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Chapter One PHANTOMS     What he does is steal children."     "Translation, please, Vincent."     "Jack and Jill split up, she gets the kids. Or him, it doesn't matter, somebody loses. So maybe they're a sore loser. They get hold of Carlos, Carlos gets them their kids."     "Kidnaps them."     "Well, that depends a lot on your point of view. It was your kids, you might call it repossession. Especially if you got yourself a judgment. In another state, you know, that award you custody."     "I see a connection. It's a bit like what he did on his first tour."     "You mean, bringing out pilots."     "Yes. Don't you think so? Recovery. But a bit, let's say, tarnished. Is he proud of himself, do you think, doing what he does now?"     "How the hell do I know?"     "You served with him nearly a year on a long-range patrol team. Four or five men together for weeks at a time, under stressful conditions. I assume you get to know each other quite well. You should be able to estimate his feelings."     "Mr. Knox, about me, I don't mess inside people. This shrink at Bragg ... They were drafting civilian doctors, slapping things on their collars. This one had a leaf. Asked me all kinds of shit, my dreams and so forth, did I ever dream of making it with a guy. I said no, but there were probably guys in the stockade who'd let him blow them for a couple of dollars. That's what I think of messing inside people. What I know about Carlos is, first, he's from somewhere down there, but you can't tell by how he looks or how he talks English. Two, he knows the jungle like I used to know Newark. Guy with us, he gets himself a bad toothache about ninety klicks the wrong side of the DMZ. We were in Newark, I'd find him a dentist. Carlos finds him a plant works better than novocaine, and the bum tooth just falls out in a couple days. Three, he doesn't gab a hell of a lot. Like, he won't come up and put your hand on his tit and tell you how he doesn't like himself. You want a profile on him, get someone else. My job was to find him."     "How did you do it? We didn't even know he was in this hemisphere, Or even alive."     "I got lucky. We had this guy on the team got hurt pretty bad. Not on patrol or anything. Some dipshit ran him over with an APC. Black guy named Sobers. Cut him in two. I mean, the tread got him right in the joint and mashed him like a bug from there to the knees. But not anything vital, so the doctors, they managed to save him. Half anyway. It was me, I'd rather be dead. He's in a VA hospital in Charleston. I looked him up and went to see him, asked if he knew how to reach Carlos. He said no, then a couple days later he called me. His mother had found a number for him."     "In San Diego."     "An answering service, ask for Carl Marengo. All I had to do then was call some guys I know. Once I had a name."     "Marengo."     "That's the name he uses with the lawyers. He's got a Wyoming PI ticket under it. I wouldn't be surprised he had other names. Or if his actual base is over the border. I had more time, I'd have more information."     "You have all we need. You did well, Vincent."     "I got lucky."     "It's beyond luck. That you found him at all is amazing. More, that you found him as soon as you did. And even more so that he does what he's doing. Ape Thomas is psychic. He had that reputation, but I put no stock in it until I served with him. He jumped with the Brits at Arnhem, did you know that? Liaison between them and the Eighty-second. The story was he knew before they took off that they'd be jumping on top of two panzer divisions. Mythology, thought I, but he had hunches like that in Southeast Asia. Now it's `Get me that kid that Bobby Paley sent us, the one that raided solo north of the Zone!' says the Ape, or bellows, rather, in his charming manner. `His poppa was president of one of those countries! He's going to be my pathfinder platoon!'     "I said, `Yes sir!' of course. If you decide to take part in this exercise, Vincent--and I think I can persuade him to take you--don't ever, ever question one of his orders. If he asks you something, by all means answer frankly. But don't question an order. He's perfectly capable of killing you on the spot, or making you wish he had. I said, `Yes sir!' and after I assigned you to look for Carlos, I took steps to locate others with similar skills. I thought it would more likely take three years than three weeks--that is to say, if Carlos was findable, period. When we PCS'd back to the States, he stayed on over there, doing something or other for the Agency. No one has heard from him since the fall of Saigon. His brother pestered DOD for years. The Ape, on the other hand, knew he'd turn up. He's psychic."     "What if Carlos doesn't want to go?"     "That's the point I've been making. He's in recovery, getting things back. That's what Ape's mission is, though I don't know myself what or who they're supposed to recover. Carlos does it for money. The mission pays well. Why shouldn't he go?"     "It could be a mess, that's why. Ape Thomas, what I hear, is very good, but he's been out to stud for five, six years. And I don't care who's in charge, you take a team down there, it could be messy. You going?"     "I'm staff, Vincent."     "Yeah. Well, I'm not going either."     "I'm sorry to hear that. Judging from your combat record and what you've done for us, you'd be a valuable addition."     "Yeah. But I kind of lost my taste for being shot at. I'm not even sure I still like shooting people. He could feel the same way."     "I thought you didn't `mess' with inner feelings. Are you suggesting that he's lost his nerve?"     "All I said is, maybe he won't want to."     "What he wants doesn't matter. Stealing children does seem a comedown from three tours of operating in North Vietnam. If his nerve's gone bad, perhaps Ape won't want him. But if Ape wants him ... Never, ever disappoint the Ape. We have fraud at least. Illegal entry into the U.S. I doubt Carlos files tax returns. Kidnapping here and there wouldn't surprise me. If all else fails, Mr. Keegan has friends in Mexico. He'll go. "     "Mr. Knox, there's another thing I know about Carlos. He's not the kind of guy gets pushed around."     "Come on, Vincent, I know him too. He was my platoon sergeant. I wasn't always staff, believe it or not. If beg the man he was, he'll jump at our offer. If his nerve's gone bad, we'll explain, and he'll go crawling." Excerpted from Glass Mountain by R. M. KOSTER. Copyright © 2001 by Richard M. Koster. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.