Page 119 of Cry Havoc
“White?”
“As you can imagine, it was a chaotic scene.”
“The bullet they pulled out of me was a nine millimeter, probably a nine-by-eighteen Mak. We can start there.”
“The two dead assassins had Makarovs. Not as much ass behind the Maks as there is from a nine-by-nineteen Parabellum, especially out of that short barrel at distance.”
“He was a good shot.”
“Or a lucky one.”
“Let’s pretend it wasn’t luck. Let’s say it was skill. That means training. Who in Vietnam has that ability?”
“That’s a good question.”
“Have you seen Ella?”
“I have, briefly. She’s in mourning. She has now lost both parents. She blames us.”
“Us?”
“The United States.”
“Is that why she hasn’t been here?”
“Give her time, Tom. She’s dealing with her father’s memorial and funeral, and also stepping up to take over the company.”
“Nick, tell me it wasn’t the CIA.”
“That killed Gaston?”
“Yes.”
“It wasn’t us, Tom.”
“I wish I believed you.”
“You heard the doc. Some of the drugs you’re on are going to make you paranoid. We had no reason to kill him. We wanted to turn him, to use him, remember?”
“Maybe he wouldn’t turn.”
“And so we killed him?”
“Yeah.”
“Tom, I’m telling you it wasn’t us.”
Tom closed his eyes. Something was not adding up.
“Why didn’t they finish me off?”
“Maybe they thought you were dead.”
“That would mean I was a target along with Gaston.”
“Or maybe you just got in the way.”
“That’s a lot of maybes. They could have killed me. They could have killed Ella, but they didn’t.”
