They ate in silence as the howling gale shuddered the windows and seemed to want to tear the house off the side of the cliff. Ben had forgotten how hungry he was and devoured every scrap, hot peppers and all. The Pinot went down all too smoothly and the level in the bottle descended fast. When it was finished, Roth fetched another from the fridge. He refilled their glasses, leaned back in his seat and lit up another marijuana joint. ‘Want some of this shit?’ he asked. Ben declined, and took out his Gauloises and Zippo.

Roth sucked down a few puffs, then shook his head as though deep in thought and eyed Ben curiously.

‘Gotta ask you something, man. Iraq was a long fuckin’ time ago. What makes going after Nazim al-Kassar such a big deal to you after all these years? Your life’s moved on.’

‘And Romy Juneau’s life came to a rather sudden end,’ Ben said, as he bathed the tip of his Gauloise in orange flame.

Roth took another puff and blew out a cloud of smoke. ‘People get killed, bro. Ain’t fair or right, but it’s always happened and it always will. You barely even knew this woman.’

‘She’s not the only innocent person he’s harmed. He’ll go on doing it until he’s stopped.’

‘True, but then again you’re not the only one scoping for the motherfucker. Sooner or later someone will take him down. But that’s not good enough for you, is it?’

Ben was quiet for a long moment. Then said, ‘Samara.’

Roth raised an eyebrow. ‘Who’s she?’

Ben replied, ‘Just someone I knew.’

‘Someone Nazim hurt?’

Ben said nothing.

Roth blew more smoke and shrugged. ‘Whatever, man. Everybody’s got their axe to grind. In my case, it’s Carter, Tennant and Lake. My three Delta guys who died in the firefight that day.’

‘I thought only two were killed.’

Roth shook his head sadly. ‘Carter and Tennant were KIA right on the scene. They didn’t deserve to buy the farm, but at least it was a merciful end. Gene Lake was one of the wounded we casevaced out. Poor bastard caught one in the liver. Took him nearly four months to die in agony. I was there, with his wife Sally and their three kids, when he finally passed. Long as I live, I’ll never forget the looks on their faces.’

‘Some things you can’t forget,’ Ben said.

Roth nodded. ‘And some things you can’t forgive. You think the rage will pass, but it don’t. I’ll never stop hating those fanatical sons of bitches.’

‘ISIL?’

‘All of them. The whole rotten bunch.’ Roth’s eyes blazed. ‘These people are savages, right out of the Dark Ages.’

‘That’s what Françoise Schell said, too.’