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.Why not leave them where they are, declare the area a graveyard?Jo and Liam both waited for Charles answer.He made a show of thinking it over, and when the silence had drawn out long enough to be anticipatory, said simply, “Theyre ours.They were members of the force when they took off from Nome that evening.They were members of the force when they went off course.They were members of the force when they slammed into that glacier.Just because theyre dead doesnt make them any less ours.We dont leave anyone behind.We defend the nation and we protect our own.Liam could see that Jo, hard-nosed seeker of truth that she was, was nonetheless impressed by this speech, and Tasha was either in love or getting ready to enlist, or maybe both.Liam ordered a beer.Jo flipped through her notes.“I think thats all for now, Charles.If I have any further questions, may I call you?The smile was back and full-bore.“Of course.But why dont you stay and have dinner with us?Her gaze rested for a speculative moment on Liams face.“Sure.Why not?“I cant stay long, Liam said.Mason took a gulp of beer.They ordered, ribeye for Charles, filet mignon for Jo, New York for Liam, steak sandwich for Mason.All the fishermen whose boats were still in the water had taken one look at the horizon and had stayed inside the breakwater that morning, so there was no fish or shellfish on the menu that night.Charles ordered a bottle of wine, and Liam, recognizing the signs, wondered if he ought to give Jo some kind of alert.He decided not to.He didnt like her job, but he liked her just fine, and in spite of the crap shed dumped all over him on Wys behalf he was glad Wy had such a staunch friend.But she was a grown woman who made her own choices.He winced away from the prospect of Wys best friend and his father in the sack together, but then hed winced at the reality of Diana Prince and his father in the sack together and it hadnt killed him.His father was a rounder.If a woman was even halfway presentable and even a tenth of her was willing, it was as inevitable as the sun rising in the east that Charles would hit on her.Liam still thought the impulse to nail everything in sight came from Liams mothers abandoning the both of them for a German nightclub owner when Liam was barely six months old, but that was his fathers problem to work out, not his.He didnt do therapy.He kept his nose buried in his beer and spoke only when spoken to.The bar was about half-full, mostly of drinkers.Moses was at his usual table, playing chess with Clarence Saguyuk, another old geezer who looked twice Moses age and had maybe half as many teeth.Neither factor seemed to affect his playing ability, if the forest of pawns, knights, rooks and one queen at his elbow was any indication.Eric Mollberg sat a little behind Clarence, a glass in one hand.He looked almost sober.Maybe he was finally coming out the other end of the tunnel.Liam had been down that same tunnel and he knew just how long it was.Moccasin Man was holding forth in his usual booth, too, and Liam saw him make at least two sales.Gray was getting bolder with every day that passed without an arrest.Fine by Liam.Pretty soon Evan Gray would have enough rope to hang himself, and Liam would be there, ready to haul on the other end of it.He wished with all his heart that the politicians in Juneau and Washington, D.C., would get a clue and legalize and tax all drugs, from dope to crack to ecstasy.If people wanted to go to hell in a pile of white dust or at the end of a needle, let them, instead of overworking law enforcement and overcrowding the jails to the point that every third bust was a drug bust and that the U.S.had more people in jail today than the Soviet Union ever did in all their gulags combined.The result was the Evan Grays of this world, with a marijuana grow stashed somewhere in or near Newenham and a profitable and growing retail business.Admit him to the ranks of businessmen and be done with it, and while were at it, tax the hell out of him, Liam thought, watching Tasha Anayuk slide out of the booth opposite Gray, tucking something into her pocket [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]