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minutes
     to take a peek at a Mavericks game.
    Yep, as ashamed as I was to admit it, to a certain degree I was one of those people
     who’d rather stick her head in the sand and pretend the world is a happy, sunshiny
     place full of nice people. I knew it was naïve and wrong, but the alternative was
     to be upset and depressed all the time, wasn’t it? Who wants to live like that? Besides,
     it wasn’t like I was doing nothing. I contributed to human rights groups. Just take
     a look at the charitable deductions on my last tax return.
    “What do we know about Arab history?” I repeated, eyeing Zardooz. “Try squat.”
    “Okay,” Zardooz said, thankfully accepting our ignorance without an eye roll or sigh.
     “Back in the seventh century, the prophet Muhammad—”
    Zardooz was interrupted when Agent Wang tossed a fried green bean at him. “We don’t
     have all day, dude. Bring it up to this century, at least.”
    Zardooz picked up the green bean, dipped it into Wang’s chipotle ranch sauce, and
     took a bite. “All right. You two have heard of the ‘Arab Spring,’ right?”
    Eddie and I nodded. Our heads had not been completely up our asses.
    Zardooz gave us a quick rundown. In recent months, many of those living in the Arab
     world had reached the limits of their tolerance and revolted against their country’s
     oppressive regimes. This so-called Arab Spring led to rulers being forced from power
     in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. While lesser protests took place in Algeria,
     Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and Morocco, serious civil uprisings occurred in Bahrain and
     Syria. The clashes were often violent, with thousands killed as a result.
    Militant groups took advantage of the recent unrest to unleash further terror across
     the Arab world. But attacking thousands of people ain’t cheap. When they needed funds
     for weapons and bomb-making materials, they’d hit up their cohorts here in Dallas,
     playing on their emotions, reminding the men that while they lived in their cushy
     apartments in the relatively safe United States their family members were risking
     their lives overseas. It was like some type of sick, sadistic soap opera, with psychological
     manipulation, constant strife, and goals and motivations that were far from clear.
    Still, despite what I’d been told and the evidence I’d been given, I didn’t want to
     accept the facts. The men who’d been arrested lived and worked in this country, interacted
     with Americans on a daily basis, ate Oreos just like the rest of us. How could they
     enjoy the freedoms this country offered while supporting radicals who murdered their
     former neighbors and countrymen back in their homelands? Couldn’t they see that, by
     and large, people all over the world were basically good?
    I supposed it was pointless to even try to make sense of their thinking. Their acts
     could never be rationalized or justified.
    Our history lesson now completed, I turned to Wang. “What have you done so far in
     the investigation?”
    “The usual. Searched their homes and cars. Talked to their coworkers and neighbors.
     Visited their banks.” He took a sip of his iced tea. “Our next step is to visit MSBs
     near their homes and workplaces, see if any of them sent the funds overseas.”
    Treasury regulations not only included provisions to prevent and detect money laundering,
     but they also prohibited trade between Americans and certain foreign persons and entities
     suspected in the promotion of terrorism. Money services businesses, often referred
     to as MSBs, were subject to extensive regulation to prevent illegal financing. The
     regulations covered a wide range of financial transactions and gave the government
     broad authority over any business that cashed checks, performed wire transfers, or
     sold money orders, traveler’s checks, or foreign currency.
    In most legitimate financial transactions, funds were transferred directly from the
     payer’s account at one