“And even if I did have something urgent, you’d still make me take the time,” Gilroy said impatiently. “I called Korgan when I started back and told him that Masenak was still at the camp and showed no signs of leaving. He must have told you that the attack was still a go.”

“Yes, but that’s all he told me. He’s been too busy to take a breath all day, and he brushed me off like a mosquito buzzing around him. He’s been making decisions on all fronts and he doesn’t want to deal with me.” She added shakily, “And that’s okay. I’m not stupid enough to get in his way right now. I’ve watched him, and he knows exactly what he’s doing.”

“Yes, he does.” Gilroy’s voice was no longer impatient. “He’s almost as good at this kind of thing as I would be. But he lacks a certain finesse in the details. He’ll never be Indiana Jones.” He smiled. “For instance, I would never treat you like a buzzing mosquito. I’d realize, if I did, your bite would give me West Nile virus.”

“Right. But I have certain priorities, and Korgan is providing almost all I need. The only thing missing is information. So I waited to get it from you. I’ll let you go as soon as you just answer a few questions.” She swallowed. “Did you see Sasha?”

“I thought that would be the first question,” he said gently. “Only from a distance. It would have been dangerous for both of us for me to make contact with her. I saw her going in and out of the prisoner tent several times, and she seemed in fairly good shape. If you were worried about any mistreatment by Masenak being part of the reason for the SOS she sent out, I believe you can rest easy. Something else must have triggered it.”

“Of course I was worried.” She grimaced. “Sasha has been the one who’s taken all the punishment since this nightmare began. It drives me crazy that I can’t seem to stop it. I knew you were doing surveillance today, but I didn’t know if you’d get close enough to the camp to catch a glimpse of her.”

“I said I couldn’t contact her, but there was no way I could keep from going into the camp,” he said quietly. “After Korgan decided on the exact time of the drone attack, I had to let Sasha know. I waited until after dark, and then paid another visit to her tent to leave a message.”

She inhaled sharply. “You shouldn’t have done that. If you’d been caught, you could have ruined everything.”