Chapter 5

It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the shadowy interior of the hangar after being out in the bright sky all morning. Then he saw and recognized the man who waited in the lounge area, the man who jumped up and almost ran across to greet him.

“You! I know who you are—that freelance muckraking ‘investigative reporter.’ Haven’t my people told you to get the hell out of here and stay out? If they haven’t, I’m going to tell you myself and make sure you get the word.”

“B-b-b-ut, Mr.—er—Major Darby, you’re the man of the hour. You’re flying tricky drops and missions that have to be as fraught with danger as any you completed in the Middle East. You’re a hero twice over.”

“What I did in the Middle East is fucking irrelevant, and there’s no new dirt to be dug there, Reporter Contreras. I don’t have anything to say to you. Whatever you told Mike here to get him to let you in, I’m not buying. None of it.”