“But there were weapons in use. Weapons fired. So he’s the responsible party. He’s the one who permitted this.”

She could not deny it.

“Gina, this is a major problem with him. Very frankly, I’m surprised.”

“I could not agree more, but we have a situation on the ground that requires immediate attention.”

“What do you suggest?”

“We’ve had an aggressive move. I think we should drop in an air strike.”

“We were the aggressors, Gina.”

“I don’t know the details of what happened, I wasn’t there.”

“It’s your job to know the details!”

“Excuse me, it’s my job to provide satellite-based surveillance in support of a field reconnaissance mission. Obviously, I am not going to be able to describe ground actions in detail beyond the limits of my equipment. The bottom line is that our man was killed. I want to pull Mark back. In fact, I already have. My suggestion is that we evacuate the civilians from the area and put down a load of napalm.”

“That’s a bonehead idea if I ever heard one.”

“Thank you.”

“An air strike is out of the question. Please understand this.”

“Doctor, it’s not to attack them. But we need to let them know that if they hurt us, we’re going to be reactive. I’ll put it in tight on the area where the event took place. They’re long gone from there by now, but it will send a message.”

“That we’re aggressive.”

“That we care about our people!”

He hung up on her. Anger made her grip the phone and curse under her breath. But his was an advisory position. He did not run this show, she did. She called her boss, George Hammond.

“You’re supposed to e-mail. For the record.”

“I had a KIA today, George.”

“Shit!”

“I’ve pulled the rest of the team back and I don’t want to return them to the site because there was some very weird aggression out there, and I think we need a much higher response profile. The time for reconnaissance has ended. What I want to do is put in a pinpoint air strike that’ll destroy the human remains that have been left behind, then we take it from there. Otherwise, we’re gonna have the locals all over us about this dead soldier, not to mention media.”

“How pinpoint?”

“I’ll send in an F-22. He’ll put down a small incendiary, enough to incinerate the skeleton but limit the damage to a couple of acres of woods. I’ll have him blow it out with HE.” She waited while Hammond thought through the only question that would matter to him, which was what this might do to his career. Then she continued, “I need to cut my orders right now.”

“Dr. Turner knows?”