Contents ( 84)
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EIGHTY-TWO
- EIGHTY-THREE
- Acknowledgements
‘How?’
‘He . . . he knew my dad. My dad and my mom. And after my dad died, he kind of . . . stepped in.’
‘With your mother?’
‘No. Not that at all. With me. He became, well, he became like a father to me. He guided me. Helped me. He made me what I am. Then my mom died when I was eighteen and I have no other family. Until Natasha, John was all I had.’
‘How did he know your parents?’
‘My father was under his command in SEAL Team Six,’ Grace explained. ‘His name was Pablo Lopez.’
Dempsey seemed to think for a moment.
‘The SEAL who helped Knowles with the Black Hawk? Who won the posthumous Medal of Honor?’
‘Yes. The president and my dad, they pulled those guys from the burning helicopter together. They carried them back through enemy fire. The president made it out of there alive. My dad didn’t.’
‘Eden, that happened on the way back from Tootkai. If what Jangi Shah says about what took place there is true . . .’
‘Then my dad was guilty of war crimes as well.’
Grace fixed her stare on Dempsey, her confidence returning.
‘That’s why I don’t believe it, Dempsey. It didn’t happen.’
‘How can you be so sure? You must have been what, fourteen years old? How would you even know.’
‘I was thirteen, but that doesn’t change anything. I’m telling you what I know. My dad couldn’t do those things. And neither could John Knowles.’
‘But what if they could? What if they did? Sometimes things happen in wartime. Sometimes you don’t know people as well as you think.’
‘If they did it then I want to know. Because if they did, then I’ve been lied to my whole life. If they did, then I’ve been wrong about everything.’
Dempsey stayed silent. He didn’t seem to know what to say.
Unlike Grace.
‘But I’m not wrong,’ she continued, her voice firmer. ‘And you’re going to see that when we get to Tootkai. John didn’t do this. And neither did my dad.’
Again, Dempsey said nothing.
‘Think about it. If John is guilty of any of this, why would he send me to warn you, Dempsey? Why would he do that?’
‘What makes you think he was sending you to warn me?’ he asked. ‘Did he order you to do that?’
‘No, not explicitly. But I don’t think he could,’ Grace explained. ‘There were five other people in that room with me. And who knows how many in his room with him.’
‘So what? He’s the president. What does it matter who else is there or who else hears him?’
‘I don’t know the answer to that, Dempsey. If I did I’d be at the goddamned White House, helping him, instead of here helping you. All I know is this: he told me to “do my duty, do what’s right”. And he said it twice.’
Dempsey didn’t seem to be convinced.