COLLATERAL CASUALTIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series) by Kassandra Lamb Page B

He had come to realize this group was corrupt in its own way. They had begun to take money from those who grew crops that would then be exported to the United States and turned into addictive drugs. The leaders justified this by saying that the drugs would happen anyway. At least this way, a good cause was being financed, and when we had taken over the country we would help the farmers learn how to grow more respectable crops.
                “Then they made this young man a lieutenant and put him in charge of those responsible for collecting the fees from the farmers. He was not at all comfortable with that role. He was shamed by the looks of terror and hatred on the poor people’s faces, people like his parents. But this was an army, a war. Soldiers are not allowed to question or complain. They are expected to follow orders.”
                “And anyone attempting to leave would be treated as a deserter,” Kate said, drawn into the man’s story despite herself.
                “Exactly.” The man leaned forward and looked her in the eye. “Our mutual friend did that young man a great favor. He woke up in a hospital, with no papers, no identity, his face scarred by the fire in which his body was supposed to have been consumed.”
                Leaning back again, he scratched his chin through his beard. The coarse black hairs didn’t completely conceal the shiny surface of old burn scars.
                “That young man pretended to have amnesia. A doctor took pity on him and did some rudimentary reconstructive surgery. When he was released from the hospital, he made his way to a place where he had been burying most of his wages for years, intending to someday go back to his village and buy his parents a better farm.
                “Instead he bought himself a new identity and, through bribery, got a job with the very police force he had once fought against. He had an uncanny ability to know where the rebels were hiding and where they might strike next. This helped him advance through the ranks. His contributions to establishing relative peace in his country eventually earned him a place in the government he had once despised.”
                “So why should I believe that you wouldn’t see... my friend’s recognition of you as a threat?” Kate asked.
                “Oh, I did, for a moment or two, until he reassured me, indirectly, that he had no more desire to dredge up the past than I did.”
                “Then how did anyone else even know that he’d recognized you?”
                “That is what I so deeply regret, Mrs. Huntington. I discussed the matter with my wife, and apparently a member of my household staff was eavesdropping. I am as mystified as you are as to why that person felt the need to protect my current identity. If anything, I would have expected him to turn me in to our country’s authorities, hoping for a reward. But instead, he eliminated what he perceived to be a threat to his employer.”
                “What happened to him?”
                “Do you really want an answer to that question?”
                “I guess not.” Kate already knew the answer, but there was no sense of justice, only sadness that yet another person had died because Miller and this man happened to run into each other at a party.
                “There is another reason I have come to see you this evening,” the man said. “I wanted to warn you to leave all of this very much alone. Do not ask any questions, make any phone calls. Don’t even look up anything related to me, my country or our friend on the internet. I am not at all sure that the killer was working alone. It has crossed my mind that members of the group to which I once belonged might attempt to blackmail me with exposure, in order to use my influence within the government to their own ends. I am