85
(Da Nang, 9/10/65)
Sickbay-pills / drips / IVs. Pete's world now-Pete the Zonked and Weak.
Wayne pulled a chair up. Pete laid in bed. Barb fluffed his pillow.
"I talked to Ward. He said he's dying to test his pull with the gaming boards. He thinks he can get you a license for a grind joint."
Pete yawned. Pete rolled his eyes. That meant Fuck You.
A nurse walked in. She took Pete's pulse. She checked Pete's eyes. She ran Pete's blood pressure. She logged it in.
Wayne checked the board. Wayne saw normal stats. The nurse split. Barb fluffed Pete's pillow.
"We could run the place together. Ward says it's a revolutionary concept. You with a legitimate source of income."
Pete yawned. Pete rolled his eyes. That meant Fuck You. His weight was down. His skin was slack. His bones jutted out.
He fell off that bleacher. Wayne caught him. Pete gripped Barb's shoe. Barb jumped off the stage. A guy caught her. Two medics showed.
One guy resuscitated. One guy grabbed at the shoe. Pete kicked him. Pete bit him. Pete kept the shoe.
Barb said, "I quit smoking. If you can't do it, I can't either."
She looked frazzled. She looked fried. She looked fragged. Call it a pill run-grief-justified.
Pete said, "I want a cheeseburger and a carton of Camels."
His voice held-good timbre/good wind.
Wayne laughed. Barb kissed Pete. Pete goosed her and went goo-goo eyed. She blew kisses. She walked out. She pulled the door shut.
Wayne straddled his chair. "Ward will make you buy a place. For Barb's sake, if nothing else."
Pete yawned. "She can run it. I'm too busy as it is."
Wayne smiled. "You're dying to talk business. If that's the case, I'm listening."
Pete cranked the bed up. "You're running things until I get out of here. That means in-country and stateside."
"All right."
"We've got a backlog of shit at the lab, so we're freed up there. I want Mesplиde and Tran to run Tiger Kamp. I want you, Laurent, and Flash to handle the conduit and oversee the Cuban runs, and I want you to back Milt up at Tiger Kab."
Wayne nodded. Wayne leaned on the bedrail.
Pete said, "I got a pouch from Bob. He's got two truckloads of bazookas and high explosives pilfered out of Fort Polk. It's a big haul, and it might take two boat runs. You take care of the Cuban transport, but in that case and in all future fucking cases, don't go near the weaponry transactions and let Laurent and Flash drive the shit from New Hebron to Bon Secour. Bob's got FBI cover, so I want him to stand as our most expendable guy. Laurent and Flash drive the guns, so they're less expendable than Bob and a shitload more expendable than you. You stay safe, and you watch Danny Bruvick, who I do not trust worth a fucking shit."
Wayne clapped. "Your wind is back."
Pete checked the stat board. "Not bad. I'll be out of here soon."
Wayne stretched. "I talked to Tran. He said some slaves escaped with some M-base. They're ex-VC, and Tran thinks they hooked up with some VC guys running a lab near Ba Na Key. He thinks they plan to cook up some shit and distribute it to our troops in the south, to demoralize them."
Pete kicked the bedpost. The stat board fell.
"Have Mesplиde interrogate the rest of the slaves. We might learn something that way."
Wayne stood up. "Get some rest, boss. You look tired."
Pete smiled. Pete grabbed Wayne's chair. Pete snapped the back slats.
Wayne clapped.
Pete said, "Rest, shit."
o o o
Barb danced. Barb obliged horny sailors. They swarmed her. They cut in. They swarmed three per song.
Canned songs/all staples/service club stock. "Sugar Shack"/surf shit/the Watusi.
Wayne watched. Barb's hair bounced. Wayne saw new grays in the red. "Surf City" tapped out. Sailors clapped. Barb walked on back.
Wayne pulled her chair out. She sat down. She lit a match.
"I want a cigarette."
Wayne plucked those new grays. Barb made an uggh face. Wayne sheared a few reds.
"You'll get over it."
Barb lit the grays. They pooled and burned up.
"I should go home. If I stay, I'll start seeing things I don't like."
"Like our business?"
"Like the boy three wards down with no arms. Like the boy who got lost and got napalmed by his own guys."
Wayne shrugged. "It goes with the job."
"Tell Pete that. Tell him, 'The next one might kill you, if the war doesn't get you first.'"
Wayne plucked a gray. "Come on. He's better than that."
Barb lit a match. Barb lit the hair. Barb watched it burn.
"Get him out. You and Ward know the guys who can make it happen."
"They won't go for it. Pete's in hock, and you know why."
"Dallas?"
"That and the fact that he's too good to let go."
A sailor bopped by. Barb signed his napkin. Barb signed his jumper sleeve.
She lit a match. "I miss the cat. Vietnam gets me mushy for Vegas."
Wayne checked her hair. Perfect-all red now.
"You'll be home in three days."
"I'll kiss the ground, believe me."
"Come on. It's not that bad."
Barb snuffed the match. "I saw a boy who lost his equipment. He was joking with a nurse about the Army buying him a new one. The second she walked out, he started to cry."
Wayne shrugged. Barb tossed the match. It hit him. It stung. Barb walked. Sailors watched her. Barb walked to the john.
"Sugar Shack" kicked on. Time warp-that song on Jack Ruby's jukebox.
Barb walked out. A sailor braced her. He was colored. He was tall. He looked like Wendell D.
Barb danced with him. They danced semi-slow. They shared some contact.
Wayne watched.
They danced nice. They danced hip. They danced by the table. Barb was loose. Barb was cool. Barb wore white dust on her nose.
_DOCUMENT INSERT_: 9/16/65. Verbatim FBI telephone call transcript. (OPERATION BLACK RABBIT Addendum.) Marked: "Recorded at the Director s Request" / "Classified Confidential 1-A: Director's Eyes Only." Speaking: Director, BLUE RABBIT.
DIR: Good morning.
BR: Good morning, Sir.
DIR: Let's discuss WILD RABBIT's work in Mississippi. The oxymoronic phrase "Redneck Intelligence Network" comes to mind.
BR: WILD RABBIT has been doing well, Sir. Our stipends have allowed him to recruit and secure intelligence, and FATHER RABBIT has supplied him with funds as well. He told me that he's donating a portion of his hate-tract profits to WILD RABBIT's incursion.
DIR: And the well-funded WILD RABBIT is achieving results?
BR: He is, Sir. His Regal Knights have been infiltrating other hate groups and supplying WILD RABBIT with information. I think we'll have some mail-fraud indictments before too long.
DIR: FATHER RABBIT's donations are in part self-serving. He aids WILD RABBIT's cause and depletes the resources of his hatetract rivals.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: Is WILD RABBIT remaining tractable?
BR: He is, although I've learned that he's running weaponry to Pete Bondurant's narcotics cadre. As I understand it, he secures the weapons from armory heists and army base pilfering, which is odd, because I haven't been able to find any recently filed reports on such incidents, anywhere in the south.
DIR: Yes, odd does describe it. That said, do you think WILD RABBIT will retain an acceptable level of deniability pertaining to his gun-running activities?