Keeping Watch (44 page)

Glossary of Vietnam war terms

AK47—Soviet rifle used by
NVA
and
VC

C4—plastic explosives (chunks also burned to heat
C-rations
)

C-rations—Combat rations, canned and eaten cold or heated individually

Charlie—from Victor Charlie, call letters for
VC

Claymore—portable antipersonnel mines

DEROS—Dates Eligible Return from OverSeas

didi; didi mau
—run; run fast

dinky dau
—crazy

FNG—Fucking New Guy

Grunt—foot soldier

KIA—Killed In Action

LAW—Light Antitank Weapon, single-shot rocket in fiberglass tube

LZ—landing zone

M16—semiautomatic rifle issued to American troops from 1967 on

M60—American machine gun

NDP—Night Defensive Position

NVA—North Vietnamese Army (collective or individual)

REMF—Rear Echelon Mother Fucker, who fights his war behind the lines

VC—Viet Cong (South Vietnamese insurgent, usually guerilla fighter)

Other Mystery Novels by Laurie R. King

Mary Russell Novels

THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE

A MONSTROUS REGIMENT OF WOMEN

A LETTER OF MARY

THE MOOR

O JERUSALEM

JUSTICE HALL

Kate Martinelli Novels

A GRAVE TALENT

TO PLAY THE FOOL

WITH CHILD

NIGHT WORK

A DARKER PLACE

FOLLY

Grateful acknowledgment is given for permission to reprint “September 1, 1939,” copyright 1940 and renewed 1968 by W. H. Auden, from W. H. AUDEN: THE
COLLECTED POEMS by W. H. Auden. Used by permission of Random House, Inc.

KEEPING WATCH

A Bantam Book / March 2003

Published by

Bantam Dell

A Division of Random House, Inc.

New York, New York

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the
product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2003 by Laurie R. King

Please visit our website at
www.bantamdell.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Bantam Books is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon
is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

King, Laurie R.

Keeping watch : a novel / by Laurie R. King.

p. cm.

1. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961–1975—Veterans—Fiction. 2. Children—Crimes against—Fiction. 3. Custody of children—Fiction. 4. Kidnapping—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3561.I4813 K46 2003

813′.54—dc21 2002034266

eISBN: 978-0-553-89726-5

v3.0_r1