“Guesses are useless in the absence of verifiable information. We have a thousand theories, and some of them may be correct, but there’s no meter that will let us know. It’s fair to say that Rasouli’s information does more harm than good to our speculations, because we can’t factor nukes into any of our scenarios.”

“We’re building some theories along the lines of a doomsday cult. Does that make any sense based on your understanding of this matter?”

“Doomsday? No.”

“What about a faction rising within the Order or the Tariqa with a bent toward mutually destructive tactics? Suicide bombers and big-ticket destruction are not unknown in these circles,” he said.

“Maybe, but in their own way, both sides of the Agreement have tended more toward moderation than extremist acts.”

“You view blowing up mosques and murdering nuns to be indicative of balance?”

“Yes,” she said. “No other view makes much sense, not when you consider how long this has been going on.”

“Interesting,” he said thoughtfully, then changed the subject. “We are trying to make sense of Rasouli’s mention of the Book of Shadows. My people are trying to decode the fragments of the book included on the drive.”

“Good luck. We’ve been trying to decode that damned thing for—” She suddenly stopped and there was a heavy silence at the other end.

“Lilith?” prodded Church. “How exactly have you been trying to decode the pages? Is there something you would like to tell me? Did you provide those pages to Rasouli? Is that what you started to say?”

“God, no. But…” Lilith cleared her throat. “We, um … we actually have a complete copy of the Book of Shadows. We’ve had it for some time.”

“Have you?” Church said mildly. “And were you planning on telling me about it before or after the nukes detonated?”

Lilith said nothing.

“How long have you had the Book?”

“Well … give or take … seven years.”

Church sighed. “This kind of obfuscation is exactly why counterterrorism is a bureaucratic nightmare.”

“Wait a damn minute,” snapped Lilith. “You speak as if you had a right to it. Some of our people died to obtain this copy.”

“So lay some flowers on their grave and move on from the dramatics,” he fired back. “I’ve made my resources available to the Mothers and to Arklight on a number of occasions.”

“Sure, but you never let us have access to MindReader. You keep that to yourself.”

“Hardly the same thing.”

“Well, it’s water under the bridge, isn’t it?” she fired back. “We have a copy of the Book of Shadows, and if you stop being such a prick I’ll consider e-mailing you a high-res scan.”

“Have you translated any of it?”

“No.”

“In seven years?”

“Perhaps we may have accomplished something if we had MindReader.”