@@@@@I wonder how he survived “By not showing
@@@@@I wonder how he survived
“By not showing them, Maurice
A waiter wearing about the filthiest apron Jason had ever seen clapped the Belgian on the neck
“So?” shrugged Tank ShirtQuelle différence? We eat and with good
fortune we will not be poisoned
Two hours later, with four bottles of rough vin ordinaire consumed by Maurice and Ralph, along
with suspicious fish, Le Coeur du Soldat settled in for its nightly endurance ritualFights occurred
episodically, broken up by muscular waitersThe blaring music marshaled memories of battles won
and lost, engendering arguments between old soldiers who had basically been the assault troops,
cannon fodder, at once resentful and filled with the pride of survival because they had survived the
blood and horror their gold-braided superiors knew nothing aboutIt was the collective roar of the
underprivileged foot soldiers heard from the time of the Pharaoh’s legions to the grunts of Korea
and VietnamThe properly uniformed officers decreed from far behind the lines, and the foot
soldiers died to preserve their superiors’ wisdomBourne remembered Saigon and could not fault
the existence of Le Coeur du Soldat
The head bartender, a massive bald man with steel-rimmed glasses, picked up a telephone
concealed below the far end of the bar and brought it to his earJason watched him between the
roving figuresThe man’s eyes spun around the crowded room—what he heard appeared to be
important; what he saw, dismissibleHe spoke briefly, plunged his hand below the bar and kept it
there for several moments; he had dialedAgain, he spoke quickly, then calmly replaced the phone
out of sightIt was the kind of sequence described by old Fontaine on Tranquility IsleMessage
received, message relayedAnd at the end of that receiving line was the Jackal
It was all he wanted to see that evening; there were things to consider, perhaps men to hire, as he
had hired men in the pastExpendable men who meant nothing to him, people who could be paid or
bribed, blackmailed or threatened into doing what he wanted them to do without explanation
“I just spotted the man I was to meet here,” he said to the barely conscious Maurice and Ralph
“He wants me to go outside
“You’re leaving us?” whined the Belgian
“Hey, man, you shouldn’t do thay-at,” added the young American from the South