“Then they’ll find a way to further sabotage Sunnyside’s network, requiring a longer presence,” Raeburn replied coolly.

Tom swallowed a sigh of resignation. “Then I’ll get right to it.”

“Thank you, Agent Hunter,” Molina said quietly. “Agent Raeburn, you’re free to hang up. I’d like to speak with Agent Hunter alone, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not,” Raeburn said. “Call me if you learn anything new, Hunter.”

Molina waited until Raeburn had ended his connection. “You know,” she said, “I talked to Liza’s former commanding officer.”

“You mean, in the army?” Tom asked, startled at the topic change. “When?”

“The first time was before she and Mercy visited Ephraim Burton’s mother in that nursing home. I wanted to be sure that she wasn’t a security risk and that she had the skills we required.”

Tom knew he shouldn’t have been surprised. Molina had accepted Liza’s involvement, had allowed her to know about Eden, had permitted her proximity to Mercy. He’d thought at the time that Molina simply valued his opinion and approved Liza’s involvement on his say-so. How naive was I? How arrogant?

“What did he say?” he asked, a little subdued. “Her former CO, I mean?”

“He said that we couldn’t have picked anyone better suited to shoulder the responsibility. That she was levelheaded in a crisis, that she employed diplomacy when dealing with delicate situations, and that she could shoot her way out when diplomacy was no longer an option. He said she was one of the finest soldiers that he’d ever had the privilege to command. And that her nursing skills were exemplary. Combat surgeons credited her with saving lives because she stabilized field wounds so well. Patients who might have otherwise died didn’t.”

Pride swelled in his chest. He hadn’t known any of that. She hadn’t told him.

You didn’t ask.

God, I’m an asshole.

“You said the first time. Did you call him again?”

“Yes, after she started visiting me at home when I was recuperating.”

“When she did your laundry and cooked for you?”

“Yes. And sat with me, just chatting.”

“Why did you call him a second time? And what did he say?”

“I called him because I had concerns regarding her intentions. She was in my home, after all. He told me that Liza has a nearly limitless need to help and that it’s genuine. You know about the attack on her mission, right? The one where members of her unit were killed?”

“She told me about it.”

“Did she tell you that she saved the lives of four soldiers and five villagers that day, after they’d been shot? That doesn’t include the lives that might have been lost had she not grabbed her rifle and started shooting the rooftop snipers who’d attacked U.S. soldiers on a humanitarian mission and the villagers they’d gone to serve.”

“No. I didn’t know that part. She told me that her . . .” He swallowed. “That her husband had thrown himself over her to shield her, and that he’d died.”