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“That’s good to know. Thank you,” Kostya smiled at Katherine.

Kostya looked down at his watch. “Linc, we’ve got to go. Captain Rankin should have transport ready for us to get us into Jordan. We can be airlifted back to the aircraft carrier from there.”

“Wait a minute. Katherine, isn’t there a pen over there and some paper?” Leila asked as she pointed to the little table that separated their two beds.

“No, honey, I’m afraid not.”

Kostya pulled out a small tablet and a pen. “Here you go.”

Leila smiled as she took the pad of paper. She scribbled on it, ripped it off the pad then thrust it at Linc. He took it and looked down. He slowly grinned.

“Call me.” She smiled.

“I never saw that,” Kostya said as he took back his pen and tablet. “I didn’t see a thing.”

Linc was still grinning as they loaded into the back of the truck that would haul their asses to Jordan.

11

She looked around the reception hall and realized just how many people had come to Elijah’s celebration of life. It made her happy.

“He lived a good life, Honey,” her dad said as he put his arm around her shoulders. “He was a widower. Did you know that?” he asked.

Leila shook her head.

“Loved his wife something fierce. After she passed, he put all of his time and attention into his job. He knew he was making a difference in the world.”

“I just can’t believe that the last time I saw him whole was in Syria.” She grabbed a Kleenex out of her purse. “I mean it was bad, but they said he’d eventually be all right.”

“Honey, I know him. He would not have wanted to live like that. Nothing they were doing for him here in the States was helping. He wasn’t talking, or walking or even understanding anything any of us were saying. He was lost to us before he landed back on US soil.”

“I know, but he was still alive. I could pretend for a little longer. I wasn’t ready for him to go. Why did he have to throw that clot?”

“It was because of all the trauma, sweetheart,” her dad tried to console her.

She looked up into the kind blue eyes of her father and thanked God that he had been promoted up into a desk job in the FBI. Her dad, always knowing what she needed, gave her a hug.

Her little mother came up to the two of them, then placed her hand over Leila’s heart. “Come now, bebek, we’ll go home now. I have baklava waiting for both of you at home. It has raisins, just the way you like it.” Leila wrapped her arm around her petite mother and rested her healed cheek against her head.

“Thank you anne.”

“Leila, you must be really upset to call me anne. You haven’t called me mom in Turkish in years. It has been so good having you live with us. Have I told you that?”

“Every week since I’ve moved in.”

“I’m going to be sad to see you move back to your townhome next month,” her mother pouted as they walked out of the reception hall.

“The sublet lease will be over. I’ll have my home back. It’s time I moved out of my parent’s house,” Leila teased.

“You’ve been such a globetrotter these last few years. We’ve missed you, Princess,” her father said as he ushered them towards his town car. It started to rain as her dad drove the streets of the nation’s capital toward their home in Cathedral Heights. The rain matched Leila’s mood. The last time she’d really had time with Elijah was when he was being dragged away by Vugar’s men. That was a horrible memory. He was so much more than a victim. He was larger than life. As she stared out the car window, she decided to remember the second to last time she saw him. The day before their capture.

He had taken her to a tiny café in Damascus. No one was around, and he laid out everything that was going on. It was the first time he had explained things when she had acted as a translator on one of his little ‘missions’. Hell, she’d known this one was going to be more intensive since Langley had sent her out with the space-age-piece-of-shit phone. But she didn’t know just how convoluted it was until Elijah laid it out for her.

“You think that Felix or Sam could be a traitor?” she asked in a whisper. She picked up the small cup of strong coffee and took a tiny sip.

Elijah nodded. “Leila, I feel it in my gut that this is a set-up, but we’re too far gone to stop now.”

“I know this isn’t just about some trade agreement with Landry Oil and Katherine’s company, Nu-Soyl, but I didn’t think you would actually tell me the endgame.”