The Vets (Stephen Leather Thrillers) (80 page)

The Americans had decided that Vietnam was a good place to wait while the furore caused by the bank heist died down, and the nuns had been more than happy to offer them a place to stay, partly as a gesture of thanks for the half a million dollars they’d given them, and partly because the men had been keen to offer their time, mending the leaking roof, replacing broken windows and painting the walls.

Carmody studied his hand, the cards clipped between the prongs of his claw. The eight, ten, jack, queen and king of hearts. He had told everyone he planned to go to California eventually and open a bar.

Doherty threw a hundred dollar bill into the centre of the table. He had decided to go back to Thailand, but was happy hanging around with the Americans for the time being.

Horvitz had a straight, and he saw Doherty and raised him another hundred dollars. He’d told Doherty he wanted to spend some time in Thailand, the Land of Smiles, but he’d been hatching several business plans with Carmody and it was looking increasingly like he’d be ending up in California.

It was Lehman’s turn to bet, and he threw 200 dollars into the pot. Lehman wasn’t sure yet what he intended to do. He knew one thing for sure: first he had to fly back to the States to talk to a small boy, and there was a college fund to be set up. Then he’d come back to Vietnam, for a while at least. He had things to do here, things that Bart would have wanted done if he’d been alive. He flicked the corners of his cards. He was looking forward to helping the nuns and their children. For the first time in a long while, he felt lucky.