PROLOGUE<br >~; ~ ~7 ，，y ~ <>， 022，A<br > ~ (<br >N. /tldmtl ()cca~l， 250 ttzitcs c~lst o[Sri Lat，k~t<br >Nor t/z u cs! c r t z ，，~ # z z t n t<br > The night was opprcs，<;ivc> the air ;At body toillpci-t!ttlrc ~lr~ct cilluosi n~>-<br > iionlcss， t ]clrlior in lhc evening lhcrc had been light.， c~(>li!~g r;lin，<，， !)tit now<br > cvor) thii/g .ccnlcct l(/ i;ldi~itc ]~ic~lt， c. cl~ ttlc sil，，， cr)， h，lii--lu~>on， it~ c~.)tlll-<br > tClltlncc l~rushcd u iih the occ~lsion~H ，"~ . ，，><br > ~.isI ~ of~ cloud l ho itin~jc iisolt<br > scorned to cxh~tlc the h<+l-+ nloi+t blc;tth <)l+ a prcdclt~lr I) ing in w+til.<br > Sllvam shiticd rcstlc.<>sl)， in his czln，，as chair. It was> tic know， <l fiiirlv<br >ordinary Iligll! lln tllc islclnd of Anurcl for this time of vc~lr: early irl lhc<br >monsoon< cason， the ~lir was ;/Iw~l} s henry with ~l sense ~>f torel~oding. Yet<br >onl the cvcr nitcnli，c mo，<;quitocs ctisttlrl-~cd the quiet. At h~llf p~!st one<br >in ihc IllOiilillg， Sh.， t/nl reckoned t-ic h~d 1 con on checkpoint duty t~l titclr<br ><lnd ~l h:llt hours. In that tin]c， precisely seven rnotorists had come their<br >w~l) l hc chcckl，)oint consisted of two parallel lines of l)arl-~cd--wilc<br >lramcs__<<kl~ilc .， >，<br > !csts ---set tip eighty icet ctpart on the road t<) either s ，<br > ~ > . [(JL<br ><>t the ，c<l，ch lind administration area. Sllvctn~ ~illd Aril_lll woro 111~ I~，)<br >sentiits on f~rward all.it).，， cirid thc v s~ii it1 l:ioril ol its，，_" w~)odcil ntadsictc<br >bo<~ih A p~lir oJ I>~lckups w~s stIpt>~，，;ectl)， ~，n drily ~>n ti~c other s d，_ ~it chc<br >hill， but the hours of silence fron~ them suggested lhal [l~cv were dozing，<br >along with the men in the makcsl-iitl l)ctrrctc-ks cl few hundred fcct down<br >the iollct， t:or c~ll the dire wcirriings ~，lf their superiors， these had Icon days<br > < ") ~ "1<br >and nights ot: cinrclicvcd borodom. The n(/rihwcsici-n prox iricc ~f Kcnna<br >~s as sparscts， pop~l<~lcd in the I e.sl of l/m~_.s， and tDcsc i， crc riot the best<br >of limes.<br >ns filint ~s ;l distant insect clronc， cimc<br >