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which told him all he needed to know about what to do next.
    “Well?” she prompted again.
    “I can help you. But I need to know more about what you’re doing, what you’re after.”
    Now it was her turn to pause. Cole couldn’t blame her. He probably didn’t look very reliable.
    “Hey,” he said, spreading his hands wide. “Who the hell would I tell, way out here? I don’t own a car, or even a cell phone. It’s a three-mile hike to the nearest pavement.”
    “Well, for starters, Fort1 is CIA.”
    “That much I figured.”
    “We think he’s gone off the reservation. Some kind of rogue operation.”
    “Over there, you mean?”
    “We’re not sure where he is anymore. The working theory is that he built a private network of his own clients on the government’s dime. For his own benefit, of course.”
    “Clients? Like who?”
    “Warlords and tribal chiefs, private security firms wanting a piece of the action. Anybody who’d pay him, including black hats of all kinds. Meaning that every operation he was involved with—Sandar Khosh, for one—is now suspect.”
    “Then why haven’t they shut him down? Brought him in?”
    “Maybe they have. At this point all we know for sure is that everybody who’s ever been officially involved with him, public or private, at home or abroad, has gone into cleanup mode, trying to erase all his little messes from the record. Which is why we have to move fast. Pick up as many pieces as we can before everything gets swept away.”
    “Like I said, I can help.”
    “Great.” She flipped a page in her notebook, pencil poised. “No rush. Take all the time you need. If you want, we can take you into town for supplies afterward.”
    “No. That’s not how it’s going to work.”
    “Okay. You tell me, then.”
    “Where are you based? You said there were three of you?”
    “Baltimore for now. Barb’s house. She’s the third one. She and Steve both worked for
The Sun.
”
    “Then I’m coming with you. I want to be a part of this.”
    “Whoa now.” Keira held up the notebook like a stop sign. “I can understand why you’d want to get out of here. Maybe we can help you. But you can’t be part of this the way we are. The three of us have the same goals, the same way of doing things.”
    “Fine. Then I’m out. Nice talking to you.” He slid off the stool and stepped toward the door.
    “Wait.” He kept going, turning the doorknob while she talked. “Maybe there’s some kind of middle ground. But you can’t expect us to just take you on as a partner.”
    He stopped and pivoted smartly, a parade ground move that, thanks to the bourbon, started to come apart toward the end. He steadied himself and wet his lips to speak.
    “Why not? I know these ops firsthand. The procedures, the pecking order, the in-house politics. I’ve got names and contacts, and, like I said, stuff from the file.”
    “Just tell me, then. New sources are what we need most right now. Believe me, we’ll know what to do with them. You won’t.”
    He shook his head.
    “Only if you take me with you. A trial period, one week. If it doesn’t work out, then I’m history. I won’t even ask for bus fare back.”
    “You know, you’re acting kind of like I did when I wanted all that access at Aviano, just for writing that profile. Your people said no, and they were right. It was their business, their war. Well, this is ours, and you don’t know the first thing about the way we do our work.”
    “It’s my war, too. You know that or you wouldn’t be here. Thirteen people. Ever make a mistake that big?”
    She looked down at her feet.
    “Well?”
    “No. I haven’t.”
    “One week. That’s all I’m asking.”
    “It’s not my decision.”
    “Then ask your friends. I know names, ops, other guys who got burned the same way. Just think of me as one of those embedded correspondents, tagging along with a combat unit. I play by your rules and do as I’m told.”
    Cole was speaking with passion