Olivia was bone-tired. She’d been released from Walter Reed a week before and still, she felt drained so quickly. She wouldn’t be cleared to go back to work until the headaches from her concussion stopped. At least she wasn’t still in the hospital. Tonight, she and Andi Creamer had shared pizza at Benny’s Pies, close enough to Olivia’s house to be an easy drive for her. Andi, with her spiked black hair and hazel eyes, was as tough as her field boots. She was also one of the smartest operatives Olivia had ever worked with, decisive and hard to beat hand to hand. You wanted her to have your back. They’d been good friends since they’d trained at the CIA Farm together five years before. They spoke of Tim Higgs, who’d been wounded in the leg during the Iran mission and was in Maine visiting his parents. They spoke of Hashem Jahandar, the Iranian undercover operative who’d died, and toasted him. His name would soon grace the Wall of Stars at Langley. And they wondered how it was possible Iranian military knew where they’d be. They didn’t have to say it out loud; they knew they were lucky they wouldn’t have their own stars on the wall next to his.

Of course they spoke of Mike, where he might be, why he hadn’t reported in to Langley to debrief with Mr. Grace, and what had happened to him. Olivia knew something had happened and it scared her to her toes. She wished she could have flown back to the States with him—as least she’d have been close by—but they had wanted to keep her in Balad for another couple of days before flying her back to Walter Reed Hospital. And he’d simply disappeared. Langley’s greatest concern, it seemed to Olivia, wasn’t for Mike’s safety, but for the missing flash drive Hashem had pressed into his hand before he died. Oh yes, Langley was trying to find him, as were all his friends, but they wanted the flash drive first and foremost. Olivia herself had called his cell dozens of times, pestered Mr. Grace with questions, but he told her she was on leave for a reason, to rest and not to worry. They would find Mike Kingman. But she was scared for him, and angry because she’d heard there were suspicions about Mike at Langley. Were they idiots? Mike would never do anything to hurt the agency or the United States. She was frustrated and hated her body for holding her back, and all she could do was worry and be afraid for him. It all hovered over her like a black cloud.