The way he saw it, if he could drive thousands of miles across the back country of Iraq, getting shot at by Hadjis wielding Kalishnikovs and RPGs, and come through safely on the other side, then a little snow wasn’t going to deter him. He checked in with the other members of Team Red as he drove, calling Sgts. Colleen MacKenzie, Dan Sykes, and Julio Vasquez on his mobile but getting through to none of them, so he left messages, telling them to enjoy their vacations and to check their voice mail—it was possible, he said, that he was going to need them. He called Walter Ford and Sami Jambazian as well, both former partners of his on the Boston P.D. and both working for him in their retirements, and left similar messages, noting again how, now that everyone had cell phones and voice mail, you never actually talked to people anymore. He called his wife from the road and learned his son Scott would be coming home from Iraq on extended leave, which was good news. DeLuca told Bonnie he’d check in with her when he found a motel.
