“There the hell you are, finally,” Gil said when Steve and Hong walked in the door of the hotel room late in the afternoon.

“Well, we’re back,” Steve said nonchalantly.

“What the fuck kept you?” Gil added with a wink that Steve caught. “We’ve been waiting for hours. That must have been some damn mass.”

“Sorry, Gil,” Steve replied, catching the wink. “I thought you guys were planning on sleeping in, so Hong and I went to the war crimes museum, and we sort of got caught up there.”

“Well, no harm done, what with all this goddamn rain. The museum any good?”

“Oh, OK,” Steve shrugged. “Not exactly what I expected. You guys get something to eat?”

“Yeah, we went down to the dining room,” Harold said. “I’m getting sick and tired of looking at the same four walls. Let’s go someplace.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Oh, hell, I don’t care,” Harold said, sounding pretty grumpy. “Out of here. Maybe do some shopping. I ought to get something for Kate.”

“It rain,” Hong protested.

“Ah, the hell with the rain,” Gil said. “That’s what the hell they make raincoats for. Come on. There ought to a market around here somewhere, maybe some kind of gift shop.”

“In lobby,” Hong said hopefully. “Get gifts.”

“Naw, somewhere out of here,” Harold sneered. “The hell with these tourist prices.”

“I’ll go,” Steve said, clearly understanding what was going on. “I really ought to get something for the kids.”

In a few minutes, the four of them trooped out into the rain, the three Americans in plastic ponchos, but Hong just plain getting wet and not very happy about it, either. It was raining hard, and he was thoroughly soaked when they found a covered market with a lot of stalls. They walked through it a bit, and finally Harold got interested in some cheap jewelry. The woman in the stall didn’t have much English, and Harold suddenly lost what little Vietnamese he’d learned from Binky or remembered from years gone by.

“Come here, Hong,” Harold called. “Help me with this thing.”

“What the hell kind of incense is it they’re burning in here?” Gil grumped.

“It’s gagging me, too,” Steve agreed.

“We’ll go stand under the awning out front, and meet you out there,” Gil said.

Hong turned to follow, but Harold grabbed him by the arm. “What’s she saying, Hong?”

Gil and Steve headed out the front of the building, and stood just next to where a steady stream of water crashed off the awning. Nobody was likely to bug this spot, and the noise of the rain would deal with any bugs, anyway. “That ought to keep him for a few minutes,” Gil whispered. “No tails that I saw.”

“I think so,” Steve replied just as quietly. He’d immediately seen the setup for what it was, a chance to talk with Gil without interference from Hong or bugs. “He was awful antsy, and it got worse the longer we stayed away. He’s by himself, and may not have a lot of contact with the locals. And I know this town better than he does. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s never been here before. He’s damn near a tourist himself. I wouldn’t want to give him time to set something up, though.”

“That’s something,” Gil agreed. “The problem is we ain’t accomplishing jack shit toward finding Henry. This whole trip has been a fucking waste, and unless we take the bull by the horns, we ain’t even gonna get to Target One, much less be able to look for him.”

“I don’t think there’s actually that much official interest,” Steve said. “He’s just being obstructive because he doesn’t want to have to go out into the mud.”

“I think you’re right. Harold and I got to talk with some people from a tour group when we were out wandering. They’re German, so I yapped with them a bit, and they don’t even have a tail with their group.”

“Yeah, if we had Mike with us, it might be simpler,” Steve agreed, nodding his head. “I wish we’d known about it. It would have been tough for him, but he would have come along. Of course, since we’re American, it might be different.”

“Maybe it was a mistake to cover up your language skills,” Gil said obliquely.

“Maybe not, too,” Steve said. “We didn’t know. In any case, it wouldn’t be bright to show them now.”

Gil nodded. “Then they’d think we were up to something, for sure. I mean, it’s clear to me that we don’t stand a chance of doing anything about Henry this trip. We’re just flat running out of time, and the weather isn’t helping.”

Steve nodded. “If it were the dry season, at least he wouldn’t have that excuse.”

“I sure wish there was a way we could at least get out to Target One, find out what the situation is out there,” Gil agreed, shaking his head. “What I’m thinking is we come here in December, and then you know the language, maybe have another interpreter of our own with us if we can find one, and we just go ahead and do what we want to do. But, we need to at least have an idea if we can get there, whether there’s roadblocks, or police check stations, or like that. And, hell, Hong might even be right, there might be a bridge out or something.”

“We ought to be able to get pretty close, at least in the dry season,” Steve said. “That’s a fairly main road that runs not too far from there, so you’d think at least that would be open. Hell, in the dry season, we could walk in the last few miles if we had to. But, I agree, we need to at least get a look.”

“Got any ideas?”

“Yeah,” Steve said. “I could . . .”

“Not now,” Gil replied, looking over Steve’s shoulder. “Here they come.” He spoke a little louder. “Boy, the way it’s raining, keep looking for the nearest ark.”

“Does come down like a cow pissing on a flat rock,” Steve agreed.

It was three more stores and half an hour before Harold again drew Hong’s attention, and Gil and Steve again had a chance to talk. “All right, what’s your idea?” Gil asked.

“It wouldn’t get us all out there, but at least I could get out there,” Steve replied. “And, I can maybe learn some stuff on the way.”

“It’d be nice if all three of us could get out there, but with Hong to deal with, I don’t know how we can manage it,” Gil nodded. “What you got in mind?”

“Pretty simple. Tomorrow, let’s just go do the tourist bit, and that’ll rest his mind some after being out of contact with you guys so much today. Along in the afternoon, my stomach gets upset, and I get a taxi back to the hotel. That’ll give me a chance at setting up a jeep and a driver. I think we need to have something with four-wheel, just in case. So, anyway, you come back to the hotel, and I’m in bed, feeling lousy, maybe asleep. I still feel lousy in the morning, so you leave me at the hotel, and as soon as you’re gone, I take off.”

Gil shook his head. “It’s a good two hundred klicks up to Phuoc Lot, maybe more, and these roads, well, they ain’t like driving an interstate. More like the road out to Mark and Jackie’s place, maybe not that bad, maybe worse in all this rain. You’d have a hell of a time just getting up there and back as long as we could keep him out.”

“Yeah, but I found out one other thing,” Steve smiled. “Hong does like his ba moi ba. He’s got about half a buzz on now, although it’s probably wearing off some. What say, you guys do the tourist bit for a while, wind up in a bar, and get him so loaded you have to carry him out and pour him into bed? Two big guys like you and Harold ought to be able to do that easy. You might even be able to get something out of him about whether it’s official to keep us away from there, or whether he’s just being an asshole. You do it halfway right, and he’ll have enough of a head on him that he won’t know I’ve been gone half the night, or all night if that’s what it takes. Plus, he’s not going to be likely to admit to his boss afterward that he got drunk and fucked up his surveillance.”

Gil got a big grin on his face. “You’re sneaky, Steve,” he said, almost laughing. “I like that. The only thing is, I don’t want to do anything that might fuck up December.”

Steve shook his head. “If I can’t make it up there, like run into roadblocks or something, we might as well not even plan on coming in December. Remember, nobody said we couldn’t go. The guy up there in Hanoi even wished us luck. Granted, we get Hong pissed off with us, it might screw things up, but frankly, I’m coming to the conclusion that no one else around here even cares.”

“Well, I suppose you’re right,” Gil said, a little downcast. “And, if we’ve got to try it, you’ve about got to be the one to do it. I sure would like to go with you, though.”

“I don’t see how two of us could go without making Hong suspicious,” Steve said flatly.

“You’re right, and I know it,” Gil agreed. “Still, it’s a risk, and it’s your ass that’s being risked.”

“I don’t think we should come back in December without trying it,” Steve said. “Unless we know we can make it out there, there’s no point in trying, and we might just wind up with more of this.”

“Yeah,” Gil conceded. “Looks like they’re wrapping up. You draw Hong’s attention in the next shop, and I’ll run it past Harold.”

“Yeah,” Steve said. “I really ought to get something for Hunter and Tabitha.”

“How about Binky?”

“Gil,” Steve said bitterly, “Binky got her ass out of Vietnam, and that’s all she wants out of here.”

“Except you.”

“Yeah,” Steve conceded. “There is that, too. I’ll be careful.”