I did not realize it would happen so soon. We would

have planned the meeting another day.”

“Why is this happening?” I asked as the crowd

chanted God is great and my mouth fell open.

“This is retribution for her sins.”

“Her sins? What the hell did she do to deserve this?”

Shilmani didn’t answer. A rock crashed into the wom-

an’s head, and the sack began to stain with blood. The

crowd grew even louder, and a blood frenzy now widened

the eyes of those nearest the circle’s edge. The women hur-

tled their rocks even more fiercely than the men. I started

forward, but Shilmani grabbed me—as did Treehorn.

“If you interfere, you will commit a crime,” said Shil-

mani.

“Okay, okay,” I said, fighting for breath and relaxing

my arms so they could release me.

“Her hands are tied behind her back, but if she can

escape the circle, she will be free,” Shilmani explained.

“She’s only buried up to her shoulders to give her a

fighting chance. Men are buried up to their heads.”

“You didn’t answer my question. What did she do?”

“She had sex outside marriage.”

CO MB AT O P S

201

“I knew it,” said Treehorn. “These women can’t do

anything without getting punished for it.”

“We’d have to kill most American women if this were

our rule,” I said.

“I know. It seems you Americans engage in this

behavior quite a bit.”

“It just happens,” I said.

Shilmani made a face. “I still don’t understand how

he convinced her to do it.”

“You mean the guy?”

He hardened his voice. “Yes, the American soldier

from your camp.”

I considered going to Harruck’s office and telling him

what I’d seen, but I realized the men needed something

from me. And I felt badly for them. They’d been lying

around the billet all day, just wondering what the hell

was happening.

Ramirez had come back from the hospital with some

antacid to soothe his stomach. He was lying in his bunk

with his arm draped over his eyes.

I called the group forward, and after a few seconds,

he was the last to gather around.

“Got a couple things going on. We’ll be back up in

the mountains tonight. Engineering op. We’re going to

blow those tunnels.”

“Hoo-ah,” shouted Brown and Smith in unison.

“I want to do everything we can to avoid engaging

202 GH OS T RE CON

the enemy. They don’t call us the Ghosts for nothing.

We’ll show them why.”

Hume raised his hand. “Any word back on the HER F

guns yet? Do we know if they’ve got more?”

“I know the spook is working on something, and we

have to assume they have more. Nolan, we still got two

spare Cross-Coms, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Good, I’ll be taking one and Joey’s got the other.”

Ramirez frowned at me.

He was still in command of Bravo team. I wasn’t

going to change anything. I’d decided that my paranoia

should have no effect on the way I ran my team. And in

retrospect, I think that was a good decision.

Up to a point.

“Something else going on you should know about.” I

looked to Treehorn, who just sighed. “The water guy?

Burki? He wants us to kill Zahed. Seems the fat bastard

screwed him over on the deal with the new well, so that

guy, the translator guy Shilmani, is going to help us set

up a meeting with Zahed.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Brown. “How’s that going

to work? You don’t plan to go in there alone, do you?”

“Shilmani says he’s got a cousin who’s a courier for

Zahed. I’ll probably be going in with him.”

“And when does this happen?” asked Nolan, wincing

over the whole idea.

“Pretty soon, I’m guessing.”

“Then we need to work something out. The HER F

CO MB AT O P S

203

guns don’t affect the chips in our bodies, so we can still

track you.”

“You mean in case they take me prisoner.”

“So let me get this straight,” said Ramirez. “You’re

going to walk into a meeting, put a bullet in Zahed’s

head, and expect to walk out of there alive?”

“With a little help from you guys.”

The group chuckled. Ramirez’s expression remained

deadpan. “Boss, I think it’s crazy.”

“Couple other things,” I said. “Higher’s planning a

big offensive to sweep through Sangsar. They’re using

Warris’s capture as an excuse. It’ll take them a couple of

weeks to work out the logistics, so we need to drag our

boots on Freddy’s rescue . . .”

“Hey,” Treehorn began, throwing up his hands. “I

got no problem with that, since that punk wants to burn

us all.”

“All right. Let’s go over the maps, plan the detona-

tion points, and be ready to roll for tonight.”

The call came in while I was finishing up dinner in the

mess hall. I remember stepping out there, looking at the

mountains haloed by the setting sun, and thinking, This

is it. This is the death call.

That was a very long walk to the comm center.

I was feeling numb by the time they guided me over

to the cubicle, and my brother’s voice sounded strangely

absent.

204 GH OS T RE CON

“Hello, Scott, this is your brother Nicholas.”

He was always so formal, so well educated and schol-

arly. He always talked about being articulate. I didn’t

want him articulate at that moment. I wanted him sob-

bing.

“Hey, Nick.” My voice was already cracking.

“Dad passed away about an hour ago.”

“Okay.”

“Can you come home? We can delay the funeral for

you, but I’ll need to know as soon as possible.”

Before I could answer him, a commotion behind me

caught my attention. I told him to hang on.

A group of officers and NCOs was gathered around a

flat screen, where a videotape was being played on the Al

Jazeera network.

There was Fred Warris, dressed like a Taliban and sit-

ting cross-legged with a group of Taliban fighters stand-

ing behind him. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but

that didn’t matter.

I told Nick I’d call him back. I drifted outside like a

zombie and just stood near the door. I closed my eyes

and thought of my father’s workshop, filled with the

heavenly scent of sawdust. And I pictured his handmade

coffin propped up on those sawhorses. I was also certain

he’d left detailed instructions about his funeral.

I could take the emergency leave. Just bail out on all

the bullshit. Maybe not even come back. Maybe just go

AWOL and let them arrest me. I was entertaining every

crazy thought I could, thinking of ways to self-destruct

to hold back the tears.

CO MB AT O P S

205

My father had taught me how to be a man. I owed

him everything. He was gone.

I don’t know how long I was standing there when

Harruck and the XO rushed up and Harruck just looked

at me. “Have you heard? They put Warris on TV!”