I consider that for a moment. It’s tempting to continue keeping her in the dark. Despite everything, Nora is still so naïve, so ignorant of the real world. She got a small taste of it back in that warehouse, but it was nothing compared to the things I deal with every day. I want to continue shielding her from the brutal nature of my reality, but there is no safety in ignorance any longer—not when my enemies know about her. Besides, I have a feeling my young wife is tougher than her delicate appearance would suggest.

She has to be, to survive me.

Arriving at a decision, I give her a cool smile. “We just got intelligence on two Al-Quadar cells,” I say, watching her reaction. “Now we’re figuring out how we can wipe them out and capture some of their members in the process. The meeting was to coordinate the logistics of that operation.”

Her eyes widen slightly, but she does a good job of controlling her shock at my revelations. “How many cells are there?” she asks, shifting forward in the chair. I can see her right palm curling into a fist next to her leg, though her voice remains calm. “How big is their organization?”

“Nobody knows, except their top leaders. That’s why it’s so hard to eradicate them—they’re scattered all over the world, like vermin. They made a mistake, though, when they tried to play hardball with me. I am very good at exterminating vermin.”

Nora swallows reflexively, but continues holding my gaze. Brave girl. “What did they want from you?” she asks. “Why did they decide to play hardball?”

I hesitate for a second, then decide to fill her in. She might as well know the full story at this point. “My company developed a new type of weapon—a powerful explosive that’s almost impossible to detect,” I explain. “A couple of kilos is all it would take to blow up a mid-sized airport, and a dozen kilos could take out a small city. It’s got the explosive force of a nuclear bomb, but it’s not radioactive, and the substance that it’s made of resembles plastic, so it can be molded into nearly anything… even children’s toys.”

She stares at me, her face turning pale. She’s beginning to understand the implications of this. “Is that why you didn’t want to give it to them?” she asks. “Because you didn’t want to place such a dangerous weapon in the hands of terrorists?”

“No, not really.” I give her an amused look. It’s sweet of her to ascribe noble motives to me, but she should know better at this point. “It’s simply that the explosive is difficult to produce in large quantities, and I already have a long list of buyers waiting. Al-Quadar was at the very bottom of that list, so they would’ve had to wait years, if not decades, to get it from me.”

To Nora’s credit, her expression doesn’t change. “So who is at the top of your list?” she says evenly. “Some other terrorist group?”