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The laughter died down as we approached the entrance of the camp, the entry control point, or ECP, as they called it. I’d been getting myself up to speed on military lingo and jargon for two weeks prior to arriving, but I still had a long way to go.

As we stopped at the outer gate, a fully armed soldier whose name I didn’t remember walked up and glanced into the back. “What happened?” he asked.

“The Taliban were about to forcibly take her from the city. We had a firefight and saved her.”

I frowned but said nothing to correct his version of the events.

“Damn,” the soldier said and then stepped back, waving us on.

When we reached one of the long metal buildings with a rounded roof, Ryan stopped. “This is you,” he said.

I opened the door and climbed out.

“Hey,” Warren shouted out.

I shielded the sun from my eyes with my hand and looked back at him. “Yeah?”

“Don’t let him give you too much shit, okay? I’m glad you’re safe.”

Despite my best efforts to mask my emotions, I smiled. “Thanks. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“You better,” he said. “And get that head checked out.”

“I will.”

After Ryan drove away, sending up a cloud of smoke, I walked to the entrance of the building that reminded me of a huge metal shipping container.

Captain Jacoby, the Commanding Officer of the Savage Soldiers, would not be happy with me sneaking out. But if I was investigating claims against the military, I wasn’t able to work too openly with them.

I opened the door and walked inside. While cooler than outside, without air conditioning, it wasn’t very comfortable. Negan Rusell, his aide-de-camp, sat at a tiny desk.

“Hey,” he said. “You made it back. Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure yet, but I think so. I came here first. Jacoby wants to speak with me?”

He nodded, his frail facial features so out of place in Afghanistan. “Yes, but you should go see the medic first.”

“No, I want to get this over with,” I said, walking past his desk.

“Hold on.”

Negan stood up, but I kept going, opening a door that divided the two halves of the metal container. Captain Jacoby looked up from his desk, frowning the moment he saw me.

“You wanted to talk?” I asked.

“Do you know how much trouble you caused today?” he said.

“I’m simply trying to do my job.”

“And so am I. Sit down.” He pointed to the armless chair in front of his desk.

“I need to go see the medic,” I said, changing my mind.

“If you were fine enough to come straight here, then you can sit down and talk for a minute.”

I sighed and sat down, crossing my arms over my chest.

/> “What the hell were you thinking?” he asked, shaking his head.