Montgomery raised an index finger. “It isn’t as widely known as you may believe. There are hundreds of thousands of troops—American and coalition—not to mention reporters, aid workers, and international observers tramping through this country right now. There are millions of Iraqis, many of them in unsanctioned militias. If everyone knew the size of this fortune, the war would become more of a free-for-all money hunt than it is currently.”

“Wouldn’t want that,” Newsam said. “Would we?”

“Our soldiers have a mission here,” Radis said. “And it isn’t looting and grabbing.”

Ed smiled his arrogant young smile. His teeth gleamed white.

“No? What is it then?”

“Show them the other pictures.”

Montgomery came out with a new pile of photographs. He placed these on the table, one by one, in a grid, as he had done with the others. Luke picked up the first of these and winced.

It showed what looked like a five-year-old girl, ripped apart by machine gun fire.

“These are disturbing,” Colonel Radis said.

The next one showed a pile of bodies, women and children, their robes soaked with blood. The wall behind them was pockmarked, as though it was being used by a firing squad.

“We believe this is the work of Parr and his group,” Montgomery said. “All of these photos were taken in the past few days.”

“Why is he doing this?” Luke said.

“Edwin Lee Parr has gone insane,” Radis said.

“Clearly insane,” Mark Swann said. He was looking at the photos from behind his hand, his fingers opened half an inch.

“Parr and his group have been working with Sunni informants, some of whom were former officials in Saddam’s regime, and some of whom were in the Iraqi military. This is how he’s been so successful in discovering Saddam’s hidden treasure. Our intelligence suggests that Parr and his group currently have hundreds of millions in American dollars alone in their possession, and possibly hundreds of millions more in gold and silver bars, and diamonds. The local people are now well aware of what he’s doing and what he has. Parr is trapped in the Sunni Triangle with no way out of the country. But the country is awash in weaponry, and Parr has obtained his share of it. With no way out, he is holding his own and maintaining control by increasingly harsh means. He has been targeting women and children, especially the women and children of local elders who stand up to him. More and more, he is taking the women hostage and using them as human shields.”

Luke felt his heart sink. This was supposed to be an arrest. He was the police now. But he had a young partner who showed him no respect, and the man he was supposed to arrest was a psychotic committing atrocities against a civilian population.

Terrific.

“We are concerned that Parr is going to attempt a run for the Syrian border.”