6:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time

The Skies over the Atlantic Ocean

The small blue jet with the US Department of State logo streaked north and east across the sky, dark water below them.

Inside the plane, Luke and his new team moved tentatively toward working together for the first time—they used the front four passenger seats as their meeting area. They stowed their luggage, and their gear, in the seats at the back.

Luke glanced around.

This was the young team. They looked like some kind of youth group going for their first overnight.

Trudy Wellington sat directly across from Luke, occasionally tossing her curly brown hair out of her face. She was slim and attractive in a green sweatshirt and blue jeans. Her blue eyes hid behind her big, red-rimmed owl glasses.

Across from Luke and to the left, facing him, was Mark Swann. He stretched his long bird legs out into the aisle, an old pair of ripped jeans and a pair of red Chuck Taylor sneakers there for anyone to trip over. His aviator glasses were tinted yellow. He wore a black Ramones T-shirt, covered by a red flannel shirt.

In the seat next to Luke sat Ed Newsam. His jacket was off now, demonstrating his rippling upper body. He was steely-eyed, huge, a bear of a man. He wore a precisely trimmed beard, his hair shaved to the skin on the sides with about an inch on top. Both his beard and his hair were jet black.

All three of these people were staring hard at Luke. None of them looked friendly. Trudy and Swann seemed edgy, skittish almost, as though their lack of confidence in Luke made them nervous. Newsam didn’t seem nervous at all. He sat back in his seat as though he might fall asleep at any moment.

“So what’s the story, boss man?” he said.

Luke smiled. He and this big kid were going to get tangled up. He could see that already. “Boss man, huh?”

“Would you prefer if I call you Hot Rod?” Newsam said.

“Why don’t you call me Luke? Or you can also try Mr. Stone.”

Newsam grunted at that.

Luke glanced out his window. It was a bright day, but the sun was already behind them. In a little while, as they moved further east, the sky would begin to darken. Iraq was a long way, so far that they’d have to stop in Germany to refuel.

“Trudy?”

She nodded, her eyes going wider than before. Luke had suddenly thrust her on stage. “Yes?”

“You’re the intelligence officer, right?”

“Yes.”

Luke shrugged. “Well, we all know something about this case, but you probably know the most. I imagine you have some paperwork on all this, don’t you?”

She nodded again. “Of course. Sure.”

“Why don’t you fill us in?”