“The men were rescued from the Mediterranean Sea by the Libyan Navy,” Khan was saying, replying to a reporter’s question. “I have no details as to why or how their ships were sunk. The Libyan government detained the survivors until their identities could be verified—apparently there were some survivors whose identities or even their nationalities could not be verified, so it took longer than usual. But once all of the survivors were identified and questioned on the incident, King Idris of the United Kingdom of Libya ordered their release. He requested that I assist in providing transportation and medical care for the survivors, and I immediately agreed. He asked me to assist in processing the survivors and seeing to their care and repatriation.

“Yes, there are casualties,” Khan said, replying to another question. “Several dozen men were fatally injured in the incident. In addition, several men were injured while being detained by the kingdom of Libya, apparently because they refused both to reveal their identities and also to cooperate with Libyan authorities. They were suspected of engineering the attacks on friendly, neutral shipping in the Mediterranean. When they resisted while in detention, they were dealt with harshly, as any detainee who lashes out at his rescuers deserves.”

“Yeah? Let’s have a look at some of those ‘resisters,’ ” Hal Briggs scoffed. “I’ll bet the Libyans tortured the hell out of them.” He saw Chris Wohl glaring at him disapprovingly—it wasn’t until then that he realized with horrified embarrassment that Wendy and some of the Night Stalkers might be some of the ones killed while in captivity. He looked at Patrick with a silent apology, but Patrick’s attention was riveted on the television.

“Despite the unfortunate loss of life, the incident is now at an end, thanks to the king of United Libya,” Khan went on. ‘The prisoners will be taken to a location where they will receive medical care and then released. This spirit of cooperation between Libya and Egypt also paves the way for further talks between our two countries in other matters, such as the cessation of attacks against suspected terrorist training centers in southern Egypt and Chad, and the resumption of talks aimed at bringing more cooperation in planning mutual petroleum production contracts.”

The interoffice phone rang again, and Luger answered it right away again. This time, he looked panicked as he slammed the phone down. “The Egyptian base commander, Vice Marshal Ouda, is outside the compound with a force about the size of an armored company. He wants to talk with you upstairs, on the liaison freq.”