She nodded and sank into the soft leather, imagined a great many rear ends had settled there over the years. Dr. Hicks sat across from her in a high-backed leather chair, a matching footstool at its side, Savich on a love seat to his left. Dr. Hicks picked up a Georgian teapot. “Jasmine tea. My wife swears it makes her mellow. And a blueberry scone, if you would like.”

Olivia accepted a cup of tea, sat back, waited for him to hand Dillon a cup. She said, “Dillon told me you’re the very best, but, well, being hypnotized, I can’t imagine it really. To be honest, I’ve always wondered if hypnosis was fake, sort of like mediums calling in spirits, but Dillon assures me you’re legitimate.” She paused. “I’m willing to try anything to remember. Dillon believes you can help me.”

Dr. Hicks smiled. “Yes, I believe I can. Now, Olivia, I understand you’ve been through a great deal in the past couple of weeks. Agent Savich filled me in on much of it. He told me you suffered a head injury on a mission to Iran and can’t remember facts that could be critical to a current situation. I’m sure your doctors have told you after a bad concussion, it’s not a surprise you aren’t able to remember everything that happened near the time of your injury. It’s called post-traumatic amnesia.

“Agent Savich told me our main purpose is to find out if you can remember what a dying operative said to one of your team members, Mike, about a flash drive.”

“Yes, Mike has the flash drive but we can’t find him. He’s missing. I was close by, I do remember that, but I can’t remember if the undercover operative—Hashem was his name—if he said anything at all that could help us.”

“So our purpose is to find out if you heard what the dying operative told Mike.”

“Yes. Try as I might, I can’t remember anything.”

Dr. Hicks smiled at her. “Don’t worry about it. That’s my job. Let’s begin. Olivia, I want you to remember a place you visited that made you happy.”

Olivia thought a moment, smiled. “Three years ago, Mike and I were coming back from a vacation to Maui and stopped to visit a friend who owned a vineyard in Napa. I’ll never forget Mike and I were sitting under an oak tree, looking out over the vineyard, the summer sun shining through the branches, hot on our faces, soaking deep. He was holding my hand, playing with a silly fake ruby ring he’d bought me on Maui. We could smell the ripening grapes, the air was still, soft. We both fell asleep. It was a perfect day—” Her voice caught and she swallowed.