Thach went on to the next page and then nodded.
“Can you convince your brother, or hide the truth well enough, so he thinks you have no connection whatsoever with the Front and that it was just a hot-blooded youthful whim?”
“I’m not sure. .”
Then Pham Minh quietly continued: “To see two brothers, or a father and son, working one for the NLF and one for the government forces is not such an unheard of reality in Vietnam today. Sometimes they may even understand each other’s position. But in most cases, even within a family, the Front used to be able to maintain an advantage. Maybe my brother pretends to be ignorant of the fact. If I were ever captured, he himself would face danger or difficulties.”
“I can see that’s not unlikely.”
Once more Thach buried his head in the documents and remained silent for a while. Then, without raising his head, he asked, “Can you solve the problem of the draft for yourself?”
“I’ll discuss it with my brother.”
“In that case. . enlist in the air force.”
“Enlist?”
Completely shocked and unable to believe his ears, Pham Minh bent closer to Thach, gripping the desk with both hands, and repeated what Thach had said. Thach looked him straight in the eye.
“Enlist,” he said. “There are hundreds of young men in Da Nang who have joined the navy or the air force and continue to live at home with their families. It’s not a difficult thing to arrange for someone in your brother’s position. The district committee sincerely welcomes your return and has assigned you a mission as assistant agent of the 434th Special Action Group of the Third Special District. Each team needs an assistant agent. The prior comrade died in action. Comrade Pham Minh’s assignment is to inform us according to action guidelines and orders from the district committee, and you will report to me whether operational orders have been executed properly.
“In ordinary circumstances, you’ll help me to carry out supply operations. As I’ve informed the other team members already, I’m only an agent myself whose mission is to contact the teams of a company group. If a mishap occurs, this contact point will be liquidated immediately. In that case contact instructions will be given from a higher level. In the city of Da Nang there are two battalions of urban guerrillas, all acting as teams and connected on the company level only. Fighters have no knowledge of their fellow fighters.
“Always keep in mind that any cell of an organization may at any time be eliminated for the sake of the whole. This is done by trial in the name of the people of Vietnam wherever the NLF exists. Especially you, Comrade Pham Minh, should bear this in mind, for with me you’ll be undertaking the mission of supply operations as well as the task of coordinating teams on the company level. First off, this week you’ll have to deal with the draft for yourself, and then we’ll see to it that you get a job working in the office of this warehouse.”
Thach looked at his watch.
“Comrade Pham Minh, you should go home tonight. We can meet here again around lunchtime on Monday. I hope you’ll be back with a good outcome.”
“What time is the curfew?”
“Ah, with the offensive now over, the curfew has been lifted.”
The interviews of the team members were finished. Those with family in Da Nang were to go home. According to the orders of the committee, they were to take some sort of job if at all possible. One team member who could not return home was entrusted to another member who could take him along.
“The team will meet every Wednesday at a suitable place to be communicated to you by Comrade Pham Minh.”
“How about an open cafe down by the beach?”
The other four gave their assent with nods and eye signals. They did not bother with goodbyes and they scattered from the warehouse one by one. As Pham Minh was about to leave Thach stopped him.
“Let me see you for a second.”
They went back inside the warehouse and this time both sat down facing each other across the desk. Thach spoke first.
“I also attended the University of Hue. Care for a drink?”
Thach opened a drawer and took out a bottle of whiskey. He removed the cap and took a few swigs from the bottle, then handed it to Pham Minh. He swallowed a little and felt his throat burn as it went down.
“On Wednesdays the various teams will meet at different locations. You will only need to deliver my messages to them. Have any experience in business?”
“No.”
“Ah. . that should be no problem. All you’ll have to do is deliver the goods to us from across the smokestack bridge. I’ll give you a rough list of names and you can use that to promote trading.”
“What will I be selling?”
“Whatever the rich of Da Nang want to buy.”
Pham Minh tilted the bottle back again and downed a few more gulps. After a deep sigh, he spat out the words he had been trying to repress. “I didn’t join the Front to sell American goods to the rich, sir.”
Without a hint of surprise, Thach calmly asked, “What, then, do you want to do, Comrade?”
Pham Minh didn’t know what to say at first. Then the weight and clatter of rifles came to mind. “I joined to fight, sir.”
Nguyen Thach smiled. “You will, I expect, at the time of the great offensive. But you’ve been assigned here as an assistant agent because your actual circumstances are perfectly conducive for such a mission. That each person plays a fitting and proper functional role to achieve the larger goals is the basis for maximizing the operational strength of the Liberation Front. Through the long experience of the struggle against the French, the Front has been striving through pragmatic methods to secure realistically advantageous ground throughout our nation.
“Depending on the overall advantage, at various times our men may become pilots flying enemy bombers, or high-ranking enemy officers, or even interrogators of prisoners. The real question is whether the man is unconditionally under the control of the organization. Not long ago, in fact, fighting was not such an important mission, rather it was secondary.”
“If fighting was not such an important mission at a time when the crack divisions of the enemy and their missiles were swarming onto the beaches of Vietnam, then what was the NLF’s mission?”
Pham Minh’s tone was one of protest. Thach’s reply was gentle.
“What was important was that all the young people of Vietnam like you, even the small children, came to know the name of the Front as their own organization. The NLF calls it the mission of objectification. The people must know that the Front actually exists as the main power of the people, and that is more crucial than storming trenches or bombing police stations. Now, let’s drop the unnecessary talk. You and I have been given a mission, which is to figure out how to trade successfully and save money for the organization by securing better lines of supply.”
Thach opened the desk drawer again and took out a pack of cigarettes. He held it out, but Minh declined. Thach lit a long Pall Mall and seemed to relish it as he smoked.
“Comrade, I kept you behind here because there is something I should tell you. You should know in advance that your older brother Major Pham Quyen, on behalf of General Liam, is making a great deal of money by engaging in all sorts of black market trading and concessions.”
“My brother is that kind of a man.”
“And, Major Pham is connected to me.”
His eyes widening, Pham Minh felt himself choking as he stammered, “Do you mean. . my brother is connected with the Front?”
“Don’t get excited. Major Pham is not that kind of man. My own older brother is one of the top merchants in Le Loi market. Apart from money affairs, he is a very good-natured and foolish man. You could say he’s like a ghost from the days of the old Cochinchina dynasty. He’s the kind who prays for old Emperor Bao Dai to return to life and resurrect the family’s trading concessions. In a colonial city like Da Nang, that my brother and yours should become business associates is only too natural. They match each other perfectly. Their dealings seem to be getting more active and the goods they are handling will also be diversified. To get yourself a job in this office, you, Comrade, should observe the formalities of going through your brother. Say you want to be of help with his work, or that you need to earn money. Make some plea convincing enough to persuade your brother.”