Bombay Runner

The video was low-quality, from a webcam in a dim room. It showed a dark-haired man grinning into the camera, videochatting with his wife. Somewhere offscreen, there was a long boom and then the distant sound of gunfire. He paused, listening. The door slammed open and a bloodstained man staggered in. Gunfire broke out again, louder now and closer. What s happening? the first man shouted. They blew a hole in the courtyard wall. Blood was pouring from a forehead gash and his right arm hung limply. Another explosion came and the picture spun crazily and then whited out. Slowly the ruined room came back into view, the webcam now sideways on the floor, thick white dust and chunks of masonry everywhere. The two men were nowhere to be seen. A pair of legs came into view from the hallway, white baggy pants over worn leather sandals. They shuffled around the room and the harsh, guttural sounds of a different language could be heard. One of the strangers stopped in front of the camera, his shadow growing larger. Then the video ended abruptly. For FBI Agent Samantha Calvert, this wasn t just another case. In fact, it wasn t her case at all. The man on the video was her brother, missing somewhere in Afghanistan. So when the Bureau says she s too close to the matter and not objective, Sam reluctantly decides to ask for help from the last place she d ever choose: A burned spy named Gault.