Yakov had been idly rocking back and forth in his favorite chair, eyes closed, listening carefully to all that David had been telling Ari. Now he came back to life, sat up straight, and turned abruptly to Ari. “Stay out of it! The CIA’s being set up. ‘The Nine’ aren’t ETIs.”

“Come on, Yakov,” returned David uneasily, “let’s not get sidetracked onto that demon thing again… okay?”

“You just listen to what I have to say,” returned Yakov impatiently, “and you’ll learn something. I used to practice cabala… heavy occultism… and I’m telling you that ‘the Nine’ are well known in occult circles. They’ve been making contact with spirit mediums in séances for centuries.”