As a matter of fact, the pope had chosen that moment to enter the church and was upstairs almost directly above me when I chose which wire to cut. Informed of the situation, the pontiff had insisted on going to the church over the strongest possible objections of his aides and the security people. God, he said, called him there.
So maybe it wasn’t luck at all that I picked the right wire. Mass began even as the security people continued hauling the bomb materials away. The faithful flooded into the square and then the church, overwhelming the security forces. Miraculously, no one was hurt. Afterward, people spoke of the mass as a once-in-a-lifetime and even once-in-a-century event. The media called it the most wondrous service since the basilica had been opened.
I missed it myself. I’d been spending so much time in church lately I figured God wouldn’t mind if I took the day off.
They found five charred bodies in the wrecked helicopter. One of them is believed to be Backass’s—but since they didn’t have dental or DNA records for him, no one is one hundred percent sure. I like to think of him as a crispy critter right now, though knowing Backass, this may be another one of his convoluted plots. In any event, I haven’t gotten any faxes signed “Saladin” since the helicopter went down.
As we’d figured out earlier, BetaGo was a legitimate company that had been infiltrated by Backass and his associates. He had already spent considerable time cleaning up his tracks before I was “hired,” but investigators believe they have a few more promising leads on terrorist groups and fronts that they hadn’t know about. The terror network in Thailand was broken up following the raids and the attack on the airport and airplane; how long before a new one forms is anyone’s guess.
My guess is thirty seconds.
As for the second coming of the blackshirts—for the moment, it remained too far-fetched for me to put much stock in. The Grand European Conspiracy—“Power Broker” and the continuing machinations of P2—well, I won’t say I didn’t believe them exactly, but after my fun and games in the pope’s backyard I wasn’t in much of a mood to go probing around in search of more problems in the shadows. Bishop Marcinkus, the plot to repurify Europe—it seemed too far-fetched to be anything but the paranoid ramblings of an ex-CIA informer down on his luck. The fact that Backass had endorsed the story didn’t exactly lend it any credibility.
I later found out that P2 wasn’t a figment of Backass’s imagination, nor was it a diversion. But I’m not telling that story right now. Maybe I never will…
My face may have looked like shit, but the cuts that had caused all the blood to pour out weren’t life-threatening. I have so many scars on my body already that three or four more weren’t even noticeable. I’d broken one of my ribs somewhere—maybe even back in Thailand—and twisted the hell out of my right knee, but none of my injuries were serious enough to require more than the attention of Dr. Bombay.
The Vatican kindly offered one of its aircraft to take me and the rest of my people home. I accepted, and just to show my gratitude, replaced the gear we’d removed from the airplanes.
Eighteen and a half hours after defusing the bomb in the dank catacombs beneath St. Peter’s, I arrived back at Rogue Manor. I headed straight to bed. Thirty-six hours later, I woke to find Karen hovering over me. Either I was already in heaven or I ought to send my well-earned pass to the pearly gates back to St. Peter and earn it again some other time.
Karen had come to take personal charge of the next stage of my convalescence. Which duly began with a light kiss and a prescription that even a Rogue blushes to mention….
Index
Afghanistan
and Egyptian connection
and Goatfuck
Red Cell activities in
and Saladin
Air Force, U.S.
promotion in
at Sigonella
See also specific person
airplane hijacking
al-Hazmi, Ali
al-Jazeera (Arabic media)
Alberti, Gerlando
Alberti, Junior
Alexander, Tiffany
Alexandria, Egypt, Red Cell activities in
auto mall. See Naples, Italy: car thieves operation in
Azziz abu Yasin, Mahmoud
Backass (aka Baucus Dosdière)
attempt to get evidence against
family background of
as head of Vatican security
as host of Marcinko reception
Marcinko’s showdown with
and NATO terrorist attack
and neofascism
orders Marcinko out of St. Peter’s
résumé of
and St. Peter’s terrorist attack
See also Saladin
Bakr, Abu
Barrett, Danny
in Afghanistan
at German conference
and Goatfuck
Marcinko’s relationship with
in Pakistan
professional background of
role in Red Cell of
and Rome operation
and Saladin
BetaGo
background information about
and Capon’s death
and China
and Egyptian operation
first contact between Red Cell and
in Japan
overview of
and Saladin
terrorists/smugglers use of
and Thailand
Big Foot
bin Laden, Osama
Biondi, Sanmarco
boat escapade
bomb factory explosion (Egypt)
boot/shoe project
Capon, Jean
car thieves
Marcinko’s reevaluation of role of
and Naples operation
and Sigonella
and stealing of fake bomb
See also Biondi, Sanmarco
carabinieri
castle, Sicilian
China
and BetaGo operation
and gas tanker explosion
and Thai smugglers
CIA (Christians in Action)
and Air America
and castle/boat operation
in Egypt
image of
and neofascists
and Saladin
and Sigonella
in Thailand
computers
of Bakr
of Catholic Church
and Rome operation
and rug warehouse
of Si
Crapinpants, Colonel
Dahlgren, Trace
Apache heritage of
and Capon’s death
capture of
and castle operation
and German conference
as Jeet Kun Do expert
and Mafia
and Marcinko’s Egypt trip
and Naples operation
and plane hijacking
and Rome operation
in Sicily
and stealing of fake bomb
in Thailand
thoughts about Saladin of
as trainer
visions of
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
Delano, Francis. See Frankie
Delta Force
di Giovanni, Carlo
Digos
Egypt
Afghanistani connections to
Backass in
Marcinko’s capture and rescue in
Marcinko’s early operations in
Marcinko’s trip to
and Pus Face Marcinko relationship
Saladin would-be in
Saladin’s connection to
secret service in
tracking of radar unit to
U.S. relations with
See also submarine, Egyptian
Fairfield, Karen
as Homeland Security head
Marcinko’s relationship with
in Naples
in Rome
&nb
sp; and Saladin
in Sicily
Falcone, Paul Guido. See Shunt
FBI
five-mile run
Frankie (aka Francis Delano) and capture of Sigonella terrorists
and castle operation
and Mafia
and Naples car thieves operation
and planning of Sigonella operations
and Rome operation
as State Department employee
and stealing of fake bomb
Fuki, Yosiro
gas tanker explosion
Germany, Red Cell conference in
Gill, General. See Pus Face
Goatfuck, Ali
Grape
Grundle, Nicky
Homeland Security
See also specific person
Italy
gun smuggling in
and Italian hostages in Iraq
Marcinko’s views about
as pawn of U.S.
police/military in
and Thai smugglers
See also carabinieri; St. Peter’s/Vatican
Jamal, Mouhadmam
Japan
and BetaGo
Marcinko’s trip to
Marcinko’s views about
and plane hijacking
and Thai smugglers
Kohut, General
Las Vegas, Nevada, and Saladin
Law Enforcement Technologies
Libyans
Lo Po
Mafia
code of silence of
Marcinko’s reevaluation of role of
and Saladin
and Sigonella
See also car thieves; specific person
Mako, Sean
Mangia, Maria
Marcinko, Demo Dick
Catholic background of
mysterious illness of
professional background of
reward for killing of
Rome arrest of
as Saladin target
Si captures
See also specific person or topic
media
mujahideen
Naples, Italy
car thieves operation in
Marcinko’s early missions in
NATO
Marcinko speech to
and plane hijackings
Rome meeting of
submarine training exercise by
terrorist attack at meeting of
Navy, Egyptian
See also submarine, Egyptian
Navy, Italian
Navy, U.S.
neofascism
See also
NSA (No Such Agency)
nuclear plant, Japanese
Okinaga, Toshiro “Tosho”
P2 (Parco dei Principi)
Pakistan
Phiung, Bi Son
Phiung, Si Bi
Piccolo, Luigi. See Shortstuff
Power Brokers. See
Pus Face (aka General Gill)
and capture of terrorists
and Egypt-U.S. relations
and Mafia-Sigonella connection
Marcinko’s relationship with
and overview of Sigonella problem
and planning of Sigonella operations
professional background of
and Saladin
and stealing of fake bomb
and Vatican bomb search
and Vatican-U.S. relations
racial profiling
Red Cell International
attempts to kill members of
BetaGo contract for
billing of
computers at
decision making at
early operations of
formation of
German conference for
institutional memory at
quality of personnel with
rewards for killing members of
Rogue Manor as headquarters of
training recruits for
Rogue Manor
computers at
Marcinko’s return to
as Red Cell headquarters
Rome, Italy
guns used in terrorist activities in
Marcinko decides to return to
Marcinko’s flight to
NATO meeting in
sightseeing in
See also St. Peter’s/Vatican
rug warehouse (Egypt)
St. Peter’s/Vatican (Rome, Italy)
bomb search at
computers at
description of
disarming of bomb in
Easter service at
hostages at
Marcinko’s jump to
and Saladin
sightseeing in
terrorist attack on
U.S. relations with
weapons in
Saladin
Backass as
and computer analysis
death of
escape of
faxes from
financial activities of
gathering of information about
goals/aspirations of
and Mafia
Marcinko’s showdown with
Marcinko’s views about
motivations of
predictions/threats from
profile of
Shakespeare’s knowledge about
as source of inspiration
and stealing of Sigonella fake bomb
Trace compared with
See also specific operation
SEALs
September
Shakespeare (MI6 agent)
Shit-in-Ass
Shortstuff (aka Luigi Piccolo)
Shunt (aka Paul Guido Falcone) and BetaGo
as computer expert
and Egyptian operation
and Rome operation
and Saladin
and Si’s computer
Sicily. See Sigonella
Sigonella (Sicily)
background about
and capture of terrorists
early Red Cell operations at
and Mafia
Marcinko first hears of problems at
Marcinko’s initial investigation of problems at
mastermind of terrorist operations against
nuclear weapons at
planning of operations at
and Saladin
stealing of fake bomb from
See also car thieves; castle
Sicilian
Spaghetti Sam
Squeakynuts, Major
submarine, Egyptian
technology
See also computers
terrorism
funding for
as growth industry
as low-budget operation
offer of reward for killing Red Cell members by
and retribution
and smugglers
Thailand
attack at airport in
and BetaGo
Marcinko as prisoner in
Red Cell activities in
Saladin connection to
terrorists in
tigers
Tremblay, Al “Doc”
in Afghanistan
in Egypt
at German conference
and Goatfuck
as gun expert
personality of
professional background of
and rewards for killing Red Cell members
and Rome operation
and St. Peter’s attack
and Saladin
Turbanhead
Vietnam
White, Gordon A.
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