Selfer stood alone out in the lane, in khaki shorts, his white open-collar shirt unbuttoned, hair slicked back. He might have been a statue. His hands were clasped behind his back. Eventually he moved, something sparkled—he’d drawn a chromium flask from his rear pocket and took a long, slow drink. Lett remembered Selfer had the flask during the war. He once offered Lett a drop, but Lett had refused it. Selfer pocketed the flask and his statue-like stance returned. Maybe he was thinking about that con man father of his he was so fixated on, wondering if he’d finally bested the old man yet, or if he ever truly would. That was one thing they shared—deadbeat fathers. Or maybe he was just thinking about another date with Kanani, prime rib and dessert and . . . Lett imagined Kanani at the Main House, sunning by the pool in one of those scanty new two-piece bathing suits in an aloha print, that flower back in her hair now.

He pushed the door open, it banged at the wall.

Selfer swung around. He stepped up onto the porch. “Welcome back,” he chirped. “And good luck! You must have done something right, because you’re getting your next mission.”

Already? “Assignment,” Lett said. “They called it an assignment before.”

“Well, Lansdale is calling this one a mission, so that’s what it is,” Selfer muttered, his chirping now stifled. “Look at it this way: You’ll never have to do KP again. That part of your duty is over. Isn’t that just the best? Congratulations.”

Selfer was still trying to sound upbeat, but it came off like a dad telling junior they were going on a fun trip but the truth was they were skipping town and a heap of unpaid tabs.

“When do I go?” Lett said.

“Now.”

Something about the way Selfer said it made Lett’s leg twitch with bad feeling. And if it was now, why hadn’t Selfer just knocked on his door instead of loitering around? And why not just send a runner over? Things were clearly troubling Selfer enough to make the man stall.

Lett had to find out more before he was going anywhere, let alone on a mission. But they couldn’t do it here, not where he lived, not out in the open. He ducked inside and pulled on the rest of his khakis, a field cap, and sunglasses. He also grabbed his musette bag with his dose.

“Follow me,” he told Selfer and started off.