Only a short eternity later, Frantisek was also gone.

When he awoke, Jihad was gone.

There was a long pause after the guard had wandered away, and then Jihad spoke. “Did you know that some of those soldiers were charged after we all saw those images of what was the term prisoner abuse, and that that woman soldier in those photos was convicted of ‘adultery’? A crime under US military law, it seems. Tomorrow,” he said, “I will tell you my life story in excruciating detail.”

Frantisek slept soundly and long despite the fluorescent hell of their cell.