We proceeded through the different checkpoints to cross from the military side of the airport to the commercial terminal. Each time a Turkish soldier took our papers and inspected them carefully. They also searched the van we were riding in. A mirror under the car, looking for bombs, as well as a bomb-sniffing dog. It was an impressive effort.

DP hadn’t said much since our meeting with the military leaders. I knew he wasn’t happy with me. I wouldn’t be, either. We walked through the main doors of the airport. There were portraits of men in various forms of dress, from traditional Afghan to western business suits. The only one I recognized was Hamid Karzai, the former president. The airport was his namesake.

I told DP I was sorry.

He gave me a little bit of a hangdog look and said, “All you had to do was level with me. We’re friends.”

“Would you have let me come over if I told you the truth?”

“Of course not. It was a stupid plan. Friends talk friends out of stupid plans.”

I smiled and said, “It all worked out.”

“Don’t use blind luck as a justification for a stupid plan. You could’ve just as easily been killed.”

I shrugged because he made a good point. I embraced him. He hugged me good-bye.

As I walked toward the line for immigration, I asked DP to say good-bye to Vicki for me. “I didn’t get a chance to do it myself since she disappeared as soon as we got back.”

DP shook his head. “Because she didn’t want to lie. The military has chosen to just skip over the entire incident. You might want to do the same.”

The airport was small by US standards. Most men were dressed in traditional robes with headdresses. There were very few people in western clothes. It made me stick out.

I pulled out the phone I’d bought on Bagram Air Base. There was still time left on it. DP had been nice enough to find it in the truck I’d been driving the day Jackson detained me. The first person I called was Alicia. I didn’t know if she’d care.

Now I knew for certain that I cared about her. She meant the world to me. I felt like a moron that I had to fly halfway around the world to figure that out. I got no answer so I left a simple message. “I’m safe and coming home.”

It was pretty close to the message I left on my mom’s answering machine. Only with her I added, “Everything worked out.” I was confident that if Jackson had someone watching my mom, they had already bugged out.