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As the kidnappers' initial deadlines passed late last week, Pearl's family and friends clung to the hope that his cool head, innate charm and intelligence would protect him from further harm. "Danny's incredibly resourceful," said Nick Noyes, a friend of Pearl's from his days at the Massachusetts paper North Adams Transcript. "If anyone can get himself out of a mess like this, he can." But Pearl had been caught up in a new wave of anti-American terror, one that doesn't seem to follow any script. His friends and colleagues could do little more than wait to see how it would turn out.
--Reported by Hannah Bloch/Islamabad, Sean Scully/Los Angeles and Deirdre van Dyk/North Adams