Page 16 of What is Lost

“Yeah, Ireallydon’t know who. But Idoknow we’re not going to Kabul.”

He was startled. “What? Why not? Roni was killed at the airport.”

“All indications are that our…for lack of a better word...objectiveis in the Wakhan.”

“The Corridor? Seriously?”

“You know where that is?” Davila actually sounded impressed. “I had to look it up.”

“Well, Iknowabout it.” He was puzzled. This just did not compute. In a country where most villages could be legitimately said to be in the middle of nowhere, the Wakhan Corridor might as well be on another planet. The region was a narrow, sparsely inhabited, two-hundred-mile-long panhandle bordered by Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains on the north, Pakistan and the Hindu Kush to the south, and the gigantic mountains of Xinjiang, China at the panhandle’s eastern tip.

“What are Roni’s...” His throat tried to close, and he had to force out the rest. “What are Captain Keller’s remains doing in the Wakhan?”

“I don’t know, but let me pose a counterfactual,” Davila said. “Did you see it happen?”

“The explosion? Yes, of course, I was there.” Althoughexplosionwasn’t technically what he’d seen. He’d heard a monstrous roar, seen the look of shock given way to terror on Roni’s face, and known she was reading the same on his. The irony was the explosion wasn’t the worst part but only the beginning of something far more terrible. Because there had been only one avenue of escape, and he had been closer to that than she.

“Yes, but did you see herbody?”

“Did I…” The words dried up on his tongue. He stared at the other man for a long moment then said, finally, “No. No, I didn’t. I was...I turned back in time to...” He tried again. “I was too far away, already inside the gate, and then I couldn’t leave.” It would have been more accurate to say that he hadn’t beenallowedto leave—had to be restrained, in point of fact, and even so, he’d been close to shooting anyone in his way—but he wasn’t getting into that. How much did Davila know about that disastrous evac anyway? “What are you saying?”

“Nothing.” Davila slid him a sidelong glance. “Only that her remains aren’t in Kabul.”

Which raised another possibility Davila didn’t voice. Either Roni had been badly wounded and later died elsewhere—orshe had been captured and died later. Or captured and killed. But really, it boiled down to six of one, half-dozen of the other. Dead was dead.

Hard to see anything but the hole of the doughnut for that one.

An hour outside Boise.

“What about weapons?” Having told Patterson exactly what he wanted in-country, John assumed his guns would be delivered with this vehicle, but the trunk was empty. When he mentioned this to Patterson, the man had only shrugged and said weapons were en-route. Which John assumed meant weapons would be procured at another stop, probably Chicago.

“Whataboutweapons?” Davila asked.

“We picking them up for the flight from O’Hare?” When Davila shook his head, John gaped. “You’re joking. Everyone and his mother has a gun in those parts. What are we supposed to do, hurl abusive language?”

Davila laughed. “Youarenervous.”

This, John thought, only proved his eminent good sense. “And you’re not?”

“Some? But there’s a time to fret and a time to relax andthis...” He tapped the dashboard. “This is one of those times. Driving along, beautiful country, nice mountains, clean air...”

“No one shooting at us.”

“That’s the spirit. Doughnut and hole, my man, doughnut and hole. We’ll get weapons. We just can’t bring them with us.”

“Okay.” Which was a lie. He was not okay. Something just didn’t feel right here, but what was it? He turned his gaze to his window. To his right, Boise spread out in a valley. Above, a bright yellow plane buzzed east.

“Smokejumpers.” He looked back to see Davila eye-checking the plane. “They’re always practicing around here,” Davila said, returning his gaze to the road. “Boise’s one of their stations. There’s a museum right next to the airport, actually. It’s interesting. Been inside one of their planes, met a couple of them. Most are small guysand all muscle. Guess they got to be to haul all that gear.”

“Cool.”

Davila favored him with a narrow squint. “That was kind of less than a ringing endorsement”

“I’m preoccupied...mostly because this whole bone retrieval thing doesn’t make sense. “They”—he inserted air-quotes— “whoevertheyare want us...well,meto retrieve Roni’s remains, I get that. Why is kind of a mystery. Having you in the mix is another. I don’t get why you’re along. This wasn’t your fight.” He almost added that Davila hadn’t effed things up the wayhehad but held his tongue.

“Hank asked me.”

“In case I screw up.”

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