“Now if you drew a line from Chungking to Chengtu, I’d say he was somewhere west of that line.”
Biff leaned closer. “Why do you think he’s in that area?” he asked.
“Well, I do remember Charlie’s mentioning a small place called Jaraminka. About two, maybe three weeks ago. He’d just received a letter from his friend, Ling Tang, back in the States. Right after that, he went into Rangoon for a few days. I do know that there’s a village by that name somewhere in that area.”
“Rough country?” Biff asked.
“In spots. It’s north of the Yunnan plateau. In the foothills of Mt. Minya Konka. And some of those foothills would be called mountains back where you come from.” Jack smiled.
“Anything else to go on?” Biff wanted to know.
“Well, we do know how much gas Charlie was carrying. Enough for about 1,200 miles. He’d have to allow for a safety margin. As I told you, I figure he planned on about 500 miles in, and 500 back, of course. That would give him a 200-mile safety factor.”
Jack leaned back against the map table, scratched his head, and lit a cigarette.
“Another thing ... that radio signal we got.”
“You mean the one yesterday?”