59
(Las Vegas, 10/4/64)
Janice was in. Wayne Senior was out. Wayne paced his room. Wayne groomed and primped.
He saw Pete at Tiger. They talked an hour back. Pete worked on him. Pete hit him up.
You're a chemist. Let's go to Vietnam. _You'll_ cook heroin. _We'll_ work covert ops.
He said yes. It felt logical. It felt wholly right.
Wayne shaved. Wayne combed his hair. Wayne dabbed a razor cut. Ward slammed him-four nights back-Ward fucked him way up.
He tracked Ward's logic. He improvised. Wayne Senior ran snitches. Wayne Senior thus ran Maynard Moore. Thus he was in on the hit.
Ward left blank spots. Wayne improvised. Wayne Senior dumped his late snitch files. Wayne Senior ran Maynard Moore _then_.
Wayne brushed his hair. His hand jerked. He dropped the brush. It hit the floor and shattered.
Wayne walked outside. It was windy. It was hot. It was dark.
There-her room/her light.
Wayne walked inside. The hi-fi was on. Cool jazz or some such shit-matched horns discordant.
He turned it off. He tracked the light. He walked over. Janice was changing clothes. Janice saw him-bam-like that.
She dropped her robe. She kicked off her golf cleats. She pulled off her bra and golf shift.
He walked up. He touched her. She pulled his shirt off. She pulled down his pants.
He grabbed her. He tried to kiss her. She slid away. She knelt down. She put his cock in her mouth.
He got hard. He leaked. He got close. He grabbed her hair and pulled her mouth away.
She stepped back. She pulled off his pants. She tripped on his shoes. She sat on the floor. She balled up a skirt. She tucked it under her.
He got down. He ratched his knees. He spread her legs. He kissed her thighs. He kissed her hair and put his tongue in.
She trembled. She made funny sounds. He tasted her. He tasted her outside. He tasted her in.
She trembled. She made scared sounds. She grabbed his hair. She hurt him. She pulled his head up.
He jammed her knees out. He spread her full. She pulled him in. She squeezed a fit. She shut her eyes.
He squeezed her brows. He forced them back open. He put his face down. He keyed on her eyes. He saw green flecks he never saw before.
They moved. They got the fit. They found the sync. They held each other's faces. They locked their eyes in.
He got close. He conjured shit up and held back. Janice buckled. Janice spasmed. Janice clamped her legs.
Wayne sweated. Wayne doused her eyes. She blinked it off. She kept her eyes locked.
A door opened. A door shut. A shadow crossed the light.
Janice buckled. Janice started to cry. Wayne got close. Wayne let go. Wayne shut his eyes.
Janice wiped off her tears. Janice kissed her fingers. Janice put them in his mouth.
o o o
They got in bed. They shut their eyes. They left the door open. They left the light on.
House sounds kicked in. Wayne heard Wayne Senior whistle. Wayne smelled Wayne Senior's smoke.
He opened his eyes. His kissed Janice. She trembled. She kept her eyes shut.
Wayne got up. Wayne got dressed. Wayne walked to the bar. Bam-there's Wayne Senior.
Wayne grabbed his stick. Wayne twirled it. Wayne did Daddy's stock tricks.
Wayne said, "You shouldn't have sent me to Dallas."
Part III
October 1964-July 1965
_DOCUMENT INSERT_: 10/16/64. Pouch communiquй. To: Pete Bondurant. From: John Stanton. Marked: "Hand Pouch Deliver Only"/ "Destroy Upon Reading."
Here's the summary you requested. As always, please read and burn.
First off, there's a consensus among Agency analysts: we're in Vietnam to stay. You know how far the trouble goes back-with the Japanese, the Chinese and the French. Our interest dates to '45. It was shaped by our commitment to France and our desire to keep Western Europe out of the Red Bloc, and was spurred by China going Red. Vietnam is a key chunk of real estate. We'll lose our foothold in Southeast Asia if it goes Red. In fact, we'll risk losing the entire region.
Much of the current situation derives from the Viet Minh defeat of the French forces at Dien Bien Phu in March, '54. This led to Geneva accords and the partitioning of what is now "North" and "South" Vietnam, along the 17th parallel. The Communists withdrew from the south and the French from the north. A nationwide election was called for the summer of '56.
We installed our man Ngo Dinh Diem in the south. Diem was a Catholic who was pro-US, anti-Buddhist, anti-French colonialist and anti-Communist. Agency operatives rigged a referendum that allowed Diem to succeed Premier Bao Dai. (It wasn't subtle. Our people got Diem more votes than the actual number of voters.)
Diem renounced the '56 Geneva Accord elections. He said the presence of the Viet Minh insured that the elections could not be "absolutely free." The election deadline approached. The U.S. backed Diem's refusal to participate. Diem initiated "security measures" against the Viet Minh in the south. Suspected Viet Minh or Viet Minh sympathizers were tortured and tried by local province officials appointed by Diem. This approach was successful, and Diem managed to smash 90% of the Viet Minh cells in the Mekong Delta. During this time Diem's publicists coined the pejorative term "Vietnam Cong San" or "Vietnamese Communist."
The election deadline passed. The Soviets and Red Chinese did not press for a political settlement. Early in '57, the Soviets proposed a permanent partition and a U.N. sanctioning of North and South Vietnam as separate states. The U.S. was unwilling to recognize a Communist state and rebuffed the initiative.
Diem built a base in the south. He appointed his brothers and other relatives to positions of power and in fact turned South Vietnam into a narrowly ruled, albeit stridently anti-Communist, oligarchy Diem's brothers and relatives built up their individual fiefdoms. They were rigidly Catholic and anti-Buddhist. Diem's brother Can was a virtual warlord. His brother Ngo Dinh Nhu ran an anti-Viet Cong intelligence network with CIA funds.
Diem balked at land reforms and allied himself with wealthy landowning families in the Mekong Delta. He created the Khu Tru Mat, i.e., farm communities to buffer peasants from Viet Cong sympathizers and cells. Peasants were uprooted from their native villages and forced to build the communities without pay. Government troops often pilfered their pigs, rice and chicken.
Diem's actions created a demand for reform. Diem closed opposition newspapers, accused journalists, students and intellectuals of Communist ties and arrested them. At this time, the U.S. had a billion dollars invested in South Vietnam. Diem (dubbed "a puppet who pulls his own strings") knew that we needed his regime as a strategic port against the spread of Communism. He spent the bulk of his U.S.-donated money on military and police build-up, to quash Viet Cong raids below the 17th parallel and quash domestic plots against him.
In November '60, a military coup against Diem failed. Diem-loyalist troops fought the troops of South Vietnamese Army Colonel Vuong Van Dong. Diem rebuffed the coup, but his actions earned him many enemies among the Saigon and Mekong Delta elite. In the north, this internal dissent emboldened Ho Chi Minh. He embarked on a terror campaign in the south and in December '60 announced the formation of a new insurgent group: the National Liberation Movement. Ho contended that he did not violate the Geneva Accord by sending troops into the south. This was, of course, a lie. Red troops had been steadily infiltrating the south along the "Ho Chi Mirth Trail" since '59.