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"You're an officer, sir," McCoy said.
The implication of that, Ba
"And in this case, I was a sonofabitch," Ba
"Yes, sir," McCoy said.
"Does that mean you accept my apology? Or that you're just saying 'Yes, sir'?" Ba
"I didn't expect anything else," McCoy said. "And I've never had an officer apologize to me before."
"I guess what I'm really asking," Ba
"Am I carrying a grudge, you mean? No, sir."
"I really hope you mean that, McCoy, because you are going to be in a position to stick it in me," Ba
"Sir?"
"When your friend Chatworth came up with witnesses to your i
"Aye, aye, sir," McCoy said. "Thank you, sir."
"But not to Dog Company," Ba
"I don't understand," McCoy said.
"The colonel said that a man with your many talents, McCoy," Ba
"I don't want to be a clerk," McCoy said.
"What you want, McCoy, is not up for debate," Captain Ba
"Aye, aye, sir."
"There's more. As soon as you feel up to making the trip, you're going to Peking for a while. A month, six weeks."
"Get me out of Shanghai?" McCoy asked, but it was more thinking out loud than a question.
Ba
"You're a problem, McCoy," Ba
"Captain," McCoy said, "the surgeon told me that if there was going to be infection, I would have it by now. There's no reason for me to be in here."
"Do you feel up to going that far in a truck?" Ba
"I thought we moved people by water between here and Tientsin," McCoy said.
"From time to time, we send a truck convoy up there," Ba
"The word is," McCoy said, "that what the convoys really do is spy on the Japs."
"And that would bother you?"
"No, Sir," McCoy said. "That sounds interesting. I asked my Gu
"Military intelligence isn't what you might think it is from watching Errol Fly
"I didn't think it was," McCoy said, evenly.
"Are you familiar with the term 'Order of Battle'?" Ba
"No, sir."
"It is the composition of forces," Ba
"Yes, sir."
"One of my responsibilities is to keep up to date on the Japanese Order of Battle," Ba
"I guess the Japanese watch him pretty closely?"
"Of course they do," Ba
"They'd be less likely to pay attention to a PFC," McCoy said. "They judge our PFCs by the way they treat their own. And their PFCs can't spit without orders."
"The low regard the Japanese have for their own enlisted men works both ways," Ba
"Then the thing for our PFCs to do is not get caught," McCoy said.
"Didn't you ever hear that the smart thing to do is never volunteer for anything?" Ba
"There's always an exception to that," McCoy said. "Like when you think it might do you some good to volunteer.''
"Go on," Ba
"I think I'm going to be on the corporals' promotion list," McCoy said. "I also think what I did is liable to fuck me up with getting promoted. Maybe I could get off the shit-list by doing something like snooping around the Japs."
"You're on the corporals' list," Ba
"Then maybe, if I volunteer for this and do it right," McCoy said, "I can get to be a very young sergeant."
"And maybe you'd fuck up and embarrass the colonel and give him an excuse to bust you," Ba
"And maybe I wouldn't," McCoy said. "I'll take that chance."
"Right now, McCoy, and understand me good, all you are to do when you go on the convoy is sit beside the driver. I don't want you snooping around the Japanese unless and until I tell you what to look for. Do you understand that?''
"Aye, aye, sir," McCoy said. "I'm not going to charge around like a headless chicken and get you in trouble, Captain."
"As long as we both understand that," Ba
"Yes, sir," McCoy said.
"Unless you have any questions, then, that seems to be about it. I want you to stay in here until Wednesday, when you can go to your billet and pack your gear for the trip. You are not to leave the compound. And I think it would be a good idea if you didn't sew on your corporal's chevrons until you are out of Shanghai."
"Aye, aye, sir," McCoy said.
"Any questions?"
"Do I get my knife back?"
"So you can slice somebody else up?" Ba
"I wasn't looking for trouble with the Italians," McCoy said. "But when it found me, it was a damned good thing I had that knife."
"Tell me something, McCoy," Ba
"Straight answer?"
Ba
"I've been wondering if something's wrong with me," McCoy said. "I'm sorry I had to kill them. But you're supposed to be all upset when you kill somebody, and I just don't feel that way. I mean, I'm not having nightmares about it, or anything like that, the way I hear other people do."
"It says in the Bible, 'Thou shalt not kill,' " Ba