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leavin’ or not?”
    He looked at her, his voice not much more than a whisper. “It’s what I do, baby. I can’t explain it, but I feel like the only other thing I was ever meant to do was love you. And how’s a man’s supposed to make peace with that?”
    Her eyes filled with tears, and she wiped them away. “What about my peace?”
    He looked down, unable to meet her gaze. She was the only person he had ever feared intellectually. “That’s a fair question,” he said. “If you ask me to wait for the call, I will. It might easily be another month . . . probably will be.”
    â€œLook at me,” she said. “You’re at the top of your game, aren’t you?”
    He considered that for a moment. “Yes, ma’am. I believe I am.”
    She lifted the glass, finished the wine, then reached for his cigarette, drawing deeply from it and giving it back. She exhaled and turned to stare into the flames of the fire. “That girl put herself on the line for this country, and now she’s living a nightmare. I reckon she deserves the best this country’s got in return.” She turned to look at him. “But this time you will make me that promise. This time you will promise to come home alive. Otherwise, you do not have my blessing.”
    He puckered his lips to suppress his smile, knowing that she had him over the barrel. “I promise.”
    â€œYou promise what?” she said, arching her brow.
    â€œI promise to come home alive.”
    â€œAnd you will keep that promise,” she said, pointing her finger. “Otherwise, when I eventually arrive in heaven, I will not speak to you. I will not speak to you for at least a thousand years, Gil Shannon. Do you understand me?”
    â€œJesus Christ,” he muttered. “That long?”
    â€œDo you understand me?”
    â€œYes, ma’am, I do . . . and I believe you mean it.”
    She stood up from the hearth, straightening the tails of her denim shirt. “You’d better. Now, I am going upstairs to have my bath. Will you still be awake when I’m finished?”
    He looked up at her and smiled. “That depends. Do I get a kiss before you go up? A little something to prime the pump?”
    She leaned over to kiss him affectionately on the mouth, then turned and left the room.

4
AFGHANISTAN,
Nuristan Province, Waigal Village
    Sandra awoke the next morning to the sound of a very heated argument between two men in the next room. She couldn’t understand a word of what was being said, but she knew that it must have something to do with her. She was no longer tied to the bed, but that hardly mattered. Given the inflamed condition of her leg, she was in no shape for escape or evasion, and she didn’t even have socks to wear, much less a pair of shoes. The food she’d been given was coarse and unknown to her, but she suspected that it was a goat meat stew. What worried her was that the water tasted bad. She knew she wouldn’t last long if she caught a gastrointestinal infection, but there was no other way for her to survive in the short term but to stay hydrated.
    She wondered if her husband, John, had been told yet of her disappearance. She doubted it. John was her only family, stationedin the Philippines where he flew cargo planes for the Air Force, and Sandra knew that informing him of her abduction was less of an immediate priority than if he were a civilian. In other words, they’d tell him when they got around to it. Sandra was no fool. She knew she was photogenic, and she knew the State Department would already be scrambling in their attempts to get out in front of the story, possibly even scrambling to keep it under wraps. She was now a pawn in the big chess game, and she didn’t give herself much of a chance, particularly since she had no extended family to apply pressure on her behalf. She also knew quite well that in