A Prayer for the Devil (31 page)

“How many men were there? One?” He paused. “Two?”

She nodded.

“Did you see their faces?”

She shook her head no.

Painting the full picture, Luke said, “The two men held Blade down, rolled up his sleeve, and put a needle in his arm.”

A tear fell from her eye as she nodded yes.

“Did they see you?”

She shook her head no, and she began to cry harder.

With his heart breaking, Luke walked close and hugged her. She didn’t return his embrace but stood with her arms at her side.

Exiting the building, Luke asked Star, “Did you ride that bicycle all the way here?”

Again, she nodded affirmatively.

Realizing that Star had traveled several miles, Luke asked, “Can I give you a ride home?”

She shook her head no. Before leaving, Star said very softly, “Can you wait here for a minute?”

“Of course.”

She walked toward the back of the building and returned carrying a small puppy. As she reached Luke, John and Vincent walked over to see what was happening.

“After Blade got the money, he bought the dog. He always wanted one but knew that he couldn’t afford to feed it. Can you bring him to the pound? I can’t take care of him.”

Abruptly, she handed the dog to Luke and got on the bicycle. As she rode away, Luke raised his voice and said, “Star, please call me if you need anything.”

She didn’t respond.

VINCENT TOOK THE PUPPY
from Luke and placed him in the back of the Jeep. Luke asked John to meet him at the local Verizon store so everyone could get their own phones. The dog, who looked like a baby German shepherd, whined while lying on the backseat. Trying to comfort him, Luke reached back and rubbed his belly. Before they had reached the store, the puppy was sleeping on Luke’s lap in the front.

Vincent parked and rushed around to the passenger door to help Luke get out. Picking up the sleeping puppy, he held him in his arms as they entered the store. When a pretty girl rushed out from behind the counter to pet the snoozing pooch, Vincent looked at Luke and said, “Maybe I should keep him.” They both laughed.

John was already inside, checking out the phones with a salesperson. When Luke approached, he heard John asking about the least expensive phone and plan that he could purchase. “John, pick any phone you want. I’m going to add you to my plan; it’s a requirement of your new job.” John smiled, but not wanting to waste money, he continued questioning the clerk.

Once John and Vincent had selected their phones, Luke asked the clerk to add them to his plan. Vincent protested, but Luke insisted. “It’s really inexpensive to add a phone when you already have an account.” When Luke requested that another phone be added, John asked, “Who’s that for?”

Luke looked at him and replied, “Star. Tomorrow after we pick up Blade’s ashes, we’re going to try to find her.”

John agreed to follow them to the boat so that Luke could tell him all that he had learned while he was away. When they settled down on the yacht, Luke and Vincent explained everything to John. He was amazed at their story, and all three of them were convinced that Blade had been telling the truth.

“So what do we do now?” asked John.

“We wait to hear from Arnold,” answered Luke.

They ordered pizza, played cards, and watched television on the boat for the rest of the afternoon. During one of the card games, they made a bet that whoever won the game could name the pup, who was now sleeping on Luke’s bed. When Vincent won, he announced that the dog’s name would be Justice. Luke and John nodded in agreement.

Growing bored, they decided to take a ride to the local pet store to get a collar and food for Justice. As they pulled into a parking space, Luke said from the backseat, “I’ll stay here with the dog. I really don’t want to be recognized.” While he waited, his phone rang. Answering it, he was elated to hear Arnold’s voice. “Father Luke, can you talk?”

“Yes.”

“I just got a hit on the website.” At that moment, Vincent and John returned and opened the car doors. Luke hushed them and put his phone on speaker. They sat in the Jeep with the engine off, waiting to hear what Arnold had to say.

“He just signed on a few minutes ago.”

“Hi, Arnold, this is Vincent. Which site did he access?”

“The porn site.”

Vincent cursed and said, “I knew it!”

“Where is he?” Luke asked.

“Riyadh.”

Luke looked at Vincent and said out loud, “Saudi Arabia.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s close to midnight there.” Thinking quickly, he continued, “Did you get an address?”

“Not yet. That’s the next step in the sign-on process. But I do have a password.”

“What is it?”

“Ismail.”

“That was his father’s name,” Vincent exclaimed.

Arnold explained, “OK, here’s what you need to do. Wait until you are fairly sure that your friend in Saudi Arabia is sleeping. Go to the website for his e-mail hosting service and sign on to his ID using the screen name from the e-mail you showed me and the password I just gave you. But remember, if you read any of his unread e-mail, there’s a chance that he will know. Some e-mail services change the status of an e-mail once it’s been read. If this happens, I’d suggest that you delete the e-mail so he can’t tell. Also, if you log on while he is logged on to the system, some providers send notifications that multiple users are on the same ID. As you already know, I work nights, so call me and let me know how it goes.”

Luke thanked him, and they headed back to Aaron’s house so they could use the computer. They decided to wait until seven that evening to log in, knowing that Riyadh was eight hours ahead. Even if Fatih was a night owl, he would most likely be sleeping by 3:00 a.m. But that meant waiting for hours, so they settled in and tried to watch
TV. Luke found himself looking at his watch every five minutes. The anticipation of finally confirming his worst fears was killing him.

Ten minutes before seven, he decided that they had waited long enough. Signing on, he pulled up the main e-mail screen and typed in Fatih’s user name and password. When a small box appeared at the center of the screen, he knew it wasn’t good news. He read out loud, “Invalid password, try again.” Luke carefully retyped the password again. When he pressed enter, the same message appeared. Vincent cursed. Knowing that if he entered the wrong password too many times the system would lock him out, Luke cleared the screen.

Dejected, he quickly dialed Arnold’s number and told him what happened, concluding, “It’s over. We’ve hit a dead end.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Arnold replied.

LUKE WAS ROUSED FROM
a deep sleep by his ringing cell phone. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 3:16 a.m. He mumbled, “Hello?”

Arnold said quickly, “OK, he just signed on to the website again. Do you have a pen and paper?”

Luke fumbled through the nightstand drawer. “Go ahead.”

“Try this password: infidel66.”

“Why did he create another password?” Luke asked.

“He didn’t. A lot of people automatically type their most-used password when they are prompted to enter one online. Knowing this, I had the application capture all passwords that had been typed. A few minutes ago, your friend in Saudi Arabia typed infidel66 and received a message that it was invalid. Remembering, he immediately entered the old one, Ismail.”

Before ending the call, Luke promised to let Arnold know what happened. He wanted to sign on now, but since it was already late morning in Saudi Arabia, he restrained himself, wanting to ensure that Fatih wasn’t signed on to his e-mail account. As much as he tried, Luke couldn’t sleep. He wanted to figure this out now. Lying in bed,
he had a startling thought. The time zone difference between Boston and Saudi Arabia made it almost noon in Riyadh. Fatih would be on his way to midday prayers. He rushed to wake Vincent.

He peered into Vincent’s room and saw him sitting up in bed with Justice at his side. “What are you doing up?” asked Luke.

“I told you, I’m a very light sleeper. Why? What’s going on?”

Luke excitedly recounted his conversation with Arnold, and they agreed that now was the time to sign on to Fatih’s account.

They sat side by side as Luke entered the password. Before he could press Enter, Vincent asked, “What does infidel mean?”

“It means one without faith,” Luke replied soberly. He pressed Enter, and they held their breath as the screen returned and displayed a list of e-mail messages. Vincent yelled, “Oh my God, I can’t believe it.”

Luke’s heart was pounding as he quickly scanned the list of e-mail. To be cautious, he decided to start with the ones that had already been read. After reading the first twenty, he grew disappointed and saw that this was leading nowhere. Fatih’s e-mail were mundane—notes from friends, comments on the local camel and horse races, and so on. Admittedly, a thirty-year-old man’s social life was different in Riyadh than it was in the United States. There was no nightlife to speak of, alcohol was forbidden, and there was no dating before marriage. The big nightly activity was walking the main streets after prayer services.

After continuing to search for an hour, Luke said, “It doesn’t look like we’re going to find anything here, but I have another idea.”

“What’s that?”

“In the morning, I’ll find out if my friend Jami knows someone in Riyadh who can look up where Fatih is living.”

Not willing to give up, Vincent took control of the keyboard, insisting, “Let’s try a few more.”

Luke watched as Vincent navigated to the “sent” items list. He
paged down and started reading e-mail after e-mail. Luke had closed his eyes and was dozing off in surrender when he heard the typing stop. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see Vincent staring at him. Vincent didn’t say a word but pointed to the screen. Luke scanned the note and didn’t see anything interesting until the bottom, where it said, “Give my regards to Ismail.”

Vincent looked at Luke in disbelief of what he was seeing and said, “That bastard!”

Luke didn’t know what to say. After rereading the e-mail, he reassured Vincent, “Ismail is a very common Arab name; I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions. For all we know, he could have a son named after his dead father.”