BooksBarbecue
Back The Preserve
Chapters (56)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Half-Title Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  6. 1.
  7. 2.
  8. 3.
  9. 4.
  10. 5.
  11. 6.
  12. 7.
  13. 8.
  14. 9.
  15. 10.
  16. 11.
  17. 12.
  18. 13.
  19. 14.
  20. 15.
  21. 16.
  22. 17.
  23. 18.
  24. 19.
  25. 20.
  26. 21.
  27. 22.
  28. 23.
  29. 24.
  30. 25.
  31. 26.
  32. 27.
  33. 28.
  34. 29.
  35. 30.
  36. 31.
  37. 32.
  38. 33.
  39. 34.
  40. 35.
  41. 36.
  42. 37.
  43. 38.
  44. 39.
  45. 40.
  46. 41.
  47. 42.
  48. 43.
  49. 44.
  50. 45.
  51. 46.
  52. 47.
  53. 48.
  54. EPILOGUE
  55. AFTERWORD
  56. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Jock grinned, sat up. “I’m sorry I got mad about things.”

“It’s okay. I’m sorry for my next time. Tell you what, let’s run a tab.”

They laughed, but not even their smiles lasted long. Jock started tugging at the greasy netting again.

“I shouldn’t have been talking about that Lansdale,” he said eventually. “Me, I just don’t want to screw up. I have to get myself back in the regular Corps. I’m a lifer Marine, Lett. Got me? Maybe a Gunner, a Mustang even. I’ll do anything to get back in. It’s all I have. Otherwise I’m doomed, see. We’re all doomed.”

***

A week after sailing from the Philippines, Lett was back on the Big Island of the Territory of Hawaii, inside The Preserve. Here he sat again, on the porch of his bungalow. They’d given him a day off. He was nearly halfway through it, the humid afternoon pestering him.

He broke matters down all over, and it didn’t end up clean like an M1. His assignment might have been top secret, but they weren’t even designated as a unit or even a branch of the military. They might as well have been a mining operation with hired tin badges. Why didn’t they just use local muscle? Why drag them all the way to the Philippines? The reasons sent a shudder through him. No unit designation or official postings or trip papers meant that it could all be disproved. No paper trail. No witnesses.

There was top secret, and then there was top secret forever.

Lett got another shudder, left over from being so close to Lansdale for a few days. Lansdale was simply a new incarnation of that same old rear-line player during the war who acted like a daredevil but had the game sewn up so tight he never lost. From his cocky stride to that large class ring he wore, Lansdale reminded Lett of one of those happy-go-lucky college students who belonged to every possible club and one certain revered fraternity, which, Lett suspected, gave the man a secret knowledge about how things worked in the world to benefit only a few. A fortune-favored and in-the-know comer like Lansdale only appeared to care about certain matters that fed his winnings, such as patriotism and the Red Menace and the Good Book, because he knew this was how the deal was sealed. One hell of a sweetheart pact had been struck long ago, by his father’s fathers, a backroom handshake passed down to the inheritors, each heir more fortunate. Sure, someday the mojo would run out. But that only made a possible final inheritor like Lansdale all the more reckless.