“You were teaching him to speak the languages primarily used in Afghanistan?”
“And other countries in the Middle East as well, including Pakistan. And in Iran, Dari is known as Farsi. It’s a very useful language to know over there, along with Arabic of course.”
“So if he wasn’t a salesman and he wasn’t qualified to be a translator, were you teaching him to be one?”
“No. We have immersion schools for that. What I did was work with him one-on-one three hours a day, every weekday. I did that for nearly a year.”
“Did you ever do that with anyone else?”
She shook her head.
“He was a reservist headed to Afghanistan. Maybe he wanted to speak the languages?”
“But he wasn’t paying us to do it. We were paying him a salary to learn the languages.”
Sean sat back, obviously flummoxed by this statement. “How do you know that?”
“Our company bookkeeper, Sue, is a friend. She told me. But the thing is we were getting fully reimbursed for his salary.”
“Who by?”
“Some unit at the DoD. I’m not sure which, there are so many. But we were definitely getting paid back. It wasn’t costing us a dime. Our company’s owner is not known for his generosity. He wouldn’t pay for an employee who had no duties.”
“Did you ever talk to Wingo about this… this unusual arrangement?”
“I was told not to. I considered him a friend because we spent so much time together. He told me about his son. I told him about my family. I was stunned when he didn’t show up one day. I knew he was leaving for Afghanistan at some point, but I didn’t know he had been deployed. And I didn’t know he was in the reserves.”
“He was regular Army. I think you were helping prepare him for a mission that required those language skills.”
“What was the mission?” she asked in a whisper.
“Good question. I wish I knew.”
“You said you didn’t think Sam was dead? But it was in the paper.”
“No, I don’t think he’s dead.” Sean leaned forward. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not in danger or trouble or both. Did he mention anything to you that might help me? Anything at all?”
“He told me he hoped to retire soon. He wanted to spend more time with Tyler.”
“Anything else?”
“Well, there was something strange right before he left DTI.”
“What?” said Sean sharply.
“He said he was going back to Afghanistan soon. I told him to be
careful. That I didn’t want him to die from an IED or a sniper. That I prayed he got back soon.”
“And what did he say to that?”
“He said that IEDs and snipers were the least of his worries.”
Sean rubbed his chin. “Meaning what? That something else even worse might happen to him over there?”
“I guess, yes.” Her features shifted to alarm at what this actually meant. “What other things could be worse than being blown up or shot?” she asked.
“There might be something,” replied Sean.