Metal and flaming solid propellant fell around Lyons. When he looked up, nothing remained.
* * *
Two days later, in the devastated village of the Bekaa Valley, a messenger delivered a message to the desk of Colonel Dastgerdi. The Syrian officer waited until the soldier left his office, then tore open the envelope. The one-line communication read, "They defeated the puppets."
Colonel Dastgerdi carefully burned both the typed page and the envelope, then scattered the ashes.
The Americans had taken his pawn. Now he would take their President.