“You’re just in time, sunshine. Tell me you got good news.” Karl’s mouth was gritty, his throat raw.

“Me? I got so much good news, I should be a bible salesman.”

“Wouldn’t work. First you gotta be a man , to be a sales-man. Heh.”

“Fuck you, I’m more of a man than you are.”

“Firey this morning aintcha. So, you going to share all this good news, or were you just blowing smoke up my ass? It’s full of sand right now and could use a good cleaning.”

The voice on the radio became serious. That was what he liked about working with Joy. She could banter with the best but when it was time to get down to business, she got the fuck down to business. “According to intel, a convoy is going to be passing your location. Five trucks, twenty men, each armed with assault rifles. Possible access to heavier weaponry. The middle truck has what we’ve been waiting for. Do not, I repeat, do not blow that one up.”

Karl let that pass without comment. “Took em long enough. What’s my ETA?”

“Thirty-four minutes. Make em count.”