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Hood nodded and turned back to the computer monitor. "In addition to the Basques, Castilians, and Catalonians, we've got the Andalusians. They comprise roughly twelve percent of the population and they'll side with any group in power because of their financial dependency. The Galicians are roughly eight percent of the population. They're an agricultural people-very Spanish, traditionally independent, and likely to stay out of any fray that might erupt."

"So," Lanning said, "they've got a complex situation over there. And given the volatile history of the interrelations I can understand them wanting to keep the disputes quiet. What I don't understand is something Mr. Herbert said-why this Deputy Serrador wanted to see Martha specifically."

"Deputy Serrador seemed comfortable with her due to her familiarity with Spain and the language," Hood said. "He also liked the fact that she was a woman who belonged to a racial minority. He said he could count on her to be both discreet and sympathetic."

"Sure," Herbert said. "But I've been sitting here thinking that she also happened to be the perfect victim for one of those ethnic groups."

Everyone looked at him.

"What do you mean?" Hood asked.

"To put it bluntly," Herbert said, "the Catalonians are male-supremacists who hate black Africans. It's an animosity that goes back about nine hundred years, to the wars with the Moors of Africa. If someone wanted to get the Catalonians on their side-and who wouldn't want the folks with the money in their camp?-they'd pick a black woman as a victim."

There was silence for a moment.

"That's a bit of a reach, don't you think?" Lanning asked.

"Not really," the intelligence chief replied. "I've seen longer shots pay off. The sad truth is, whenever I go looking for muddy footprints in the gutter of human nature, I'm rarely disappointed."

"What ethnic group does Serrador belong to?" Mike Rodgers asked.

"He's Basque, General," McCaskey's voice came from the speakerphone, "with absolutely no record of antinationalist activity. We checked him out. To the contrary. He's voted against every kind of separatist legislation."

"He could be a mole," Lanning said. "The most damaging Soviet spy we ever had at State was raised in whitebread Darien, Connecticut, and voted for Barry Goldwater."

"You're catching on," Herbert said, grinning. He had a feeling what was coming: there was no one more passionate than a convert.

Lanning regarded Hood. "The more I think about what Mr. Herbert just said, the more troubled I am by all of this. We've had situations before where we've been set up by foreign interests. Let's assume for the moment that that's what happened. That Martha was lured to Spain to be assassinated, for whatever reason. The only way we'll ever find that out is if we have access to all aspects of the investigation. Do we have that, Mr. McCaskey?"

"I wouldn't count on it," McCaskey replied. "Serrador said he's going to look into it, but Aideen and I were both shuttled off to our hotel rooms and we haven't heard anything since."

"Yeah, the Spanish government isn't always very forthcoming about their private activities," Herbert said. "During World War II, this supposedly neutral nation rode shotgun on train-and truckloads of Nazi booty sent from Switzerland to Portugal. They did it in exchange for future favors, which, luckily, they never got to collect on."

"That was Francisco Franco," Ron Plummer said. "Professional courtesy, dictator-to-dictator. It doesn't mean that Spanish people are that way."

"True," Herbert said, "but the Spanish leaders are still at it. In the 1980's the defense minister hired drug smugglers as mercenaries to kill Basque separatists. The government purchased guns for the team in South Africa. They let them keep the weapons afterward, too. No," he said, "I wouldn't count on any Spanish government to help the United States with anything."

Hood held up both hands. "We're getting off the subject