Oracle moved from the bland details of an unremarkable military record, through a moderately interesting though short police career. The sniper found nothing of real note there, however, except that Ledger had been scheduled for enrollment in the FBI academy. There were no records of his having actually entered the academy. What really caught her interest, however, were Ledger’s psychotherapy reports and transcripts of sessions with Dr. Rudolfo Ernesto Sanchez y Martinez. Ledger was a deeply damaged individual who had a minimum of three and possibly as many as nine separate personality subtypes living in his head. Dr. Sanchez’s records indicated that Ledger had found a way to balance these personalities and even put them to work, like a committee, within his fractured mind. It was not a unique occurrence, but it was very rare; and rarer still for such a man to be accepted into the police department and, apparently, the Department of Military Sciences.

“Stop. Who recruited Ledger into the DMS?”

“Unknown, though there is a high probability that he was recruited directly by St. Germaine.”

The sniper’s pulse quickened as it did every time she heard that name.

St. Germaine.

That was one of the many names for a man currently using the name Church. St. Germaine was the name her mother used for the man. The sniper had never met him, but other Arklight agents told wild stories. She doubted most of them were true, but all of them were fascinating.

“Oracle,” she said, “why might St. Germaine risk using a field operative with Ledger’s psychological profile?”

“Unknown.”

“Speculate. Access all known data on St. Germaine and cross-reference.”

“There are one hundred and three separate field reports that include the man code-named St. Germaine under twenty-eight aliases. Twenty-six of those reports indicate a tendency to use agents with unpredictable or unstable personality types. Four of the six analysis reports uploaded by senior Arklight operators postulate that Mr. Church uses said unpredictable personalities to introduce random elements to missions.”

“An X factor?”

“That is the theory most commonly postulated.”

“What is the probability that Mr. Church sent Ledger to Iran knowing that he would become involved in my current mission?”

“There is insufficient data to calculate a complete probability model.”

“Fuck.”

“I am unable to perform that function, as you well know,” said Oracle in her mother’s dry voice. It was one of the messages Mama had added to the database. An attempt at humor.

“What is the likelihood that Rasouli knew my team was associated with Arklight?”

“Unknown, however the mission for which your team was originally contracted has multiple connection points to the Mothers of the Fallen and—”

“What is Rasouli’s connection with Joseph Ledger?”

“Unknown.”

She processed that as she made some minor adjustments to her rifle.