Page 56 of Safe Enough

“I won the money,” he said. Now he sounded like a sullen Londoner.

“On a horse?”

“On a dog. At Haringey.”

“When?”

“Last night.”

“How much?”

“Ninety quid.”

“Marines go dog racing?”

“Sir, recon marines blend in with the local population.” Now he was a jarhead again.

“What about the earring?” Cameron asked. “It’s new.”

Mason touched it as he spoke.

“Sir, it was a gift from a grateful civilian.”

“What kind of civilian?”

“A woman in Kosovo, sir.”

“What did she have to be grateful about?”

“Sir, she was about to be a victim of ethnic cleansing.”

“At whose hands?”

“The Serbs, sir.”

“Wasn’t it the Bosnians?”

“Whoever, sir. I didn’t ask questions.”

“What happened?” Cameron asked.

“There was social discrimination involved,” Mason said. “People considered rich were singled out for special torment. A family was considered rich if the wife owned jewelry. Typically the jewelry would be assembled and the husband would be forced to eat it. Then the wife would be asked if she wanted it back. Typically she would be confused and unsure of the expected answer. Some would say yes, whereupon the aggressors would slit the husband’s stomach open and force the wife to retrieve the items herself.”

“And you prevented this from happening?”

“Me and my men, sir. We mounted a standard fire-and-maneuver encirclement of a simple dwelling and took down the aggressors. It was a modest household, sir. The woman owned just a single pair of earrings.”

“And she gave them to you.”

“Just one, sir. She kept the other one.”

“She gave you an earring?”

“In gratitude, sir. Her husband’s life was saved.”

“When was this?”

“Sir, our operational log records the engagement at 0400 last Thursday.”

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