Chapters (46)
- COVER PAGE
- PRAISE
- DEDICATION
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- SNEAK PEEK: EXIT .45
Vincent stood watching, and thirty minutes later Hogan turned it over to audience questions. A microphone was set up on a tripod in front of the stage, and Vincent reached it first. With the harsh stage lighting, he wasn’t sure if Hogan knew who he was. Maybe Erin didn’t, either.
Hogan said, ‘Remember, a good question’s a brief question.’
Vincent said, ‘It’s more of a statement, really.’
‘Okay. A good statement’s a brief statement.’
Mild laughter.
Vincent said, ‘I served in Iraq, and it was about as bad as you can imagine. But the second thing I wanted to say was just in relation to your point about morality: I’m not sure how nice intentions can let us off the hook, given that we’ve been causing bloodshed overseas for about sixty years now. All of it was carried out in good faith, I’m sure, but we never seem to understand that it’s never worth getting involved.’
A few murmurs of what sounded like approval, and he felt that crowd energy carry him along. He said, ‘As far as I can tell, we’ve caused more bloodshed than we’ve prevented. And I don’t see how there’s anything moral about that.’
He waited for Erin in the green room. When she came in she said, ‘I guess I didn’t win you over.’
Hard to tell if she was amused or not. Vincent stood up, about to run through the calls he’d taken, but he didn’t want to drop it on her just yet. He told her instead they’d got the date wrong on her novelty pens.
He thought she’d have something to say about that—maybe how the error was a quirk and would give the pens more value if they were auctioned—but she just said, ‘There’s an after party, but I’m not sure I can be bothered.’
Vincent said, ‘That’s good. I can’t be bothered, either.’
That got a laugh out of her.
He shook his head and looked away. ‘I don’t think I should do this anymore.’
She came over to him. ‘Why’s that?’
She was standing close, and he could smell her perfume again. The fact he was even thinking about it was more evidence that he should be off the job, and he figured now he might as well just go for it. He said, ‘A lot of the time I’m not actually thinking about security matters, I’m thinking about how to maybe impress you. It’s getting to be a real problem.’
She was nodding slightly as she listened, maybe a little amused, some kind of light in her eye. She gave his tie a gentle tug and said, ‘Maybe we should get out of here, then.’
THIRTY-THREE
THIRTY-THREE