Eugene pulled Blakey aside and told him that the ambassador had informed the minister of defense about the stolen blueprints and that the culprits were in Pakistan. Blakey asked how the minister reacted and Eugene said that the revelation shocked him and that he understood the extent of aggravation of the US administration and the implications to Pakistan if the stolen diagrams were not recovered. Eugene also mentioned the strange behavior of Prof. Malick who clearly avoided him. Blakey said the professor was regarded as the leading scientific authority by Pakistan's nuclear community, and although he had never spoken out publicly in support of Pakistan's right to build its nuclear arsenal and use it if necessary he was known as a member of the nationalistic hard line faction within the government.
Linda was not invited to attend the Fourth of July reception at the embassy because officially she was just a low rank secretary. She knew that her presence there could blow her cover as people in similar positions did not participate in the formal event and usually held a small party of their own and sometimes they invited friends and acquaintances from the local community. Linda wanted to arrange an invitation for Alma, but when they discussed the matter Alma declined saying that as an employee in PINSTECH she would need special permission to attend a social event in a foreign embassy and she didn't want to attract attention to their relationship. She told Linda she missed her and invited her to come over to her apartment after the party. Linda had quite a few drinks at the unofficial embassy party before driving over to Alma's apartment. So when Alma opened the door she stepped in, kicked the door shut with the heel of her foot, and gave Alma a deep passionate kiss. Alma pulled back, laughed quietly and told Linda to slow down a little and then led her to the sofa in her living room and pointed to a chilled bottle of bubbly wine and the two glasses that were set on the coffee table. She told Linda to open the bottle and pour the wine while she went into the kitchen to fetch some salted snacks. They toasted each other and the Fourth of July and sipped the bubbly wine. Although Linda was not a great wine connoisseur bubbly wine was not high on her list of favorite drinks, but Alma's company made up for that. They cuddled on the sofa and then Alma took Linda's hand and led her to the bedroom saying that it was her mission to make Linda enjoy Independence Day. Over the last six months since their relationship had begun Alma had come a long way and under Linda's tutoring had learned a lot about the ways to pleasure her own body and that of her lovers. Strangely enough, she also put this new knowledge to good practice in her affair with Anwar who appreciated the new sexual advances she made.
Alma made sure that Linda would never forget this particular Fourth of July celebration by performing the things Linda liked most, after all Alma was a keen student who enjoyed learning theoretically and practicing experimentally what her tutor showed her. Linda reciprocated and added a few new tricks to their expanding playbook. After a while the two young women lay in each other's arms. Linda knew that Alma had seen Anwar the previous evening — after all Alma told her about her affair with the brilliant physicist — and asked if all was well with the other part of her love life. Alma said that she noted that Anwar was under a lot of pressure and Linda waited to hear some details but these were not forthcoming so she decided to take a more active approach. She said that the trouble with men was that they cannot express their feelings or share their problems as opposed to women. Alma sighed and said that was indeed the case with men but with in a very uncharacteristic manner Anwar raised a strange dilemma which really seemed to bother him. Alma added that he presented a hypothetical question that concerned national security, potential catastrophe and loyalty, but she could not fathom the reason for this question and could only guess that it related to some decision he had to make and present it to a top-secret committee. Linda felt that she had heard enough to confirm her suspicion that Alma's other lover held a pivotal position in the Pakistani establishment to which the classified data was presented. She didn't want to appear to be too inquisitive so she said that these hypothetical matters were way above her head and leaned over to kiss Alma gently on her soft earlobe. One thing led to another and soon they had fallen asleep after making love slowly and gently.
Despite the holiday in the US and its official sites worldwide, a meeting was held at the embassy at noon. The ambassador, Blakey and Eugene listened to Linda's report. She did not go into any details about her relationship with Alma, although they all understood that it wasn't a casual fling, and focused on the information she had gleaned about Anwar. They all inferred that Anwar was a key player in the Pakistani nuclear establishment and that he was entrusted with a difficult decision. Evidently he understood the implications of acting on the data that had been handed over by Nagib and the alternatives — doing nothing or informing the authorities. Blakey suggested putting a tail on Anwar but Eugene said there was no point in doing so because whatever he was involved in would take place either at PINSTECH or at the offices of the intelligence services and unless they could record the meeting they would not learn anything new. Their main objectives were to find the couple and retrieve the data before it was passed on and following Anwar would get them no closer to that. Blakey thanked Linda for her performance and achievement and asked her to stay in touch with Alma and try to learn more about Anwar and the committee. Linda said that she intended to do so anyway and asked if there was any specific information they wanted. Eugene intervened and said that they would like to know what Nagib had already handed over to the Pakistanis, and added that he didn't expect Anwar to know where the couple was staying.
After Linda left, the ambassador repeated that he had issued a terse warning to the Pakistani minister of defense, and wondered what effect that would have on the plans of the nationalist faction who were sure to get word of this. While they were discussing this question the duty officer entered the conference room with a printed message and gave it to Blakey. The CIA station chief read it and said that the show had begun and announced that he had just been informed that the minister of defense was placed under house arrest by the Pakistani intelligence service and was facing an investigation of corruption in the department that dealt with purchasing armament for the military. He added that he was sure that it was not a coincidence and was probably a countermove by the nationalist faction to prevent a probe that the minister had initiated that morning.
A couple of hours later an official announcement by the Pakistani government mourned the tragic death of the minister of defense who had left a suicide note pleading guilty to the accusations of corruption and took his own life by shooting himself. The government spokesman also stated that a forensic investigation would not be necessary because in his suicide note the minister clearly expressed the reasons for his final act. When the US ambassador heard the news from Blakey they held an urgent meeting in which the severity of the situation was discussed, but there was not much they could do about it.