She blinked a few times, eyes adjusting to the weak daylight filtering in through the drawn curtains, then glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table – 06:32. ‘Christ,’ she said, her voice husky and her throat dry. Having served more than a decade in the US Army before her posting here, she was no stranger to late shifts and early starts, but this was the first day off she’d had in nearly two weeks. She’d been hoping not to regain consciousness before 10 a.m. Whoever was calling, however, had other ideas. The phone carried on ringing and vibrating, moving an inch or so across the hard table surface with each surge. With her mind still fogged by sleep and the pounding ache of a hangover, she reached over and snatched it up. ‘Yeah?’ she mumbled, eyes still closed against the sunlight filtering in through the half-drawn curtains. She arched her back, feeling the vertebrae crack satisfyingly as they realigned themselves. The voice that addressed her was male, focussed and uncharacteristically serious.
