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"The secret to selling to tourists," she said, "is to tell them a scary story about<br />
magic. Shape shifting leyaks at the midnight graveyard, a bicycle riding past in the dead<br />
of night without a rider, the front wheel pulsing like a heart. Tourists loved hearing me<br />
tell them stories. Then they would buy. Do you want me to tell you a story?"<br />
"Go ahead." Reed stared absently at the stream splashing through the ravine. It<br />
must have rained in the hills, for the water was high, sounding deeper and less playful.<br />
"This was during the days of Sukarno's revolution," Mak said. "A Dutch colonial<br />
officer at the resident's office fell in love with a Balinese maiden. He and the girl eloped.<br />
We guerillas tracked them down to a mountain hut. Please, he begged us, let me be with<br />
the girl I love."<br />
"I hope this has a happy ending."<br />
"It has a Balinese ending."<br />
"Go on."<br />
"We said no. We said we'd let him go but he had to leave her. So he said, if I can't<br />
be with the girl I love than I will kill myself. He took out his pistol and dor! shot himself<br />
in the heart. The girl screams and yells and picks up the gun and shoots at us. Dor! Dor!<br />
So we shoot back and kill her. And that is my story."<br />
"That's a real edifying tale," Reed muttered in English and then bolted upright.<br />
Christ, Mak was waving around a revolver, an antique Webley colonial relic that looked<br />
huge and unstable in her small hand. "Put that away. Please. Now."<br />
She tucked the revolver in her bag. "Everywhere I go, I take the pistol. For my<br />
safety. Your safety. Naniek's safety. I know where she is. She told me."<br />
It was like a spear through him. He held very still. "But you just told me you<br />
hadn't heard from her."<br />
"She told me before she left, you silly boy."<br />
"Where is she?"<br />
Her shrewd gaze pinned him. "But you must promise to let her go."<br />
He thought about that and then shook his head. "No. I can't promise."<br />
She scowled. "You and the Dutchman.<br />
"I'm not going to shoot myself."<br />
"Halim Air Force Base in Djakarta. That's where she went."<br />
Halim. Base camp for the coup. Invaded by the Kostrad General. What's his<br />
name--Soeharto. God Almighty. Reed jumped to his feet, fire ants swarming out of his<br />
marrow. He had to get to Djakarta. He had to be there now.<br />
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