But her time in the army had not turned into the lifelong career she’d intended. Four years ago, while in Iraq, a noncombat field exercise had turned into a firefight when her platoon encountered a Taliban group of three times their number. The encounter took place in an area supposedly free of Taliban presence, but the bullet that punched through the sergeant’s throat had changed that math forever. The lieutenant was the next to fall, and in under six minutes, more than half of her fellow soldiers were down, dead or wounded. It left Mia, a newly minted corporal, in charge, and she rallied her remaining men, found good cover in a cluster of tall rocks, and engaged the enemy. By then, night was falling, and as soon as it was too dark to see, she’d put on her night vision goggles, told the others to hold fast, and went searching for survivors. She dragged three soldiers back to the rocks, and on her fourth sally encountered a group of four Taliban who were sneaking up on her position. They were spread in a wide line, attempting to encircle the rocks.

Mia slung her rifle, drew her knife, and went hunting in the dark.

She was terrified and had not, until that night, ever drawn blood in a fight.

When dawn came and helos came whipping in over the mountains, the rescue team found five American dead, several wounded, and seven Taliban with their throats cut. In that long, hellish night, Mia had avenged her five fallen brothers-in-arms, and then took two more as punishment. She earned the Silver Star and the nickname Little Devil. It was notable that none of the soldiers tried to minimize that as Little She-Devil.

One month later, an older, middle-aged Black woman who looked remarkably like Whoopi Goldberg was waiting for her in the colonel’s office at the base. The woman introduced herself as Aunt Sallie and said she worked for a domestic counterterrorism rapid response group called the Department of Military Sciences. And she was there to offer Mia Kleeve a job.

Mia ultimately joined Manitou Team, a DMS team based in Colorado Springs. From there she rolled out on missions on six continents and became a personal favorite of Aunt Sallie’s.

Then two things happened. First, Aunt Sallie had a terrible stroke and was forced to retire. It broke Mia’s heart. Auntie had been like a real aunt to her.

And shortly after, the DMS closed up shop in the United States and re-formed in Greece as Rogue Team International. Everyone who worked for the DMS was given a choice of retirement with full pay and benefits package, or they could travel the world and kick more terrorist ass. For Mia, it was not even a question.

Now she was officially part of Chaos Team, though Mr. Church tended to send her out on solo missions. Mia was fiercely independent and liked the autonomy.