Taking off her black horn-rimmed glasses, Hornig set them on top of her notes and rubbed her eyes, saying, "We have a lot of information. An incredible amount, really." She lowered her hands and shook her head.

"It's going to take months to sort through all of it. But having said that, I know you are more interested in information involving Mr. Aziz and the current White House crisis."

Hornig looked down at her notes. "I apologize for the lack of summaries and transcripts, but I was working on Mr. Harut right up until I left for this meeting."

"No explanation needed, Dr. Hornig," stated Stansfield.

"To start with"—Hornig grabbed a piece of paper—"I have the names of the other ten terrorists who are with Mr. Aziz at the White House. It was very difficult to get this information out of him." Hornig handed Stansfield the sheet.

The DCI looked at the yellow piece of paper for no more than five seconds and then handed the sheet to Irene Kennedy, who studied it with Mitch Rapp looking over her shoulder.

Stansfield gave them about ten seconds and asked, "Irene?"

Kennedy looked up and brushed a strand of brown hair back behind her ear.

"This will be a big help. Off the top of my head, I know about half of them. I can run the rest through our data banks, and any of the ones that we don't get a profile on, we can ask Mi-Six or Mossad."

"Good. I want full traces and profiles prepared on each and every one of them as soon as possible." Stansfield turned back to Hornig.

"Now, what do we know about the demands?" Hornig looked down at her notes and flipped through several pages.

"Mr. Harut knew in detail about the first demand, involving the return of the frozen assets to Iran. We can infer, since Mitch took him before those demands were made public, that he has intimate knowledge of what Mr. Aziz is going to ask for—up to a point, that is."

Rapp ignored the first part of Hornig's comment—the part involving the rookie detective work—and asked, "What does 'up to a point' mean?"

"I'll get to that in a minute," replied Homig.

"His second demand involves the lifting of all UN sanctions against Iraq."

Homig looked at her audience to gauge any reaction, and then continued.

"The third demand involves the U.S. recognizing a free and sovereign Palestinian state." With a furrowed brow, Rapp asked, "Where?"

Hornig cleared her throat and said, "The West Bank and the Gaza Strip."

Rapp set his coffee down.

"The Israelis are going to shit their pants."

"I would concur." Stansfield looked to Hornig.

"What else?"

"There's one more demand… one final demand, but Mr. Harut doesn't know what it is."

Rapp tilted his head skeptically.

"Come again?"

"I really don't think he knows," replied Hornig a touch defensively. "I spent almost two full hours delving into this specific subject. I pushed as hard as I felt I could."

"Maybe you need to push harder," stated Rapp.

Hornig leaned back slightly and folded her arms.

"I plan on it. Just as soon as Mr. Harut gets some rest."

"As soon as you both get some rest," interjected Stansfield.

"I don't want you burned out. Dr. Hornig." Hornig was slightly frustrated by all of the unsolicited advice. She didn't tell them how to do their jobs, and she'd appreciate it if they would return the courtesy.

Stansfield, oblivious to Hornig's issues, turned his attention to Kennedy.

"Any thoughts on what the final demand might be?"

Kennedy stared off into space for a moment and then said, "A few, but I'd like to do a little research before I come to any conclusions."

Looking at one of his most trusted advisers, Stansfield thought of pressing for more information and then decided it was better to let Kennedy develop her theories in time. With some of his people he had to engage them in a game of mental gymnastics to get the best out of them; with Kennedy she was best left alone. Stansfield turned his chair back toward Hornig, who was once again shuffling through her notes.

"What else do you have for us. Dr. Hornig?"

Hornig began reading down a long list of information that would be sifted through by Agency analysts for months, possibly years, to come.

Rapp listened intently, gathering more and more insight into how Aziz had put his master plan together.

Hornig covered the selection of the men Aziz had brought and where they were trained. She discussed how several of them were sent to America almost a year earlier to start their cover and avoid drawing the attention of the FBI or the Secret Service.

She even provided the name of the South American clinic and doctor who had given Aziz his new face. Rapp made a mental note to talk to Kennedy and Stansfield about paying the plastic surgeon a little visit at a later date. The man would live as long as he agreed to cooperate and inform for the Agency. A plastic surgeon who kept company with men like Rafique Aziz could be a very valuable informant, if Aziz hadn't already killed him. Hornig was providing a bevy of facts that on their own held no great significance, but as they were pieced together, they would hopefully provide a very valuable map of aziz's final intent. Hornig shared her information for almost a full thirty minutes. Rapp and Kennedy took notes while Stansfield sat back and listened. As the clock neared eight, Hornig moved on to something she had discovered just before leaving the safe house.

"Early this morning, Mr. Harut kept mentioning a certain name. He was slipping in and out of consciousness and was often incoherent. Despite this state of mind he kept repeating the word "Nebuchadnezzar."

"As if on cue, Stansfield, Kennedy, and Rapp all leaned forward.

Hornig, looking surprised by the unified reaction, asked, "You all know what, or I should say, who Nebuchadnezzar was?"

"Was and is," answered Kennedy.

"Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylonia from 605 to 562 b.c. His great claim to fame in the Arab world is that he destroyed Jerusalem in 586 and then enslaved the Israelites. Saddam Hussein fancies himself the second coming of Nebuchadnezzar. He feels that it is his destiny to unite all of the Arab people and destroy Israel."

"He doesn't really believe it," added Rapp with a frown.

"He just uses it as a PR ploy to get all of the religious zealots whipped into a frenzy."

"And it works," added Kennedy while leaning forward.

"Tell me more about the context in which he mentioned the word."

"I was asking him about the financing for the operation.

And again he kept mumbling this word. I looked it up and found out who the historical Nebuchadnezzar was. I had no idea he could have been referring to Saddam Hussein."

"Where was Matt Shipley when all of this was being said?" Shipley was one of the two hundred plus employees who worked for the Counterterrorism Center. His specialty was Arabic languages, and Kennedy had sent him out to the safe house the previous evening to help with the interrogation of Harut. Kennedy didn't show it, but she was irritated that Shipley had missed such an obvious reference.

"I had sent everyone to bed around five this morning. We been working nonstop since the previous afternoon." Hornig shrugged her shoulders.

"We needed to give the subject some rest, and I needed to get my notes organized for this meeting.

This oversight was not Mr. Shipley's fault."

Kennedy accepted the explanation.

"How did you stumble across this reference if Harut was asleep?"

"I was in the room with him, organizing my notes. Someone has to keep an eye on his vitals, so I was sitting near him when he began to mumble about Nebuchadnezzar. It is not at all unusual for my subjects to continue to talk while they are sleeping."

"Was this recorded?" asked Kennedy.

"Of course the recording equipment is always running."