The preparations for the attack at Khafji were going well. Morale was high in the 5th Mechanized just as he had known it would be. And now he had learned that his men had captured another American female pilot and were bringing her to his headquarters. It seemed only logical that he take advantage of her presence before sending the woman on to Baghdad. After all, if he gave Saddam his victory, then nothing would be said about this little indulgence. If he failed, he was a dead man regardless of what he did to her. It was victory or death, he thought; so live for the moment.

Two hours later General Rashid was studying his new plaything, Marine First Lieutenant Kathleen O'Connor. He had the young woman kneeling before him, stripped of her flight suit and with her arms tied behind her back. A petite, freckled redhead with an athletic body-everyone referred to her by her callsign "Tomboy," the woman presented a fascinating contrast to the muscular Major Barker. He found her to be attractive in a boyish way with her small breasts, slender build, and short, red hair. Though Tomboy tried to maintain a brave front, the General could sense her fear; he could literally smell it emulating from her sweat covered body. It will be interesting, he thought, to put the two American women together.