**Would?, Alice in Chains**

Fall, 2013

Lieutenant Wendel knocked softly on his office door. "Admiral? You have a call on line 1."

Damn. He'd hoped to have an hour or two by himself after that disastrous call with his ex-wife. They had been divorced almost twenty years but she still could be a pain in the neck when she wanted to be. This time she was calling for a checkup on their son. Apparently his service dog had died and she was concerned he would get depressed. "I am sure he knows better than to get too attached to an animal." He reassured her that the kid was ok because he knew better than to give in to Connie's hysteria but he would check up on the boy anyway. "If it's Connie again, tell her I will call Vince first thing in the morning."

"No Sir, it's from the secure network. Logged in as 89412CN."

Alarm bells went off in his head. That would be Claire. She'd been the first handler he'd had on his team and she'd always been the best as well. If she was calling, it was something serious. "Put her through." As he waited for the connection he pulled up her most recent status report. She currently had three agents in Israel-Palestine, two in Afghanistan, two in Cuba, and two in China. That was the heaviest load of all his handlers but she seemed to manage it effortlessly. "Claire! What a surprise. I hope all is well."

"Cut the crap Dan. You know I wouldn't call if it wasn't serious." Derision colored her voice. She had been pretty pissed at him ever since he sent Tex to Cuba. But they needed someone on the inside with Amir and Tex was the best guy for the job. It wasn't like he could just manufacture guys with his skills out of thin air.

"Fine, what is this about?"

"Agent KS87EF has popped up, alive and pissed. Walked into the embassy in Kabul yesterday and he wants out."

Holy Shit! They had written him off as dead almost a year ago. "Are we sure it's him?"

"Would I be calling you if I wasn't sure? Yeah, we got positive ID by the military liaison officer. Colonel Kimble knew him before, so we can believe him."

"What's his story?"

"His story matches what we know. We figured he'd been killed and disposed of separately since he was the highest ranking person but I guess we were wrong. Says he woke up in a cave full of bodies, crawled out, left his uniform, but took his weapon. It matches the list of what what was found in the cave. Says he was nursed back to health by a Hazara family. Had a chance to get back to Kabul and took it. He's injured and wants to go home."

"Is that where he is now?"

She sighed. "Seriously, you should know my guys well enough to know they won't be found unless they want to be. He told Kimble he'd be back tomorrow and he wants ID and a place ticket ready and waiting."

Holy Toledo! KS87EF was a legacy. Between the military family, years of training, and the success he'd had, plus the fact that he didn't mind long term assignments meant he could take the time to build the kind of relationship that net real information when needed. Dan had been making plans to promote him to the management side of things when Claire was ready to retire from the field. At least he had until they thought the guy had been killed. "How much does he know about what happened? He and the Captain of that unit were close. I have a hard time believing he doesn't want revenge. Do we know for sure that he wasn't in on it? What has he been doing for nearly a year?" Questions tumbled out of his mouth as the possible advantages of having a guy that deep with the locals tempted him.

"Told Kimble he was goat herding. Refused to say where the village was. But sir, you can't be thinking that he turned on us. He was rock solid, all-American all the way."

He shook his head. There was really no way to know. "So why now? Why does he suddenly want to come home?"

Claire sighed. "You're not going to believe this. Says he's going home to the people he loves."

"He's homesick?" He thought of his own cozy bungalow a few miles away and glanced at the clock. He never used to worry if work kept him late but his fifth wife, Chantal, was a stickler for mealtime. If he wasn't home by six he'd have to make his own dinner or drive back to the commissary. But KS87EF had never shown any indication that he even wanted to be in the US, much less with his family. Then again, there had been the surprising finding that he'd willed all his benefits to a daughter no one even knew he had.

"Guess so. Happens to everyone once in a while." She snorted. "Well most everyone."

They could use this to their advantage. "We're still trying to figure out who caused the attack on his unit and the men they were training. We lost 14 good men that day and the Afghan forces lost twice that. We can't let him leave, go home, and become a damn dairy farmer in Kansas for crying out loud. What good would that do anyone? Whether he was involved or not doesn't matter, any info he can get us about how those men infiltrated the training group is invaluable."

"Well sir he did give us that. A name at least. He said he witnessed a translator named Qurban kill Captain Purcells. I have confirmed that this Qurban fellow is a Pakistani national who was present at two previous massacres but managed to come out smelling like roses. One was a car bombing, the other was an ambush with an RPG. Both events were in the same general area. We know they are infiltrating the Afghan forces to get the info they need to select trade routes over the border that won't get raided. But people on the inside have to be helping them. There would be no opium trade without a buyer. Sir, with a name and place, I can get a team on it right away.

"This is too delicate for a bunch of macho shoot 'em up guys. KS has the perfect cover. We'd be foolish to use someone with less experience or ability to blend."

"We could pull Tex…"

"No! His work with Amir is too valuable."

"Then get Gurty in for one last job. How many times has he come out of retirement?"

"Says he won't leave his new marina business, even for me. We just need to find the right incentive for KS87EF and he'll cave. They all do eventually."

She was silent for a long moment. With Claire that meant one of two things. She was either going to tell him how wrong he was, or she was going to tell him how stupid he was. Either way, he wasn't fool enough to think that her not arguing was a good thing."

"Well that's the thing. Kimble had the foresight for once to see what an amazing opportunity was in front of him and he tried, but the price is pretty steep. KS wants college tuition for for all of Purcell's kids. There's six of them. He's coming into the embassy again tomorrow and Kimble needs to know what to tell him."

He didn't even hesitate. "Done." And he breathed a sigh of relief. Money was easy. It was the guys who asked for illegal things that were hard to deal with. "Tell Kimble he can make the deal. Get him the support and supplies he needs, set up a communication plan, and then let's catch this translator in the act." He had one misgiving though. "And Claire, tell Kimble that if he doesn't take the deal, not to let him walk out of there. I have no doubt he could disappear into thin air again the minute we turn our backs."

"Alright. Consider it done." She hung up. Once upon a time she would have chatted with him after their business was concluded but that had stopped two years ago. He supposed he could only blame himself. After all, She had outright asked him not to send Tex to Cuba. It was just about the only thing she'd ever asked for in a nearly thirty year career. What was it with some people that they couldn't see that the jobs they were doing had consequences worth putting relationships on hold? Besides, like he'd told her then, Tex only had one get out of jail free card and he'd already used it. It sounded like Amir was getting too far distanced from the field to be much use anymore. Tex would be home soon. Maybe then she would forgive him.