Nicole rolled her eyes. “I’m in so many countries that announcing Celsius and Fahrenheit has become second nature. It’s like living in two worlds. I’ve become a master at converting feet to meters, gallons to liters, pounds to kilos—and back again.”

“Impressive skills. But what I meant by asking how you drink that abomination is actually more of an existential question. You see, I believe if God had wanted us to drink cold coffee, He wouldn’t have invented boiling water.”

“That’s shtuyot bamitz.”

“Nonsense in juice! Look at you with your Hebrew. Still, the fact remains that you think my logic is nonsense only because your brain has been addled by cold coffee. It makes perfect sense to me.” He leaned back in his chair and sipped from his mug.

“I think it’s much more likely that your brain was addled by that bullet,” she said, pointing to the bandage on his left temple. “That was a little too close a shave.”

“Speaking of shave, you like the new look?”

When the nurse said she needed to shave where the bullet had grazed him in order to stitch up the wound, he’d sweet-talked her into removing the hair all around his head, leaving only some tightly buzzed hair on top.

“I think you’ve watched Heartbreak Ridge a few too many times.”

“Oorah.” Nir took another sip.

“Seriously, that was a little too close. Between Iran and Syria… I don’t know. How many close calls do you get?”

He lowered his mug to the table. “No, I can’t talk about that. If thoughts like that get into my mind, I’ll freeze up someday.”

Nicole had a habit of slowly twisting her straw in cold drinks, which she was doing now. “On the field of operation, yes, I agree. You’ve got to just go on instinct. But in these downtimes, you need to ask yourself the what-ifs, Nir. What if that bullet had been millimeters to the right? Where would your soul be right now?”

Nir waved his hands. “Please, Nicole. I’m tired. I don’t think I’m up for one of these big eternal soul discussions. Seriously, I just got shot this morning.”

Nicole stared at him, but then a sad smile spread across her face. “You’re right. Just because it’s on my mind doesn’t mean I have to burden you with it. There’s a time and a place. This is neither.”

Nir reached over the table and took her hand. “Thank you. Now, what did you hear about the contents of those cases we pulled on the op? I got wind that it’s good news.”