TO: THE CIRCLE

FROM: THE OVERSEER

RE: STROUD IS DEAD

Members of the Circle,

Last week, federal officials apprehended Jack Stroud at the Hoover Dam in Nevada. He had arranged to meet with the Circle to finally secure the Book of History in his possession. However, by the time a joint Circle/FBI team moved in, someone else had gotten to Stroud. We believe that someone was Marsuvees Black.

When the team found Stroud, he was unconscious and convulsing. He was unresponsive to on-scene medical treatment and was sent by medevac to a nearby hospital. En route, he went into cardiac arrest. He was, however, successfully resuscitated and moved to the Intensive Care Unit, where he remained under guard until he could be stabilized and moved to an FBI facility. He regained consciousness on Monday and doctors cleared him for questioning, though only for short periods of time.

Tuesday morning, Stroud was taken to an interrogation room where he met with an agent. You can hear the brief exchange here: http://www.booksofhistory.com/transmissions/stroud_audio.mp3.
By all observations, he was coherent and seemed to be recovering well. However, six minutes into the interrogation, Stroud collapsed. Doctors could not revive him and five minutes later he was declared deceased.

An hour ago we received the results from Stroud's autopsy, which was performed yesterday. Most notable in the report are two observations: (1) the cause of death is unknown, though cardiac arrest is suspected. However, Meningococcal bacteria was found in fluid samples taken from his body; a finding that still puzzles us and the medical examiner. (2) Upon examining Stroud's dental remains, it was discovered that one of his molars is fake and is actually some sort of storage device (like an external hard drive). We are awaiting the analysis of its contents and will distribute that to you later today as soon as we have it.

Our search at the Dam for Black and the Book turned up nothing. Apparently, as a matter or personal protection, Stroud did not have the Book with him. A precaution that undoubtedly kept the Book out of Black's hands, but cost Stroud his life. We can only speculate how many lives were saved by him not having the Book. Sometimes heroes can be the unlikeliest of people.

Kara still remains missing. We recently investigated her apartment and found the place turned upside down. We are following up on some leads that we hope will be fruitful.

Watch for an update from me later today. Hopefully, we'll learn some answers to the secrets that died with Stroud.

The Overseer