stroud is dead w/clue

we recieved an update the other day which said this:

TO: THE CIRCLE

FROM: THE OVERSEER

SUBJECT: 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 so that we could 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.

Marsuvees Black.

When the team found Stroud, he was unconscious and convulsing. He was unresponsive to on-scene medical treatment and was rushed by Medevac to a nearby hospital. En route, he went into cardiac arrest. He was, however, successfully resuscitated and moved to the ICU, 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. By all observations, Stroud was coherent and seemed to be recovering well. However, six minutes into the interrogation, he 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 case 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 electronic storage device, like an external hard drive. We are awaiting 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 revealed nothing. Apparently, as a matter of 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 most unlikely 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

The transcript to the audio is here(it's very long):

Agent: Mr. Stroud, I’m Special Agent Harmon, I understand you have waived your right to legal counsel, is that correct?

Stroud: That’s correct.

Agent: And, um, you’ve been made aware of your rights, is that correct?

Stroud: That’s correct.

Agent: Okay. And, uh, for the record, will you please state your full name, date of birth?

Stroud: [slight pause] My name is Jackson Stroud… I was born on 14 June 1963.

Agent: And you are a specialist book collector, book dealer, is that correct?

Stroud: Uh, yeah. Something like that. I, uh, I locate antiques for, umm, for collectors.

Agent: And, uh, it seems that this has got you into some trouble—we’ve been, we’ve been following you for a while; you’re a difficult man to find.

Stroud: It’s part of the job, Agent Harmon.

Agent: Mr. Stroud, would you mind telling me what you were doing on the Hoover Dam last night?

Stroud: Umm… [pause] I went to the Hoover Dam to meet up with a, uh, potential buyer.

Agent: Will you please tell me the name of this buyer, please?

Stroud: [slight pause] Not exactly sure who the buyer was supposed to be…

Agent: [interrupts] Come on, Mr. Stroud.

Stroud: There’s a woman, her name is Kara. She runs—

Agent: [interrupts again] What’s her last name?

Stroud: I don’t know. [slight pause] She’s part of this organization called “The Circle” or “The Order of the Circle,” umm, don’t really know what it is, but I do know that they want this book and that there’s another, uh, that there’s another party, his name is Black, who wants this book as well. I was supposed to meet Kara’s representative, but by the time I showed up at the Dam, Black was waiting for me.

Agent: Tell me a little bit more about this, uh, about this Mr. Black, because uh, obviously something went down. Umm [mumbles]

Stroud: Well, originally he contacted me through my, uh, my handler at the X Group, and said he had a book that was worth quite a bit of money to him, and that he needed my expertise in finding it. But when I found out that this “Circle” group wanted the book as well, and they were willing to do as much if not more than Black, I thought… you know…

Agent: You played them off against each other.

Stroud: Yeah. [lower] Basically. [louder] Come on, it’s all for money, right?

Agent: So tell me, what, what went down last night? What went wrong, what happened.

Stroud: So I show up at the Dam a little bit early. I’m supposed to meet the Circle at 6 o’clock, I show up at about 5:15, at the area where the statues are, the sculptures on the uh, on the Nevada side of the Dam. And uh, Black was there waiting for me.

Agent: Umm, you say you know his name, his full name?

Stroud: Marsuvees Black is his name.

Agent: Can you describe him to me please, Mr. Stroud?

Stroud: Umm… [long pause] I don’t know…. About 6 foot 5, maybe, uh, he wore a black fedora, black trenchcoat, he had black hair that went to his shoulders, and… Let me ask you a question, Agent Harmon. Do you believe in the Devil? I don’t mean the idea of it, I mean a guy, or an it, or whatever, who is bent on chewing you up and spitting you out?

Agent: [long pause] I’ve seen a lot of pretty terrible things in my career, Mr. Stroud, but I can’t say I believe in the Devil… I mean I believe in the—

Stroud: [interrupts] Well you probably should, ‘cause I saw him, on that dam. This guy Black? Okay, so he’s there waiting for me, I’ve never met him in my entire life. He knows my name, he knows what I look like, he walks up to me, puts down a suitcase, says, “Here’s 20 million, give me the book.” I tell him I don’t have the book. I NEVER have the book with me. I mean, that’s what, that’s what keeps me alive, is not having the book with me. They usually just deposit the money, I give them the location of 3 books, one real, 2 decoys, and then they go get all three and then authenticate the right one. So…

Agent: [interrupts] You’re a careful man, Mr. Stroud.

Stroud: Well you have to be. So he sets down this suitcase, asks me for the book, tell him I didn’t have it.

Agent: Then what happened?

Stroud: [long pause] [sighs] I’m really not sure. He, uh…

Agent: [agitated] Come on, Mr. Stroud, how can you not be sure?

Stroud: [agitated as well] He took off his glove, okay? And there was no skin on his hand, and he, he [pause] put it on my chest, and looked me in the eye and it was just like ink black, and my heart started racing and I started feeling really hot, I mean like lightning had hit me. And then I heard myself screaming, and then that’s all I remember.

Agent: [interrupting] You expect me—

Stroud: [interrupting] Next thing I know I wake up.

Agent: You expect me to believe that, Mr. Stroud?

Stroud: [upset] Well you should, yeah. That’s what happened. You asked me what happened. I told you. [pause] I mean, I still don’t know, I mean, it was… I don’t know, I got really hot and then I started… [blows air]

Agent: You take any medication, Mr. Stroud?

Stroud: No.

Agent: Any kind of drugs?

Stroud: No.

Agent: Mr. Stroud, are you okay?

Stroud: Nah, it’s like really hot in here…

Agent: You’d like me to turn down the air conditioner?

Stroud: [sounding disoriented] Uh, no, uh… ah! [sound of someone collapsing]

Agent: Mr. Stroud? [audio ends]

then we recieved the first file from the tooth which is here along with its content written out for those who may be unable to read it:

Das Evangeliar Heinrichs des Lowen.

Client: August A.

STATUS: TRANSACTED

42 11' 49"/2 23' 29.25"

***

PROJ BLACKROCK/

DELIVERED. CAYMAN CONFIRMED.

1. Cosmographia. Ptol.

2. Une saison en enfer.

3. Codex Leicester. LDv.

4. First Folio. WS.

***

Client: Bob S.

STATUS: HOLDING

5/2/08 Kokopelli TrHead

1. Birds of America. JA.

2. DC Action #1. Super.

3. Amaz Fantasy #15. Spider.

***

Atgrph. WS.

1. 1894-S Barber Dime. LH.

2. Caspary Stamp. 1855/86. Backman.

***

PROJ SHOWDOWN

STAUS: 4th QUARTER

1. Story of Hist. Anon. (MB, DA, Circle)

2. Iranian volumes p/w: 180752138-256

If you look on page 256 of Chaos, which the last number is for, you see the message: "Paradise is the key" This is all we have a lead on thus far though.