I had spent over an hour trying to convince Roberto to let me execute my plan alone. I almost resorted to pulling rank on him, but thankfully, he finally agreed. We both knew I had a better chance of remaining unseen and keeping things quiet if I went by myself. After all, compared to me, Roberto was a towering, red-haired giant—stealth wasn't exactly his strong suit.

I assigned him an equally critical task. I needed him to lead the terrified villagers out through the tunnels. They had a ...