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Austin listened, eyes half dosed in a sleeping lion i the facts over in hisfor inconsistencies with the first account

When she had finished he said, "I think you're right not going with Captain Mustapha's bandit theory Banditsto rob them, but from what you described this was a deliberate massacre"

"What about Muslim fundamentalist terrorists?" Zavala ventured "They've killed thousands of people in Algiers"

"Maybe, but terrorists usually like to advertise what they've done This bunch went out of its way to hide evidence Why would funda that bothers me, by the way They'd need specialized explosives to do that"

"Which means they would have known about the statue ahead of time," Zavala said

"That's right They came prepared for underwater demolition"

"Impossible," Nina responded Then, less sure, she said, "I don't see how they could have known about it"

"Me neither," Zavala said "You're certain they spoke Spanish?"

Sh

e nodded emphatically

Austin said, "You can practically walk to Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar froier, and that's not far from here"

Zavala shook his head "Doesn'tI speak Spanish, but I'm a Mexican American who's never been to Spain"

Nina reot about Gonzalez"

"Who is Gonzalez?" Austin said

"He was a volunteer on the expedition Actually, he paid to be on it through a nonprofit organization called Tier in a Jeep, yesterday afternoon Gonzalez said the ht it was peculiar"