Jennifer pursed her lips at my words but remained silent.

I said, “We have another mission, and this one is a capture to get to the heart of the Khorasan group. I don’t know if she’s capable of that. All she wants to do is kill.”

Jennifer said, “Al-Britani was her target. She talked to me about it in the van, before we left. She’ll listen to you. If she says she’ll follow orders, she will.”

“And how in the hell would you know that? Did you order her to eliminate al-Britani?”

“No! Of course not.”

“Then what’s changed? Are you psychic now too?”

She looked uncomfortable, saying nothing.

I said, “So it’s women’s intuition?”

I saw her eyes flash with anger and she said, “I lied about the bruises on my face. It wasn’t from the fight across the bridge.”

Taken aback, I went from her to Knuckles. He shrugged, unsure of where this was going.

She said, “Just get them up here. Give them the brief. She won’t fight you. I’ve seen what her word means. If she says she won’t do something, she won’t. But get her to say it. Looking back, she never told me she wouldn’t execute al-Britani. If she gives you her word, she’ll honor it.”

“You never trusted her before. What happened?”

“Let’s just say that I found a connection. Okay? If she wants to talk, she can. It’s her call.”

What the hell? Jennifer was turning into an enigma. I used to be able to predict like clockwork what she’d say or where she’d stand on an issue, but lately, she seemed to be expanding her ability to deal with ambiguity. I wasn’t sure if I liked it. That was my terrain, and I relied on her as a sounding board. It did no good to talk to a mirror for answers, and she was rapidly becoming my image in the mirror.

I said, “Get ’em up here. Just them at first. I want some words with Aaron with Shoshana present. Then we’ll bring up the team.”

Knuckles did so, giving up his seat and standing in the aisle. The team in the back looked on curiously, but knew they’d be read on soon enough. I’m sure they were spinning conspiracy theories about what was going on.

Directly across from me was Aaron, with Shoshana in the window seat across from Jennifer. With a smile, he said, “So? Are you willing to use our expertise? We are outside of a contract right now and are available.”

I said, “First question, and this is from my higher command: Are you truly independent? Or is Mossad going to get a detailed operational summary of what occurs?”

“You mean, can I be trusted?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

Shoshana said, “That question was answered in Brazil. We never said a thing to Mossad about you. All they know is that we helped the United States. And got an award for doing so. They think it’s CIA.”

“How do I know that? Those are just words.”

Aaron said, “Yes, it might be just words, but it’s also irrelevant. If we were going to expose you, it would have already happened. But we didn’t. And we have much less reason to do so now. Anyway, we don’t even know who you work for.”

I considered his answer for a moment, then said, “Okay, I’ll believe you, but this is not for debate: I’ve got approval to capture Rashid. Take him down for follow-on intelligence. Is that going to be a problem?”

Confused, Aaron said, “No. Of course not. Why would we be against that?”

“Because your little assassin here wants to kill everything. That’s why.”

Shoshana bristled and started to say something. Aaron, his eyes still on mine, held out his hand and she stopped, amazing me that anyone could control her. He said, “Al-Britani was an enemy of the State of Israel. We were on a sanctioned mission. I cannot help that you interfered, but the mission comes first.”

He didn’t even question what had happened. Made no flimsy excuses. I said, “Just like the Russian in Istanbul.”

He leaned back and said, “Yes. Just like Vlad the Impaler.”

I said, “So what’s the mission here? Lay it out. I’m getting sick of the surprises.”

“Our mission now is that we work for you. I told you, I’m not under the constant employ of the State of Israel. I agreed to do this because you asked. Nothing more.”

I glanced at Shoshana and she saw something in my eyes that she didn’t like. She finally let out her feelings. “You Americans are always so superior. Always sure of your righteousness. You’ve never lived with the wolf at the door. Because of it, you put the mission second.” She looked at Jennifer and said, “You’re always willing to protect the men in your command at the expense of success.”

I ignored the glance, knowing she was baiting me, and said, “Sometimes the mission is the men. You’re so full of anger I can’t believe you’ve lived this long. Sometimes you have to back the fuck off. Sacrificing your men on a suicide mission is what the enemy does.”

She said, “Yes. And you fight fire with fire. The mission always comes first. Always. The enemy fears us precisely because of this.”

I grunted and said, “Is that why your government traded over a thousand Palestinian terrorists for one Israeli soldier?”

She slammed back into her seat and refused to meet my eyes. She said, “That would not have been my call.”

Looking at Aaron, I said, “Well, maybe they understand something you don’t. Sometimes the mission you’re given isn’t the one you should conduct.”

Aaron said, “We don’t have that luxury. The mission always comes first. And your mission is ours. I promise.”

I slowly nodded and said, “Okay. We’re going to stake out the Internet café he’s been using. We’ve got a team that’s using al-Britani’s Twitter account, saying the attack in Jordan was delayed and asking for guidance. He’ll want to respond. When he does, we ID him—meaning one of you will do so—then get a pattern of life. From there, we take him down. Can you do that?”

I jerked a thumb at Shoshana. “Or will devil eyes here want to split his head open?”

44

Aaron smiled and said, “We can do that. Anyway, if you don’t trust Shoshana, you can always pair her up with Jennifer. That’ll solve the problem.”

Aggravated again, I said, “Enough with the lesbian jibes. I’m serious here. I would think that you would be the last to disparage Jennifer or Shoshana’s skills with a lame joke.”

He scrunched his eyes and said, “Yes. I’m talking about her skill.”

I looked at Jennifer, but she refused to meet my eyes, instead focused on Shoshana.

What am I missing?

Knuckles was as clueless as I was. Aaron said, “She didn’t tell you? In my team, we know all, both the good and the bad.”

Which really poked a sore spot. And made me wonder if Jennifer was complicit in the death of al-Britani. I looked at Jennifer and said, “No, apparently my team doesn’t want to do that.”

Jennifer closed her eyes and said, “It’s not what you think. I told you that you could trust her. I trust her.”

I saw Shoshana’s eyes widen slightly in surprise. She turned to me. “I’ll do the mission, just as you ask. I’m yours to do with as you see fit. Is that enough?”

Jennifer locked eyes with me, her glare telling me to back off. I held her stare for a moment, seeing some pain come out. Recognizing the moral compass I’d thought she’d lost. She was blaming herself for al-Britani because of my comment earlier.

I said, “Yes, it’s enough.”

Shoshana said, “Good, because your little lover there kicked my ass in the back of a van. I don’t want to repeat that again.”

I snapped my head to Shoshana, and she was grinning, reading me whether I wanted her to or not. She knew how much the revelation would mean, precisely because Jennifer had kept it from me.