The Enemy

thumb,” I said. “Chase the one they sent farthest away, because they see him as the weakest link.”
    “Now?” she said.
    I shook my head.
    “We’re going to Paris next,” I said. “I have to see my mom.”

nineteen
    We repacked our bags and moved out of our VOQ rooms and paid a final courtesy visit to Swan in his office. He had some news for us.
    “I’m supposed to arrest you both,” he said.
    “Why?” I said.
    “You’re AWOL. Willard put a hit out on you.”
    “What, worldwide?”
    Swan shook his head. “This post only. They found your car at Andrews and Willard talked to Transportation Corps. So he knew you were headed here.”
    “When did you get the telex?”
    “An hour ago.”
    “When did we leave here?”
    “An hour before that.”
    “Where did we go?”
    “No idea. You didn’t say. I assumed you were returning to base.”
    “Thanks,” I said.
    “Better not tell me where you’re really going.”
    “Paris,” I said. “Personal time.”
    “What’s going on?”
    “I wish I knew.”
    “You want me to call you a cab?”
    “That would be great.”
    Ten minutes later we were in another Mercedes-Benz, heading back the way we had come fifteen hours before.

    We had a choice of Lufthansa or Air France from Frankfurt-am-Main to Paris. I chose Air France. I figured their coffee would be better, and I figured if Willard got around to checking civilian carriers he would hit on Lufthansa first. I figured he was that kind of a simpleton.
    We swapped two more of the forged travel vouchers for two seats in coach on the ten o’clock flight. Waited in the gate lounge. We were in BDUs, but we didn’t really stand out. There were American military uniforms all over the airport. I saw some XII Corps MPs, prowling in pairs. But I wasn’t worried. I figured they were on routine cooperation with the civilian cops. They weren’t looking for us. I had the feeling that Willard’s telex was going to stay on Swan’s desk for an hour or two.
    We boarded on time and stuffed our bags in the overhead. Buckled up and settled in. There were a dozen military on the plane with us. Paris always was a popular R&R destination for people stationed in Germany. The weather was still misty. But it wasn’t bad enough to delay us any. We took off on time and climbed over the gray city and struck out south and west across pastel fields and huge tracts of forest. Then we climbed through the cloud into the sun and we couldn’t see the ground anymore.

    It was a short flight. We started our descent during my second cup of coffee. Summer was drinking juice. She looked nervous. Part excited, and part worried. I figured she had never been to Paris before. And I figured she had never been AWOL before either. I could see it was weighing on her. Truth is, it was weighing on me a little too. It was a complicating factor. I could have done without it. But I wasn’t surprised to be hit with it. It had always been the obvious next step for Willard to take. Now I figured we were going to be chased around the world by BOLO messages.
Be on the lookout for.
Or else we were going to have a generalized all-points bulletin dumped on us.
    We landed at Roissy–Charles de Gaulle and were off the plane and in the jetway by eleven-thirty in the morning. The airport was crowded. The taxi line was a zoo, just like it had been when Joe and I arrived the last time. So we gave up on it and walked to the
navette
station. Waited in line and climbed into the little bus. It was packed and uncomfortable. But Paris was warmer than Frankfurt had been. There was a watery sun out and I knew the city was going to look spectacular.
    “Been here before?” I said.
    “Never,” Summer said.
    “Don’t look at the first twenty klicks,” I said. “Wait until we’re inside the Périphérique.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Like a ring road. Like the Beltway. That’s where the good part starts.”
    “Your mom live inside it?”
    I nodded. “On one of the nicest avenues in town. Where all the embassies are. Near the Eiffel Tower.”
    “Are we going straight there?”
    “Tomorrow,” I said. “We’re going to be tourists first.”
    “Why?”
    “I have to wait until my brother gets in. I can’t go on my own. We have to go together.”
    She said nothing to that. Just glanced at me. The bus started up and pulled away from the curb. She watched out the window the whole way. I could see by the reflection of her face in the glass that she agreed with