A wave of revulsion passed through him. More people would die in the panic, in the crush of bodies, than in the initial explosion.

Trudy went on. The problem we face is there are too many attractive targets to watch them all, and the attack doesnt have to take place in New York. If the theft happened as long as three hours ago, then were already looking at a possible operations radius of at least a hundred fifty miles. That includes all of New York City and its suburbs, Philadelphia, and major cities in New Jersey like Newark, Jersey City, and Trenton. If the thieves remain at large for another hour, you can expand that radius to include Boston and Baltimore. The whole region is a population center. In a radius that large, we could be looking at as many as ten thousand possible soft targets. Even if they stick with high-profile, big-name targets, were still talking about hundreds of places.

Okay, Trudy, Luke said. You gave us the facts. Now whats your gut?

Trudy shrugged. I think we can assume this is a dirty bomb attack, and that its sponsored by a foreign country, or possibly an independent terrorist group like ISIS or Al-Qaeda. There may be Americans or Canadians involved, but operational control is elsewhere. Its definitely not a homegrown domestic group, like environmentalists or white supremacists.

Why? Why not domestic? Luke said. He already knew why, but it was important to air it, to take things one step at a time, to not overlook anything.

The leftists burn down Hummer dealerships in the middle of the night. They spike logging forests, and then paint the spiked trees so no one gets hurt. They have zero history of attacking populated areas or murdering anyone, and they hate radioactivity. The right-wingers are more violent, and Oklahoma City demonstrated they will attack civilian populations as well as symbols of government. But neither group likely has the training for this. And theres another good reason why it probably isnt them.

Which is? Luke said.

Iridium has a very short half-life, Trudy said. Itll be mostly useless in a couple of days. Also, whoever stole these chemicals needs to act fast before they get radiation sickness themselves. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins tonight at sunset. So I think we have an attack designed to coincide with the start of Ramadan.

Luke nearly breathed a sigh of relief. He had known and worked with Trudy for a few years. Her intel was always good, and her ability to spin scenarios was exceptional. She was right far more often than she was wrong.

He looked at his watch. It was 3:15. Sunset was probably around eight oclock tonight. He did a quick calculation in his head. So you think we have more than sixteen hours to track these people down?