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Back Lost Soldiers Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. EPIGRAPH
  4. PRAISE
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. MAP
  7. PROLOGUE
  8. CHAPTER ONE
  9. CHAPTER TWO
  10. CHAPTER THREE
  11. CHAPTER FOUR
  12. CHAPTER FIVE
  13. CHAPTER SIX
  14. CHAPTER SEVEN
  15. CHAPTER EIGHT
  16. CHAPTER NINE
  17. CHAPTER TEN
  18. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  19. CHAPTER TWELVE
  20. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  22. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  47. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  48. What’s next onyour reading list?

Simolzak reached his desk and began opening a drawer. Condley nudged him away, making him step back, ensuring that a second weapon was not inside. He took out the extra magazine for the pistol, as well as a box of ammunition. An envelope containing cash was also in the drawer. Condley tossed it to Simolzak.

“Five thousand. Count it out.”

Simolzak grumbled as he counted out the hundred-dollar bills. “I already sent Marino his thousand.”

“Write it off,” said Condley. “Business loss.”

“That pistol is worth at least five hundred dollars.”

“I’ll get it back to you.”

“I’m not sure you’ll be that lucky, Brandon.”

“You’ll have to take that risk.”

They watched each other carefully as Simolzak reached out with the wad of bills, lest the larger man try to wrestle the gun out of Condley’s hand. Condley pocketed the bills, never taking his eyes off Simolzak. And then he backed slowly out of the room.

As Condley reached the back door, Simolzak dropped his arms, standing huge and naked in the inner doorway. And finally he gave Condley a smile and a wave.

“Are we still friends?”

“Shit, yes,” said Condley.

“Be careful, Brandon.”

Condley raised his head, as if looking upstairs. “She’s a sweet girl, Ted. Don’t fuck her up.”

“How’d we ever end up this way?” asked Simolzak.

“Hey, man. It’s called Bangkok.”

Condley waved back to his old friend. He opened the door, beginning to leave. And as he left they both were laughing.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

They left the Vietnamese Embassy just after lunch, dressed as laborers in old T-shirts and plain cotton slacks, each carrying a beaten knapsack under his shoulder, and walked for more than two hours under the afternoon sun. Manh decided that Dzung should wear his new walking shoes instead of sandals and had taken them into the basement of the embassy the night before and dyed them black.

As they walked, the ever-meticulous Manh stopped Dzung every few blocks to quiz him on key landmarks so that he could remember them later in the confusion and the dark. He had demanded that a dinner of rice and boiled chicken be made in the embassy kitchen and put in the knapsacks for each of them, lest food from the roadside stalls cause a sudden diarrhea that might abort their mission. The knapsacks also held a liter of bottled water, a change of clothes, and, in Dzung’s, his loaded Heckler&Koch P7 pistol.