In Danger's Path Read Online Free PDF Page B

automobiles.
    She was also suddenly aware that she was talking to Mae Su as an equal. The woman wasn’t nearly as stupid as she looked.
    â€œAnd then?”
    â€œThen I think I shall do what my man said to do. Go north and then west, and try to make it through Tibet and into India. Or perhaps even further north into Mongolia, and then into India through Kazakhstan.”
    â€œKazakhstan is in Russia,” Milla said with a sense of terror.
    Her father had refused to return to what had become the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—for good reason. As a former general in the White Army, he would have been imprisoned, or more likely shot, if he did. His refusal had stripped him and his family of Russian citizenship; and the Russians, like the Americans, did not permit holders of stateless person Nansen passports to cross their border.
    â€œKazakhstan is Kazakhstan,” Mae Su said. “It is possible to get through it to India. Gold opens all borders.”
    â€œWhy India?”
    â€œMy man said for me to find an American consulate, and give them our marriage paper, and the papers he has signed saying he is the father of our children. Maybe they will be able to help us. They would probably help you. You are the wife of an American Marine officer.”
    Yes, I am , Milla realized, somewhat surprised.
    â€œBut I only have enough money for us,” Mae Su said. “If you want to come with me, you will not only have to pay your own way, but, if necessary, to share what you have with me.”
    â€œI have some money,” Milla said, thinking out loud. “All that my husband had here. And a little of my own. And the car, and the furniture in the apartments. I don’t think any of that will bring very much.”
    I sound as if I’m willing to go with this woman, by tractor-drawn cart, to some nameless village in the interior of China, and entrusting her with all I have in the world .
    But she sounds so confident, and what other choice do I have, except to stay here and hope the Japanese officer who wants me for his woman will be kind to me? Or to end it all, once and for all?
    â€œIf you would like,” Mae Su said, “I could deal with the disposition of your property. I know some people. I might be able to get you more for it than you think.”
    â€œAll right,” Milla said. She knew a Chinese could strike a better deal than she could.
    â€œI have two guns,” Mae Su went on. “A shotgun and a pistol. My man took them from the Marine armory.”
    â€œMy husband left a pistol with me.”
    â€œAnd do you know how to use it? If necessary, could you use it?”
    Milla nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I know how to use it.”
    â€œThat may be necessary,” Mae Su said. “Now, if you will stay here and watch the children, and give me the keys to your apartments, I will see about selling your things.”
    â€œAll right,” Milla said, and added: “Thank you, Mae Su.”
    Mae Su, for the first time, smiled at her.
    Milla wondered if she would ever see Banning again.

I
    [ONE]
Apartment 4C
303 DuPont Circle
Washington, D.C.
0905 8 February 1943
    Fourteen months later, and half a world away, Major Ed Banning, USMC, opened his eyes, aware of the phone ringing. The next thing he noticed was that he was alone in bed.
    As he swung his feet out of bed and reached for the telephone, he read his clock, remembering that Carolyn had told him she absolutely had to go to work, which meant catching the 6:05 Milk Train Special to New York. Which meant she had silently gotten out of bed at five, dressed without waking him, and gone and caught the goddamned train. The kindness was typical of her, and he was grateful for it, but he was sorry he missed her.
    He was—especially when she showed him a kindness—shamed by their relationship. Even though she had known from the beginning about Milla, the truth was that Carolyn was getting the