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Hornig was providing a bevy of facts that on their own held no great significance, but as they were pieced together, they would hopefully provide a very valuable map of Aziz’s final intent. Hornig shared her information for almost a full thirty minutes. Rapp and Kennedy took notes while Stansfield sat back and listened. As the clock neared eight, Hornig moved on to something she had discovered just before leaving the safe house.
“Early this morning, Mr. Harut kept mentioning a certain name. He was slipping in and out of consciousness and was often incoherent. Despite this state of mind he kept repeating the word ‘Nebuchadnezzar.’”
As if on cue, Stansfield, Kennedy, and Rapp all leaned forward. Hornig, looking surprised by the unified reaction, asked, “You all know what, or I should say, who Nebuchadnezzar was?”
“Was and is,” answered Kennedy. “Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylonia from 605 to 562 b.c. His great claim to fame in the Arab world is that he destroyed Jerusalem in 586 and then enslaved the Israelites. Saddam Hussein fancies himself the second coming of Nebuchadnezzar. He feels that it is his destiny to unite all of the Arab people and destroy Israel
.”
“He doesn’t really believe it,” added Rapp with a frown. “He just uses it as a PR ploy to get all of the religious zealots whipped into a frenzy.”
“And it works,” added Kennedy while leaning forward. “Tell me more about the context in which he mentioned the word.”
“I was asking him about the financing for the operation. And again he kept mumbling this word. I looked it up and found out who the historical Nebuchadnezzar was. I had no idea he could have been referring to Saddam Hussein.”
“Where was Matt Shipley when all of this was being said?” Shipley was one of the two hundred plus employees who worked for the Counterterrorism Center. His specialty was Arabic languages, and Kennedy had sent him out to the safe house the previous evening to help with the interrogation of Harut. Kennedy didn’t show it, but she was irritated that Shipley had missed such an obvious reference.
“I had sent everyone to bed around five this morning. We’d been working nonstop since the previous afternoon.” Hornig shrugged her shoulders. “We needed to give the subject some rest, and I needed to get my notes organized for this meeting. This oversight was not Mr. Shipley’s fault.”
Kennedy accepted the explanation. “How did you stumble across this reference if Harut was asleep?”
“I was in the room with him, organizing my notes. Someone has to keep an eye on his vitals, so I was sitting near him when he began to mumble about Nebuchadnezzar. It is not at all unusual for my subjects to continue to talk while they are sleeping.”
“Was this recorded?” asked Kennedy.
“Of course. The recording equipment is always running.”
“Good.” Kennedy jotted herself a note to call Shipley and tell him to review the tapes immediately.
“What,” began Stansfield, “was the general context of his ramblings about Nebuchadnezzar?”
“Money—he kept talking about Nebuchadnezzar and money.”
Kennedy finished her note. “This corroborates what we heard from our other sources—that Saddam was funneling money into Hezbollah and Hamas.”
Looking at his watch, Stansfield said, “Dr. Hornig, do you have anything else for us?”
“No, but I should have more for you this afternoon.”
Stansfield looked at Rapp and Kennedy. “Any other questions?”
“Yeah,” said Rapp. “How does Aziz plan on getting out of here when it’s all over?”
Hornig blinked her eyes as an expression of embarrassment spread across her face. “Ah . . . I haven’t got around to that yet.”
Rapp looked at her harshly. “You might want to move that one up to the top of your list.”
“Yes.” Hornig jotted herself a note.
Stansfield again looked to Rapp and Kennedy. “Anything else?” They both shook their heads, and then Stansfield looked to the other side of the table. “Nice work so far, Dr. Hornig. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I need to discuss a few things with Irene and Mitch.”
Hornig gathered her papers and stood. After she’d placed her notes in a tan canvas shopping bag, she left the room.
Rapp noticed the canvas bag and, after the door was closed, said, “I hope you have somebody baby-sitting her.”
“I do.” The director nodded. “But we might want to bring it up a notch.” Stansfield looked to Kennedy. “Irene, I think we need to get some more bodies out there to keep a close eye on things. Around the clock. I want someone from CTC in that room with Harut every second of the day. And I want them awake.”
Kennedy shook her head and said, “I apologize. I already made a note to take care of it.”
