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“My tribal mentality is what has gotten us this far.”
“No.” Hakim shook his head stubbornly. “I have gotten you this far…me and a twenty-three-year-old boy who you rewarded by putting a bullet in the back of his head.”
Karim did not want to fight. Not now. He wanted to take in this great moment as they passed through the heart of America’s capital. “What is it you want me to do?”
“I want you to start consulting me, before you act so recklessly. I have spent a great deal of time in this country. I understand their culture. I understand what goes unnoticed and what gets noticed. Despite all of the tapes you have had the men watch, despite all the language lessons, they still sound stilted. They act nervous, which will make Americans nervous, which will get you noticed.”
Karim did not like the criticism. “And what does this have to do with me killing your friend?”
Hakim heard the cynicism in Karim’s voice and answered sharply. “It has everything to do with it. He was an ally and an asset. He could get directions, or food, or pretty much anything else without attracting suspicion. All of you”—he waved his hand toward the back of the van—“and your tightly wound demeanor and attitudes scream trouble. I haven’t seen a single one of you smile once. Not once all day long. Despite what you think, people in this country are happy. They smile, and when men with dark skin and black hair walk around like robots with frowns on their faces, it makes them very nervous.”
Karim was more than reluctant to agree with his friend, and even if he did, he would never show such a sign of weakness in front of his men. In a quiet and firm voice he said, “We will continue this later.”
“I’m sure we will,” Hakim said under his breath. As the road curved around to the left, a massive well-lit complex came into view. Hakim pointed at it and said, “There is the Pentagon. You will notice not a single sign of the attacks on nine-eleven. Within a year, the entire site was cleaned up and repaired. These Americans,” he said as he glanced over at his small-minded friend, “are not all the lazy godless people you have made them out to be.”
“We will see,” Karim said confidently. “We will see.”
CHAPTER 49
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
MAGGIE put Charlie to sleep at 8:00 and then got to work on Jack. The ten-year-old employed a series of delay tactics and dragged his feet more than usual. Maggie finally realized he was stalling so he could see his father before he fell asleep. Nash was gone picking up the two oldest ones from after-school activities. Jack seemed to take his father’s coming and going harder than the others. Maggie knew she needed to sit down and talk to her husband about it, but she wasn’t sure about putting any additional stress on him right now.
Maggie told Jack to get under the covers and that she’d be back in a few minutes. She went into her bedroom, stripped off her work clothes, and threw on a pair of pajamas. After brushing her teeth, she came back into Jack’s room and told him to scoot over. Jack and Rory shared a room. Each had a twin bed with a single nightstand in between. Maggie nestled under the blankets with him and put her arm around his bony little shoulders. She kissed him on the forehead and ran her fingers through his bristly hair.
“Is everything all right, honey?”
“Yeah…why do you ask?”
“Because that’s what mothers do. We ask, and we care, and we worry, and we get deep wrinkles on our faces, and you kids suck all the life out of us and turn us into old prunes.”
Jack looked back at his mother with worried eyes and said, “I think you’re beautiful, Mom.”
Maggie kissed him on the forehead again and gave him a big hug. She knew she had only a year or two more at the most before she lost him. It would happen one day without warning, just as it had with Rory. She still had the bond with Shannon, but these damn boys were too much like their father. Jack would stop holding her hand and telling her she was beautiful, and then they’d start butting heads.
“You’re a sweet boy, Jack.”
Jack was about to ask her a question, when the doorbell interrupted him. Maggie looked at the bedside clock. It was almost 9:00. She told Jack to stay put, and she went downstairs to see who it was. When she peeked through the sidelight next to the front door, she saw Todd De Graff, whose son went to school with Rory.
Maggie unlocked and opened the door. The word hello got stuck in her mouth as she looked at a bloodied and battered Derek De Graff. Finally she managed to say, “Oh my God…what happened?”
“Your son is what happened.”
Maggie’s eyes moved from the son to the father. “Excuse me.”
“I don’t stutter, Maggie. Your son Rory beat him up after school.”
“But…” Maggie stammered, “you and Rory are friends. Why would he do something like this?”
“That’s a good question. I’d like to ask him.” De Graff looked over each of Maggie’s shoulders in search of her son.
“He’s not home yet. Why would he do such a thing?”
“Supposedly they were screwing around, then Rory went nuts for no reason.”
Maggie thought about the way he’d been acting up lately. It was entirely possible. He had way too much of his father in him. “I am so sorry. I can assure you I will deal with this the second he gets home.” Maggie shook her head and added, “That boy is going to be in serious trouble.”
“I’m not spending twenty-eight thousand dollars a year so my kid can get bullied and beat up.”
