"The ship that sank in San Sebastían was destroyed with C-4," Luis said. "Traces were found on some of the debris."

"We heard that from Bob Herbert," McCaskey said. He regarded Luis expectantly. "Go on. There's an 'and' in your voice."

Luis nodded. "One of the dead men, Esteban Ramirez, was at one time a CIA courier. His company's yachts were used to smuggle arms and personnel to contacts around the world. There have been whisperings about that for a while, but those whisperings are bound to become louder now. People here will say he was hit by American agents."

"Do you believe that the CIA was involved in the attack, Luis?" Aideen asked.

"No. They wouldn't have done something so public. Nor would they have been so quick to retaliate for the murder of your colleague. But there will be loud gossip about that in political circles. No one talks more than people in government. You know that, Darrell."

McCaskey nodded.

"And the Spanish people will hear about it," Luis continued. "Many will believe it and turn on Americans here."

"According to Bob Herbert, who I spoke with earlier," McCaskey said, "the Agency is as surprised by the attack on the yacht as everyone else is. And Bob always gets through the bureaucratic double-talk over there. He knows when they're bullshitting him."

"I agree that the CIA probably isn't behind this," Luis said. "So here is a possible scenario. An American diplomat is murdered. That sends a message to your government to stay out of Spanish affairs. Then the men who killed her are murdered. The tape recording tells all of Spain that the Catalonian dead and their Basque accomplice, Deputy Serrador, are ruthless assassins. That turns the rest of the nation against those two groups."

"To what end?" McCaskey asked. "Who benefits from a civil war? The economy is ravaged and everyone suffers."

"I've been considering that," Luis said. "By law, treason is punishable by capital punishment and a seizure of assets. The taking of Catalonian businesses would help to distribute power more evenly among other groups. Conceivably, the Castilians, Andalusians, and Galicians would all benefit."

"Back up a moment," Aideen said. "What would the Catalonians and Basques gain by joining forces?"

"The Catalonians control the heart of Spain's economy," Luis said, "and a core group among the separatist Basques are highly experienced terrorists. These are very complementary assets if one is looking to paralyze a nation and then take it over."

"Attack the physical and financial infrastructure," McCaskey said, "then come in and save it like a white knight."

"Exactly. A cooperative effort supports intelligence we have had-not first hand and not enough to act upon-that they have been planning a combined action of some kind."

"How'd you come by this information?" McKaskey asked.