“Speaking of which, I’d better get back to the group.”
“Of course,” she replied. “Goodnight.”
I said goodbye and then hung up. Feeling momentarily comforted with the thought that Noah was okay, I headed back to my party and sat down beside Natsuo. He was a diminutive man who was much younger than I had first thought. He turned to me with a bright smile.
/> “I must say, Mr. Middleton,” Natsuo said. “You were a surprise to me.”
I smiled. “Please, call me Jake,” I insisted. “Why exactly was I a surprise to you?”
Natsuo shrugged. “I suppose I was expecting someone older, someone less…scary looking.”
I laughed. “Am I scary looking?”
“You look like an army man.”
“I am an army man,” I pointed out.
“Yes, but I didn’t expect you to look like one,” he clarified.
Another one of the Japanese delegates turned to me as well as he overheard some of our conversation. “Natsuo told us only this morning that you used to serve in the military,” Hiro said.
“I did,” I nodded. “I enlisted when I was eighteen years old.”
“What made you enlist?” Kazumi asked, as more and more of the group joined into our conversation.
“The truth is, I come from a family of soldiers,” I admitted. “In fact, there’s been at least one man in every generation of my family that has served in the military since the civil war. I suppose it’s in my blood. My father was a war vet, too, and so was my grandfather before him. I wanted to enlist ever since I was a young boy. I enlisted on my eighteenth birthday, attended West Point, and spent most of my military career overseas.”
“Any place in particular?” Hiro asked.
“Mostly Afghanistan,” I said.
“But you’re not in the military anymore?” Natsuo pointed out.
I hesitated. “No… I retired after my third tour of duty.”
“Three tours of duty,” Hiro said. “That is very impressive. What was your rank in the military?”
“I was a major,” I replied.
There was a murmur that went up among the group, and I saw the men look at me with obvious admiration in their eyes.
“And now, you are CEO of a big maritime company,” Saburo said, and there was an ironic tilt to his tone.
“I know,” I smiled, trying to keep the mood light. “Who would’ve have thought? I can’t quite believe it myself, sometimes.”
“How long ago did you retire?” Saburo asked, with interest.
I felt my throat constrict a little. I didn’t want to be talking about this. My military career had come to a sudden and unexpected close, and I didn’t want to relive the details. I could feel the memories collecting slowly at the back of my mind, and even as I tried to resist them, I knew it was useless.
“Three years ago,” I replied. “Just about.”
“You are a very young man to have done so much,” Hiro pointed out.
“Ah, he still has more to do,” Natsuo said, giving me a smile. “I see you wear no ring on your finger.”
Laughter went up among the group, and I knew the booze was doing its job. “You’re not married?” Hiro asked.
“No,” I said, a little too quickly. “No, I’m not married.”