Chapter 2

"I'm Still in Saigon"

Roy opened his eyes. A wet towel was flattened against his forehead as he lay on the floor, he heard a woman whispering softly in Vietnamese. It was the young girl the Lieutenant had brought over, she woke up just in time to hear him fall. Roy wasn't too keen to be in the presence of prostitutes, he immediately checked to see if anything was stolen from his pockets. His eyes peered around the floor looking for his watch.

Roy found his watch but not in the way he wanted as it was placed inside his shirt. He pulled it out and oddly it was ticking normally again. Everything that had just happened seemed like it was nothing more than a dream.

"What happened?" the young girl asked in a thick accent.

"Nothing...I just...lost my balance..." Roy said as he got to his feet with assistance from the girl.

She remained wide eyed as she found it unbelievable for anyone to shrug off a fall like that. Casually, Roy reached over to the table and picked up the beer he was originally going to drink. He put his finger on the tab to open it but there was no tab, the beer was already opened and the plate of eggs that were once sizzling away were placed upon a plate, over easy with a sparkle of salt that shimmered in the sun.

The young lady was standing before him with nothing but Roy's own jacket covering the majority of her naked body.

"Oh come on...that's mine." Roy said as he grabbed the side of the shirt.

The girl gasped as Roy came to realize the shirt was all she had on. He pulled the blanket off the wicker chair and handed it to the girl.

"I'll…Trade you...I promise I wont look." Roy stuttered as he gestured the girl to take the blanket in exchange for his fatigues.

The girl understood and took the blanket from him. She put it over her head as she slid the jacket off, and handed it back to Roy in a clumsy manner as he looked away towards the street.

"Thank you..." Roy smiled as he reached into his pocket to give her some parting money.

With a nod she took it gingerly and smiled as she wrapped her body in the blanket. He put on the shirt and walked over to the mirror to straighten out his appearance.

Roy watched the lady through the reflection in the mirror as she looked over some of the objects around the kitchen. She eventually went back into his room and shut the door softly as to not wake the snoring lieutenant.

Roy glanced at himself in the mirror longer than usual, he began to see images in his head, shit he saw when he was back in the jungle. There were many days and nights he spent out in country. He remembered the training, the assaults, the faces of friends, and the faces of enemies but nothing seemed to blur the face of the silver haired woman he saw in the street. Her fierce blue eyes still fresh in his mind like a sharp knife wedged into his conscious.

"Who was that?" Roy thought to himself as he unconsciously buttoned his uniform. There was a sudden knock at the door.

"Captain, are you there?" an American voice boomed through the wooden door.

"Yeah, yeah, it's me, what do you fellas-"

Roy casually opened the door to the tall yet protruding face of Major Tavares.

"Hello Sir." Roy said with a half-assed salute.

"Good morning Captain… You're looking scruffy.. as usual." The Major snuffed while adjusting the tie on his uniform.

"Is that all you came to say?" Roy asked, rolling his eyes.

The Major looked around the room in confusion from the tidiness of the apartment. Roy looked over his shoulder.

"What, did you hire a maid to clean this place up? It's too nice in here...I never took you for one who was tidy, Captain Autumn." the Major chuckled.

Roy looked back into the room and noticed that everything was neat and put away, all the magazines on the coffee table were neatly stacked, and the room now seemed to have the faint scent of lemons. Roy began to believe it had something to do with the silver haired woman.

"Well, too bad I'm not here to do an inspection…you would have made the brass real confident with your expertise in the use of lemon pledge." the Major said sarcastically as he closed the door on an unsuspecting follower.

"Jesus Christ." Roy grunted as he reopened the door to a younger soldier who gazed at Roy with drooping eyelids and a look of agonizing boredom.

He stood at an incredibly short height of five feet, compared to the towering, six-foot Major. Protruding through his dusty fatigues seemed to be the faint sparkle of badges indicating that he was within the ranks of the Green Beret.

"I'm alright." The soldier cleared his throat as he dusted off his jacket.

"Oh, Captain, this is Sergeant Evan Rhodes, our.. uh…elite specialist and radio operator." The major blabbered as he anxiously dusted off the uniform of the newcomer.

"Fresh from Fort Bragg, I see." Roy said with a handshake.

"Meh…. passed the course." Rhodes shrugged as he shook Roy's hand.

"So, you're an elite specialist… in what?" Roy asked as he crossed his arms.

"Communications, special reconnaissance, and, um.. botany….I finished top in my marksmanship course…." Rhodes shrugged.

Roy looked at Major Tavares who was still entranced from the cleanliness of the apartment. Roy drew his attention back to Rhodes.

"A botanist" Roy smirked.

"It was a course somebody asked me to do." Rhodes shrugged.

"Well in recollection, could you tell me why my colleague thinks that fern over there is spectacular, is it rare or something?" Roy asked hinting at the plant in the corner.

Rhodes leaned over Roy's shoulder to take a look at the fern.

He leaned back unmoved.

"It's fake." Rhodes said with a concern that Roy was not exactly the brightest in observation.

"Can we cut to the subject?" Major Tavares said inspecting his nails.

"Yes Sir." The two replied.

He pulled out a slightly crimped sheet of paper and handed it to Roy.

"We have orders for you and Sergeant Rhodes to report to the airport." Major Tavares said clearing his throat.

Roy took the paper and read the top carefully.

"You are to report to Com-Sec Intelligence in Nha Trang. We have some hours before we depart, so take the time you need to gather all your belongings." The major said as he checked his watch.

Roy turned around and walked back to the window where he saw the strange woman. He picked his canteen up off the floor and stood there staring out into the crowd. A swarm of thoughts marched into his mind. Moving in tune with the people below. A deep feeling of dread crept over him, followed by the paranoia that began to swirl about his subconscious. "The end is near." He thought.

Rhodes stopped in the kitchen.

"I've heard about you." Rhodes said as he came to Roy's side.

"The usual crap?" Roy asked scratching his beard.

"I hear you used to do solo missions...like that guy who went into the jungle with a nuke on his back...you're the dead man the army keeps around is what I hear." Rhodes said leaning in.

"That's what they say but they don't say that much around SOG, I guess you made the cut...can you do more than mumble into a Radio?" Roy said with a smile.

"I'm carrying a lightened M60 and AT...that's my order but what for, I don't know." Rhodes said.

"Then you must be an exceptional individual because that sounds like this is big, even for me." Roy said sipping the beer.

"Meh..." Rhodes said with a shrug.

"You're not a very expressive individual are you?" Roy asked.

"No..." Rhodes said with a nervous smile.