Page 17 of Very Special Forces

Solomonnodded. "Of course."

"I meanclassified confidential."

That gotSolomon's attention. "Classified as in... officially classified?"he asked.

Wepaused as the server delivered our food, then leaned in across thetable to speak quietly in the busy diner. "It involves the Armyonly... they don't know about it."

"Youlost me."

"Remember I told you about the time I joined the Army?"Solomon's lips quivered as he tried not to smile. "Yes, okay. Itwasn't my finest hour. A couple of my Army buddies got in touchwith me last night about a problem they need my help with. Itdoesn't sound huge, it just sounds... dumb." Might as well call itwhat it was. "They lost a tank."

Solomon's eyes widened. "How does someone lose atank?"

I pulleda face. "They weren't absolutely clear on that."

"Atank?"

"Yep."

"Anactual tank?"

"Theyshowed me a picture and yes, it's a real tank. Not a little,diddly, toy one."

"Atank?" repeated Solomon.

"I thinkwe've established that."

"I'mincredulous. I feel like I need to ask again."

"I willonly keep saying yes."

"Toevery question?"

"Yes."

"Earlynight tonight?"

"I knewyou would throw in a trick question but... yes." When Solomonraised his hand, I high-fived it. "So about that tank. They needhelp finding it."

"Shouldn't be too difficult. It will stand out. Not manytanks rolling around the state."

"That'swhat I said but they said they tried looking everywhere and theycan't find it. It's missing and if they don't find it before somedisplay thing they're putting on at Fort Charles, they're in bigtrouble. Hey, how much are tanks worth anyway?"

"You canpick up a Scorpion tank on eBay for forty thousanddollars."

"Wow!That's a lot of money."

"Whatkind of tank did they lose?"

Iconsulted the note I made on my phone. "An Abrams battle tank.Latest model."

Solomonswallowed.

"Is thatso bad? Is it more than forty thousand dollars? Fifty? More? Ahundred thousand? More? Seriously?" I paused and picked a bignumber. "A million?"

"Morethan eight million dollars."

"Holycrap! They lost eight million dollars of tank!" Isqueaked.

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