Chapter Thirty-Six In the Oval Office

President William Egan is sitting at his desk. Sitting expectantly before him with their regular morning reports are Allison McDonald and John Walker. "I read both of your briefs over breakfast this morning," he begins, "and I must say, both of them are most interesting-to say the least. I'd like to hear your personal thoughts. Allison, ladies first."

"Well sir," McDonald starts, "the most critical areas of my reports relate to three issues: Bampur, Russian Kilos and the Russian mafiya. I'll start with Bampur." The president nods.

"You already know that we sent an operative that we have inside Iran to get as close to Bampur as he could, to see if we could clarify the situation. Believing that the Israelis had a team on the ground and moving towards Bampur, we needed to be able to advise you on what is going on there. Our operative, a native, dressed himself as a nomad traveling across the desert. He had two camels with him, and only carried things that someone of his persona would." At that point, Allison consults notes in her lap.

"As of 28 August, he was a week overdue returning home. Another operative was sent in to see if he could find him, which he did. Both our contact and the camels were shot to death. It appears that they were machine-gunned to death about five miles from Bampur. What that means exactly we can't say. Most bandits do not carry machine guns for weapons. We suspect that he was murdered merely because he was too close to Bampur. His personal belongings were strewn everywhere, we were told, leading us to believe that who ever murdered him and his animals were trying to find out if he was legit."

"Sounds like a logical conclusion," the president commented.