Page 278 of 5+Us Makes Seven

I glanced over at the Humvee.

“Don’t yell,” I said. “This area isn’t completely safe.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? You brought me out here to fuck me and it’s not even safe?” Her eyes opened wide. “You didn’t drug the wine, did you? Oh my God, I’m feeling faint. You fucking drugged me, didn’t you!”

“Calm down,” I said, standing up. “I would never drug a woman. You think I need to be a Cosby when I got a body like this?”

“Why am I so lightheaded right now?”

“It’s the mountain air. You probably haven’t adjusted all the way.”

I stepped forward and put a hand on her waist.

“Get away from me.”

She stepped back and flung the rest of the wine in her glass to the ground. The parched earth soaked it up greedily. I sighed. Why don’t things ever go the way I plan?

“We should get back,” I said, bending to pick up the blanket.

“Yes, we should,” she said as if it had been her idea.

I shook my head, gathering up the food and putting it back into the basket. She had already made it to the Humvee by the time I finished.

After throwing the stuff in the back, I climbed in.

“I freaked out. I’m sorry. I have got nothing on this story I’m supposed to be doing, and now I’m being sent back even sooner than my short stay was originally going to be.”

“You haven’t? I thought that’s why I took you to the village.”

“That’s not the story I’m really working on.”

We stared at each other from across the front cab of the Humvee. I shook my head and turned the key in the ignition. The engine fired to life.

“You’re something else,” I said.

“Hold on. Don’t you want to know what story I’m working on?”

“I can imagine. Something about the military being corrupt, or…”

“The smuggling,” she interrupted. “I know about it.”

I turned the vehicle off and looked over at her.

“Are you involved?” she asked.

“Is this off the record?”

“Sure.”

Can I trust her?

“You don’t want to be digging in this, okay? It goes high up the food chain. There are billions of dollars at stake. Do you even understand what you’re getting yourself into?”

“Billions of dollars? That’s a lot of drugs.”

“Don’t you get it?” I shook my head. “It’s not drugs. They’re smuggling rare earth minerals back to America and China. Both countries are making a bundle. Why do you think the Afghanistan war has dragged on so long. Do you see an army anywhere capable of defeating us if we put our mind to it?”

“There are a lot of caves in the mountains,” she said.

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