"No, sir. I've just had a talk with Curtis Mayo of CNN News.

He's onto us."

There was a taut pause. "What can we do?"

"Nothing," said Fawcett somberly, "absolutely nothing."

Sam Emmett left the FBI building in downtown Washington and drove over to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. A summer shower passed overhead, moistening the forested grounds of the intelligence complex and leaving behind the sweet smell of dampened greenery.

Martin Brogan was standing outside his office when Emmett walked through the anteroom door. The tall ex-college professor offered an outstretched hand. "Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to drive over."

Emmett smiled as he took his hand. Brogan was one of the few men around the President he genuinely admired. "Not at all. I'm not a desk man. I jump at any excuse to get off my butt and move around."

They entered Brogan's office and sat down. "Coffee or a drink?" Brogan asked.

"Nothing, thanks." Emmett opened his briefcase and lain a bound report on the CIA Director's desk. "This spells out the Bureau's findings until an hour ago on the President's disappearance."

Brogan handed him a similarly bound report. "Likewise from Central Intelligence. Damned little to and since our last meeting, I'm sorry to say."

"You're not alone. We're miles from a breakthrough too."

Brogan paused to light a ropelike Toscanini cigar. it seemed oddly out of place with his Brooks Brothers suit and vest. Together the men began reading. After nearly ten minutes of quiet, Brogan's expression softened from deep concentration to curious interest, and he tapped a page of Emmett's report.

"This section about a missing Soviet psychologist."

"I thought that would interest you."

"He and his entire United Nations staff vanished the same night as the Eagle's hijacking?"

"Yes, to date none of them have turned up. Could be merely an intriguing coincinence, but I felt it shouldn't be ignored."

"The first thought that crossed my mind is that this"-Brogan glanced at the report again-"Lugovoy, Dr. Aleksei Lugovoy, may have been assigned by the KGB to use his psychological knowledge to pry national secrets from the abducted men."

"A theory we can't afford to dismiss."

"The name," Brogan said vacantly. "It strikes a chord."

"You've heard it before?"

Suddenly Brogan's brows raised and his eyes winened ever so slightly and he reached for his intercom. "Send up the latest file from the French Internal Security Agency."

"You think you've got something?"

"A recorded conversation between President Antonov and his KGB chief Vladimir Polevoi. I believe Lugovoy was mentioned."

"From French intelligence?" Emmett asked.

"Antonov was on a state visit. Our friendly rivals in Paris are quietly cooperative about passing along information they don't consider sensitive to their national interests."

In less than a minute, Brogan's private secretary knocked on the door and gave him a transcription of the secret tape recording. He quickly consumed its contents.