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of the tent. Pinned to its middle was the map of Washington, D.C., that had everyone so worked up. Next to it was another map that Rapp hadn't seen.

"We found this folded up and stuffed in a file." Harley pointed to the upper portion of the map. "Can you read any of it?"

"Some of it." Rapp studied the map. More than anything he recognized the shape of the large blue body of water in the middle. "It's the Caspian, right?"

"Correct," answered Harley. The map was of the Caspian Sea with Iran to the south and Kazakhstan to the north. "Any idea why they would bother with a map of the Caspian?"

Rapp stared at it for a moment. "None whatsoever."

"Well, neither did we." Harley slid over a bit. "These maps need no introduction," he said, pointing.

One was of the entire eastern seaboard of the United States, and the other one was of Florida and the northern part of the Caribbean.

Harley touched the map and asked, "Do you see what's been circled?"

"New York, Miami, Baltimore, and Charleston."

"That's right. The four busiest ports on the East Coast."

"Shit."

"That's not even the worst of it," replied the general. "Come look at this." He walked Rapp around the outside of the tables to the area where Urda's people were set up. The three bearded men were dressed casually and so focused was their attention that they paid no attention to Rapp and the general.

"These are our Pashto guys. They were the ones who found the names of the missing Pakistani nuclear scientists."

"What else have they discovered?"

"Detailed descriptions on how to shield a nuclear warhead and sneak it past the sensors we have at all the aforementioned ports."

Rapp closed his eyes out of frustration. "What else?"

"A laundry list of materials needed to build the fire set and how to assemble and shape the explosive charge to achieve maximum yield."

The yield was how the explosive power of the bomb was measured. "Have we discovered the yield?"

"According to this right here," Harley tapped a file lying on the table, "twenty kilotons."

"Say again?" asked a somewhat shocked Rapp.

"Twenty kilotons."

"That's no dirty bomb."

"No."

"Any idea where they got this thing? Did they steal it from the Pakistanis?"

"So far we haven't a clue, but all of this is being sent back to the Joint Counterterrorism Center, the Pentagon, and the National Security Council. I would imagine someone very high up in our government will be calling Pakistan any moment and demanding a full accounting of their nuclear arsenal."

"I hope you're right. What else?"

"We have some interesting bills of lading we're trying to decipher, but it's a real jigsaw puzzle."

"What about something arriving by air yesterday?"

Harley asked one of the analysts, and was told no.

"Could it be on one of the computers?" asked Rapp.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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