Not surprisingly, the cycle was consumed with the kidnapping of Nicholas Ward and the death of David Chism. There wasn’t a whole lot to say, though—mostly general background on them and Gideon Auma, as well as speculation as to what this would mean for Ward’s business empire. So far, “sources” said that no demands had been made to secure his release and “experts” assumed this was Auma’s ploy to soften up his opponents in the upcoming negotiation.

Rapp found a headline different from the rest and couldn’t resist clicking on it. The article contained a sketchy description of the attack on Ward’s compound and actually went so far as to acknowledge other people—ones without a trillion dollars—had died in it. Scott Coleman and his organization were mentioned by name.

Of course, there was nothing at all on Rapp. He’d set up his life to be as anonymous as possible and it seemed to have worked. Having said that, it was kind of strange to find that his passing was a blank page. After saving the president of the United States from an attack on the White House, stopping a nuclear bomb from exploding in DC, and preventing a bioterror attack that could have wiped out half the world’s population, his legacy would be… nothing.

Not that it bothered him. It just felt odd. At home in Virginia, he imagined that Maggie Nash would be taking charge like she always did. Decorating the barn, lining up speakers and mourners, ordering food and flowers. He had nothing but confidence that the wake for him, Coleman, and the guys was going to be an eminently tasteful affair.

Claudia would play along from Africa, isolating Anna and telling everyone that she hadn’t yet had the heart to break the news. If things dragged on long enough, she’d be forced to fly back, turn on the waterworks, and thank everyone for what they’d done. It wouldn’t be a problem. She was a former professional liar.

And then everyone would just move on, doing everything they could to forget. To not think about the fact that next time it could be them being eulogized. It could be their spouses standing in stunned silence as people offered meaningless condolences. Their kids trying to understand why their mother or father was never coming home.