Page 34 of Into the Gray Zone

Jennifer smiled and said, “I agree. I doubt nice Indian girls are coming here on spring break.”

“Is that from the looks you keep getting?”

She said, “Well, Iamthe only female in this place.”

“And I’m the only black guy. Looks like we’ll be remembered here.”

The waitress came over and Brett asked for the check. Jennifer waited until she’d left, then said, “You want to leave? It’s still too early.”

He took the check, dropped a pack of rupees on the table, and said, “I don’t like the stares. Let’s go find a donkey show.”

She stood up and followed him out of the bar, saying, “Donkey show? What are you talking about?”

He exited onto the street, laughing. He said, “You don’t want to know,” and he turned left down Tito’s Lane, toward the hotel alley.

She followed him, saying, “This place looks a heck of a lot better at night, I’ll say that. Can’t see the scars.”

Brett glanced down the street, seeing bar after bar interspersed with tattoo parlors and tobacco shops, all lit up with colored string lights or neon, the music from each establishment competing for attention. Most of the bars were only half full, if that, the patrons all locals, not a foreigner among them. The people at each followed them with their eyes as they went past.

He saw the continued stares and said, “This town must not get crowded until the monsoon season’s over. It’s like they’ve never seen a foreigner.”

They passed a booth with what looked like a large aquarium about waist height, the water full of minnows. Brett did a double take, seeing a local man and woman sitting on a bench, their pants legs rolled up and their legs in the water.

He said, “What on earth are they doing?”

Jennifer looked closer and said, “Believe it or not, it’s a pedicure place. The fish are eating the dead skin off their feet.”

“You’re shitting me.”

She chuckled and said, “Nope. It’s supposed to exfoliate the skin. Maybe we can do that to kill some time.”

He shook his head and said, “No damn way.” He looked at his watch and said, “No time to kill anyway, let’s go get this over with.”

Jennifer felt her adrenaline rise at the words, knowing what was coming. Brett saw her take a breath and said, “We can always go back. This isn’t our mission.”

She said, “No, no, I want to do it.”

They turned into a narrow alley, a trickle of water running downthe dirt surface. Unconsciously, Brett cleared his shirt away from the Staccato he held in an appendix holster.

He said, “Why is that?”

She said, “Because I think Nadia’s right. Something wasn’t kosher about that assault. It made no sense to attack that place with so few people and silenced weapons.”

She looked at him and said, “You don’t want to do it?”

She was afraid of the answer. She needed his confidence in both the purpose and the execution of the mission. She trusted his judgment and was searching to see if she was making a bad choice.

“No, no. I’m game, it’s just that Pike was right—youarethe person who always wants the T’s crossed and the I’s dotted. The Oversight Council would shit a brick if they knew we were out here. Bostwick alone would have a coronary.”

She’d actually thought about her decision after her conversation with Pike, and honestly didn’t have an answer. She knew she’d chastised Pike for doing things outside the scope of their orders on multiple occasions, and this timeshewas the one initiating the break, but she sort of liked it.

She realized her time in the Taskforce had changed her view on the inherent infallibility of the chain of command. That, and like Knuckles always said, she was starting to enjoy the high adventure.

She said, “I don’t know. Just seems like the right thing to do. It’s not like we’re out here running an Omega operation and putting someone’s head on a spike. We’re just helping a terrorist investigation.”

He chuckled and said, “Pike’s rubbing off on you. That’s what’s happening.”

She said, “Well, hopefully it’s working both ways.”

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