Page 54 of What Remains

“Yes. Although he did go out again, obviously, to come get me. By then, he’d asked for a drone flyover, too.”

“And?”

“And the drone spotted tracks heading northeast.”

“And?”

“And nothing.”

He was dumbstruck. “Nothing?That doesn’t make sense. If they were hijacked or attacked, they’d have put up a fight. You’d findsometrace.”

“You’re assuming theydidput up a fight. Would you? Do you really think that, knowing they were outgunned and outmanned, Shahida would risk getting those boys killed?”

“No.” Anything Shahida had done was born out of desperation to help her boys escape. “Then what? Let’s say they were hijacked. Let’s say the hijackers had some sense that a search would be mounted that very night. A vehicle driven off-road leaves tracks. Even stopped, an engine emits enough residual thermal energy for at least a couple hours. That should’ve been picked up on infrared.”

“Actually, no, and you were doing so well, too.”

He bristled. “Don’t get cute.”

“I’m not. I’m pointing out assumptions. A drone is not magic. A drone is not from Krypton, so as they say,ixnay on the x-ray. A drone can pick up only what is either above-ground or so close to an entrance…say, to a cave or the windows of an abandoned building…that residual thermal radiation can be picked up.”

“So, they just flat-out vanished?”

“No. Mac thinks they were just very well-hidden that first night. He pressed for another search two or three days later. That’s when the drone found what was left of the Humvee along the last passable road in the Badakhshan Province.”

“Wow. That far north?” Then the proverbial penny dropped. “Wait a minute, the Wakhan is?—”

“Technically in Badakhshan Province. Correct. I wondered when you’d figure it out. When a team of our people got to the vehicle, all they found was some blood on the driver’s side.”

“Meaning Musa was hit?”

Driver nodded. “But only if he was driving by then. We know she wasn’t driving because DNA says the blood came from a male.”

“But no bodies?”

“Nope, nada, zip. Gone. We figure that if Musa was hit or already dead, they took him along, just in case he was worth anything.”

“That’s pretty cold.”

“I don’t make up the facts.”

“How would they knowwhereto attack?” And then John thought:Radio.He said, very carefully, “Mac called for a medevac team.”

“Yes, he did.”

“For me.” When Driver nodded, he said, “Which means he had to explain why.”

“Yup.” Driver made akeep rollingmotion with a forefinger. “You’re doing really well.”

“Mac probably relayed details about what happened.” Details that might very well have included the fact that Shahida and Musa and Meeks and all those boys were enroute to Kabul.

“Yes.” As if reading John’s mind, Driver said, “Don’t blame yourself, man. This isn’t your fault.”

“No?”

“No. Mac did what he did. He had to be specific about what the problem was and what was needed. Even with encoded communications, that’s a lot of chatter and all that chatter means?—”

“Means anyone listening could triangulate on a position. Which was then used to target the others.”

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