Karim relayed the number and then said good-bye. "He sounded nervous," he said to Hakim.

"Normal." Hakim shrugged as if he couldn't care less.

"How long are you going to stay mad at me?" Karim asked.

"I don't know. How many more innocent people are you going to butcher?"

The question was not entirely unexpected, but it stung nonetheless. "War is not without casualties."

"When you are involved, that's for certain."

"You would rather I place the outcome of this entire operation in the hands of a twenty-three-year-old boy who owes me no loyalty?"

"Back to your tribal mentality again."

"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 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?" 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."

"Todd, I promise you Rory will be punished severely, and as soon as he gets home I will bring him over and he will apologize in person for this."

"I don't think that's a good idea." De Graff shook his head. "Kristy is really upset about this. I had to talk her out of calling the police."

Maggie was suddenly gripped by a new set of problems. Her little Jarhead in the making was going to end up with a juvenile record, and if that happened he could kiss an Ivy League education good-bye. And then she thought of Kristy Hillcrest De Graff, quite possibly the most gossipy, stuck-up mother amongst a group of women who were not the least bit embarrassed to behave like they were still in high school. Maggie felt her Irish temper coming on. She apologized to both father and son one more time and said she'd call them after she was done chewing Rory's ass out.

After closing the door, Maggie went to the kitchen and headed straight for the wine fridge. She retrieved a bottle of Toasted Head Chardonnay and wrestled with the cork. Jack appeared in the doorway, looking concerned.

Maggie looked up and said, "Back to bed, young man. You do not want to be down here when your brother gets home."

She opened the cupboard, her right hand reaching for a small Chardonnay glass and then skipping over it. A situation like this called for a big burgundy glass. After pouring nearly a third of the bottle into the glass, she took a massive drink and then leaned against the marble counter. Her mind raced off in three different directions almost simultaneously. How would her husband react to the news, how many women had Kristy Hillcrest De Graff already called, and what punishment was she going to give her thirteen-year-old monster?

She was nearly finished with the glass when she heard them pull into the garage. She waited for them in the kitchen, her anger slowly building. Shannon entered the kitchen first; she was on her cell phone, so she didn't notice the brooding look on her mother's face. Next came Rory, with his father close behind.

Nash entered the kitchen, took one look at his wife, and thought, Holy shit, what did I do now? Holy shit, what did I do now? Instead he said, "What's wrong?" Instead he said, "What's wrong?"

"Well... Derek and his father just stopped by." Her eyes shifted to her son. "Would you like to tell me why he has a black eye?"

Rory shifted nervously and then stammered for a second before spitting out, "He said something that wasn't right... and I told him to stop, but he..."

"Do you have any idea," Maggie screamed, "that you can be kicked out of school!"

"But, Mom, he..."

"I don't care what he did!"

"But he..."

"Did you hear me?" she screamed. "Nothing that he could have said would justify what you did to him. Do you know how much we pay to send you to Sidwell?"

Rory was shaking. "I don't care!" he yelled. "I don't even like it there!"

"Don't you dare raise your voice at me, young man! Go to your room right now!" She pointed toward the hallway. "Your father and I will discuss your punishment, but I'll tell you right now, I'm in favor of pulling you off the lacrosse team."

Rory ripped himself free from his father and ran down the hallway. "I hate you!"

Maggie yelled after him, "That's really going to help your case, young man!" She turned to her husband and said, "Can you believe this?" She snatched the bottle of wine from the counter and poured herself another third. "I have no idea how we are going to deal with this."

Nash wondered for a brief second who in the hell this woman was, standing in his kitchen. "Woman... what in the hell is wrong with you?"

"Me?" She pointed at herself. "Maybe you haven't been paying attention, Michael, but that school costs twenty-eight thousand dollars a year and they have a zero tolerance on fighting. He's going to get kicked out."

"Don't you think we should hear his side of the story before we get all worked up?"

"I don't need to hear his side. Zero tolerance. That's the policy. We're screwed. He's going to get expelled, and then good luck trying to get him into Harvard."

"Oh, that's what this is about."

"Don't go there with me. This is your fault. I should have never let you give him boxing lessons. It's bad enough that he has that same aggressive gene you and your brothers have."

"What are you talking about?"

"Remember... remember the bar you and your brothers tore apart? If it wasn't for the fact that that cop was a Marine and you were on leave you'd have a record right now."

"What I remember is you were jealous because I was talking to some girl, so you decided to do blow job shots on the bar, and if you hadn't been sticking your pretty little ass in that guy's face, he would have never grabbed it, and Sean would have never had to knock him out."

Maggie pointed at herself. "That was not my fault, and this is not my fault. This comes from your side of the family. You brother Patrick just beat up some guy in Atlantic City last month and he's thirty-five years old."

"The guy had it coming."

"Oh... I'm sure he did. You and your brothers... any excuse to fight, and now it's been passed down to our son." Maggie looked up at the ceiling and moaned. "I can't believe this is happening. He's going to get kicked out of the best prep school in Washington. Do you have any idea how many strings my father had to pull?"

Nash had heard enough. He'd never liked the idea of sending Rory to the effete prep school, but he wasn't around enough to really fight it. "You know what, Maggie, it doesn't matter how much money your dad made, and it doesn't matter how much you make, they're never going to let you into their little club. No matter how you slice it, you're an Irish Catholic girl from Boston."

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You tell me. I'm proud of where I came from. I'm not so sure you feel the same."

"Don't you ever!" she screamed, and held her glass up like she might throw it at him.

Nash waved her off and walked out of the kitchen, saying, "Look who's the one with the temper now."

"We are not done talking about this!" she yelled after him.

"Yes, we are."

Nash grabbed the railing and climbed the stairs. He knocked softly on the boys' door and then entered. Rory was on his stomach, his face stuffed into a pillow, sobbing. Jack was sitting in his bed reading, a frightened look on his face. Nash walked over and pulled back Jack's blankets.

"Go read in Mamma's bed. I'll come get you when I'm done."

"Is everything all right?" Jack whispered.

"Everything will be fine, buddy." Nash nudged him out the door and then closed it. He walked back to Rory's bed and sat on the edge. He put his hand on Rory's back and said, "Ror, I want you to try and calm down and then I want to hear your side of the story."

Between sobs, he managed to spit out, "What does it matter... Mom doesn't care."

"I care... so stop crying and turn over." Nash rubbed his back and added, "Son, I was in plenty of fights when I was your age. My dad used to say it takes two to tangle. Your mother doesn't understand that because she's a woman, but I do. You're a good kid. I doubt you just hauled off and smacked Derek for no reason." Under his breath he added, "Especially since he's a spoiled little shit."

Rory flipped over and composed himself enough to start the story. He said, "We were done with lacrosse... and were waiting for play practice to start... which I hate... and Mom made me sign up for."

Mentioning his mother elicited another deluge of tears. "Calm down," Nash told him.

"Derek was waiting to get picked up and he started talking about Shannon. He started to say... things."

Nash's antennae went up. "Like what?"

"He talked about how hot she was... and that he wanted to have... you know... he wanted to have sex with her... except he didn't use that word. He used that word that we're not supposed to use."

Nash felt his own anger grabbing hold. "Which word?"

"The F word."

Motherfucking little shit, Nash thought to himself. "Is that all?" Nash thought to himself. "Is that all?"

"I told him not to say it again or I was going to hit him... and then he started talking about Mom."

"Really." Nash said, surprised. "What did he say?"

Rory squirmed. "I'd rather not say."

"I'd rather you did," Nash said in a very firm paternal voice.

"He said... Mom was a..." Rory stopped.

"What?"

"He called her a MILF."