72
Miranda and Andistood side by side on a clear-span wooden footbridge, staring down at the flowing river. The Temburong was fifty meters wide here, active along the banks but in smooth flow down the middle.
The Sultan had, again through intermediaries, offered a refuge to celebrate the success of their meeting. Across the longest bridge in Southeast Asia, stretching thirty kilometers from the capital city across the Brunei Bay, they had transitioned from quiet urban to jungle primeval. Their cabins were tucked under the canopy at the border of the Ulu Temburong National Park—the Green Jewel of Brunei.
It wasintenselygreen. Their innovative no-cut policies, and having enough money that there weren’t peasant farmers in need of the farmland or wood, meant that the tropical jungle grew lush all around them.
Over the burbling of the river, the sounds of the jungle echoed back and forth. Frogs croaked from the trees. Large black hornbill birds, sporting enormous, curved bills of white and orange—one a male by the orange horn above its beak like a mad rhinoceros—perched farther along the bridge’s rope railing and ignored them completely. A brilliant blue butterfly landed on Andi’s shoulder, then fluttered away without her noticing.
“Well, that was a fun one.” Andi nudged a stray leaf on the wood decking out through a gap at the base of the railing.
“I can’t say that I found it to be much fun.”
“I was joking.”
“Oh, right.”
Miranda let her shoulder rub against Andi’s.Don’t mind us. We’re just two friends leaning together and watching the river go by.
There was no one around to notice anyway. Adventurers were off adventuring. Mike and Holly were sleeping together in a lounge chair on the shadowed veranda of their hut. Their hosts were so discreet that she couldn’t even remember what they looked like.
“I don’t get how they tied together.”
“They who?”
“Senator Ramson, the attack on theRoosevelt,the South China Sea. It’s like the Chinese were part of it, but then Ramson’s death doesn’t fit. If it was the defense contractors trying to start a war, Ramson still doesn’t fit. He was their friend. Either way, you stopped them cold.”
“You know I’m not good at this?” Miranda had so much trouble seeing the field when it was wider than a crash investigation.
“I know, sorry.” Andi bumped their shoulders together. “Crap, I’ll be glad when we get out of this country.”
“Me too. Mostly I want to go home.”
Andi didn’t say anything. Was this one of her uncomfortable silences, or one of the comfortable ones? Not knowing how to tell, Miranda decided that she’d assume the latter until it was proved otherwise.
“I did talk to Roy and Rose about this though.”
“What did they have to say?”
“They weren’t sure.”
Andi’s laugh was loud enough to make the rhinoceros hornbills look their way, then return to ignoring them. “So, they were of absolutely no help.”
“I guess not. But they tentatively agreed with Sarah, the new nominee for Vice President.”
“Who you’re already on a first-name basis with.” Her smile was soft as Andi looked at her. “And what didshehave to say?”
Miranda tried to remember. It was as if she lacked the baseline concepts upon which to attach their words. “The MERP, the Mid-East Realignment Plan…”
“Which got the Vice President killed for even thinking it up.” Andi’s interruptions never bothered her. They were more like accents to her own thoughts.
“…cancelled a huge number of weapons sales because the oil-rich countries of OPEC were among the largest buyers of American military exports.”
“Oh no!” Andi was shaking her head.
“What?”
“Let me guess what she said, and then please tell me I’m wrong.”