“I go to my death knowing that I am as guilty of these terrible crimes as any crusader in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, or the Holy Land. May the people rejoice at this act of justice, and in time may Allah bring an even greater reckoning upon my father, my family, and my people.”

The video jumped again. The girl was still on her knees, but now she was blindfolded. The man in the hood moved to front and center. He jabbed his knife at the screen and his mouth moved, while clanging music played over him. He pulled up his right sleeve and showed the camera a tattoo on his shoulder—it was a black tattoo of a crescent moon and a star, a symbol of the former Ottoman Empire, and by extension, the Islamic world.

Arabic lettering appeared on the screen, superimposed over him as he spoke. Then he and all the other men were gone. It was just the girl now, kneeling, blindfolded, head down, the sign in Arabic still hanging behind her.

The video ended.

For a few seconds, no one spoke.

“I’m going to kill that guy,” Ed Newsam said. “I don’t mean I want to. I mean I’m going to. Don’t matter how long it takes. Don’t matter where he is. Don’t matter who else is there.”

“What does the banner in the back say?” Luke said.

“It says Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad,” Trudy said. “In English, that means the Organization of God’s Oneness and Holy War. It is a group founded by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, and has pledged its allegiance to Al Qaeda.”

“Great,” Luke said. “And what was all that wording at the end?”

Trudy shrugged. “That was a demand. They have a laundry list of individuals they want released from prison. The list is comprehensive, to say the least, and it makes it hard to get a sense of who is behind the abduction. It includes Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, numerous individuals held at Guantanamo Bay and at alleged black sites in Afghanistan and other countries—we don’t have confirmation yet from the Pentagon or the CIA that some of these individuals are being held, or that they even exist. There are also terrorist leaders being held in Pakistan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand, not to mention Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, as well as right here in Iraq.”

“How many people, in all?” Luke said.

Trudy glanced down at some paperwork in front of her. “Two hundred forty-eight, all men, thought to be held in twelve different countries.”

“And if they’re not released?” Luke said, though he imagined he knew the answer.