It was the woman who’d been dragged from the Peugeot. She motioned me to follow her. She was lying down in the grass just like me. I didn’t know if she was trying to hide herself or just didn’t want to expose my position. Either way she had more of a plan than me.

I turned and slithered through the weeds like a giant, bulky snake. We didn’t crawl far. She slipped through a break in a chain-link fence, then stood. The men with the rifles never even noticed our escape.

From there I just followed her quick walk down the street. She turned and walked through the front door of a house as if she belonged there.

It turned out she did.

Chapter 47

Chapter 47

I followed her through the front door and felt a wave of relief when she shut the door behind me and locked the two deadbolts. A man came from another room and embraced the woman. Then two teenagers ran out and hugged her as well.

She spoke to them in Pashto then turned to me and said, “This is my home. You’ll be safe here. My name is Jahan.”

“I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Jahan, but I can’t stay here. If they find me, you guys are in terrible danger.”

“We’re in danger all the time. We’ve been at war for almost twenty years. The Taliban, Karzai, they’ve all threatened us at some point. I work for a division of Chase Bank. I know not all Americans are evil.”

“Chase. I had no idea they were in Afghanistan.”

“My division helps fund infrastructure projects. We hold the money until they need it for payroll and supplies, that way it doesn’t end up in politicians’ pockets.”

Her teenage daughter, who looked a lot like her, with a pretty face and big, soulful eyes, looked out the window and spoke to her mother.

Jahan said, “They’re checking each house. It’s only a matter of time before they get here.”

I said, “That means I’ve got to go. Right now.”

“No, we can hide you.”

I shook my head. “It’s far too dangerous. They’ll burn your house down if they find me.” I turned to head for the rear door.

That’s when the husband spoke for the first time. He had a deep voice. He said, “No, they’ll kill without any hesitation.”

“They have to catch me first.”

Jahan said, “They got the other man. The one who took my car.”

That made me think about the blazing Peugeot. I considered my position. The crowd managed to stop David Allmand while he was in a car. I was only on foot. And I had no idea where to go.

The teenage boy chimed in. He had almost no accent. “Are you some kind of special forces soldier?”