Yazid paused and looked from one man to the next. Then he said, "AHah came to me in a vision and commanded me to seize the ship."

"Praise be to Allah!" Fawzy burst out.

The other men glanced at each other, incredulous. Then they turned their attention back to Yazid, expectantly, without voicing a question.

"I see by the look in your eyes, my friends, you doubt my vision."

"Never," said alHakim solemnly. "But perhaps you misinterpreted Allah's command."

"No, it was quite clear. The ship with President Hasan and his ministers must be seized."

"for what purpose?" asked Mussa Moheidin.

"To seal off Hasan and prevent his return to Cairo while our forces sweep into power."

"Abu Hamid wig call out the army to foil any overthrow other than his,"

cautioned Colonel Bashir. "I know this for a fact. "

"Haniid cannot stop a tidal wave of revolutionary fervor," said Yazid.

"Civil unrest is at a peak. The masses are fed up with harsh austerity brought on by payment demands on foreign loans. He and Hasan are cutting their own throats by not denouncing the godless moneylenders.

Egypt can only be saved by embracing the purity of Islamic law."

Khaled Fawzy leaped to his feet and raised a fist. "You have only to give me the order, Akhmad, and I will have people in the streets."

Yazid paused, breathing heavily with religious zeal. Then he said, "The people will lead. I will follow."

The expression on alHakim's face was grave. "I must confessI have dark misgivings."

"You are a coward!" Fawzy snapped in rash defiance.

"Mo ed alHakim is wiser than you," said Moheidin patiently. "I know his mind. He does not wish a repeat of the Achille Lauro fiasco in nineteen eighty-five, when Palestinians commandeered the ltahan crew liner and murdered an old Jew invalid in a wheelchair."

Bashir spoke up. "Terrorist slaughter will not help our cause. "

"You wish to go against the will of Allah?" said Yazid, annoyed.

Everyone began talking at once. The room went sour with vehemence as they argued back and forth.

Only Ammar remained detached. They're idiots, he thought, goddamned idiots. He tuned out of the debate and stared at the photo of the cruise ship. The wheels inside his head began to shift through the gears.

"We are not only Egyptians," argued Bashir, "we are Arabs. The other Arab nations will Turn against us if we murder our officials and any of theirs who get in the way. They won't see it as a gift from Allah, but rather as a political terrorist plot."

Moheidin gestured toward Fawzy. "Khaled made a point. Better to kill Hasan on home territory than launch a bloodbath on board a ship holding the leader of Mexico and his delegation as well."

"We cannot condone an act of mass terrorism," said alHakim. "The negative consequences for our new government would be disastrous."

"You are all worms who belong in Hasan's camp," Fawzy spat. "I say attack the ship and show the world our power."

Nobody paid any attention to the militant fanatic who was viciously anti-Jew and anti-Christian.

"Don't you see, Akhmad," pleaded Bashir, "security in Punta del Este will be impossible to penetrate? Uruguayan patrol boats will be thick as locusts. Every ship housing sumnut leaders will be heavily guarded.

You're talking a suicide assault by an army of commandos. It simply can't be done."

"We will have help from a source that must remain confidential," said Yazid. He turned and studied Ammar. "You, Suleiman-You're our expert on undercover operations. If a team of our best fighters can be smuggled on board the Lady Flamborough without detection, can the ship be taken and held until we can form a republic in the name of Islam?"

"Yes," replied Ammar, without taking his eyes off the cruise ship's photo. The voice was quiet, but it carried total conviction. "Six days is cutting it slim, but the ship can be carried with ten experienced fighting men and five experienced seamen, with no bloodshed providing we have the element of suprise."

Yazid's eyes gleamed. "Ah, I knew I could count on you."

"Impossible," Bashir roared. "You could never smuggle that many men into Uniguay without arousing suspicion. And even if through some miracyou captured the ship and subdued the crew, every special assault team in the West would be swarming over your hide inside of twenty-four hours. Threats to kill the hostages won't stop them. You'd "

"I can take and hold the Lady Flamborough for two weeks."

Bashir shook his head. "You're lost in a dream world."

"How is that possible?" asked Moheidin. "I'm interested in learning how you expect to outwit an army of highly trained international security forces without a pitched battle."

"I don't intend to fight."

"This is nonsense!" Yazid said, shocked.

"Not really," said Ammar. "It's all in knowing the trick."

"Trick?"

"Precisely." Ammar smiled benignly. "You see, I plan on making the Lady Flamborough, her crew and passengers, an crew disappear.

"My visit is strictly unofficial," Julius Schiller advised Hala Kamil as they stepped into the log-beamed sitting room of Senator Pitts ski lodge. "My aides are covering for me, saying I'm fishing in Key West."

"I understand," said Hala. "I'm grateful for the chance to talk to someone other than the cook and Secret Service guards."

She greeted him dressed fashionably in an Icelandic brown wool sweater-jacket with matching pants, looking even younger than Schiller remembered.

He looked out of place at a ski resort in a business suit, polished wing-tip shoes, and carrying an attached case. "Is there anything I can arrange to make your safety more bearable?"

"No, thank you. Nothing can relieve the frustration of inactivity when there is so much I must do."

"A few more days and it will be over," Schiller said consolingly.

"I hardly expected to see you here, Julius."

"Something has come up that concerns Egypt. Our President thought it prudent you be consulted on a recent event."

Hala curled her legs under her and sipped at the tea. "Should I be flattered?"

"Let's say he'd be grateful for your cooperation."

"Regarding what?"

Schiller opened the attache case, gave Hala a bound folder and sat back with his tea. He watched as the soft features of her angelic face slowly tightened as she realized the scope of what she read, Finally she finished the last page and closed the folder. She gave Schiller a penetrating stare.

"Is the public aware of this?"

He nodded. "The discovery of the ship will be announced this afternoon.

But we're holding off any reference to the Alexandria Library treasures."

Hala gazed out the window. "Our loss of the Library sixteen centuries ago would compare to your President suddenly ordering the burning of the Washington archives, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Art Gallery."

Schiller nodded. "A fair comparison."

"Is there hope the ancient books can be recovered?"