“Was it smoked, then?”

“Yes,” Aaron says. “But that’s not what went wrong. In the last few minutes, her Nellis partner, he was fighting the flu, and he had to leave to hit the latrine, otherwise he would have shit his drawers. That meant Captain Cornwall was in charge. And she followed the orders. She pulled the trigger and destroyed the SUV.”

Rosaria says, “A foul-up then, was it?”

Aaron sighs. “Yeah. Bad intelligence. It seems there was a family in that SUV…going to a wedding. And there was some old feud between the father of that family and another tribe, and they used us…used us to do a contract killing. That’s what happened.”

“Crap,” Rosaria says.

“But that wasn’t the worst part.”

Rosaria says, “There was a worse part?”

Aaron turns, his skin looking pale in the artificial lights. “Oh, yeah. A couple of days later, it came out what really happened. Although there was never an official report, Captain Cornwall lost it, lost it bad.”

“How?”

Aaron says softly, “She said, ‘Damn you all, I killed an innocent family out there, and now they’ll be looking for revenge, and they’ll be coming after my family for it.’”

“Crap,” Rosaria says again.

“Yes,” Aaron says. “And she finished it up by saying, ‘And if they come after my family, I’ll be coming after all of you.’”

CHAPTER 28

TOM CORNWALL’S heart is pounding harder than it ever has in his life. In those tight times doing stories overseas, with explosions, with the thud-thud-thud of automatic rifle fire, and seeing black-clad armed figures come toward him, he has always kept a steady calm, doing his job.

Not today, not here.

His hand is on Denise’s shoulder as he peers again through the open door. He squats down and holds her thin shoulders tight. “Now,” he whispers. “Listen, and listen to me good, Denise. This isn’t a joke. This isn’t a game. This is serious. Do you understand?”

She nods her head, biting her lower lip, her eyes red-rimmed. But Denise seems to be listening.

“We’re going out now, all right? We’re going out together…but if something happens, if the bad men come, you run. All right? Run hard, run fast, and get out of here. Find a grown-up, a woman, and tell her what happened. Tell her to call the police and take you someplace safe.”

“Daddy, I’m so scared…” The tears are trickling down her cheeks.

“Me, too,” he admits. “But I’m counting on you, honey. You were brave, putting the gum in the lock. But you have to be brave again. And if I tell you to run, run!”

He stands up, takes her hand, and they’re out the door.

Tom takes two steps, looks to the left and the right. Where now?

Move, he thinks. Don’t be frozen by indecision.

Move.

He takes his daughter’s hand, starts walking quickly. They’re both in bare feet, and if they’re someplace warm, he needs to get them both outside. If this is somewhere in the tropics, being outside in bare feet will fit in. But not in a building’s basement.