15
The smoke of the cigars drifted lazily in the air as Rear Admiral Harcourt bid good night to Dominic and Nicholas.
Once they were alone, Dominic puffed on his cigar, then released a breath, forming a smoke circle that traversed the space between him and his old friend, until it grew so large it seemed to frame Nicholas’s head.
Nicholas leaned forward in his chair, his eyes intense. Doves from outside the open windows cooed, and the cries of Jamaican monkeys could be heard from deep in the jungle beyond the windows. Dominic finally allowed himself to relax. He’d been worried about his reunion with Roberta and Nicholas and how they might react. Had they accidentally betrayed his identity, he could have ended up on the wrong end of a hangman’s noose.
“Happy to see me?” he said to Nicho
