“He’s lying.”
“We’re going in.”
“Who is?”
“Razor, Gunner, and me.”
Alegria sat on the side of the bed, resting each of her feet flat on the floor. Yesterday, she’d been able to walk across the room twice. Tonight she’d have to go twice that far—once she convinced her parents to help her leave the hospital.
“Papa, I need your help. Maman, too,” she said when he answered his phone.
“We were just on our way to the hospital.”
“I see. Can you come here afterward?”
“I meant we were on our way to see you.”
“Perfect,” she said and hung up.
“I need to mobilize,” she told her dad when they were settled in her room. “It’s something I have to do, and while you may not understand why, I’m asking for your help anyway.”
She looked over at her mother. “You said that you wanted to focus on our relationship. What I’m asking both of you is to support me in this, unconditionally.”
“What is it you’re proposing?” her father asked.
“First, I have to leave the hospital. This morning, Dr. Gertman told me it would be at least two or three more days before he’d be willing to release me. I need to leave tonight.”
Her father nodded.
“Next, I need to get to Afghanistan.”
“Taller order,” her father answered, rubbing his chin. “I’ll need to make arrangements for the aircraft.”
“I meant to fly commercial, Papa.”
He scowled and shook his head.
“I don’t have flight clearance.”
When he waved his hand in dismissal, Alegria looked at her mother, who merely nodded.
“What else?” he asked.
“I haven’t figured that out yet.”
“What is your intention?”
“To get Mantis and Dutch out of Afghanistan.”
“She is certainly your daughter, Pierre.”
Her father murmured something and nodded. “It’ll take money.”
She’d thought about that angle, but even if she used every penny she had and mortgaged her Manhattan apartment, it wouldn’t be enough. “It’ll take too much money.”
“Give me twenty-four hours.”
Alegria raised her eyebrows when her father walked out of the room. “What just happened?”