“You didn’t notice that a sturdy cart like the one they had buckled under and right away? And how low that boat was sitting in the water? How those two deuce-and-a-halfs kept straining at every hill, making us have to drop back to a crawl so it don’t look like we’re with them in our disguise truck?”

Gold, Lett thought, but he didn’t say it. He finally let himself form the dirty word in his mind. And Frankie, and . . . Kanani. And what about her friend, Miss Mae?

“Sure I did, but I ain’t making no conclusions,” Jock said. “Look. The war is won and we’re the ones what won it. This is a whole new world we’re living in. Now, if a man has his head on straight, why, sky’s the limit.”

Lett sure hoped that was true. Because the opposite was a dark cave, deeper into the center of the earth. “You know something? You’re right. Thanks for straightening me out.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Jock replied, letting it go, and the grin was back for good. “You’ll be all right. I saw you back there. You were liking it, and well and good, too. Cradling that eensy grease gun like a newborn lamb, you were.”

12.

Jock had a point, Lett had to admit. He truly had been cradling that M3 gun like it was a newborn lamb. He had indeed liked performing the first assignment they had given him. He could’ve stood there all day guarding that perimeter.

He thought this as he sat on the tiny lanai of his tiny bungalow in The Preserve, another just-built square of plywood and corrugated metal that still smelled of both. But this one wasn’t too sparse. It had just enough room for two Adirondack chairs on either side of the front door. Inside, it had rattan chairs with cushions, a kitchenette, and a two-chair chromium dining set. The walls were painted a cool green, and there was a jute rug to boot. It had a separate bathroom with tub. All that was missing were the pipe and slippers.

He unbuttoned his shirt a couple more buttons and stretched out his legs until the heels of his bare feet rested on the edge of the lanai, letting the plank dig into his skin a little. This was the first period of serenity he could remember. The damaged man that he’d become could still appreciate the simple clarity of a clear duty, especially one that wasn’t about to get a man killed, or anything like that. A duty like that took all the stress of deciding away. Let someone else choose what he was to do, where to stand, how long. Who to be. Sometimes he could understand the career military mindset, how a guy like Jock could want that.