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I studied ain Then I tore a blank sheet off a writing pad and started scribbling fast as I could The resulting brain duanized mess of se outside the constraints of my flowchart

I sensed an answer before one could fully forht becaht in my face

The answer had always been there Perhaps I couldn’t have iined it In any case, I hadn’t wanted to see it

Chapter Thirty-Nine

I checked the ti anyone, but I speed-dialed Nick, my new intrepid journalist mentor, with the hope that he’d be up Much to my relief, he answered

“Are you okay?” he asked Not an unreasonable question given the hour

“I’ or its connections to terrorism?”

“I never had a story run, but I have done so around”

“To the best of your knowledge, do these slers use computer hackers?” I asked

This elicited a “hmmm” from the other end “It’s likely that they do, since so ht use them I couldn’t say”

I considered the implications Nick eventually said, “When I saw your caller ID, I was afraid you were having a crisis”

“What makes you think this isn’t one?”

“The questions you’re asking—Ia ht?”

I nodded, like the guy could see me “I know It’s late, but I need help and wanted to run these ideas by you while they were still fresh in my mind”

“Erica?” Nick’s voice had a razor-sharp edge “What’s going on?”