Name of the Devil (37 page)

Authors: Andrew Mayne

I
'M LYING IN
bed staring at the ceiling of my hotel room in Quantico. I still can't bring myself to go back to my apartment. My biggest fear isn't for my own safety, it's for that of everyone in my building. At least here in the hotel, I'm surrounded by visiting agents that have all taken the same pledge to protect life as I have.

I toyed with the idea of inviting the field agent from Wyoming I met in the bar back up to my room. He was cute, polite and capable of carrying on a conversation without making any kind of innuendo or reminding me that I was an attractive woman.

As weird of a place as I am in, it just didn't feel right. I've never been that type of girl. In the end we exchanged phone numbers and I decided to stick to old habits, rather than pick up new ones under stress.

I didn't pursue the agent for the same reason I never took up the pediatrician's offer of a date. Like Max, they all seem like nice men, the kind of guys you eat with at some restaurant you found on Yelp and maybe, if things work out, one day end up discussing pet names while strolling through Ikea.

I can't image describing to them the decapitated bodies in Tixato, or what went through my mind when I thought the Warlock or his people were going to kill meâor when I think at night about what he still might try to do to me. These are dark things. Sharing them with
men like that, nice men, that doesn't unburden me, it weighs down on other people's souls. I'm afraid they won't understand, or worse, they'll see me as an object of pity.

Normally I'd put my nose in a case file. But Breyer has me in a holding pattern doing basic case cleanup, writing down all the reports, cataloging evidence. I wasn't sure what the punishment would be for going around him. Right now it seems to be oblivion. I hope this is it, and not just a time-out while he thinks of something more severe. I could find myself railroaded out of the FBI if he really wanted, that or relegated to FBI liaison in the godforsaken hellhole of a foreign country's secret rendition center.

Maybe this anxiety is his real punishment. He's letting me know how much power he has.

Damn him and his ego.

I thumb through the numbers on my phone and dial one.

Not just any number.

His number.

I've been thinking about him a lot. I feel like I'm on the edge of a knife. I've tried to do what's right and I find myself ostracized while my target is free.

I never knew being the good girl was going to be this .Â .Â . this painful.

Nobody picks up.

Maybe that's for the better.

But as soon as I set my phone down, it rings.

“Can't sleep?” asks Damian.

“No.”

“You might find it a little easier now.”

“Why?”

“She's dead.”

“What?” I bolt upright.

“There was a fire at the consulate. Marta died an hour ago. They're waiting for confirmation. But it's her.”

She's dead? That's it? I'm relieved and confused.

I get an uneasy feeling. “Damian?”

He knows what I'm thinking. “No. It wasn't me. Trust me. Seriously.”

“What happened?”

“I'm sure your colleagues will have some more details in a few hours. I'm hearing on secure channels that people on the ground saw the fire spread from her room. She tried to climb out a window but it was barricaded.”

“Who did it?” I can't imagine a rival gang risking the FBI perimeter to do this.

“Who do you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“You don't try to kill the pope and get away with it.”

“You can't be serious?” I try to process all of this.

“What? The Church has never ordered anyone killed? Have you missed the last two thousand years? It may not have been the Vatican, but someone with close ties. These people have even killed popes that were a threat to the order of things.”

Oberst immediately comes to mind. Would I put this past him? No. But the Catholic Church? “So this was revenge?”

“Maybe. Maybe they just don't want her taking a second shot.”

“Damn .Â .Â .”

“There's another reason too .Â .Â .”

“What?”

“Think about it, Jessica; who did they just kill tonight?”

“Marta. What do you mean?”

“Why did all this start?”

I think back to the root of this case. “Because of Marty. Because they killed her brother. Because she blamed him.”

“Because she saw him stand by as they killed her brother. In her hiding space, she watched the pope help kill her brother. It
may have been an accident. It may not have even been him. But she believed it was.”

“What are you trying to say?” I sense where this is going, but I want Damian to say it.

“I heard a whisper she may have been talking to an attorney about a deal,” he explains.

“Her? A deal?” Is that her final option? Threaten to take down the papacy?

“She's got one hell of a bargaining chip with what she knows.”

“I didn't hear anything about this.” To be honest, I'm not surprised anymore by Damian's contacts. He's brilliant and doesn't have to play by the same rules I do .Â .Â . or try to at least.

“This is one of those lawyers you go to when you're a dictator who gets overthrown. High level. Just a rumor. Now it's nothing.

“My point is, Jessica, other than the pope, there was only one witness left to what happened that night. And now she's dead. As rich and powerful as she was, someone with a longer reach got to her.”

Marta's death sinks into me. Despite my hatred of her, I wanted to see her brother get his justice for what was done to him. That meant seeing the pope investigated. I stood little chance of getting Breyer to let me look into that. With Marta dead, the only other witness to that night, there's zero chance in hell. “And a potentially guilty man goes unpunished.”

“I think the fact that they went to great lengths to have Marta killed shows you how guilty he was. Speaking of which, have you heard from your mysterious friend at the Vatican?”

I don't ask how he knows about Oberst. “No.”

“Ever wonder what he was doing in Hawkton that night?”

I had, and couldn't come up with anything that made sense.

“He knew what the pope feared. He wasn't there to see where Marty died. He was there to see if this was where the pope's biggest nemesis was born.”

“You think he knew all along who was behind the Hawkton killings and Groom's murder?”

“It's the rational explanation.”

“Nothing about this is rational.”

“Finally, you're seeing things from my point of view.”

Maybe. “Damian .Â .Â .”

“Yes?”

“Where are you?”

“Wherever you want me to be.”

“I'll leave the door unlocked.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

S
PECIAL THANKS TO
my father, a federal agent, whose cases and incredible experiences inspired me and whose unwavering support encouraged me. Thanks to my brother, an FBI agent, for providing me with helpful information and forgiveness for the dramatic license I took. My literary agents Erica Silverman and Robert Gottlieb. My editor Hannah Wood, for her dedication to this book. Justin Robert Young, for his essential help on every stage of this book. Ken Montgomery, Mary Jaras, Brian Brushwood, Crow Garret, the Weird Things podcast listeners, Diamond Club <>, and the Mayniacs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ANDREW MAYNE
is
the star of A&E's magic reality show
Don't Trust Andrew Mayne
, and has worked with David Copperfield, Penn & Teller, and David Blaine. He lives in Los Angeles. He can be found on Twitter and Instagram via: @AndrewMayne.

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ALSO BY ANDREW MAYNE

ANGEL KILLER

CREDITS

COVER DESIGN BY JARROD TAYLOR

COVER PHOTOGRAPH Â© HAYDEN VERRY / ARCANGEL IMAGES

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COPYRIGHT

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

NAME OF THE DEVIL.
Copyright Â© 2015 by Andrew Mayne. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mayne, Andrew, 1973-

Name of the Devil : a Jessica Blackwood novel / Andrew Mayne. â First edition.

pages ; cm

ISBN 978-0-06-234889-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)

EPub Edition July 2015 ISBN 9780062348906

I. Title.

PS3613.A962N36 2015

813'.6âdc23

2015004791

15 16 17 18 19Â Â
OV
/
RRD
Â Â 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1