something was up and he did not know what.

Throwing the rubber into the toilet and flushing it down, he washed his hands and started to gather his stuff together. He dressed in fatigues and with Fazzi helping him; they packed the rest of his gear into his bag. “I apologize, habibi. I just don’t know how long I will be gone, but we will take up where we left off as soon as possible.” He said and kissed the poor befuddled man. “I know the mood is broken and it may never be the same, but you are just going to have to get used to this sort of thing if we are going to continue.”

“I am very disappointed, Yussef. I can see you are as upset as me–if not more than I am. Is there any way I can perhaps give you some quick relief?”

“Thank you dear, but no, damn it, I have to get going. Again I want to apologize.” Joseph said kissing him again.

“No need to apologize, if anyone should know how the military works, it is I. This alert is probably nothing important. Most likely just some idiotic general who gets his kicks out of seeing how fast he can get the troops to react. Hey, I should know. I used to do it all the time with my own men. It is one of those tools we all used to keep the troops on their toes. Now I guess Allah is paying me back,” he laughed. “Just drive carefully. I need you in one piece the next time we meet.”

Joseph opened the door, threw Fazzi another kiss and ran down the stairs to his car. Fazzi hurriedly dressed himself and then returned to the main house both laughing and cursing at the same time. Joseph drove the BMW off the estate and about a mile from the entrance he pulled over to the side of the road and put in a call to Barns. “I’m clear. What’s the scoop?” he asked Barns.

“A combination of real stupid foul-ups,” Bill told him. “You were with Fazzi and Worthington tonight?”

“Yes, tonight was their first face to face meeting, and it went very well,” Joseph said. “What has that got to do with my having to leave so quickly?”

“Well just as I was leaving my office, Richard called me to report on the meeting. He told me it went very well and what a great time all of you had. He even gave me a “Bump and Grind” review of your stage performance. However, on the way back to his office he noticed that the Fazzi’s driver was, and these are Richard’s words, ‘packing iron’. I had to keep from laughing as I tried to explain to him that drivers sometimes serve as bodyguards and that he was not to worry about it. Anyway since he was now safe at home and out of danger there was no need to worry and I would look into it in the morning. After I hung up I get a flash on the inter-agency radio that an ‘Arab looking man’ driving a limo over the George Washington Bridge was stopped, questioned and searched. They found the gun. The driver tried to tell them he had a license, but that his ‘permit to carry’ was left at home. On top of this they discovered some suspicious looking literature in Arabic, including what looked like maps of lower Manhattan with