Khoury turned around when Saad began mumbling something with his eyes closed, words Khoury had never heard before, spoken in repeated short sentences through Saad’s wrinkled mouth and lips.

Chanting.

In the darkness, he turned back and peered again at the distant glow.

Madness.  It was all madness.  The sickness had caused the man to gradually lose his mind.   And now he was about to destroy it all in an act of utter delusion.

Khoury reached down for his phone and dialed a number, waiting for it to connect.  He faced outward as Saad continued to chant and the young girl continued to scream.

When Dr. Abo answered the call, Khoury spoke.  “Are you in position?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Do it.  Now.”

***

Abo nodded and hung up.  Raising her head from where she was sitting at the beginning of a long hallway, she peered at the thick door to Saad’s underground bunker at the other end.  Next to it, the computerized hand scanner waited obediently for Saad’s palm print.

Immediately, she stood up and walked toward it.

If Khoury was ready, it meant he believed for whatever reason, getting the information out of Saad was no longer an option, leaving her to execute their fallback plan, something they had practiced dozens of times before.

Reaching the other end of the hall, she lowered a large bag to the tiled floor and withdrew a wide roll of thin aluminum tape along with a pair of scissors.

She took a deep breath and then moved past the scanner to the door itself, where she slowly unrolled a short section from the reflective roll.

Saad was a thorough man—and a man of contingency, leaving her and Khoury certain he would take steps to destroy whatever was necessary should something unexpectedly befall him.  Information, property or possibly both.

Which meant this had to happen now.

She held up the piece of tape and used the scissors to cut, then slid them into a pocket while pushing her hand through the remainder of the roll like a bracelet.  With both hands available, she pulled the piece of tape taut and took a small step forward.

She carefully approached the locked chrome door handle and lightly wrapped the tape around the top portion, mindful not to press down.  Once in place, she retrieved the scissors and tape and cut another piece, repeating each step and methodically applying each new section of tape to the handle until the entire door handle was perfectly wrapped.

Then, waiting several seconds, she just as carefully removed them one piece at a time, gently laying them side by side with one another on the floor.

When all were in place, she returned the tape and scissors to the bag and retrieved a small plastic bottle.

Unscrewing the cap, she held it over the strips on the floor and gently sprinkled a powder of glistening oxide over them.