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“You left the Army, an institution you served proudly and with great loyalty. That was your first act of penance. A career on Wall Street was your second.”
“And is my work for you my third act of penance?”
“That’s up to you. But the question becomes for you: Where does it end?”
“According to you I have the rest of my life to give in service to make up for what I did.”
“So you concede my theory on the matter is correct?”
“I concede nothing. And what does it matter now?”
“It only matters, Devine, to you. But I would say this: Life is a long enough journey without having only negative motivations to get your ass out of bed every day. What I’m offering you is, once again, something positive to do with your life in serving your country. And it’s not just moneymaking that’s going on at Cowl, Devine. I’m not sure exactly what is going on there, but it’s more than the dollars. Now, I think it’s time we both got back to work.” Campbell inclined his head toward the door.
Devine didn’t leave the way he came. The door to the rear was standing open. He breathed in the garlic and Parmesan, and the next moment emerged into the heat.
In his recurring dream there was Lieutenant Blankenship on a morgue slab with his throat destroyed. The other person he always saw was Captain Hawkins lying in the Afghanistan mountains unconscious after the battle between the two. It hadn’t been much of a fight, actually. Hawkins had allowed himself to grow too soft. And maybe his guilt was a bit too much for him to put up a spirited defense against Devine’s ferocious attack. The thing was, Devine thought the man would wake up and limp back to camp. If he had tried to file charges against Devine, he was going to raise the whole murder scenario to anyone he could. Only the man didn’t wake up.
I hit him harder than I thought.
He walked to the corner, turned, and headed downtown.
The cops were going to be coming after him, too. And he needed to do something about that despite Campbell’s assurances of assistance.
So Devine had somewhere to go and someone to see.
One misstep now and it was all over.
