap but she believed, correctly, that she could trust him completely.  A few weeks later she became Garrett with her own computer based communication system which gave her direct access to London.  Shortly afterwards she received a present, a calculator with a hidden camera.

In November of 2018, Zeya received a frantic phone call from Thidar, ‘U is dead!’ was the dramatic announcement.

‘No!  How?  Was it an accident?’

‘They are saying that he committed suicide, I don’t believe them!  Zin is on the way, can you come?’

‘Of course, Su and I will be there by two.’  They were in Naypyitaw before two to find a grieving Thidar, Zin was still on the road having been in Dawei when the news reached him, it would be midnight before he arrived.

Zeya left Su to comfort Thidar and went to U’s office where he found his adjutant.  ‘What happened Colonel?  I can’t believe that he would commit suicide.’

'I'm afraid there is no doubt, sir.  He had a meeting with General Thant.  After he left, General U instructed that he was not to be disturbed.  He was in his office alone for almost an hour then we heard a shot.  We rushed in, he was at his desk.  He had been shot in the head and his service revolver was on the floor beside him.’  Despite his grief, Zeya had noticed that the adjutant’s lip had curled in derision when he mentioned General Thant.

'Could an assassin have got in?'

‘No.  The only entrance is through the outer office, there were three people there all the time and I was in my office with the door open, so I would have seen anyone passing through.  As you know, we’re on the fourth floor, the windows were all closed and locked from the inside.’

‘He didn’t leave a note or anything?  Not even for his wife?’

‘Nothing, sir.  I was first in and his desk was bare.  I’ve checked all the files that were in his trays and there was nothing in any of them.’

‘Let’s have a look then.’  The situation was as the adjutant had described.  The body had been removed but there was blood on the desk and the carpet and what Zeya thought were traces of brain tissue surrounding a bullet hole in the far wall.

He left and returned to U’s house unconvinced; he couldn’t believe that his old friend would commit suicide, particularly without leaving at least a farewell message for Thidar.

During the late afternoon and early evening, all of the members of the Junta who were in Naypyitaw called to pay their respect and offer their condolences.  None of them mentioned the manner of his death.  When the most senior of them was leaving, he said, 'I realize, Madam Htut, that it will be small consolation for you but I have directed that arrangements be made for you to visit your daughter in France.  Major Zin will be able to accompany you.'

After he left, Thidar took a pill that the doctor had prescribed and went to bed.  Su followed her example an hour later but Zeya sat up waiting for Zin.

He arrived at eleven-thirty, he had driven the four hundred and eighty miles in ten hours, a considerable feat given the state of the roads.  He embraced Zeya saying, ‘I can’t