Free Courier by Terry Irving Page A

over. Kissinger said ‘peace is at hand’ months ago."
    "Yeah, but South Vietnamese ‘President for Life’ Nguyen Van Thieu and his boys seem to have had other ideas, and they blew up the talks." Rick shook his head. "I’m just glad that most of the ground troops are out. That means fewer American grunts on the front lines, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing. I’m not saying that the war was right or wrong, but I do think we’ve had enough good men die over there. Let the Vietnamese work it out."
    Eve turned back to her salad. "Dina said I’d be surprised how different you were from my idea of a Vietnam vet."
    "Most of the vets I know are different from all the other vets I know. Except in one thing – given a choice, we’d rather talk about something else." He smiled. "So, what are you doing for the ‘noble red man’?"
    She looked at him sharply and then realized he was being ironic – not insulting. "Well, as a ‘noble red woman’ and soon to be a ‘noble red lawyer’, I’m working on getting charges dropped, people released, and things settled so that I can get back to winning back some of what was stolen from us."
    "Like Alcatraz?"
    "Hey, it’s not like anyone else was using it. And there’s some good fishing off there."
    Rick laughed.
    Dina gave him a funny look, looked as if she was about to say something, but didn’t.
    The conversation wandered from topic to topic and, when lunch was done, Eve went looking for the ladies’ room, and Dina immediately turned to Rick with all the subtlety of a Manhattan prosecutor.
    "Wait one damn second. In all the time we’ve known each other, I can count the number of times I’ve seen you laugh. Today, you’ve laughed, talked, and generally acted like a normal human. What’s up?"
    "Nothing’s up." He held his hands up, palms out. "See, I’ve got nothing to hide."
    "No, you like that young girl, and she likes you." She shook her head in mock disbelief. "I thought I’d never see it. All these years that I’ve watched women throw themselves at you without even scratching that smooth surface, and she just walks in and… wham!"
    "There is no wham. There has been no wham, and there will be no wham."
    "Only if you’re a lot dumber than I think you are." Dina gathered up her things. "Well, like any good lawyer, I can see when it’s time to lose gracefully, so I’m going to get out of here. Why don’t you walk her home? She’s staying right around the corner from your place."
    He did try, but Rick couldn’t think of a good reason not to follow Dina’s advice.
    As they walked through the quiet of a Capitol Hill afternoon, Eve asked why he was a courier.
    "Why not?"
    "Isn’t it dangerous?"
    "Nah, the statistics for accidents on a motorcycle are about the same as a car after the first six months, and… well, I just like it."
    "What is it you like? It’s cold. It’s wet. Why not sit in a nice warm car?"
    "Well," Rick paused. "It’s all about turns. Everyone thinks that motorcycling is just going real fast in a straight line, but it’s not. The bike is just a big gyroscope, so it bends against a turn. The harder you turn, the more it leans over."
    "Like a sailboat?"
    "Who knows? I’ve never sailed. Are there a lot of sailboats in Montana?"
    Eve made a face. "Let me think… On an average day, I’d say there were approximately… none."
    They both laughed. "Well, a bike going through turns is like… It sounds dumb, but it’s like dancing. You swoop, drop your weight down so far you think you’re going to scrape the road, and then come up and drop over to the other side and do it again. If you go slowly, it’s a terrific way to see the country."
    "And if you go fast?"
    "Well, if you go fast, it’s a very different thing."
    She turned her head. "How so?"
    "Hard to describe.