The Last Patriot

Bertrand had been moved to one of the vacant staterooms so Harvath and Nichols could speak in private.

“Where should I start?” replied the professor. “Marwan Khalifa is one of the most respected Koranic scholars in the world. He’s a Georgetown professor and we had worked together before, which made him a perfect choice for this project.”

“When had you worked together before?”

“About five years ago. Right after 9/11, I wrote a paper about the First Barbary War and America’s introduction to Islamic terrorism. Marwan helped me with some of the finer points of Islamic history.”

“When was the last time you spoke with him?” asked Harvath.

“I sent him an e-mail shortly before I left for Paris to confirm a meeting we have Monday in D.C.”

“How much did he know about what you were working on for the president?”

“Everything,” stated Nichols. “He was practically my partner on this project. He knows more about the Koran and its history than anyone else I can think of.”

“And the president was okay with this?” asked Harvath.

“Of course. In fact having a scholar of Marwan’s standing on board will lend much needed weight to this discovery.”

“Why would you and the president need any additional weight?”

Nichols looked at him over the top of his mug. “First of all, the president doesn’t want any recognition for the discovery.”

Harvath chuckled. “Almost every single violent conflict around the world right now involves Muslims, yet with this discovery virtually overnight, all of these conflicts have the potential to come to a halt and Jack Rutledge won’t want to take any credit for it? Please.”

Nichols thought Harvath was being rather disrespectful, but he chose not to engage in an unproductive confrontation. “The president is worried that his involvement might politicize the discovery and detract from its true importance.

“If we find what I think we are going to find, there will be many elements within Islam who will do everything they can to discredit the discovery.”

“You mean the radical fundamentalists,” said Harvath.

Nichols nodded. “They won’t go easily and unfortunately, they are masters at perverting the truth and creating myriad conspiracy theories. The president decided it would be best if he wasn’t seen to have any involvement with this at all. The last thing he wants to do is empower the Islamists.”

“If this turns out to be that threatening, orthodox Muslims are not going to take it lying down.”

“No, they won’t. The Danish cartoon riots were nothing compared to what this will look like. It will be an outright attack on their legitimacy, and they will do everything they can to discredit it. What’s more, as crazy as it sounds, they have God on their side.”

“What do you mean?” asked Harvath.

“The mere suggestion that the Koran is incomplete runs absolutely counter to what every Muslim is taught. To accept the premise that the Koran is incomplete would mean accepting that it is not perfect. And from there it is not a huge leap to wonder what else might be incorrect or incomplete about their holy book.

“It’s a test of faith that many, no matter how moderate, may not want to accept,” said Nichols.

“So how do you win? Just go public with the information and hope that the truth wins out?”

“That’s what we’ve been wrestling with. The Islamic regimes that could be most helpful in publicizing this message will probably be threatened as well. Most likely, they’re going to be lining up to discredit the find.”

“So then how do you win?” repeated Harvath.

Nichols set his mug down, took a deep breath, and said, “This is where we have to trust the moderates and by that I mean the true moderates, like Marwan. If the reform movement doesn’t come from within the Islamic faith, it will never be accepted as legitimate. We in the West can demand reform all we want, but we can’t force it upon the Muslim community. But if we can get to the bottom of what Jefferson was after, we will be handing the moderates the biggest broom they’ve ever had with which to sweep clean.”

Harvath wished he shared the man’s optimism. “Who else besides Marwan and the president know about what you’re working on?”

“No one,” replied Nichols.

“No assistants? No grad students? No girlfriend?”

“Don’t I wish,” said Nichols as he rose and crossed to the galley.

“Where did you do your research?” asked Harvath.

The professor filled the kettle with water and turned on the stove. “Everywhere. The UVA library. Monticello. The Library of Congress.”

“The White House?”

“Off and on,” said Nichols. “I also brought a lot of source material home with me, but per the president, I didn’t keep any handwritten notes. All of my work was kept on a flash drive.”

“Where is it?”

“Hidden in my office.”

Harvath shot him a look.

“Very well hidden,” he added.

“Is it encrypted?” asked Harvath.

“I used an open-source, on-the-fly encryption program called True-Crypt. Even if I was forced to give up the password, it provides two levels of plausible deniability. The president signed off on it.”