I started to say, my brother sends his regards. Then I caught myself. If being silent rattled him, he didn’t show it. We just stared at each other for a minute.

I expected to square off. Maybe have a good old-fashioned fistfight. At least this time I’d be mentally prepared for it. Instead, I stood at the rear of his truck, my hand on the handle of the ASP.

I knew that Agent Kravitz needed me to positively identify Jackson and provide his exact location. She never said she could arrest him. She said she would try to get a warrant for him. I wasn’t sure I liked those odds.

My other options were decidedly less legal. The easiest thing would be to shoot him in the head right now. Then I’d have a lot of explaining to do. Instead, I decided to hear what he had to say. What else was I going to do with my day?

A breeze from the Hindu Kush blew across the valley. For a few seconds, it dropped the temperature by at least ten degrees. Jackson huddled in his windbreaker. He gazed around the open base and then looked at me.

Jackson said, “As pleasant as this is, catching up with someone from the States, I’m afraid I have to get back to work.”

I laughed at that. “It’s ironic that over here they have a criminal running a prison.”

Jackson looked hurt for a moment. “Me, a criminal?”

“You don’t think so?”

“Maybe, if you stretch it, I’m a criminal in the US. But this is Afghanistan. Believe me when I tell you, no one cares. Not one person.” He still wasn’t worried that I had the drop on him. “Even the damn Afghan Army doesn’t care that much about beating the Taliban.”

I said, “I think you’re underestimating how people feel about someone running down a woman or shooting someone in America.”

This time he laughed. A belly laugh. “It’s a big world, Mitchum. Lots of threats. People in the US said, ‘never forget’ after 9/11. But we forgot. In fact, there are some who want to blame us for the attack. Can you believe that? They want to remove the responsibility from the terrorists. That’s how screwed up the world is. All I’m doing is trying to keep an attack like that from happening again.”

“And getting rich while you do.”

“That’s not at odds with what America is all about. Ask yourself. If we’re going to fight terrorism, would you rather we did it at home or over here?”

I glanced around, making sure no one was driving toward us. It was an unwarranted concern. There wasn’t a person visible anywhere. Just the detention building far off in the distance.