Nine years ago, Emily Hikade was flying to meet with an agent affiliated with a known terrorist group for her job as a case officer at the CIA. Suddenly, the single-prop plane hit a storm. The plane started spinning sideways, careening toward the water. “All I can see is the faces of my kids,” says Ms. Hikade, a 45-year-old mother of four sons. “My youngest wasn’t even a year old and I thought, they’re going to grow up without a mom.”

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