What Kyros thought was that it sounded wonderful to his ears. His son was finally coming out of his self-imposed darkness. “You mean the kind of party with drinks, good food, music, and everyone gets dressed up? Your suit is full of moth holes. When was the last time you wore a white shirt and tie? You plan on attending in your olive greens?”

Pappy smiled. “For your information, Pop, I ordered a suit from Brooks Brothers. It came in the last mail delivery. It fits, too. And, I got a shirt and a tie. Furthermore, they match! You gonna beat this to death or what?”

“I wouldn’t think of it. You made those young people out there very happy, son. Where are you sending them?”

“New York City, where else? DC is out of the question. First-class all the way, Pop. I checked with the…what I mean is I got full approval for this little venture. They want the teams to be happy. I’m thinking this is happy with a capital H. I’ll see you later to say good night. It was a great dinner, Pop,” Pappy said, referring to the five-cheese, three-meat lasagna that was one of his father’s specialties. “I’ll take a slice of that praline pie with me if you don’t mind. Wrap up something special for Alpha. He’s off his feed a little.”

While Kyros sliced and wrapped, Pappy watched the recruits through the glass window in the kitchen door. The happy smile on Sam’s face did strange things to his heart. They were jabbering like magpies, especially the women. He felt pleased with himself. Pappy let himself out the back door, Alpha at his side. He was halfway to his quarters when he realized none of the recruits had asked where they were going. All they seemed to care about was leaving the mountain. He supposed that was probably a good thing.

In his quarters, Pappy tossed three logs on the fire, slipped his favorite Frank Sinatra CD into the CD player, and kicked back with his feet on the coffee table. Eventually, he dozed off, the fire warming him through to his bones, his dog on the sofa next to him. What more could a man desire? A hell of a lot, he answered himself.

In the Omega Three building, excitement ran high, with the women babbling and jabbering to one another as they packed their duffel bags.