Luke peered inside a cell. The cell had a low ceiling, and four or five women and girls were in there. They cowered toward the back, the women crouched in front of the girls, evidently trying to protect them. He looked up the row. There appeared to be people in every cell.

“Who are they?” Luke said.

Parr shrugged. “Locals. Wives and daughters of imams and big shots. I don’t know who they all are. I don’t even care. All I know is before we started taking hostages, the bad boys were attacking this place every day. Now they know we got their women, and they come looking to negotiate. Nothing’s come of it so far, but these little chickadees could be our ticket out of here.”

“What do you tell the husbands?” Ed Newsam said. “You’re gonna sell their women to Al Qaeda?”

Parr shook his head. He smiled. “Nah. This is Sunni country around here. Half these guys like Al Qaeda, or are in Al Qaeda. We tell them we’re gonna sell their women to the Shiites.”

Luke glanced at Cole. Cole had been arrested with a truck full of women and girls. Big Daddy had taught him to say that he was a pimp and a rapist.

“You do anything to them yet?” Luke said.

Parr put a finger to his lips. “Sshhhh. Don’t ever talk like that. If the men outside these walls thought for one minute that these girls were ruined, or whatever these barbaric Arab concepts are, they’d blow us all apart in an afternoon. Us, the girls, the wives… we’d all be dead and they wouldn’t care. Because of the shame. And they could do it, too. These walls are thick, but our neighbors have anti-tank weapons. The only thing keeping us alive right now is we have hostages, and the men outside think they are safe and intact.”

They left the jail and Parr closed the door behind him. He moved ahead down the hallway. They passed into a wide chamber with a two-story ceiling.

“You’re trapped in here, Parr,” Luke said.

Parr nodded, but didn’t bother to turn around. “Yeah. You could say that.”

Luke decided that this was as good a time as any. He and Ed were in here with Parr and one other man. They might not get an opportunity like this again. From what Luke had seen, Parr’s little army was past it. Their vulnerability had finally dawned on them. If Parr gave up, the rest of them probably would, too.

“Even if you could somehow bargain your way past the local Sunnis, you’ll never manage to get all this stuff out of the country. Border guards, Al Qaeda, American military checkpoints, satellites, drones, helicopters… forget it.”

Parr simply stood. He still didn’t turn.