Church stood up. “Very well, if you want to risk whatever measure of peace you’ve achieved, then welcome to the war, Mr. Chismer.”

The young man stood up, too. His dour face underwent a slow process of change. The lugubrious mask of grief he’d worn for years seemed to fall away, to be replaced by the smallest of smiles. A cold, sly, unpleasant smile.

“Stop calling me that,” he said. “My name is Toys.”

CHAPTER 49

BLUE DIAMOND TRAINING CAMP

CADDO MILLS, TEXAS

“These are the two men I told you about,” said John Saxon.

They were in a classroom that had been repurposed as an executive office. Top and Bunny stood flanking Saxon, all of them facing a woman behind a big oak desk. Everything in the office was high-end, from the imported Turkish carpets to the display case of bronze sculptures. A brass plate on a block of lignum vitae read Jill Hamilton-Krawczyk. She was a short brunette with a pretty and intelligent face. Her expression had the kind of apparent brightness of spirit that Top thought looked more like an executive in the music or film business. She did not look like the kind of person to be overseeing a training camp for private military contractors. She wore a pendant with an exquisite marquis-cut blue diamond that had to be three carats and was a rich and radiant azure. Small half-carat matching diamonds dangled from her earlobe. Top, who’d once researched that kind of stone when Blue Diamond first came on the DMS radar, estimated that the total value of those gems was north of a million.

She gave them a radiant smile and waved Top and Bunny toward a pair of leather chairs that were soft as butter. Top noted that the chairs were set too low so that the desk was slightly higher than normal, creating a subjective view of the executive being taller and more physically imposing than anyone who came to meet with her. A nice trick. It wasn’t all that different from the trick Colonel Ledger often used—slouching slightly to make himself look shorter, smaller, and slower than he actually was, right before he went apeshit over someone.

Saxon introduced the two recruits. “Anything else I can do for you, HK?”

“Thanks, John,” said the woman to Saxon. There was a quality of dismissal in her tone, and Saxon nodded and left.

When they were alone, HK spent a few moments studying the two men, and they sat in silence, allowing it.

“Mr. Guidry and Mr. Redfield,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Please call me HK.”

“Meetcha,” said Bunny.

“You here to give us some shit about what happened last week?” asked Top.

HK raised her eyebrows. “What? With Sergeant Wilkes? Ha! No. He was a racist, sexist, homophobic piece of shit, and from what John Saxon said in his report, you were within your rights.”

“Don’t sugarcoat it,” said Bunny.