“I definitely would have, all right?”

“I hope you mean that. I hope you sincerely feel that that was the right way to fly. Because he bought you lots of hassle—”

“He did the right thing!” She turned to him, her face red and furious. “You know, maybe I will take a cab—”

“Stop—”

“I just dealt with those morons for four hours and I’m not in the mood for this garbage, okay?”

Decker held her arm. “You want to know what I think?”

“No, actually, I don’t want to know. But I’m sure I’m going to find out.”

“I know that Koby absolutely did the right thing. And I know why.” His eyes zoomed in on his daughter’s. “The question is … do you know why?”

Cindy glared at him. It was then that Decker noticed her eyes were wet. She wiped them and said, “I’m a little tired for a test right now. Get to the point.”

Decker shrugged. “If he hadn’t shot back, if he hadn’t reacted … nobody, and I mean nobody, would have wanted to work with you. They would have taken one look at his shot-out car and they’d all be thinking, what the hell was she doing while this was going down? Was she ducking while he was dodging bullets? What if that had been my ass behind the wheel? No one wants a partner who freezes.”

Cindy’s mouth opened. A moment later, she shut it.

Decker said, “He knew the cardinal rule, Cynthia. It’s better to be overreactive and alive than rational and dead. Do you know why he knew it?”

She looked away, waiting for him to continue.

“Because for that one brief moment, he was back in combat being hammered by the PLO or Hamas or Hezbollah or whatever terrorist organization they have over there. Your boyfriend understands survival—the mentality that says, It’s either you or me, buddy. Do you understand that mentality, Cindy?”

She took in her father’s eyes, but couldn’t quite hold them. “Probably not in the same way that you two do. But I think after my experiences last year, I’ve shown myself to be a good fighter.”

“Cynthia, you are as tough as they come. Like I told you, life has thrown you some bad curveballs, and you cope far better than I do. But you’re also a good girl. Compassion isn’t always the answer.”

“You think I’m sheltered.”

“Of course, you’re sheltered.”

“How can you say that after what happened to me?”

“Nobody could have survived what you did. I’m so damn …” Decker’s eyes turned moist. “Honey, all I’m saying is you need to recognize threat. You have to ask yourself, if you had been in Koby’s position, would you have ducked in the passenger’s seat or would you have taken out your gun and opened fire?”

“I gave him the gun, you know.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

She was quiet, giving the question some honest thought. “The best I can come up with is I’m almost positive I would have done the same thing. Fair enough?”