A few days later...

A few days later Kate called me back into her office. "Please do have a seat," she gestured and smiled. "I am very glad you did refuse to go undercover on the Batista case. We have a bigger fish to fry, and I know you won't say no to this one." She handed me a file that made my eyes bulge out in surprise. "I know you're very familiar with the gentleman in the file. He did, after all, have a lot to do with your father's **** and your mother's disabilities. Payback can be a very rewarding experience, {First Name}. So, what do you say?"

I was looking right at the face of the quintessential devil himself. It was none other than Kazim bin Saladin, a known terrorist and financier of terrorist groups throughout the world. It was ten years ago, almost to the day, that my father, then an ambassador to the tiny oil rich country of Dornokistan was senselessly murdered in an attack on the US Embassy by bin Saladin's terror group al Mazada. My mother had been visiting with him that day. While he lost his life, trying to shield her, she was crippled and disfigured for life. I had sworn upon my father's grave that I would one day bring bin Saladin to justice.

I was a teenager back then. I had spent the entire day with Dornokistan's royal Princess, Fatima al Durah. I was with her when the news came. It was she who held me close as I cried. It was she who vowed ****. It was she who calmed and soothed me, and ultimately became my first lover.

I looked up at Kate after breaking through my reverie. I knew she could see the fire in my eyes. "What is it I must do to bring him to justice?"