In Delta, they let you carry what you wanted—what you felt would be effective. Don kept that tradition intact.

The sounds of the chopper blades and the winds were nearly deafening, but he and Ed could talk if they wanted to. So far, they hadn’t. But Luke felt he should try to mend fences a little bit. It was hard to go into combat sitting next to a man who hated him.

“Ed!” Luke shouted.

Ed nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“You got a problem with me? That’s fine! But don’t get me killed out here! Okay?”

Ed looked at him with squinted eyes. “What do you take me for, man?”

“An angry kid!”

“I’m a professional,” Ed said. He raised a big, gloved fist. “I’ll hurt you with this. But I ain’t gonna let these men out here hurt you. Ruin my enjoyment?”

He shook his head.

“Unh-uh.”

Luke nodded.

“Good enough. Just remember who’s in charge.”

The pilot’s voice appeared inside Luke’s headset.

“Guys! ETA two minutes. Two minutes to the drop site. This is a touch and go, just like we said in the briefing. So when I set it down, do your thing, or you’ll be hanging off my rails. Two minutes.”

Luke and Ed grabbed their weapons and clambered out onto the wooden side-mounted bench seats, their legs dangling in the air. The chopper adjusted to the redistribution of weight.

They came in low over the camp, just above a cluster of tents, their entry flaps blowing in the wind. The camp was bigger than it had looked in the satellite photos—much of it had been deliberately obscured by sand-colored tarps. Still, the place seemed like a ghost town. No one was out.

The Little Bird pilot hit the old helipad directly in the middle. He touched down and both men slid out onto the hard-packed desert gravel. Three seconds later, the chopper was back in the air.

Luke and Ed ran across the dusty campsite, holing up in the shade of a low cinderblock outbuilding. The chopper banked hard to the right, turning toward the north and east, out of harm’s way. Within seconds, it was a speck moving higher and now turning toward the south. It would circle at a safe distance until they called it back.

“Okay,” Ed said. “You’re the boss. What first?”

Luke gestured with his head. “Those large tents in the middle there. I’d say that is, or was, the headquarters.”

“What about these buildings?” Ed said.

“Food storage and weapons storage, if I had to guess.”

Ed nodded, then shrugged, as if he wasn’t sure.

“What do you think they are?” Luke said.

“I have no idea, white man. They pay you to do the thinking.”

“Don’t think in that case,” Luke said. “Guess.”