“What… you mean Skeeter and Li and Logan and all those guys?” Riley asked, excitement beginning to build in him.

“Yep, all except for Murphy. He’s some Wall Street suit now and isn’t interested in getting dirty anymore.”

“No surprise there. Only guy I know who would spoon the grounds out of his coffee before he drank it.”

“Yeah, remember how he used to carefully lay out his MREs? Like he was getting ready to dine at the Ritz-Carlton?”

Hicks cut in, “As much as I’d love to hear you guys take a walk down memory lane, I’ve got work to do. So, Mr. Covington, is it yes or no?”

Riley didn’t answer right away. He looked at the table for a moment and considered the magnitude of the decision he was about to make. But he already knew what his answer would be. It was why he had come here in the first place. He slowly began nodding well before he looked up and quietly answered, “Yes, Mr. Hicks. It’s a definite yes.”

“Swell,” Hicks said, shaking his head as he stood up, tapped his papers into a neat stack, and walked toward the door. “Weatherman’s going to come with me for some more planning. I’m leaving Khadi with you. She’ll fill you in on what’s happened so far and who it is we’re dealing with. I suggest you pay close attention to her.”

Scott got up to follow Hicks. He put his hand on Riley’s shoulder. “I’ll catch up with you later, Pach. You may want to let your family know you won’t be seeing them for a while. Of course, you can’t tell them who, why, or where.”

“Of course. Thanks, Scott,” Riley said, standing to shake his friend’s hand.

Scott smiled and nodded, then walked out of the room. A moment later, he stuck his head back in. “And, Riley, don’t forget-it’s Khadi… you know… with a d.” Then he quickly ducked out before there was any chance for a response.

Thursday, January 1

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Denver Field Office

Denver, Colorado

Riley and Khadi stood up from the table and stretched. They had been poring over history, facts, and figures for the past three hours straight. Riley’s brain was about at bursting level, and he was sure Khadi must be tired of talking.

“How are you doing so far?” she asked him.

“Well, I have to admit it’s a whole lot of information to absorb in such a short amount of time.”

“And it’s not done yet. But I could see you starting to zone out toward the end.”

“Sorry about that. I guess it’s been a long day-for all of us. Tell you what; you lead me to the commissary, and I’ll spring for a Diet Coke.”

Khadi laughed. “Your military background is definitely kicking in. Around here we call a commissary a ‘break room.’ And if you don’t mind, I’ll take a coffee instead.”

As they walked down the hall, Khadi said, “Hadn’t you better call Grandpa Covington and tell him you won’t be home for dinner?”

“No, Grandpa’s used to taking care of… Wait, how’d you know he was at my house?”

“We’re CTD,” Khadi said in a mysterious voice. “We know all and see all.”

Riley laughed quietly. “Next time I see one of those black helicopters hovering over my house, I’ll know who it is.”

Khadi smiled briefly, then said, “Riley, I need to ask you something-especially since I’m going to be part of your team.”

“Shoot.”

“I don’t know you very well, but I hear so much in your voice-anger, pain, sorrow. I hope I’m not being too presumptuous here… I guess I need to know that you’re going to be able to keep all that in check and not let your emotions get the best of you on the field.”

They entered the deserted break room and discovered that someone had put an empty carafe back in the coffeemaker. Riley started fixing another pot. “Hope you like it strong. My dad always told me that coffee isn’t coffee unless it’s strong enough to put hair on your-” he stopped short as he caught her eye-“uh, unless it’s really, really strong.”

“Don’t worry; I’m Persian. We serve our coffee with toothpicks.”

Riley sat down on a hard, blue plastic chair across from Khadi and used a napkin to wipe powdered sugar from the table between them. They both sat silently while Riley formulated his answer to Khadi’s concerns.

Finally he said, “Scott wasn’t my first number two in Afghanistan. His predecessor was a guy named Tony Werschky-very Polish, very Brooklyn. Tony was a great guy, unbelievably good at what he did. Two weeks in-country, we were out doing a scouting patrol. Tony’s telling me for the two hundredth time about his little son, Alex, back home, when-pop!-a sniper’s bullet hits him flush in the face. It was the first time I had ever seen anyone killed, let alone someone right next to me.

“I was so shocked, so angry, that I wanted to take off after the shooter right then and there. What stopped me was knowing that I had the rest of my team with me. If I did something stupid, they could all very well end up like Tony. So we reconned the area, set a plan, and ended up taking out the shooter and three of his friends with none of my other guys even getting a scratch.”

Riley paused for a moment, wondering why he was opening up so much to this woman he had just met. Maybe it was that she was so easy to talk to. Or maybe it was that he needed to talk to someone-anyone.

He pressed on. “On Monday night, the bad guys took my best friend from me. I spent yesterday evening with his widow-a wonderful woman whose whole world is completely shattered. And then there’s his beautiful baby daughter, sweet little Alessandra. She’s still trying to figure out why Daddy hasn’t come home.”

Riley stopped briefly so he could get control of his rising emotion. “And what kills me is… is knowing that this same scene is taking place all over Denver. And it will continue to take place until these people are stopped. So, yes, I’m angry about this. Yes, I want revenge. But, no, I will not let it cloud my judgment, and I will not let it cause me to sacrifice my team.”

“Fair enough,” Khadi said. “That’s all I needed to hear.”

Silence overtook them again.

Finally Riley spoke up. “So, what about you? I’ve poured my guts out. Your turn. What brought you here?”

“You mean, what’s a nice Iranian girl like me doing in a job like this?”

“Yeah, something like that. I’m interested in your story.”

Khadi picked up a coffee stirrer that had hidden itself behind the napkin dispenser on their table. She kept her eyes on the narrow red piece of plastic as she slowly twisted and untwisted it around her left index finger.

“My parents are from Iran. My dad was a surgeon there. In the late seventies, he saw the way the winds were blowing, so he packed up my mom-who was pregnant with me-and my two brothers and moved to Arlington, Virginia. That was November 1978-two months before the shah fled.

“My dad was able to establish himself in Virginia-first in the Muslim community, then in the wider medical community. I grew up a bit of a spoiled rich kid. My dad saw what was happening, and when I was fifteen, he gave me a talking-to that changed my life. He basically said that God has given us one life to live and that he wasn’t going to see his daughter waste hers. I took that night to evaluate my life, and believe it or not, I agreed with him. So I dumped a bunch of my friends and started taking school seriously.”

Riley glanced over his shoulder and saw that the pot was full. He got up and grabbed two mugs. He filled one all the way but left plenty of room to the top in the other. “Cream and sugar?”

“You insult me.”

Riley grinned and filled the second mug the rest of the way. He placed the cup in front of Khadi and sat back down.

Khadi blew on her coffee and took a tentative sip. “Wow-I can feel the hair sprouting already.”

Riley opened his mouth to reply, then found he had absolutely nothing to say. He shook his head. This girl was definitely different from any others he had met before.