“May I?” said Gold. “Nothing is known these days. All fact is conditional. Modern media allows any interested party to influence millions of people. Who brays the loudest or frames the most skillfully or feeds prejudices the most earnestly is the most believed. False news—particularly if it is backed with credible journalistic sources, as uncovered by reporters who believe they’re doing God’s work. We will be telling another version of a story, and who’s to say ours is better than theirs?”

“Where are you now?”

Nick ran through it: the guise of looking for Juba as a triple murderer and the boy as a felony assault perp in Detroit, which enabled circulation to all law enforcement agencies, as well as maximum social network and media exposure. The penetration of long-range shooting culture to obtain any hints of unusual activity that might have indicated preparation for the shot Juba was to take. The monitoring of criminal enterprises—cartels, more traditional mobs, gangs, crews, paramilitary organizations—for indicators of unusual activity in support of such an operation. The use of satellite technology to discover shooting-range layouts on private property that might also support Juba’s enterprise. The hunt for traces of “Brian Waters,” for provocative statements and clues meant to establish his legend but which might lead to their creators. Finally, the alerting of all field office SWAT teams for high readiness so that apprehension or interdiction could commence immediately upon acquisition of a breakthrough in the hunt.

“Counterterrorism is in on this?”

“Yes,” said zombie number 9, who happened to be Ward Taylor, division chief and Nick’s pal and ally. “Assistant Director Memphis has been extremely solicitous of our participation. No turf wars from Nick, I’m happy to report.”

“Good, I like that,” said zombie number 1. “Now, Memphis, CIA liaison?”

“No, sir.”

“They won’t be happy.”

“I suppose you could say, ‘Too many crooks spoil the broth’”—a little laughter at Nick’s pun—“but there’s more: CIA involvement doesn’t complicate matters by two but rather to an exponential degree. Their agenda can be so murky that even they don’t know what it is, and it can vary, week by week, or even office by office or cubicle by cubicle. It’s not that I don’t trust them—it’s that I don’t trust them. When the time comes, we’ll be happy to go to them.”

“What about Secret Service? If the target should turn out to be Executive Branch—”

“That’s when we’d come to them. At this point, to alert them to the possibility is simply to set up leaks.”

Zombie number 1 nodded. “Your next move?”