"I was a homicide detective in Alabama. I've seen plenty of gunshot wounds and dead bodies."

"I didn't know Bama was such a killing field."

"Are you kidding? Alabama has more guns than the entire United States military."

Alex squatted down and looked at Johnson's body. He felt one of the stiffened arms. The sleeve was soaked through, and the body was still in full rigor.

There was dried blood coming from the ears, nose and around the mouth.

"Basilar fracture," Simpson deduced. "The blood seeps down from the base of the fractured skull. The M.E. will probably find the slug near the top or the back of the head. Since it was only a .22 caliber, he would've had to really shove it up there to get a clean trajectory."

"There's some blood spatter on the sleeve but only one small blood drop on the right hand," Alex added. "That's a little surprising."

"Yeah, but sometimes there's less bleeding when the slug stays in the head."

"Probably right."

Over his shoulder Alex called out, "Where was the gun and note found?"

The cop answered, "Gun was on the right side of the body, about six inches away. The note was in the right side pocket of his windbreaker."

When Alex rose, he bit back a searing pain in his neck. It almost always gave him a jolt when he stood quickly. Simpson looked at him.

"You okay?"

"Old yoga injury. What do your Alabama homicide detective instincts think?"

Simpson shrugged. "I learned that the prelim manner of death was usually right."

"That's not what I asked you. What does your gut gut say?" say?"

She spoke quickly. "That we need to know a lot more before we close the book on this one. This wouldn't be the first case where the preliminary findings were misleading." She nodded over at the NIC guys. "I doubt they're going to be very cooperative."

Alex stared at the men. If there was one agency that was more shrouded in secrecy than the CIA and even the NSA, it was NIC. He could easily envision the roadblocks being erected with a foundation of national security interests outweighing everything else. While it was true that the Secret Service used that tactic at times, Alex had a lot more confidence in his agency invoking that authority properly. He wasn't nearly as comfortable with NIC chambering that particular silver bullet.

"So what do you you think?" Simpson asked him. think?" Simpson asked him.

Alex studied the ground for a long minute and then looked up at her. "Not to sound too selfish about it, but I think this is going to be a pain in my a.s.s that I don't really need at this point in my career."

As Alex and Simpson were leaving Roosevelt Island, the two men who'd been identified as being with NIC hustled over to them.

"We understand you're Secret Service," the tall blond one said.

"That's right," Alex replied. "Agents Ford and Simpson out of WFO."

"I'm Tyler Reinke and this is Warren Peters. We're with NIC. Since Johnson was a shared employee between our two agencies, it'll probably be best if we work together."

"Well, it's pretty early on in the game, but I don't mind sharing so long as I get something in return," Alex answered.

Reinke smiled. "That's the only way we play the game."

"Okay, so can you arrange for us to interview the people Johnson worked with?"

Peters said, "I think so. Do you know anyone at NIC?"

"Well, you're the first two I've ever found who would admit you worked there."

Both Reinke and Peters looked a little chagrined at this comment.

"Here's my card," Alex said. "Let me know when you've got it set up." He pointed to the bagged note in Simpson's hand. "We'll also run a comparison on the handwriting on the note, to make sure it's Johnson's."

Peters said, "I actually wanted to talk to you about the note. We've got lots of handwriting experts on staff. They can turn that around pretty fast."

"The Service can get it done quickly too," Alex countered.

"But NIC has a hundred samples of Johnson's handwriting at work. I'm just offering to help make things go faster. Cooperation is the key these days, right?"

Simpson piped in, "That note is evidence in a homicide investigation. The M.E. might have a problem letting you take it. It's one thing to give it to the FBI or Secret Service, we're sworn law enforcement."

"Actually, we are too," Reinke said. "And I've already talked to the M.E. and pointed out that there are national security interests here. He was fine with us taking custody of it so long as the chain of evidence was properly maintained."

"Well, I'm sure that scared the h.e.l.l out of him," Alex said. He pondered for a moment and then shrugged. "Okay, let us know ASAP. And check it for prints too."

After Peters had filled out the appropriate paperwork with the M.E., he gingerly took the note. "Carter Gray's going to be on the warpath. Probably already is."

"I can see that," Alex replied.

After the NIC men had left them, Simpson asked, "So what do you really think?"

"I think they're a.s.sholes who're gonna pitch my card in the nearest trash can."

"So why'd you give them the note, then?"

"Because now that they have control of material evidence in a homicide case, that gives us a great excuse to go to NIC and see things for ourselves."

CHAPTER 18.

CARTER GRAY HAD RISEN AT six-thirty and arrived back at NIC forty-five minutes later. In the NIC lobby were a series of stark black-and-white photos that every employee had to pa.s.s each day. One showed the World Trade Center towers ablaze. The photo next to it graphically captured the rubble and empty s.p.a.ce where the towers had stood. The crippled Pentagon was in the third photo, a hole punched in its face by the American Airlines jet. A fourth photo showed the stark crater in the Pennsylvania field, the final resting place of the doomed United Airlines flight. The picture beside that one captured the blackened and blistered skin of the White House where two rocket-propelled grenades had hit and actually entered the East Room of the president's house, and the one next to it showed the devastation of the Oklahoma City bombing. six-thirty and arrived back at NIC forty-five minutes later. In the NIC lobby were a series of stark black-and-white photos that every employee had to pa.s.s each day. One showed the World Trade Center towers ablaze. The photo next to it graphically captured the rubble and empty s.p.a.ce where the towers had stood. The crippled Pentagon was in the third photo, a hole punched in its face by the American Airlines jet. A fourth photo showed the stark crater in the Pennsylvania field, the final resting place of the doomed United Airlines flight. The picture beside that one captured the blackened and blistered skin of the White House where two rocket-propelled grenades had hit and actually entered the East Room of the president's house, and the one next to it showed the devastation of the Oklahoma City bombing.

These horrific pictures continued down one side of the NIC lobby and then marched down the opposite wall. For many, though, the last photo was the most devastating. Virtually all of the victims had been under the age of sixteen, their lives ripped from them by a squad of four suicide bombers who detonated simultaneously during a special ceremony overseas honoring America's best and brightest schoolchildren. They had won the trip to France because of their academic prowess and stellar community service back home. They returned to the States wrapped in coffins instead of accolades.

"Never forget," Gray had lectured his people. "And do all you can to make certain these things never ever happen again."

NIC kept an unofficial tally of how many lives and property had been saved by its stopping potential terrorist attacks in the United States and overseas. The estimated number of deaths prevented stood at 93,000 Americans and 31,000 foreigners, and the value of property saved at nearly $100 billion. No one outside the highest intelligence circles knew of these statistics; certainly, the American public would never know, and for good reason. If they ever found out how many "near misses" there had been, the American people would probably never leave their homes again.

Gray rode the elevator to the same floor as he had the night before but entered a different room. In here were five men and two women seated around a rectangular conference table. Gray sat and opened a laptop in front of him.

"Results of last night?" he said.

"Al-Omari refused to cooperate," one of his lieutenants answered.

"Not that surprising actually."

"About al-Omari's son, Mr. Secretary, do you want us to take him?"

"No. The boy can stay with his mother. A child needs at least one one parent. " parent. "

"Understood, sir," the man said, acknowledging the death sentence just handed out to the unfortunate father.

"Take one week, and by any means at your disposal you will extract as much useful intelligence as possible from Mr. al-Omari."

"Done," one of the women said.

"Ronald Tyrus, our resident neo-n.a.z.i?" Gray asked.

"We've already started debriefing him."

"And the others?"

"Kim Fong has given us a confirmed lead on a shipment of a new-generation explosive allegedly invisible to airport X-ray. According to him, it's being smuggled into L.A. next week."

"Follow it to the buyer. I want the scientists, equipment and their financial backers, the whole spectrum. The others?"

"None of them would cooperate." The man paused. "The usual exit strategy?"

Each of the people in this room had worked with Gray before in some capacity and stood in awe of the man. They had collectively made decisions and taken actions that were illegal and often immoral as well. Over the years these highly educated and trained men and women had been given orders to find and kill those persons deemed to be enemies of the United States; and they had dutifully carried out those commands, because that was their job. Yet the potential death of another human being, while certainly not new territory for this group, never failed to garner their respectful attention.

"No," Gray said. "Let them go, but with tracers. And let it be known through discreet channels that they've talked to the authorities."

"The result will be they'll be killed by their own people," the other woman present said.

Gray nodded. "Film the murders. We'll use that as leverage. And if they won't turn to our side, terrorist killing terrorist never fails to make the six o'clock news. Okay, give me the latest."

The man charged with responding to this query was the youngest person in the room. However, in many ways he had more experience in the field than most agents far his senior. Tom Hemingway looked just as dashing and was dressed just as impeccably as he had been last night at the LEAP Bar. He was a rising star at NIC and its reigning expert in Middle East affairs. He also had an excellent grounding in the Far East, having spent the first twenty years of his life in those two places with his father, who'd been a U.S. amba.s.sador, first to China, then Jordan, and, for a brief time, Saudi Arabia, before returning to China.

Because of his father's travels, Tom Hemingway was one of the few operatives in American intelligence who could speak Mandarin Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic and Farsi. He had read the Qur'an in its original Arabic and knew the Muslim world as well as any American other than his father. It was these attributes, plus physical and mental indefatigability and a gift for spy craft, that had fueled his meteoric rise through the ranks to his current position as one of Gray's inner circle.

Hemingway clicked a key on his computer, and a screen hanging on the far wall sprang to life showing a detailed satellite-imaging map of the Middle East.

He said, "As outlined here, CIA and NIC operatives on the ground have made significant inroads in Iran, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Iraq, UAE and Yemen as well as the new Kurdish Republic. We've infiltrated over two dozen known terrorist organizations and splinter cells at the deepest levels. All are on track to pay big dividends."

"It helps when your field agents aren't all blond and blue-eyed who speak no Arabic," one of the other men commented dryly.

"Well, for decades that's all we had," Gray shot back. "And we still don't have nearly enough operatives who can speak the language."

"Kabul and Tikrit aren't exactly popular career paths these days," commented one of the men.

"What are the losses currently running?" Gray asked.

"Two operatives killed per month," Hemingway answered. "It's as high as it's ever been, but with more reward obviously comes more risk," he added.

Gray responded, "I can't emphasize enough the importance of getting these people out safely."

There was a murmur of largely unenthusiastic agreement around the table. Middle East terrorists dealt with suspected spies very directly. They filmed the beheading of the person and released it to the world to dissuade others from replacing the fallen. It had proved a very effective strategy.

"We're losing soldiers over there at the rate of a dozen a day, seven days a week," Hemingway pointed out. "And with the new front that just opened on the Syrian border, the casualty rate will only get worse. Meanwhile, the Muslim independence movements in Chechnya, Kashmir, Thailand and Mindanao are allowing the spread of radical Islamic ideology to grow unabated. And Africa's a whole other problem. Most of northern Nigeria had adopted strict sharia law. They're stoning women to death for committing adultery and cutting the limbs off petty thieves. The terrorists' recruiting and training operations are largely conducted over the Internet, and they use ident.i.ty theft and other scams to hide their movements and conduct financing through the hawala hawala system of informal money transfers. There's no centralized command for our military to hit. Clandestine, undercover operations are the only viable strategy." system of informal money transfers. There's no centralized command for our military to hit. Clandestine, undercover operations are the only viable strategy."

"There's a democratic government in power in Iraq, duly elected by the people," another man said. "Despite suicide bombers and bullets flying everywhere, the people came out and voted. And look at the gains in Lebanon, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Morocco. In fact, democracy is slowly spreading across the region. That truly is a miracle and something both we and the Muslim community can be proud of."

Hemingway looked at Gray. "It's cost this country half a trillion dollars and counting to get to the election stage in Iraq. At that rate we'll be bankrupt in five years. And when the Kurds declared their independence, it hardly set well in Baghdad. And the Sunnis may not be far behind in revolting from the Shia control. Meanwhile, the Baathist exiles and foreign insurgents are continuing to escalate the violence. On top of that, word is the Iraqi government will soon be asking the U.S to leave because it's struck a deal with the Baathists for a bloodless coup. And then the Baathists will fight a final battle with the insurgents who favor a Taliban-style government. Iraq will end up far more destabilized than it ever was, with a legion of newly minted terrorists ready to attack us. So what has our money and the blood of our soldiers really bought us?"

Gray said, "I'm aware of that. We knew the day would come. Unfortunately, from our side we really can't leave. The situation is far too volatile."

Hemingway threw his hands up. "That's what happens when you have a country that was artificially created by a colonial power, jamming three distinct and incompatible groups into one boundary. A one-size-fits-all democracy is not an effective foreign policy when you're dealing with such different cultures. Western democracy is predicated on separation of church and state. That's a difficult sell to Muslims. That's why Mali and Senegal are the only Muslim nations rated fully free."

Gray said calmly, "We don't make the foreign policy of this government, Tom, we just try and clean up the mess and limit the damage. India and Pakistan?"

Hemingway drew a deep breath. "Situation continues to worsen. The current casualty estimates of a nuclear war between the two countries have twenty-five million dying the first day, with another twenty million critically injured. That is a disaster beyond the world's collective ability to respond. And China and India are closer every day, both economically and militarily. That's a real concern."

"Egypt?" Gray asked.

"Ready to erupt, along with Indonesia and Saudi Arabia," Hemingway responded. "Ever since the Temple of Hatsheput ma.s.sacre, Egypt's tourist trade's been in the toilet. And a bad economy equals opportunities for an overthrow."

Gray sat back in his chair. "Well, understandably, people on vacation are averse to being shot and hacked to death."

"And then there's North Korea," Hemingway said.

Gray nodded. "A madman in charge, the world's third largest army, with nukes that can hit Seattle and whose lead export is counterfeit American money. I want the updated detailed scenarios on my desk in twenty-four hours. Okay, narcoterrorism?"

Hemingway clicked another key and the wall screen changed. "In the highlighted areas Middle East terrorists are hooking up with Far East drug cartels in a much more formal way. In some cases they're actually taking over the drug operations completely. The Central Asian republics are imploding. Drug production is the fastest-growing part of the economy. And since the republics were the former Soviet Union's toxic waste dumps, we could soon have Middle East terrorist groups selling radioactive radioactive heroin and crack in the States." heroin and crack in the States."

"Ironic considering Muslims don't even touch liquor, much less crack," another man said.

Hemingway shook his head. "I've been on flights with some Saudis where the hijab hijab comes off and the booze comes out as soon as the plane was wheels-up." comes off and the booze comes out as soon as the plane was wheels-up."

"Thank you for your report, Tom. Is this current hit list fundamentally accurate?" Gray asked another man.

"Yes, sir. It's based on very credible evidence."

"In my experience a term very often confused with incredible incredible evidence," Gray said. "As usual, ground-level operatives are to be given the broadest possible lat.i.tude to accommodate different tactics by the enemy. Preemptive action is encouraged whenever possible. We'll take care of any lingering details on the other end." evidence," Gray said. "As usual, ground-level operatives are to be given the broadest possible lat.i.tude to accommodate different tactics by the enemy. Preemptive action is encouraged whenever possible. We'll take care of any lingering details on the other end."

Everyone in the room understood Gray's words to mean: kill them and don't worry about the legal or political niceties.