There was one lesson he'd never been able to get her to accept. A professional has no time or desire for revenge; it is business. Revenge burned in Malovo like the coals of last night's fire, waiting to be fanned into a sudden flame, and she never pa.s.sed up the opportunity for it if it fit her plans. Many years later, long after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when she was working as a freelance a.s.sa.s.sin and agent provocateur, she found her former mentor in a remote cottage in the Urals, where he'd retired. She castrated him and left him to die slowly in the snow while she sipped a gla.s.s of wine and watched from the front porch of his home.

Her current plan was intertwined with the threads of revenge as well. Threads that involved her nemesis, the six-foot-five New York City DA Roger "Butch" Karp and his loathsome family. Just thinking about the man made the coals in her dark soul glow brighter.

The eventual success of her plan depended on her being out of Florence ADX, the maximum-security prison in Colorado, which normally only housed the worst, most violent and dangerous male prisoners but had made a special allowance for Malovo. There was no escaping from "the Alcatraz of the Rockies," as the prison was known, so she had to scheme to get out as an undercover informant for the U.S. government.

So her part of the "deal" with the Americans was that she would infiltrate so-called sleeper cells of Muslim extremists as her alter ego the Chechen terrorist Ajmaani; learn their plans; and pa.s.s the information on to the agencies. She'd been able to convince her captors that according to her sources, al-Qaeda was planning a series of strikes in New York City, culminating with one ma.s.sive attack on a date and location that were as yet unknown; they only knew it would be within the year and hit Manhattan.

Of course it was all a lie to get out of the prison and back to New York City. Except for the ma.s.sive attack ... That is real, she thought.

In reality, it was Ajmaani who contacted the sleeper cells-which she'd known of prior to her arrest-and with forged doc.u.ments purported to come from higher-ups in al-Qaeda, or some other extremist organization, planned attacks and set them in motion. Then she turned around and betrayed the terrorists to win the confidence of the Americans, starting with the attack on the Liberty Island ferry.

The attack on the ferry and its aftermath could not have gone better. She'd located Ghilzai and other foreign-born members of that cell, sprinkled in some American jihadis to ruin the cohesion of the group and sow distrust, and then told them that the time had come to "strike a blow for Allah and attack the Great Satan."

As she had ever since a.s.suming the role of Ajmaani, first for the Russian government trying to destroy the Muslim separatist movement in Chechnya and later for the highest bidder, she found the mujahideen to be extremely gullible, and the one involved in the ferry attack was no exception. It wasn't that they were all stupid or uneducated or even poor, though some were all three. But whether it was their religious upbringing or dissatisfaction with their lives, or a psychological predisposition to accepting the orders of authority figures as gospel, it didn't take much to convince them that sacrificing their lives to kill others would earn them a place in paradise.

"Of course their leaders never volunteer to kill themselves for Allah," she'd laughed cynically when talking to the NIDSA agent Mike Rolles as they drove back from the harbor following the attack. "They have enough fools to use as cannon fodder for G.o.d."

And cannon fodder is what they've become, she mused as she waited for her new attorney to arrive. No survivors. No witnesses.

It was all part of the plan to not only escape her captors but live well and on her own terms after that, with each piece of the plot that would win her freedom snapping into the others like a jigsaw puzzle. One piece had been to establish herself as the fearless Ajmaani and take part in the attack. But in addition to wanting to be present in case something went wrong and she needed to intervene, she had to be able to send a message to certain people that she was in charge of events.

Another piece had been to select the most fanatical foreign-born terrorists to be on board the attacking vessel, who were told to avoid capture no matter what the cost to their lives. "If you are stopped from completing your main mission, blow yourselves up; it will still make a dramatic statement in the media, especially Al Jazeera television. You will be heroes and martyrs for Allah," she'd told the boat leader the night before the attack.

Even then she'd taken no chances. Her appearance on the ferry when the talks with the attackers had stalemated was to send a signal to one of her men stationed in a hotel room on the southern end of the island with a view of what was happening. When it was apparent that at least some of the attackers on board the boat survived the barrage of fire from the police, he'd use a remote-control detonator to set off the bomb that had been planted belowdecks unbeknownst to the attackers.

She tried to consider everything, even making Ghilzai believe that Akhund was the traitor. Ghilzai would never talk, and Akhund would never survive jail. She would also make sure of that.

In return for helping thwart the terrorists, Malovo had worked out a deal in which she would be placed in the federal witness protection program and given a quiet new life in some out-of-the-way community. I'd rather rot in prison than suffocate in suburbia. She had no intention of doing either.

However, she needed to convince the authorities that it was what she wanted, though she knew that the agent Espey Jaxon and U.S. Marshal Capers, who had refused to relinquish total control of Malovo to NIDSA, would be suspicious. She would have to deal with them and made a mental note to file away their obvious personal feelings for each other, information that could be useful later on.

After her arrest, Malovo refused to say much of anything to U.S. interrogators other than the occasional tantalizing tidbit about people she knew, including traitors within the U.S and Russian governments and the supersecretive Sons of Man. It was enough for the feds to send in a stream of agents, men and women, hoping she'd open up to one of them. But not until NIDSA agent Michael Rolles entered the interview room did she begin to "spill her guts." Of course there was a reason for that.

When he was sure they were alone, he quietly said, "Myr shegin dy ve, bee eh." It meant "What must be, will be" in Manx, the language of the Isle of Man. It was also the mother language of the Sons of Man, who had grown from a group of pirates and smugglers in the eighteenth century into a clandestine syndicate of powerful and wealthy descendants bent on U.S. and world domination. It was the signal she'd been waiting for; help had arrived ... for a price.

Gradually, so as not to arouse the suspicions of anyone watching, she warmed up to Rolles, and in their first two-hour interview "revealed" a smidgeon of information that had led to a bomb-making operation in the Bronx. Her captors, including Espey Jaxon and U.S Marshal Capers, appeared to have final say in where she went and when. But she was NIDSA's prize due to her relationship with Rolles, as she made it look like he had touched some vulnerable part of her psyche to the point that several months into his appearance, she flirted shamelessly and suggestively with Rolles. The irony was that Rolles wouldn't have been susceptible to her feminine wiles even if that had been part of her plan.

Testing the waters, Malovo-who had spent a lifetime studying the weaknesses of her enemies, most of whom were men-did "test the waters" with Rolles, just in case seduction would come in handy later. But he just smirked and said, "Don't bother. I don't like women, if you know what I mean."

Just like the SOM hierarchy to send a h.o.m.os.e.xual as their emissary and close that door for her. But there were many ways to a man's heart. s.e.x was one. Power and money were others. Rolles wanted both, and she was his ticket to a seat at the SOM board table.

She told him her plan, or what she wanted him to know of it, and what she had to offer. Something SOM wanted very much, and they were almost blind in their desire to get it.

There was a knock on the door and a young, balding, and paunchy man in a cheap suit entered. She'd been expecting him, knew who he was and even what he looked like; he was the key to her plan.

"Who are you? Where is my lawyer?" Malovo hissed.

"I'm Bruce Knight, your attorney," the young man responded. "I was retained as an independent counsel by the law firm that was hired to represent you, which is, by the way, my former firm. I'm in ... I'm in my own practice now."

Malovo narrowed her eyes. "I see," she said. "The evil terrorist is too hot to handle for those fat old men. Pressure from Washington? So they find some flunky to provide some window dressing and forget about her."

Knight's face flushed. "I will say that the firm retained by your ... benefactors does want to fly, as I was told, under the radar with you regarding the state and New York County charges against you. I mean, true or not, allegations of blowing up school buses, murdering children and police officers, attacking the New York Stock Exchange, and killing a prosecution witness in a Manhattan courtroom make you a public relations nightmare," he said tightly. "But I'm no flunky. I've won my share of tough cases, and I don't back down from anyone, including the government. However, if you're not happy with my representation, you are free to find someone else. I'll inform the firm."

Malovo gave him an appraising look, as if she might have misjudged him. That took some b.a.l.l.s, as it would mean giving back the fifty-thousand-dollar retainer, and if my sources are right he's already spent a good part of it. "At least you have some fire in you. That's good."

Suddenly her head dropped and her shoulders sagged. A small sigh escaped her lips.

"Are you okay?" Knight asked.

Malovo shook her head without looking up. "How can I be?" she moaned. "All of my life, I have been used by evil men toward their own ends. KGB. Russian mob. Terrorists and power brokers. I have been raped and abused, made to fear for my life." She sighed. "I was just a child; first they told me it was for my country, then for my life and vicious men like Andrew Kane."

"Andrew Kane?" Knight asked. "The guy who was running for mayor ... then he got mixed up in some criminal plot, didn't he?"

"Yes, that's him," Malovo said. She sighed again. "I will not lie to you. I partic.i.p.ated in many of these deeds, though the government has greatly exaggerated my role, but I have been searching my soul and I want to make up for these things if I can."

"And go into the witness protection program," Knight said. "I was told of your deal with the feds."

"Yes, of course," she replied with a shrug. "Who wants to live their life in prison?"

"I understand."

Malovo leaned across the table, the shadow between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s drawing Knight's eye as she patted him on the hand. "Thank you, Bruce. I am very glad you understand." She leaned back in her seat. Enough of a show for now. "Yes, I think I'll keep you."

An hour later, Knight finished droning on and on about the charges Karp had personally indicted her for in New York County, including multiple counts of murder, for which Karp had already filed the paperwork necessary to pursue the death penalty. As with a life in suburbia, she had no intention of ever facing those charges. She had an entirely different purpose for Bruce Knight, who finished his presentation and left.

The door to the room on the other side of the one-way gla.s.s opened and Michael Rolles entered. "I still don't understand what this guy has to do with your mission," he said.

"As I've told you, you will learn that when you need to," she responded with a glare. "You have been told to cooperate with anything I need. ... And I am not about to give away the ace up my bra; then you will have no need of my services, and I'm sure that would put me in a very dangerous position."

"Up your sleeve."

"What?"

"The expression is 'up your sleeve' 'the ace up your sleeve,'" Rolles said, correcting her.

Malovo smiled. "And how would you know where I keep my ace?" she said. "You don't like women, remember?"

Rolles's eyes narrowed in anger. "Just remember who you work for," he warned her.

"How could I ever forget?" Malovo replied. She smiled, thinking about her old mentor dying in the snow. "I never forget."

12.

"HE'LL SEE YOU NOW," BROTHER FRANK ANNOUNCED AS HE entered the chapel where David Ellis sat looking at the plain gold cross behind the lectern, wondering what Jesus would say about the Reverend Westlund and his End of Days Reformation Church of Jesus Christ Resurrected. David stood and started to walk past the bodyguard but was stopped by the other man's hand on his shoulder.

"I'll need to pat you down," Frank Bernsen said. He was smiling but his eyes were anything but friendly.

"Why?" David asked sarcastically. "Surely no one would want to shoot the Reverend Westlund, or whatever his name is today."

Bernsen c.o.c.ked his head and the smile disappeared. "There have been some threats. Nutcases who resent Brother John speaking out for you and your wife. Don't take it personally; everybody gets the same treatment."

"I do take it personally," David retorted, but he held his arms out to his sides and allowed himself to be frisked.

"Go ahead," Bernsen said when he'd finished. "You know the way."

Unfortunately, he's right, David thought as he walked to the elevator that would take him up to Westlund's third-floor loft. He and Nonie had been in the building many times since moving to New York City; now he regretted it.

Several months after meeting Westlund, David had been offered a good job with his former company. He'd been thrilled, except that it meant relocating to Manhattan. It wasn't that he minded the move so much-in fact, he would have been happy to leave Memphis and the reverend behind-but he knew that Nonie was going to balk at going.

And he was right. She adamantly refused and said she would stay behind "until Micah is completely cured." But he knew it wasn't just about Micah, who seemed to be improving by the week. She'd thrown herself into her renewed faith and her work for the church-visiting the sick with Westlund or sometimes with other mothers, like Sarah, who had seriously ill children who'd been "cured by G.o.d"; attending prayer meetings; and even soliciting "donations" on the street. She was so completely in thrall to Westlund that the first nagging doubts about her marital faithfulness entered his mind. He'd seen the way Westlund looked at his wife, tracing her body with his eyes, though he seemed to have an innate sense of when to pretend that he was merely thinking when he felt David watching him. He wondered if Nonie looked at the preacher in the same way when David wasn't around.

Yet he loved his wife and knew that if push came to shove, he'd stay in Memphis. But then he'd received support from where he least expected it. After hearing of the job offer, Westlund had told Nonie that it was her duty as a Christian wife to support her husband and go with him to New York. She reluctantly agreed, though her mood turned sour and she was often tearful, until the evening a week later when she came home from a prayer meeting and happily announced that the preacher had decided to relocate to New York City, too.

As she explained it, Westlund had "prayed on it" and decided that he could reach more sinners in the big city than he could in Memphis. "And he's become so attached to us that he doesn't want to lose contact," she said, beaming.

"Praise the Lord," he replied less than enthusiastically, but she didn't notice.

Shortly before they were due to leave, Westlund sat them down in their living room to "ask a favor." He said he'd been receiving death threats-he wasn't sure of the source but suspected either members of "apostate" churches "or maybe the medical community," which he said saw him "as a threat to their ill-gotten gains." So, he said, he was leaving not just Memphis, but his name and the name of his church behind.

"I fear that if they can find me, they will carry out their evil agendas," he lamented. "It came to me in a dream that I shall now be known as the Reverend C. G. Westlund of the End of Days Reformation Church of Jesus Christ Resurrected. I trust that you, my dearest friends, will understand my reasons and guard them."

The Ellises had moved and Westlund followed a couple of weeks later, staying with the young family in the tiny apartment on West 88th Street until he could find accommodations, which turned out to be the loft on Avenue A and 6th Street in the East Village. The building was owned by a widow named Kathryn Boole, whom Nonie had befriended one day in Union Square Park. Boole was feeding the pigeons and kept wiping at her eyes until Nonie realized the woman was crying. A gentle soul, Nonie walked over to a nearby coffeeshop and bought two cups-one for herself and one for Boole.

Grateful for the act of kindness, Boole told Nonie that she'd recently lost her husband of twenty years to an illness and that she saw little point in going on herself. Nonie shared her story and the "miracle" of Micah's recovery, which had continued unabated when they moved to New York.

Nonie introduced Boole to Westlund, who shook his head and lamented that they had not met when her husband was still alive "so that he might have been healed through the power of prayer." Boole quickly fell under his spell and was soon convinced that the physicians who attended her husband had all but killed him. Before too long, she was even more obsessed with Westlund than even Nonie and seemed to go beyond just reliance on his spiritual guidance. He noticed that she cleaned up, started wearing makeup, and dyed her hair a sort of burnt orange.

As it turned out, Boole's husband had been a moderately wealthy businessman who dabbled in Manhattan real estate, including the building on Avenue A, an old warehouse that had been converted into a furniture store on the bottom level; the next floor was office s.p.a.ce, and the top floor was reserved for a large, three-bedroom loft. While Boole was obviously taken with the preacher, it still came as a surprise when Westlund announced at the beginning of a prayer meeting that the church would be relocating to the Avenue A building. "Our dear Sister Kathryn has been moved by the Lord to offer the building to house our ministry as well as our bodies," he proclaimed with tears rolling down his ruddy cheeks.

As Westlund went on to effusively praise Boole, David glanced over at the woman. She was blushing wildly at each word of praise. But there was something else. A hunger in her eyes for the preacher. The woman never missed a prayer meeting or a chance to "work the streets" with Westlund.

When Micah became sick again, she'd been the loudest and most invested of those praying. And after his death, she was always at the forefront of the protests against the district attorney. David didn't like the woman, and yet he felt responsible for her falling into Westlund's hands because of his wife. It was Nonie who had filled a grieving widow's broken heart with the "miracle" of Micah's recovery. But they had both vouched for the preacher's character; at the time, even David had been won over by his son's apparent health and wife's happiness.

We opened the door and let the serpent into Kathryn's soul, he thought as he rode the elevator up.

David arrived on the third floor and knocked on the door of the loft. There was an electronic buzz and metallic clicking followed by Westlund's deep voice from within. "Come in, and may the Lord bless you."

Entering the loft, David was again struck by the opulence of the decor. He was no furnishings expert but he knew expensive when he saw it. He had often wondered if the place was already furnished when Westlund moved in or whether the preacher was living high on the hog off of Boole and donations. And life insurance policies taken out on dying children, he reminded himself angrily.

A policy clearly signed by your wife, who allowed Westlund to forge your signature, said a mean little voice, interrupting his thoughts.

Yes, signed by my wife and Westlund ... how do I live with that?

Westlund was rising from a leather chair, a wolfish smile plastered on his face and his arms outstretched as if to embrace David. "Welcome, brother," the preacher said warmly. "This is an unexpected surprise."

David stopped with enough distance between them to avoid being hugged. "Where's my wife?" he demanded.

Westlund's smile remained on his face but now it more closely resembled a smirk. "She's not here, brother," he said calmly. "Did you expect to find her? I don't believe we had an appointment. Have you checked for her at home?"

"She's not home," David spat. He looked behind Westlund toward the bedroom door, which he saw was partly ajar, and tried to move toward it.

Westlund stepped into his path. "I'm sorry, Brother David, but I can't allow this intrusion into my privacy."

David attempted to go around the bigger man but was grabbed by the arm. "Nonie!" he yelled. "Nonie, come out!" He tore his arm out of Westlund's grasp.

"What's this about?" Westlund demanded.

"What is it about?" David said, stepping back, his lip curling into a sneer. "It's about you using people's pain and suffering to worm your way into their lives. It's about destroying people's faith. And it's about this, you son of a b.i.t.c.h." He pulled the crumpled letter from the insurance company from his jacket pocket and waved it in Westlund's face.

Westlund looked at the letter, his face growing dark. He was well aware that without medical attention, the children he prayed over would probably die, but that was part of the plan.

When talking to parents of seriously ill children like the Ellises, he always emphasized that only G.o.d decided who lived, who died, and when-"Not physicians, who play at G.o.d; not even humble servants of the Lord such as myself," he told them. "However, we believe that if we place our complete and undivided faith in G.o.d, we can pray for Him to spare the lives of our loved ones."

To cover his bases, he cautioned the parents that no amount of praying would save their children. "G.o.d teaches through suffering as well," he warned them, "and if He calls your sweet angel home, in spite of our best efforts, we must accept His will. But you may still be comforted to know that your expression of faith will a.s.sure your child a place at Jesus' table, where you'll see him again someday."

Then, if and when the moment was right, he would mention that in the "unfathomable" event of their child's death, some earthly good could come from their suffering. He hated to ask, he'd say, but if he was going to reach his full potential as a "warrior for the faith" it would take money, and one way to support his work would be for the family to take out a life insurance policy naming the church and himself as the beneficiaries.

It was a carefully constructed grift. He knew that the parents would have to submit to a medical examination, as well as a review of their medical records, but as predominantly young, healthy couples, most would pa.s.s easily. However, he was also aware that insurance companies rarely checked on the children attached to their parents' policies as "riders." He did emphasize that when the insurance underwriters contacted them regarding their child's prior medical history they should deny any problems.

"It's not a lie, it's a question of faith," he would explain. "We believe that the cause and cure of any illness is a matter between G.o.d and the patient. As true believers we do not accept the word of physicians; to do so would be to place the faith we owe to the Lord in the hands of men who play at being G.o.d. Therefore we reject their test results and diagnoses as little more than witchcraft. The truth is that G.o.d decides which of their patients live or die."

When some parents questioned whether insurance companies might find their children's medical records at the Children's Hospital, where they were treated, Westlund a.s.sured them that G.o.d would take care of the problem as long as they believed.

As an experienced con man, he knew that no grift was perfect; there was always a chance for a mistake. But he thought that as much as possible he had all the angles covered. Even if the parents didn't have the money to pay the premiums, he paid for them "from donations." He'd suggest different insurance companies to avoid suspicion and kept the benefits low-typically $250,000-so that the companies would be inclined to write it off rather than investigate and attempt to get the money back, even if they did suspect larceny.

Of course, it meant Westlund turning a blind eye to a child experiencing a slow, usually painful death with nothing more to alleviate their suffering-because "the church" did not believe in painkillers-than a room full of fellow believers, some of them hired for the part, praying like n.o.body's business.

It's not like I gave them cancer, Westlund thought with a shrug on the rare occasion he reflected on what he was doing. If these rubes believe that G.o.d can save their brats, then they can blame G.o.d for letting them die. The kids are good as dead anyway, I'm just taking advantage of the inevitable. In fact, I provide a service by offering a few months of hope that little Johnny will live to be a high school graduate, and when he doesn't, that they'll all meet "on the other side." h.e.l.l, they should pay me for that alone.

A couple of times, the kid did survive due to either a great response to the first chemo treatment, or what the doctors labeled "spontaneous remission." Such events were always a disappointment in that there would be no insurance payoff, but he learned to use even that to his advantage. He'd take credit for the "miracle" and the grateful parents, who would be convinced that his intercession with G.o.d was responsible for their child's survival, would happily donate significant amounts to his ministry. And it was good advertising, with the happy parents unwittingly helping him con other parents with their home visits and testimonials.

Westlund had to be careful not to press too hard. He didn't need any suddenly suspicious parents going to the cops or telling the doctors at the hospital about him. As with the Ellises, one parent or the other was often more skeptical about his motives; sometimes both scowled when he got around to donations to the ministry and the life insurance policy. If they balked, he immediately backed off and waited for them to come back to him, often having decided to go along with the plan because they felt guilty about not supporting him. But as his ability to pick the right marks increased over time, he had less to worry about.

The South in general had been a lucrative place to do business with the prevalence of Pentecostal and other churches that believed in faith healing. But all good things must come to an end, and an experienced con man like Westlund knew that the longer he worked an area, the greater the chance that he'd slip up and get caught. And it had finally happened in Memphis.

Nonie Ellis wasn't the first mother of a critically ill child he'd talked into taking out a life insurance policy without her husband's knowledge and with Westlund forging the signature. In the other case, the woman's husband had balked and she'd come to him with tears in her eyes and desperation in her voice. One of the side benefits of his profession was that the women were often young and some, like this woman and Nonie, quite pretty. They were also vulnerable to a holy man full of a.s.surances that all would be okay, which their husbands could not compete with. He'd give them a shoulder to cry on, and often as not he'd get them into bed, explaining that it was all part of G.o.d's compa.s.sion for them in their hour of need.

In the previous case, the woman had fallen in love, as they often did when he turned on the charm, but he was surprised when she announced that she'd decided to leave her husband to become her minister's wife. Doctor of Divinity John LaFontaine had scrambled to "admit" that he was in the process of divorcing his wife-"a harlot" who had cheated on him repeatedly-and until the paperwork was final, they'd have to remain "secret lovers in Christ."

The woman had been satisfied to wait, but now her husband had refused to take out an insurance policy and sign over the benefits to Westlund. She was worried that Westlund would leave her and stop praying over her terminally ill daughter because of her husband's "selfishness." Westlund told her that she didn't have to worry-that he loved her and her child and wouldn't leave either of them. But his visits to the home became noticeably less frequent and his lovemaking rushed and lacking his old pa.s.sion. Then one day, she'd come to him with "an idea to help Jesus"-she'd take out the insurance policy and Brother Frank could play her husband when the insurance medical examiner came by the house.