The captain was in a casual suit and the sergeant was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and sunglasses. They looked like tourists.
“Waiting long?”
“No, just got here, sir.”
The captain scanned the room and then peered over at the inside rooms.
“Let’s go on in and have a talk.”
“It’s hot in there,” grumbled the head sergeant, who had already sat down and was getting comfortable.
“You, take off those glasses,” the captain barked in a taut voice. “It’s all thanks to you that we’re in this mess.”
The sergeant was noticeably gloomy and immediately removed his sunglasses. They went into one of the back rooms. The fat proprietress came back and fussily greeted the captain. She and her drowsy-looking sister ran the restaurant with the help of two Vietnamese women.
“What’ll it be, Captain? Try the beef ribs, excellent quality, you can be sure.”
“Hey, you buy lunch,” the captain ordered the sergeant.
“Yes, sir. Bring us ribs for three, ma’am,” the latter replied in a dispirited voice.
“Will that be enough for you? I don’t think so. You should order six portions at least to feel like you’ve eaten something.”
“Right, since you’ll be out on a stakeout all day with the boys, better fill up now. Bring us five, ma’am, and another order of five to take out when we go.”
As if disgusted at the mere sight of the sergeant, the captain turned aside and just stared at the wall calendar’s picture of a smiling Korean movie actress.
“Did you see the lieutenant colonel this morning?” Yong Kyu asked.
The sergeant nodded and then the captain said, “I hear we have two operations today — one at the PX and the other down at the pier.”
“Then we need to be fully mobilized?”
“Looks that way. That’s why I’m asking for plenty of beef. Hey, Sarge, I’m not going to come down on you so hard for the fix you’ve got us into. Still, if this is how we act within the family, how the hell are we going to get on with our duties? You’ve gone too far, so far you’ve got the big noses dropping hints to us. Dumb bastard, it would serve you right if I sent you straight to the stockade.”
The sergeant kept puffing on his cigarette, his head hanging. Yong Kyu asked him, “The ship hasn’t docked at the pier yet. . as for the PX, there’ll be a pickup right after lunch. What’s your plan?”
“After finishing their work, they’ll take the goods home.”
“Instead of to the supply corps detachment for warehousing?”
“They’ll probably cut through downtown with the ID I loaned them.”
“Hear that? He loaned his ID? You idiot! If they do anything more with that, we’re finished in Da Nang.”
“All right, is it that same house?”
“Yeah, you know, don’t you?”
Yong Kyu was familiar with the house on Puohung Street rented by the Hong Kong Group as well as with the checkpoint on the corner nearby.
“We can send Toi to retrieve the ID, and we’ll have the police let the truck pass on through.”
Before they got down to business, the captain and Yong Kyu had to calm the sergeant down. With only a little over two months left before shipping home, they said, why should he waste time helping them out with his ID? Why not get a grip on the PX himself, and then he could sock away something for after he got home and help the boys make some money besides. Those civilians came here empty-handed and now, thanks to us they were getting fat at the cost of others’ blood. Worse, by disrupting the market circulation networks in Da Nang, they were muddying up the black market channels — it’s our job to keep a watch on those channels.
The sergeant owned up to what he’d been doing. The Hong Kong Group had turned cigarettes and beer into major lines of dealing. They’d secured regular customers in the entertainment business. Colonel Cao, the police superintendent, and Colonel Thanbat, the military mayor of Da Nang, must be extremely upset. As far as the investigation headquarters was concerned, fancy foods and big-ticket luxury items from the PX were another source of profit. As for Colonel Cao, headquarters had some information indicating he was trading with American soldiers.
“The problem is the pier,” Yong Kyu said to the captain. “It falls outside military jurisdiction. For practical purposes it’s off-limits. Even we are using their conex box, aren’t we? They nominally demarcate the civilian from the military area, but there are rows and rows of container storehouses and only one exit through which both civilians and soldiers come and go as they please. If those guys dump goods from containers into their conex and take out a little at a time in that station wagon, there’s no way to catch them. Who knows, this deal may be done already. If they pay the price, they can use any conex they choose — they just move the pallets from the ship and hide them there and then swap the money for the key.”
“Well, then what choice do we have but to catch them in the act?”
“That means we’ll step on the toes of the supply corps detachment… no good will come of it for either side.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll wait until the moment their wagon shows up for loading to nail them.”
“It’ll be trouble for us.”
“Come on, let’s deploy the men now.”
“The PX is no problem. We’ll post one of our men there and have him notify us when the car leaves. Toi will go to the last checkpoint on Puohung Street. He’ll be able to get some cooperation from his former QC comrades.”
“Good. We’ll also have another man out front of the house used by Lieutenant Colonel Pak and his gang.”
“I’ve got a man on duty at the Marine PX in Dong Dao who I can pull out and send over there.”
“We’ll need two more men: one for the supply corps detachment and one for the pier. The pier is the key spot. .”
“Once I dispatch the boys, I’ll head down to the pier myself for tonight’s ambush.”
“Then there’s nothing for me to worry about.”
“We’ll need a couple of cameras, too. You can lend me yours. . Toi should have it. He needs to snap a picture of them as they pass the checkpoint. The other I’ll use down at the pier.”
“Smaller is better, and you’ll need a flash for the pier. Have you got one?”
“I bought a shaver, but since I came to Da Nang all I’ve bought is cigarettes.”
“Sarge, you should follow Yong Kyu’s example.”
At this, Yong Kyu laughed and said, “No point in following each other’s example, sir. You should also make a living within the bounds of duty, you know. I’m hoping to have a few opportunities of my own by the time I’m ready to ship home.”
“I like your honesty. We’ve got to be responsible for our men who come out to Da Nang after risking their lives in the combat zones. For the two months you have left, Sarge, you should look after that task.”
Utterly deflated, the sergeant just cast quick sidelong glances whenever the captain said something to him. When the burning charcoal and the beef ribs were brought in, Yong Kyu stood up.
“I’ll give you a call, sir. I should dispatch the boys now.”
“Why not eat first, then you can make the rounds by car.”