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When he didn’t say anything, Stone said, “I had a conversation previously with someone you know very well”

“Who was that?”

“He lives in the casa blanca”

“All right Go on”

“He toldbusiness in the western he it out of the Mexicans’ hands”

“That’s true, they have Carlos Montoya and the others are, in essence, out of business in their own country”

Ashburn spoke up “But whata bomb in Lafayette Park?”

“The president said that as far as this country was concerned the Russian governree with that assessment?” Stone looked at the director expectantly

He looked uncertain but finally said, “I would not disagree with it” He tapped the table with his pen “So ould be their possible motivation to explode that bomb and then do all the rest?”

“To show that they can, perhaps,” said Stone

“I don’t buy that And the Yeroup that claimed responsibility?”

“Easily manipulated And I don’t believe that the Russians did it just to show they could”

“What then?”

“I spent so I learned is that the Russians are so without a very good reason And just because they’re no longer a superpower doesn’t ain The president has the same opinion”

“So this is soain,” said the director

“We certainly can’t discount that possibility” Stone folded his arms over his chest and said, “And why does none of this seem to surprise you?”

The director didn’t flinch at this blunt reot soent Chap has been found to match a certain weapon”

“It was the lubrication oil for the TEC-9 subun, wasn’t it,” said Chapman

“Yes”

“So they did fire from there”

“Appears to be the case”

A few seconds passed “Is there so off and seeotten there were other people in the room

“John Kravitz”

“What about him?”

“He also spent time in Russia”

“When?”

“When he was in college He was already on a couple of our watch lists We believe he went over there to hook up with a group that specializes in ns on the Internet”

“But nothing violent?” asked Chapman

“No, but the nonviolent can quickly become violent We’ve all seen that”