Ahmed Shah reacted with pure intellectual detachment to the deba- cle on Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street. Jesef was a martyr, as much of one as those who had sacrificed their lives in the Great War against Iraq. He had to make a report. From his home, in the Spanish Harlem district of the upper West Side of Manhattan, 3 blocks from his Columbia University office, he wheeled over to his computer that was always on. C:\cd protalk C:\PROTALK\protalk He dialed a local New York number that was stored in the Protalk communications program. He had it set for 7 bits, no parity, no stop bits. <<<<<<DIALING>>>>>> The local phone number he dialed answered automatically and redialed another number, and then that one dialed yet another number before a message was relayed back to Ahmed Shah. He was accustomed to the delay. While waiting he lit up a Marlboro. It was the only American cigarette that came close to the vile taste of Turkish camel shit cigarettes that he had smoked before coming to the United States. A few seconds later, the screen came to life and displayed PASSWORD: Ahmed entered his password and his PRG response. CRYPT KEY: He chose a random crypt key that would be used to guarantee the privacy of his conversations. <<<<<<TRANSMISSION ENCODED>>>>>> That told Ahmed to begin his message, and that someone would be there to answer. Good Morning. I have some news. NEWS? We have a slight problem, but nothing serious. PROBLEM? PLEASE EXPLAIN. One of the readers is gone. HOW? CAPTURED? No, the Americans aren't that smart. He died in a car crash. WILL THIS HURT US? No. In New York we have another 11 readers. But we have lost one vehicle. The police must have it. THAT IS NOT GOOD. WHO WAS IT? A martyr. CAN THE POLICE FIND ANYTHING? He had false identification. They will learn nothing. BE SURE THEY DON'T. DESTROY THE CAR. They can learn nothing. Why? IT IS TOO EARLY FOR THEM TO FIND OUT ABOUT US. HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN? I read about it today. The crash was yesterday. DO ANY OF THE OTHERS KNOW? It would not matter if they did. They are loyal. The papers said nothing of the van. They cared only about the Americans who died eating their breakfasts. GOOD. REMOVE ALL EVIDENCE. REPLACE HIM. It will be done. <<<<<<CONNECTION TERMINATED>> * * * * * Monday, November 30 New York City