They left the restaurant and walked together for a while.
“What will you do after you get back home?” she asked.
“I don’t know. . I’ve learned a lot here.”
“About what?”
Yong Kyu abruptly altered his tone. “Money sure isn’t everything, that’s what I learned.”
This time Hae Jong did not laugh. “Money is power, and freedom, too. In every country, the soldiers are the sorriest ones.”
“The guerrillas seem different somehow. Here and here don’t seem to be in opposition,” Yong said, pointing to his temple and then striking his chest with his palm.
“Whatever you say, we all live in a world of money.”
Hae Jong waved down a passing rickshaw and said to Yong Kyu. “I’m in trouble. Now that time is running out, I like you more and more. I’m going. Don’t forget, ten o’clock tomorrow.”
The rickshaw with Hae Jong inside lurched away.
Ahn Yong Kyu headed straight for the Bamboo Club. Compared to the Da Nang Sports Club, it was practically an open place. Vietnamese soldiers, American GIs, third-country nationals, even local civilians came and went freely there. There were no rooms, only a big hall with a bar in the center. During the daytime hours, simple meals and beer were served, and at the bar you could get standard mixed drinks like gin and tonic or bourbon and Coke. The hostesses worked only at night.
Many of the staff from the joint investigation headquarters frequented the Bamboo, and merchants from the new Le Loi market often came in for lunch. Prices were reasonable. It was the right sort of place for simple business affairs or to meet a stranger for the first time on a provisional basis, but nobody would arrange a secret rendezvous there. The location was excellent, right at the intersection where Doc Lap Boulevard, Le Loi Boulevard, and Puohung Street converged. Toi made it a habit to stop by the Bamboo at least once each day just to take the pulse and sniff the general atmosphere of the city. When Yong Kyu walked in, Toi was sitting at the right corner of the bar, half-facing the entrance.
When Yong Kyu sat down beside him, he lowered his voice and said, “What do you say? Was I right, or what? Tonight MAC will broadcast the official announcement from the high command. It’s already generally known on the US bases. By tomorrow, word will be spreading in town.”
“I made a report on it to the captain, too. It won’t affect us too seriously. But we were given an order to dig out a dealing connection with the NLF, you think it’s possible?”
Toi raised his voice, “What’s this? Has the principle changed?”
“My principles are same as ever. All we want to do is to prove the independence of our detachment.”
Toi tsk-tsked. “The captain is mistaken this time. You guys are part of the command structure of the joint investigation headquarters.”
“But the captain says Krapensky is to be replaced. And now that we’re separated, the new man will want a fresh evaluation of the Korean team, so he wants to set a precedent for independent operations. Naturally, after we give them the information, it’ll be the Americans who undertake the final investigation to confirm the accuracy of our leads.”
“It’ll soon be clearer who’s who, but I’ve been trying to see that the information is not wasted in an undiscriminating way.”
“I got the impression the captain is intending to use our memo reporting on the dealings by Major Pham and Nguyen. I didn’t tell him of our suspicions about Nguyen Thach.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. I guess it’s easier to aim and shoot when the enemy’s a little farther away from you.”
“That’s far from what I think, but anyway it’s a good thing you didn’t talk about it. Today I’m going to comb through the whole area from Somdomeh over to the smokestack markets. If you’ll join me, that is. But I’ll keep my hands clean of the matters that require reports to the captain.”
Yong Kyu was dismayed by Toi’s reproachful tone. “Listen, Toi, I’m a soldier. Don’t be angry with me.”
“You know, I get thirty or forty dollars a month from you people for feeding you some stupid information and my interpretations. And then I take a few morsels of goods from Turen and sell them on the market. Because it’s your business. But now I’m talking about business deals among the Vietnamese. Big scale operations, and very big risks. This may well be the last opportunity for me. I already lost an eye in this war. And I’m not getting any disabled veteran’s pension.”
Yong Kyu hung his head and stayed silent for a time. Toi again urged him.
“Ahn, I don’t want to cheat behind your back. You have no obligation to follow the captain’s request. You’ll be off-duty in a month, and then all you need to do is a little shopping and then off you go on your way out of here.”
“Anyway, it’s agreed we’ll work together to gather the information, right?”
Reluctantly, Toi nodded. Then, glancing down at his watch, he pounded on the table. “God, I’ve got to go see Stapley. The landlord called me. His son made it back home.”
“When’s the departure time?”
Toi finished the rest of his drink and patted Yong Kyu on the shoulder. “Tonight. You should come along, too. No sleep for us tonight.”
The two men walked over to the back alley of the old market where Stapley was holed up. As usual, they pulled the bellrope and the landlord came out to the front hall, looking half-asleep. This time, however, he swung the door swiftly open and waved to Toi. The two of them followed the old man into the kitchen, where wicker chairs had been set up around a long meal table. When the landlord said something in a loud voice, the door opposite opened and a uniformed Vietnamese naval officer appeared. The insignia on his sleeve were a lieutenant’s. At the sight of the two visitors, he bowed.
Toi spoke. “This is the landlord’s son who I told you about.”
“Let’s call Stapley.”
Toi went thumping up the steps. The landlord muttered, “Beaucoup sleep, beaucoup sleep,” putting both hands on his cheeks.
“He means your friend sleeps a lot,” the naval officer explained.
As he walked in, Stapley grabbed Yong Kyu’s hair and gave it a tug.
“We’ve already made a deal with your father,” Yong Kyu said, opening the business discussion.
“So I heard. I understand the destination is Saigon. That’s possible. And I’ve already been introduced to this gentleman.”
“He told me,” Stapley said, “that in Saigon there are many organizations helping AWOLs to slip out of the country. The European missionaries and civilians are doing that, he said.”
“That’s true. I know a Frenchman and a German who have been doing that. One is a priest and the other a doctor.”
“What ship are you on?” Yong Kyu asked.
“It’s an LST.”
“Then he can board right from the pier. We’ve discussed it with your father: ten thousand piasters to Nha Trangh, and then another five thousand payable in Saigon on the condition that you see that he get’s onto a boat from Nha Trangh to Saigon.”
The Vietnamese officer listened with his eyes blinking and then tilted his head. “I’m not the only officer on board, you know. I’m not sure about the others, but I cannot ignore the captain of the vessel. Let’s make it twenty thousand piasters here and another ten thousand later, and I’ll need half of the first part right now. You see, I have to get back on board my ship before nightfall. That way I can get everything prepared.”
“Twenty-five thousand, what do you say?”
Toi started talking hurriedly in Vietnamese. Then in English he said to Yong Kyu, “I told the lieutenant to keep the agreement we made with his father. I also told him about all the things we brought to his father since Stapley has been here.”