“So what does that mean for us?” asked Rudy. “In this case, I mean?”

“It should give us a few leads but we can’t count on it taking us directly to a source,” replied Circe. “Or to a buyer, if these things are black market items.”

“Exactly.” Church selected a Nilla wafer but did not take a bite. “This might—and I do mean might—help us eventually find the source of the bombs, but I’m not optimistic about that leading us to where all of the bombs currently are. We still only have probable locations on the first four. That kind of ferret work is time-consuming, and I doubt we have that kind of time. In the short term I am positioning our teams to move in and attempt to seize control of them and de-arm them.”

The word “attempt” hung in the air like a bad smell.

“And if we can’t?” asked Rudy.

“I have a number of experts working on developing various practical scenarios for how this could play out, including, unfortunately, a worst-case scenario.”

“Worst-case meaning what?” asked Rudy. “Tell me that your concern is the human population of the region and not the oil fields.”

Church said nothing, and his eyes were invisible behind his tinted glasses, but Rudy felt the impact of his stare.

“Lo siento,” Rudy said, and placed his hand over his heart and half bowed.

Church shook his head to erase the gaffe from the conversation. He turned to focus on Circe. “How are you coming along with a list of potential instigators?”

She sighed and shook her head. “We simply don’t have enough information to go on. We need to know more than we do or we’re shooting in the dark.”

“I agree,” said Church, nodding. “Now give me what you have.”

Circe told him about the concerns she and Bug had with the “damage” to the flash drive.

“I think we can all agree that Rasouli doctored it,” Church said with a cold little smile. “What else?”

“The Book of Shadows and the Saladin Codex,” said Rudy. “We’ve made some progress there.” They told him about the Voynich manuscript.

“Yes,” Church said, nodding. “I’ve heard of it. Have you been able to determine what it is, though? Voynich or the Book of Shadows?”

“Not so far,” admitted Circe. “I’ve been going through the research done at Yale, at U of P, and elsewhere, but it’s all theories. No one has cracked it yet.”

“And those two extra pages?”

Circe shrugged. “Dead end, so far.”

“What about the other book, the Saladin Codex? It’s my understanding that it’s an annotation and attempted refutation of Al-Kitāb al-mukhtaşar fī hīsāb al-ğabr wa’l-muqābala. Does that suggest anything?”

Circe nodded, translating the name slowly, tasting the words. “‘The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing.’ Completion and balancing. Interesting.”

“I thought so, too,” said Church.