“The details are banal. They always are. Ultimately, the plan was to move Anura toward a federated government that would grant more autonomy to the provinces. Redress Kagama grievances through a meaningful version of self-rule while offering Anurans genuine civil protections. It was in the interests of both parties. It represented sanity. And sometimes sanity prevails: Peter has proved that again and again.”

“I don’t know what to credit you people with—heroism or arrogance.”

“Are the two so easily distinguished?”

Janson was silent for a moment. “Just give the bastards what they want,” he said at last, his voice muffled.

“They don’t want anything,” Lang said softly. “We’ve invited them to name their price, as long as Peter is released alive. They’ve refused even to consider it. I don’t need to tell you how rare that is. These are fanatics. The answer we keep getting is the same: Peter Novak has been sentenced to death for crimes against the colonized, and the execution decree is ‘irrevocable.’ Are you familiar with the traditional Sunni holy day of Id ul-Kebir?”

“It commemorates the sacrifice of Abraham.”

Lang nodded. “The ram in the thistles. The Caliph says that this year it will be celebrated by the sacrifice of Peter Novak. He will be beheaded on Id ul-Kebir. That’s this Friday.”

“Why? For God’s sakes, why?”

“Because,” Lang said. “Because he’s a sinister agent of neocolonialism—that’s what the KLF says. Because doing so will put the KLF on the map, gain them greater notoriety than they’ve achieved in fifteen years of bombings. Because the man they call the Caliph was toilet-trained too soon—who the hell knows why? The question implies a level of rationality that these terrorists do not possess.”

“Dear Christ,” Janson said. “But if he’s trying to aggrandize himself this way, whatever the logic, why hasn’t he publicized it yet? Why hasn’t the media got hold of it?”

“He’s canny. By waiting until the deed is done to publicize it, he staves off any international pressure to intervene. Meanwhile, he knows we don’t dare publicize it, because it would foreclose even the possibility of a negotiated solution, however remote.”

“Why would a major government need any pressure to intervene? The fact is, I still don’t understand why you’re talking to me. You said it yourself, he’s a man of all peoples. Accept that America’s the last superpower—why not turn to Washington to help?”

“It’s the first thing we did. They provided information. And they were profusely apologetic when they explained that they could offer no official assistance whatsoever.”

“That’s baffling. Novak’s death could be profoundly destabilizing for dozens of regions, and one thing Washington does like is stability.”