I picked up a business card sitting on the coffee table. The top said “Non-Metric Solutions.” There was a photo of Neil Armstrong planting the American flag on the moon. Underneath that, it said “Metric system? Whose flag is on the moon?” Next to the photo was my friend’s name, DP Lampkin. We’d been in the Navy together. He was one of the smartest, funniest guys I’d ever met. Now he worked for a military contractor coordinating people in Afghanistan.

DP was one of the most interesting characters I knew. Raised in Los Angeles, he now had a home on the coast of Oregon. He said his wife didn’t mind him working overseas as long as she got to live as comfortably as she did. He loved to laugh about her saying that. I’d met her a couple of times and knew she’d stick by DP’s side no matter what.

I’d put off calling him about a job for months now. I dialed the number with an Oregon area code and waited as it routed through God knew how many satellites. At the other end of the line, I heard a groggy “Hello.”

“DP, it’s Mitchum. Did I catch you at a bad time?” Then I remembered the crazy time difference. “I’m sorry, what time is it there?”

“Six thirty in the morning. I thought it was my alarm.”

I heard him laugh and that made me smile. I said, “It’s ten o’clock at night here. How’s it six thirty there?”

“Like everything else in this country, their time zone is screwy. It’s eight and a half hours ahead of the Eastern time zone.”

“I didn’t know there was such a thing as a half time zone.”

“Trust me, there’re a lot of odd things over here.”

We chatted for a few minutes and I finally asked him how he liked his job.

DP said, “Mitchum, I swear to God, I fell in it. This is the best gig I could’ve ever imagined. You really need to come work with me. Non-Metric Solutions, purely American.”

“What sort of stuff would I be doing?”

“We’re only contracted for patrol and security. No detention. Other companies handle that kind of stuff. I can take you on anytime you want.

“There’s a little bit of training, some medical screening, but that’s about it.”

I nodded as I listened. “I’m seriously considering it.”

“I could use a guy like you.”

The whole conversation kept me from sleeping very well. But it was nice to know I had a fallback if I needed it.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5