A part of me expects more of my only sister. I always have, and for me to feel that way after all I’ve been through with her is not only baseless it’s irrational. It’s time to get over it. Dorothy has always been exactly who she is, and for me to hope for anything better reminds me of a quote attributed to Einstein: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Dorothy is predictable. She does the same thing repeatedly and expects not a different result but the same one she got the last time she did whatever she wants with little regard for anyone else. So maybe she’s the sane one, I think ruefully, and as I go through my messages and alerts I’m surprised that General John Briggs just tried to get hold of me. For some reason I missed a call from his home phone minutes ago.

I have a special ring tone for all of his numbers, and I make sure my ringer is turned on. It is. But it was silent, and I don’t know why because our electronic communications are excellent in here. They have to be. Lucy makes sure of it in all of our vehicles, utilizing range extenders, boosters, repeaters or whatever it takes. And I’m seriously beginning to wonder if there’s something wrong with my smartphone. It isn’t one you can buy in a store or online, is virtually hack-proof according to Lucy. But maybe she’s wrong. It depends on who’s doing the hacking.

She’s constantly developing special apps and encryption software that aren’t available on the open market, doing everything possible to make sure our computers, radios, phones and other devices are as secure as anything can be in this day and age. But nothing is infallible. I touch the PLAY arrow, expecting to hear the voice of the chief of the Armed Forces Medical Examiners, the head of U.S. medical intelligence, my friend and former mentor Briggs.

But it’s his wife who tried to reach me, and I know instantly that her news won’t be good. A classic military spouse from an earlier more traditional era, Ruthie has devoted her life to her formidable husband, moving with him whenever his newest orders have come in, running interference and enabling him while she prays he doesn’t get hurt, kidnapped or killed in the destabilized war-ravaged hellholes he frequents.