I sat with the phone off the hook, watching the light blink, soundlessly yelling at me, while I was wishing I could know more than I knew. Suddenly, it occurred to me that the Rover should have the car phone somewhere inside it. I got up and went to the parking lot....
I hung up the phone after getting assurances from Tony that the cash would be available at the base on the following day. The payroll office would have it, but I wondered what the effect would be of so much cash going in and out of that place, which was staffed by...
I held back for a few seconds before committing. I was in Albuquerque, USA, and not in some combat zone, no matter what had happened earlier. If the car twenty meters away held hostiles, then people were going to die, with possibly the three of us among the dead. ...
The money for Nguyen and Kingsley had to be retrieved from the paymaster at the Air Force Base, and I knew I was the only one who could present himself in person to claim it. The system, all military and civil governmental systems, were peculiarly protective of cash...
The Los Alamos mission was over. I stood in the high-altitude sunshine, not enough oxygen in the air, and no protection from the high-altitude beating sun’s rays as I reflected. Somehow, I felt let down. Nothing had happened. It was almost like being a house painter...