The man stayed silent.
"(Are you with the Taliban?)" The man smiled. "(Yes? Okay, who is your commanding officer?)"
The man laughed. No answer was going to come easily from him. His dark eyes were defiant, but Wolfe knew that he was scared. He could smell it.
("How did you know that the Americans would be in that valley?") When the man again went silent, Wolfe continued. "(You'll tell me if you want to keep that leg.)"
The man frowned. His eyes darted around the room, but then he looked up at Wolfe with hatred in his eyes. He spit and then hurled a long string of words that Wolfe only caught bits and pieces of. "Infidel" and "Stupid American" were words he understood, though.
Wolfe rolled his eyes. He reached in and grabbed the man's leg, below the spot where he was shot but firm enough that every movement sent shocks of pain through the man's nervous system. The man yelled, then panted with desperation. He was a lot quieter.
"(Good. Let me ask again. Who told you that the Americans would be in that valley?)" Wolfe asked.
A tear escaped from his squinted shut eyes, and suddenly, he opened them. He looked at Akhtar. Quickly, Wolfe looked over at him, too, just in time to see him shake his head just a little bit. Akhtar's eyes flicked from the wounded combatant to Wolfe, realizing that he had just seen him pass a signal. Immediately, he began to sweat fear.
"Sergeant!" Wolfe yelled at the nurse while pointing at Akhtar. "Get him out of here!"
The nurse jumped to his feet, grabbing Akhtar roughly and pulling him out of the tent. The doctor just stood there, wide eyed.
Wolfe jerked his hand again, causing a fresh wave of pain to run through the enemy's body. "(Now! Who told you?)"
The man closed his eyes. "(God will protect me, I will tell you nothing.)"
Wolfe knew it was the truth. He angrily let go of the man's leg and stormed out of the tent. Akhtar had a momentary wave of fear fly out of his body, but then smiled confidently.
"Who are you?" Wolfe yelled at Akhtar in English as he grabbed his collar.
Akhtar just spread his hands and shrugged, a smile on his face. Wolfe lifted him up off the ground before realizing that everyone around was watching him. He threw Akhtar on the ground, then stormed off.
***
"Good morning, everyone. Could I get everyone to take a seat for today's security brief?" The young lieutenant waited for the officers and senior enlisted to stagger to their seats. Many carried coffee cups, some carried notebooks, and all looked half asleep. Wolfe wasn't much better off, but he was attentive. After all, many of these men never left the wire. His job more often than not took him to dangerous parts of the area.
The lieutenant went through the basic parts of the local intel. There was a mortar attack on a neighboring base the night before. A roadside bomb hit a civilian convoy. There was chatter about increased attacks during Ramadan, but that was months away.
"That concludes the unclassified portion of this brief, and we'll be starting the top secret intelligence portion of the brief. I'll ask that all uncleared personnel leave the room. I'll be turning it over to Colonel Donato." With that, most of the junior officers and enlisted personnel left the room, including the lieutenant who had spoken up until now. There wasn't always classified intel to give out, but when there was, everyone complied with the orders not to share it.
Colonel Donato stayed in his seat, and the rest of the people in the room shuffled to seats closer to him. "Captain Wolfe," he started immediately.
"Yes, sir," Wolfe responded.
"Your team has been tasked with going to a local village off the beaten path. I can't pronounce this name but you might recognize it," Donato said, sliding a folder over to him.
Wolfe nodded. He did recognize it, a village he had built good relations with in the brief time since he had arrived here. He opened the folder.
"Seems they've been getting pretty friendly with the enemy. I want you go to there and remind them who their friends really are. Roll in with a display of force if you have to."
Wolfe furrowed his brow. He had sensed no deception the last time he had gone there, and the sheikh had welcomed the Americans with open arms. "Sir, where are we getting this intel from?"
"We got this direct from the Afghan National Army. Now, you're to go there and-"
"Who in the ANA?" Wolfe asked, cutting off the colonel.
Donato looked at him as if he was going to reprimand him, then answered the question. "A guy named Actor or something."
Wolfe yelled. "Akhtar? I filed a report on him a couple days ago! Sir, I think he's the one working for the enemy."
Donato looked alarmed, then motioned one of his advisers to him. The man whispered in his ear, and Donato nodded.