Final Vector by Allan Leverone Page A

stretch of highway from that direction as well.
    Their task complete, Dimitrios pulled a radio from his back pocket and spoke quietly into it. He told Tony that the transport truck would be arriving at the scene momentarily and the road was now clear. The entire operation took just over one minute.
    The men disappeared into the night behind the billboard.

Chapter 19
    "I'm tellin' ya, the Cubbies are never going to win a World Series." Private First Class Eric Young pounded his fist on the truck's steering wheel to emphasize his point to the man in the passenger seat, Private First Class Milt Stanley, who seemed completely uninterested in the fortunes of the Chicago Cubs or in anything else Young had to say for that matter.
    "Yeah, well," Stanley said in his distinctive Alabama drawl,
    "baseball's a pussy sport, anyway. Who gives a shit about the Cubs?
    You wanna talk sports, let's talk Crimson Tide football. Nick Sa-ban's brought that program back to where they belong, which is on the top of the heap in the SEC. They might just be better right now than they have been at any time since the Bear." He referenced the late, great coach of the University of Alabama football team, Bear Bryant, the way a devout Catholic might talk about the Pope, with awed reverence and maybe a hint of fear.
    "You know," he continued, "I could have played for the Tide if I hadn't blowed out my knee my senior year of high school."
    Young snorted. "Christ, Milton, you couldn't have gotten into the University of Alabama on the best day you ever had, even considering the virtually nonexistent admissions standards they have for football players, you dumb fuck. I'll bet you can't even spell
    'football.'"
    Stanley adopted an injured look on his expressive black face. "I can spell 'kick your ass,'" he answered without any real conviction, his attention diverted by what appeared to be a serious car accident a few hundred yards ahead on the lonely road.
    Young slowed the truck as the scene came into focus in the glare of the headlights. There had definitely been a two-car wreck, and it looked as though it must have occurred just minutes ago, as acrid black smoke hung thickly in the desert air, issuing from somewhere beneath one or both of the damaged cars.
    Standing in front of the accident scene were two men, clearly the drivers of the vehicles that had been involved in the wreck.
    They were trading punches, completely oblivious to the camouflaged U.S. Army transport truck slowing to a stop a few yards away.
    "Just go around these two dumb motherfuckers," Stanley drawled. "Let them beat the crap out of each other. What the hell do we care?"
    "I don't think I can make it without going off the road into the desert," Young answered, "and I don't really want to take the chance of getting stuck in that sand. If that happens, we're screwed."
    At that moment, the confrontation between the two men escalated. One caught the other with a roundhouse right and knocked him to the pavement. That man immediately leapt back to his feet, swinging from the heels.
    Young reluctantly stopped the truck a few feet away from them. He opened his door, leaving the truck idling, its big diesel engine rumbling softly in the cool desert night.
    "What the fuck are you doing?" asked Stanley.
    "What does it look like I'm doing? We can't get around these idiots, so we're going to have to break up this fight and help them push their cars to the side of the road. It's either that or be stuck here until one of them kills the other. I like watching mixed mar-tial arts as much as the next guy, but we don't really have time for this."
    Stanley grunted noncommittally.
    "You stay here and I'll be right back," Young told him, following protocol, which dictated that at least one man remain with the vehicle to safeguard its contents at all times. He climbed down out of the cab and approached the two men, barking authoritatively to get their attention. It didn't work, as they continued pounding on each