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  He called to one of his men, “Nabeel,” and handed him the camera to take pictures of the slaughter.

  The Panther looked at the dead Europeans and said, “So, you came to Yemen for adventure and for knowledge. And you have found both. A great final adventure, and a great knowledge of this land. You have learned that in Yemen death comes.”

  Chapter 2

  If Earth had an anus, it would be located in Yemen.

  And speaking of assholes, my boss, FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Tom Walsh, wanted to see me, John Corey, at 5:15 P.M., and Detective Corey was now five minutes late. But not to worry—my wife, Kate Mayfield, who also works for Walsh, was on time for the meeting and had undoubtedly made excuses for me, like, “John is in a passive-aggressive mood today. He’ll be here when he feels he’s made his statement.”

  Right. Another five minutes. I logged off my computer and looked around the empty cube farm. I work on the twenty-sixth floor of 26 Federal Plaza, which is located in Lower Manhattan in the shadows of the Twin Towers. Well… not anymore. The Towers, I mean. But I’m still here.

  It was Friday—what we call Federal Friday—meaning that by 4:30, my colleagues in the War on Terrorism, mostly FBI agents and NYPD detectives, had left to beat the bridge and tunnel traffic, or they’d gone off on special assignments to the surrounding bars and restaurants. With any luck, I’d be joining them shortly. But first I had to see Tom Walsh, who is in charge of the New York Anti-Terrorist Task Force. And what did Mr. Walsh want to see me about?

  His e-mail had said: John, Kate, my office, 5:15. Private. Subject Yemen.

  Yemen? Typo, maybe. Yemex? A new kind of explosive? Maybe he meant, “Yes men.” Too many yes men in the organization.

  Walsh doesn’t usually state the subject of a private meeting—he likes to surprise you. But when he does state a subject, he wants you to think about it—he wants it to eat at your guts.

  If I thought this out, I could conclude that Tom Walsh wanted to assign Kate and me to the Yemen desk. Do we have a Yemen desk here? Maybe he just wanted us to help him find Yemen on the map.

  Another possibility… no, he was not going to ask us to go to Yemen. No, no. I’d been there for a month to investigate the USS Cole bombing. That’s how I found out it was an anal cavity.

  I stood, put on my jacket, straightened my tie and brushed the chips off my shoulders—a well-balanced detective has a chip on both shoulders—then made my way toward Walsh’s office.

  A brief history of this elite organization. The Anti-Terrorist Task Force was founded in 1980, when the word “terrorist” was not synonymous with Islamic terrorist. The ATTF in those days had its hands full with Irish Republican Army guys, Black Panthers, Puerto Rican separatist groups, and other bad actors who, to paraphrase William Shakespeare, thought that all New York was a stage, and every bad actor wanted to play Broadway.

  So the first federally funded Anti-Terrorist Task Force was formed here in New York, comprised of ten FBI agents and ten NYPD detectives. Now we have a lot more people than that. Also, we’ve added a few CIA officers, plus people from other federal and state law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The actual number is classified, and if someone asks me how many people work here, I say, “About half.”

  The New York Task Force experiment worked well, and prior to September 11, 2001, there were about thirty-five other anti-terrorist task forces across the country. Now, post-9/11, there are over a hundred nationwide. A sign of the times.

  The theory behind these task forces is that if you mix people from various law enforcement and intelligence agencies into a single organization, you will get different skills and mind-sets coming together to form synergy, and that will lead to better results. It sort of works. I mean, my wife is FBI and I’m NYPD and we get along, and communicate pretty well. In fact, everyone here would get along better if they slept with each other.

  The other reason for including the local police in the Federal Task Force is that most FBI agents—my wife included—are from non-urban areas, meaning the suburbs or the boondocks. So in a big city like New York, it’s the local cops who know the territory. I’ve instructed new FBI agents on how to read a subway map and I’ve pinpointed for them the location of every Irish bar on Second and Third avenues.

  In any case, I’m actually a contract agent here, meaning I’m a civilian. Until five years ago I was NYPD, but I’m retired on a medical disability as a result of being shot three times in the line of duty. I’m fine physically (mentally maybe not so fine), but there were other reasons to take the offer to retire. Now, like a lot of ex-cops, I’ve found a new career with the feds who have zillions of anti-terrorist dollars to spend. Do I like this job? I was about to find out.

  I took the elevator up two floors to bossland. Tom Walsh’s door was closed and there was a sign on it. MEETING CANCELLED—DRINKS AT ECCO—I’M BUYING.

  In your dreams, John. I knocked on my head, opened the door, and entered.

  About the Author

  Nelson DeMille is a former U.S. Army lieutenant who served in Vietnam and is the author of sixteen acclaimed novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Lion, The Gate House, Night Fall, and Plum Island. His other New York Times bestsellers include Wild Fire, Up Country, The Lion’s Game, The Gold Coast, The Charm School, Word of Honor, and The General’s Daughter, which was a major motion picture starring John Travolta.

  For more information, visit www.nelsondemille.net.

  Novels by Nelson DeMille

  Available from Grand Central Publishing

  By the Rivers of Babylon

  Cathedral

  The Talbot Odyssey

  Word of Honor

  The Charm School

  The Gold Coast

  The General’s Daughter

  Spencerville

  Plum Island

  The Lion’s Game

  Up Country

  Night Fall

  Wild Fire

  The Gate House

  The Lion

  With Thomas Block

  Mayday

  Contents

  Welcome Page

  Death Benefits

  A Preview of The Panther

  About the Author

  Also by Nelson DeMille

  Copyright Page

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2011 by Nelson DeMille

  Excerpt from The Panther copyright © 2012 by Nelson DeMille

  Cover Illustration by Michael Racz. Cover Art Direction and Design by Diane Luger. Cover copyright © 2012 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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  First e-book edition: August 2012

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  ISBN 978-1-4555-2684-0

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  Nelson DeMille, Death Benefits