Luke turned, and Begley was standing in the doorway. Two large men in suits flanked him. Luke glanced around the room. Ed Newsam stood in a corner by the window, scanning the street below and drinking a bottle of orange juice. Trudy was simultaneously on her pad and her cell phone. A couple of local SRT guys were at desks, pecking away at laptops.

Stone, why are you here? Begley said. The room quieted when he spoke. Everyone looked at him.

Luke smiled. Ron, for once Im glad to see you. Weve had a breakthrough. Ali Nassar made a quarter of a million dollar bank transfer from an offshore account to Ken Bryant, the dead janitor at Center. Nassar has been spending millions of dollars on military-grade robotic drones. And last night, while the thieves were hitting Center, he booked a plane ticket to Venezuela for this afternoon.

Begley shook his head. None of that impresses me.

We need to bring him in, Ron. We cant let him leave the country. If he makes it to Venezuela, its going to be hard to get him back here.

Begley looked at Ed. A seizure, Newsam? Thats funny. I had them check your personnel record. You dont have a seizure disorder. You were never even injured in Afghanistan.

Ed barely moved. He raised his index finger. Incorrect. I was injured twice. Cracked ribs, a concussion, and a broken arm one time when our Humvee hit an IED and rolled. The guy next to me lost his leg. He shrugged. Shot in the calf the other time. The bullet ripped a nice chunk out. They had to take meat from my ass to rebuild the muscle. To this day, the ass meat is a different shade of brown from the leg meat. You can see the line where theyre attached. You want to look at it?

Begley said nothing.

Anyway, those sound like injuries to me. Ive got two Purple Hearts, so I guess Uncle Sam agrees.

I meant you never had a brain injury.

Ed looked out the window again. Thats different.

Begley, are you listening to me? Luke said. We have the man who bankrolled the terror cell. And we know what the delivery system is. Its a drone attack. And that means theres a good chance it wont happen here. Theres no room in Manhattan to fly the kind of drones were talking about. Were looking at a very targeted attack, a dirty bomb delivered to a specific enclosed place by a drone. And the drone will probably fly low, beneath radar detection.

Begley smiled. You have no idea what youre talking about, Stone. The whole thing would be funny if you werent so serious about it. We have the intel we need. We know what the targets are. Ibrahim Abdulraman, remember him? The man with no fingerprints? His cousin happens to be in prison in Egypt. Theyve been interrogating him for over an hour.

Torturing him, Stone said.