So, we all chatted for another ten or fifteen minutes, then Koenig glanced at his watch and said, "Last but not least, we'll hear from Alan."

Special Agent Alan Parker stood. He's kind of short for his age, unless maybe he really is thirteen. Alan said, "Let me be very frank-"

Everyone groaned.

Alan seemed confused, then got it and chuckled. He began again, "Let me… well, first of all, the people in Washington, who wanted to manage the flow of information-"

Captain Stein interrupted and said, "Speak English."

"What? Oh… okay… the people who wanted to keep a lid on this-"

"Who is that?" Stein demanded.

"Who? Well… some people in the administration."

"Like who?"

"I don't know. Really. But I guess the National Security Council. Not the FBI."

Captain Stein, who knows about these things, pointed out, "The Director of the FBI is a member of the National Security Council, Alan."

"Really? Anyway, whoever these people are have decided that it's time to begin full disclosure. Not all at once, but within the next seventy-two hours. Like a third of what we know each day, for the next three days."

Captain Stein, who has a sarcastic streak, inquired, "Like nouns today, verbs tomorrow, and everything else on Wednesday?"

Alan forced a chuckle and said, "No, but I have a three-part news release, and I'll pass out the first part to everyone today."

Stein said, "We want it all within the next ten minutes. Continue."

Alan said, "Please understand that I don't make the news, and I don't decide which facts are made public. I just do what I'm told. But I am the clearinghouse for news items, so I'd appreciate it if people didn't give interviews or hold press conferences without first checking with my office." He further advised us, "It's very important that the media and the public are kept informed, but it's more important that they only know what we want them to know."

Alan didn't seem to see any contradiction in that statement, which was scary.

Anyway, Alan was babbling on about the importance of news as another weapon in our arsenal and so forth, and I thought he was going to say something about using me and Kate as bait, or about Gadhafi laying the wood to Asad's mommy and putting that out to the press, but he didn't touch on any of that. Instead, he told anecdotal stories about how leaked news got people killed, tipped off suspects, ruined operations, and caused all sorts of problems including obesity, impotence, and bad breath.

Alan concluded with, "It's true that the public has a right to know, but it's not true that we have a duty to tell them anything."

He sat.

No one seemed certain they understood what Alan was saying, so to clarify, Jack Koenig said, "No one should speak to the press." He added, however, "This afternoon, there will be a joint press conference of the NYPD and the FBI, followed by another joint press conference that will include the Governor of New York, the Mayor of New York City, the NYPD Commissioner, and others. Someone, at some point, in some manner, will announce what a lot of people already know or suspect, which is that Flight One-Seven-Five was the subject of an international terrorist attack. The President and members of the National Security Council will go on TV tonight and announce the same thing. There will be a media feeding frenzy for a few days, and your respective offices will get many phone calls. Please refer everyone to Alan, who gets paid to talk to the press."

Koenig then reminded everyone that there was a million-dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of Asad Khalil, plus federal money available for buying information.

We tidied up a few loose ends and Jack Koenig concluded, "I realize that interagency cooperation is challenging, but if ever there was an occasion for everyone to pull together, to share information, and to show goodwill, this is the occasion. When we catch this guy, I assure you, there'll be enough credit to go around."

I heard NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Moody mumble something like, "There's a first."

Captain David Stein stood and said, "We don't want to find out later that we had a tip on this guy that got lost in the bureaucracy, like what happened with the Trade Center bombing. Remember, the ATTF is the clearinghouse for all information. Remember, too, every law enforcement agency in this country, Canada, and Mexico has the particulars on this guy, and every tip will be forwarded here. Plus, now that Khalil's face is on TV, we can count on a couple hundred million citizens to be on the lookout. So, if this guy is still on this continent, we might get lucky."

I thought of Police Chief Corn Pone in Hominy Grits, Georgia. I imagined getting a direct phone call from him saying, "Mornin', John. I hear y'all been lookin' for this Ay-rab, Khalil what's-his-name. Well, John, we got this feller right here in the pokey, and we'll hold him for you 'till you get here. Hurry on down-this boy won't eat pork, and he's starvin' to death."

Stein said to me, "Something funny, Detective?"

"No, sir. My mind was wandering."

"Yeah? Tell us about where it wandered to."

"Well…"

"Let's hear it, Mr. Corey."

So, rather than share my stupid Police Chief Corn Pone reverie, which is maybe funny only to me, I quickly came up with a joke apropos to the meeting. I said, "Okay… The Attorney General wants to find out who's the best law enforcement agency-the FBI, the CIA, or the NYPD. Okay? So she calls a group from each organization to meet her outside D.C., and she lets a rabbit loose in the woods, and says to the FBI guys, 'Okay, go find the rabbit.'" I looked at my audience, who were wearing neutral expressions, except for Mike O'Leary, who was smiling in anticipation.

I continued, "The FBI guys go in and two hours later, they come out without the rabbit, but of course call a big press conference and they say, 'We lab-tested every twig and leaf in the woods, we questioned two hundred witnesses, and we have concluded that the rabbit broke no federal laws, and we let him go.' The Attorney General says, 'Bullshit. You never found the rabbit.' So then the CIA guys go in"-I glanced at Mr. Harris-"and an hour later, they also come out without the rabbit, but they say, 'The FBI was wrong. We found the rabbit, and he confessed to a conspiracy. We debriefed the rabbit, and we turned the rabbit around, and he is now a double agent working for us.' The Attorney General says, 'Bullshit. You never found the rabbit.' So then the NYPD guys go in and fifteen minutes later, this bear comes stumbling out of the woods, and the bear has taken a really bad beating, and the bear throws his arms up in the air and yells out, All right! I'm a rabbit! I'm a rabbit!'"

O'Leary, Haytham, Moody, and Wydrzynski let out a big laugh. Captain Stein tried not to smile. Jack Koenig was not smiling, and therefore neither was Alan Parker. Mr. Harris, too, did not seem amused. Kate… well, Kate was getting used to me, I think.

Captain Stein said, "Thank you, Mr. Corey. I'm sorry I asked." David Stein concluded the meeting with a few words of motivation. "If this bastard strikes again in New York metro, most of us here should think about calling their pension office. Meeting adjourned."