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Marcus, Dell, and Annie rode back to Langley together.

Jenny was waiting for them outside Dell’s office when they arrived. “Prince Abdullah just called from Riyadh,” she said. “It seems that our prisoner Abu Jihad has begun to sing.”

They gathered in Dell’s office and shut the door.

“Anything useful?” Dell asked.

“Interesting but not actionable—not yet,” Jenny replied. “He says Abu Nakba was in that compound near Ghat for years and confirmed that it was his headquarters. However, once the old man heard that Hamdi Yaşar had been captured, he fled to Iran within days.”

“To Bandar Abbas?” Marcus asked.

Jenny nodded. “That’s what the Saudis think. When Abu Nakba left Iran, he spent several days at the Ruzami compound in Yemen. He left only about twenty-four hours before we arrived, and that’s where the trail goes cold again.”

“Is it possible he went back to Iran?” Annie asked.

“Let’s task a satellite to scour every inch of that naval base,” Dell said. “If Abu Nakba is still there, we’ll know soon enough.”

“That’s all well and good,” Marcus said, “but it doesn’t put us any closer to figuring out where these Kairos cells are, or where they are going to strike, or when.”

Six hours later, however, there was a new development. This time the entire team met with Dell and Annie in the director’s conference room, and the guest of honor was Noah Daniels.

“We’ve cracked the Dead Sea Scrolls, and they’re finally revealing their secrets.”

“The Dead Sea Scrolls?” Dell asked.

“That’s what I’ve nicknamed all the stuff brought back from Libya, together with what we brought back from Yemen,” Noah explained.

He directed everyone’s attention to the plasma screens. Photos of various microchips, SIM cards, and other scraps of digital data flashed on the various screens, but on the center monitor, a video began to play. It was a message from Abu Nakba. He was speaking in Arabic, but Noah’s team had translated it and added English subtitles.

“We are coming for you—all of you—every enemy of Allah shall burn,” the old man began. “We will destroy your idols. We will elevate the crescent and break your crosses. Listen, O infidels. Hear me, O pagans. Allah has prepared the earth for the bloodiest battle before the hour of our redemption. Make no mistake: the purposes of Allah shall come to pass. He will see his slaves sweat in spilling their blood as they wage jihad and prepare for the Coming One. He will also see the blood of his enemies flowing like rivers upon the earth because they have rejected the Holy Qur’an. Because they have rejected his last and final Prophet, peace be upon him. The time has come. The prophecies are coming to pass. The end of days is upon us. The beloved forerunner to the Mahdi—Jesus, son of Mary, peace be upon him—is coming at any moment. He will bring justice to the earth. He will smite all liars and murderers and fornicators and all the enemies of Islam. He will debunk once and for all the cruel and deceptive myth that he was once hanged on a cross and crucified. He will curse the deluded and the blasphemers who claim that he and Allah are one, who make claims of his resurrection and divinity. He will expose such diabolical lies with a sword and fire. Behold, when Jesus returns to earth in the final days of human civilization, he will adhere to the Law of Muhammad, peace be upon him. He will proclaim and advance the Law of Muhammad, peace be upon him. He will wage jihad for the cause of Allah. And until that day—that glorious day—Allah commands his servants to begin spilling the blood of the Christians and their leaders. Make no mistake, O pagans, we are coming for Rome. We are coming, and we cannot be stopped.”

When the video ended, Noah turned back to the group.

“We recovered this video from one of the charred laptops in Libya. We know from the time stamp embedded in the video that it was recorded on May 8. Therefore, we now know that Abu Nakba was in that compound near Ghat until at least then and shot the video there. What’s interesting is that NSA also just found a copy of this video on one of the laptops we brought back from Yemen. It was sent by an encrypted email on the eighth to a Yahoo account used by Ruzami.”

“That’s pretty chilling stuff,” Dell said.

“I’ll say,” Annie noted. “But isn’t it odd that Kairos never released it?”

Marcus agreed.

“What do you make of it, Noah?” Dell asked.

“My best guess is that Abu Nakba recorded it to release to the media—almost certainly through Al-Sawt in Doha—but only after he and Ruzami had confirmation that their cells had successfully entered the United States. But then came the bombing of the compound in Libya. And our raid in Yemen. And killing Ruzami. And us grabbing Ruzami’s laptop. Everything has happened so fast. It’s very possible that no one else in Kairos has this—or even knows it exists.”

“Maybe yes, maybe no,” Marcus replied. “At the very least, it adds a great deal of weight to the notion that the Kairos cells are in the States to target the pope.”

“You may be right,” Dell said. “But then again, Abu Nakba says he and his men are coming to Rome to ‘break your crosses.’ So it’s possible the Kairos cells have other targets in mind here in the U.S. and that Abu Nakba has planned a separate operation to hit the pope when he returns home to the Vatican.”

As everyone considered that possibility, Dell turned to Annie, who had taken the remote from Noah and was replaying the video on mute. “Deputy Director Stewart, what are you thinking?”