“We don’t care,” said Manh. “Why should we care about that? What would they do to us? We can always deny our involvement. We can reinvent your history with the sweep of a pen. Who would challenge us? But I promise you this, Dzung. If you are successful, we will not betray you. We will have no need to. The matter will be over. It will pass into history as a random act. A freak occurrence. An unsolved mystery.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“When the time comes you will know.”

“But you admit it is for the good of the revolution.”

“We only act for the good of the revolution.”

“Then you must also promise to take care of my family.”

“How?” asked Manh. “To do what?”

“I fought on the wrong side in the war. I accept my fate. But if I am going to serve the cause of the revolution, then the revolution should forgive my family. They should have a future. Just like yours.”

“I will look into it.”

“No. You must promise me.”

“I am only one small frog in a very big pond,” said Manh, stroking his mustache and eyeing Dzung shrewdly. “But you make sense. I promise you I will argue for you.”

“I accept your promise,” said Dzung, finally, relaxing into a slump that announced the depth of his sorrow. He put out the cigarette and rubbed his hands over his face, squeezing back the tears he would never allow Manh or any other government official to see. “And so I will give you my word. When the time comes, you have no need to question my loyalty. If you promise to take care of my family no matter what happens to me, I will do it. And I will succeed.”

Manh rose from his chair and moved to Dzung, standing in front of him for a moment and then reaching out to take his hand. He shook Dzung’s hand firmly, for a long time, and then formally took it inside both of his, as if welcoming him into a new and deep friendship.

“We will take care of your family, Dzung. I promise you. Better things will happen. You will see.”

“No matter what happens to me,” insisted Dzung.

“No matter what happens to you.”

The next morning an unmarked white van drove far into the bowels of District Four. Its driver announced to Dzung’s neighbors that he was from the Bien Hoa People’s Committee and had been sent to take Dzung’s family and their deceased child to a burial ceremony in Bien Hoa in accordance with the new government policy to encourage “family reunification after death.”