The big plan had always been to build up enough to live on and then take off for one of the Independent Keys. Largo, perhaps. Good coastal defense, lots of trees, non-aggression treaty with the other Keys and part of the Caribbean League itself. Sounded like heaven. And if he’d had to kill to get there, what better place to do some penance than paradise? But with Mel gone, it all became meaningless. His life became meaningless.