Leslie

“In his mind’s eye, though, he sees—
—Taliban
moving like scorpions across a similar landscape
his own caravan blown to shit
blood streaming from buddies
Now I’m one of them
He sights in again.
No time for
Lack of PTSD
He only hopes that
Gentle Ben
Increase-the-Peace Ben
is one of them, too, now.
Now, Ben.
Find your inner Taliban.”
― Don Winslow

“I’m not—
Lady Macbeth
Lucrezia Borgia
Catherine the Great. I am
—a woman doing what she has to do. I am
—the woman you made me.
Elena is at war.”
― Don Winslow

“He feels
ennui
depression
adrift in his life. Purposeless, perhaps because
—dig a well in the Sudan and thejanjaweed come in and shoot the people anyway
—buy mosquito nets and the boys
you save grow up to
—rape women
—set up cottage industries in Myanmar and the army
—steals them and uses the women as slaves and
Ben is starting to be afraid that he is starting to share Chon’s opinion of the human species
that people are basically
shit.”
― Don Winslow

“The boys quiet until Ben looks across the table at Chon, holds his thumb and index finger a millimeter apart, and says, “We’re that close to being gay.”
They laugh for half an hour.
Collective dicks”
― Don Winslow