Short stories

2 May 2026 · 10 min read

The Yangon Assignment

Not every country lets a foreigner blend in. In post-coup Yangon — where tourism has all but collapsed and the intelligence services watch for the wrong kind of stranger talking to the wrong kind of local — blending in isn't just difficult, it's the wrong strategy entirely. The hardest part of the work is rarely the act itself: it's the pretext that has to hold every minute you're in the country, the discipline to abort a plan when one detail isn't right, the cold knowledge that a one-week window may not grant you a third attempt. Myanmar taught me that an aborted attempt is not a failed one — and that the job is finished when you leave the country, not when you walk away from the body.

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1 January 2026 · 8 min read

The Kabul Assignment

Not every assignment offers the luxury of anonymity. In post-Taliban Kabul, where foreign faces are noticed, remembered, and reported, blending in isn't just difficult—it's nearly impossible. Sometimes the hardest part of the job isn't the killing itself, but everything that comes before: the waiting, the watching, the careful construction of a pretext that has to hold up under constant scrutiny. Afghanistan taught me that adaptability isn't optional—it's survival.

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