Page 59 of Trapped

“What?”

“Most of them are classified. But you read about them anyway.”

“How did the Decorah people get hold of my classified records?”

“I guess they have connections. But let’s keep this focused on you. You remember details you didn’t remember the other night?”

“Yes.” He gave her a fierce look. “I can account for my time—until a few months ago.”

“Do you remember leaving for Afghanistan?”

“No.”

She looked down at their joined hands. “So, a lot of stuff has come back to you. But not that.”

“Yeah. Why not? Does it have something to do with the drugs?”

“Maybe. Or maybe it was so traumatic that you don’t want to deal with it.”

He nodded. “I guess I’m stuck.”

“We could try something.”

“What?”

“Hypnosis.”

As she made the suggestion, he felt his face go hard.

“What?”

“Montgomery wanted to try hypnosis.”

“That doesn’t make me like him.”

He answered with a tight nod. But he still hadn’t liked hearing the suggestion. “It makes me vulnerable,” he managed to say.

She kept her gaze fixed on him. “Yes. So what about it?”

###

Carlton Montgomery stared at the computer screen, reading his latest e-mail. The message made the back of his neck prickle. According to his correspondent, it was his fault that the bunker was vulnerable to invasion. His fault that Baker had escaped. And he’d damn well better get the man back.

He’d done his best. But who in the hell could have predicted that two people would have showed up to spring Major Baker?

The guards had killed a man in a rock-hewn tunnel outside the developed part of the bunker. But there was apparently another person involved. Graves had seen her and said it was a woman.

So why had she volunteered for what could have turned into a suicide mission?

Maybe she was doing it for money. Maybe she believed in the cause. Or maybe she was personally involved. That was an interesting angle and probably worth pursuing.

A knock at the door made him sit up straighter and switch the screen to another window. “Come.”

Lieutenant Olson walked into the room.

“Have you found him?” Montgomery demanded.

“Not yet. But it looks like we’ve lost four men.”

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