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the urgency of befriending the Nautilus machines seemed to subside. Wasn’t he getting too old for this life? Coming stateside had been a step in the right direction. Did he really want to spend the rest of his life chasing after the kind of scum who would rob a nuclear armory?
    Speaking of which, he’d better phone in an early report. The security cops at the monument must’ve contacted his office by now. He’d better make sure his superiors got his side of the story, as quickly as possible. As he pulled onto the parkway, he dialed his cell with his left hand.
    “Zira?”
    “I’m here, Seamus. What the hell is going on?”
    As succinctly as possible, Seamus tried to bring her up-to-date, explaining how he had followed the trail from the Arlington armory, using a tip from a trusted informant, caught up to the thieves just as they left their hideout, and followed them all the way to the Washington Monument. He left out most of the details of the fight, just mentioning in passing that he had taken out several men single-handedly.
    “But one got away? With the suitcase?”
    Count on Zira to accentuate the negative. “Unfortunately. I couldn’t be in four places at once.”
    “So you took down three men of no importance and let the one with the nuke escape?”
    “I took the fourth down, too. Unfortunately, he got back up again.”
    He could hear a tsking sound on the other end of the connection. “I think this is another example of incredibly poor judgment, Seamus. Just the latest of many such instances.”
    How had he ever ended up with a female operations chief, anyway? With her high heels and her perfectly tailored suits, she wouldn’t have lasted ten minutes in Afghanistan. Did someone in Washington think this was politically correct?
    “I saved the monument,” Seamus said curtly. “And there were no casualties.”
    “Yet,” she rejoined without waiting a breath. “But since there’s a maniac out there with a nuclear device, how long will that remain true?”
    Seamus stifled the instinct to swear. “Look, I’ve still got some leads. I saw a couple of things out there that might indicate where this guy will go next. I’ll follow up.”
    “No, Seamus. You won’t.”
    He swerved his car onto M Street and pulled into the far lane. “Are you kidding? I’m the one who found these clowns. No one knows more about them than me.”
    “Nonetheless, you—”
    “I’ll come in and do a full debrief and report later. Promise. But I’ve got to cover the field while the trail is still hot.”
    “No, you don’t.”
    “Are you listening to me?” Seamus practically shouted into the receiver. “These guys stole a nuke and they’re planning to use it.”
    “Yes,” Zira replied, “and sadly enough, that is not the most urgent threat facing our nation today.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “How much do you know about Kuraq and its current leader, Colonel Zuko?”
    Seamus resisted the temptation to say, “A hell of a lot more than you.” “Plenty. Kuraq isn’t that far from Afghanistan or Iran. I’ve seen Zuko in action, back before he took control.”
    “Good. How would you describe him?”
    “Smart. Western-educated. Insecure about his military position, which is likely to make him dangerous.”
    “You’re certainly right about the last part. Zuko has somehow infiltrated our military defense computers and seized control of some of our ballistic missiles.”
    Seamus’s eyes bulged. “More nukes?”
    “No, conventional explosives, at least at this time. But very powerful. Capable of making a very big hole in the ground.”
    Seamus ground his teeth together. “How did he do it?”
    “Our computer guys are still investigating. The most popular theory is that he’s launched a spy satellite that has a powerful computer-hacking ability.”
    “His computer geeks came up with something before our geeks did?”
    “It’s looking that way.”
    Seamus took a deep breath. “You know what this