Mal placed the coffee in a holder on the dash and lit a cigarette. Mercifully, he cracked his window.Neely cracked his as well. They were in farmland, speeding through rolling hills, flying past farm tractors and old pickups.
"So what happened?" Neely asked when it became apparent that Mal wanted prompting.
"You know what saved me?"
"Tell us."
"Rake.Eddie Rake. When I was hangin' on for my life, under that boat, I didn't think about my momma or my dad or my girlfriend, I thought about Rake. I could hear him barkin' at us at the end of practice when we were runnin' sprints. I remembered his locker-room speeches. Never quit, never quit. You win because you're tougher mentally than the other guy, and you're tougher mentally because your trainin' is superior. If you're winnin', never quit. If you're losin', never quit. If you're hurt, never quit."
A long pull on the cigarette while the two younger men digested the story.Meanwhile, outside the car, civilian drivers swerved onto shoulders and hit brakes to make way for this law enforcement emergency.
"I finally got hit, in the leg. Did you know bullets can get you underwater?"
"Never really thought about it," Neely admitted.
"Damned right they can.Left hamstring. I never felt such pain, like a hot knife. I almost passed out from the pain, and I was gaspin' for breath. Rake expected us to play hurt, so I told myself Rake was watchin'. Rake was up there somewhere, on the side of the river, watchin' to see how tough I was."
A long cancerous draw on the cigarette; a halfhearted effort to blow the smoke out the window.A long pause as Mal was lost in the horror of this memory. A minute passed.
"Obviously you survived," Paul said, anxious to get to the end of it.
"I was lucky. The other five got boxed up and shipped home. The boat burned and burned and at times I couldn't hang on because the hull was so hot. Then the batteries exploded, sounded like direct mortar hits, and she started to sink. I could hear the gooks laughin'. I could also hear Rake in the fourth quarter, 'Time to suck it up and go, men. Here's where we win or lose. Gut check, gut check.' "
"I can hear him too," Neely said.
"All of a sudden, the shootin' stopped. Then I heard choppers. Two of them had seen the smoke and decided to explore. They came in low, scattered the gooks, dropped a rope, and I got out. When they hauled me in I looked down and saw the boat burnin.' I saw two of my buddies lying on the deck, burnt black. I was in shock and finally passed out. They told me later that when they asked me my name, I said, 'Eddie Rake.' "
Neely glanced to his left as Mal turned away.His voice cracked just a little,then he wiped his eyes. No hands on the wheel for a couple of seconds.
"So you came home?" Paul said.