Now, fourteen years later, he felt an uncontrollable impulse to scream into the night until his throat bled.

No. I won’t do it. It’s not who I am anymore.

Nathan relaxed his hands and slowed his breathing.

He couldn’t allow Montez to ruin his life, his friendship with Harv, and everything he’d developed with Holly. He’d imagined going after Montez many times, but never tried. As far as they knew, Montez had dropped off the face of the Earth more than a decade ago, apparently exiled from his own country, never to be heard from again.

But if Holly’s photo was authentic, Montez had returned. And not only returned, he’d become active again, torturing and killing another victim—and probably more than one.

Nathan couldn’t turn his back on this, but going after Montez involved considerable risk. He knew Harv would demand to be part of any operation against Montez. Could he risk that? Harv had a wife and two sons.

One thing was certain, Montez couldn’t be allowed to operate like this again. On that, he and Harv would strongly agree. So be it. But first things first. Montez had to be found.

***

Holly looked toward the hangars. “How long will he be out there?”

“If he were by himself,” Harv said, “it could be hours. But he won’t keep us waiting that long. He’s going through all kinds of scenarios in his head right now. If-then scenarios. If this happens, I’ll do this. I’d also be willing to bet he’s making a phone call.”

“To whom?”

“General Hawthorne.”

“The Marine Corps commandant?”

“Yes, our old CO. He helped us with the Bridgestone case, looked into the DOD records for us.”

Holly remembered. “What can you tell me about Nicaragua? The man who did this.”

Harv sighed. “We called him Monty Goose, but his full name is Colonel Juan Montez de Oca. Oca means “goose” in Spanish. Nathan made up the nickname to antagonize him. Montez hated it.”

“Why would Nathan want to anger his interrogator?”

“Despite the physical pain, interrogation is a mind game more than anything else. A strong-willed victim can turn the situation around on his tormentor, but it usually comes at a very high price.”

“Are you saying Nathan purposely made it harder on himself?”

Harvey joined her in the front seat. “What I’m saying is, he could have made it easier, but didn’t.”

“Montez didn’t break him?”

“Not entirely. Nathan kept changing his story. Montez never learned the real truth, or even extracted Nathan’s real name. Even if he had, he couldn’t have verified anything. We were off the books. No paper at all. So in a sense, Nathan broke Montez, not the reverse. At the end, he was torturing Nathan purely out of frustration and anger.”

“I can’t imagine what he went through.”