Crack vials, a screwed-up wad of tinfoil and a lighter.
He walked to the farthest room, the living room, as he heard Santos turn off the faucet in the bathroom. What he’d just seen didn’t prepare him for the atrocity draped over the worn, vinyl couch.
A young black woman lay twisted over the right arm, her legs dragging on the floor as if she had been kneeling before being pulled up, her torso turned to face him. Her eyes and mouth were stretched wide in silent agony, her tube-top torn open displaying vicious slash marks that angled down from her neck, over her breasts, and down to her abdomen from which a slick coil of small intestine protruded like a bolus of bubble gum. Nick’s stomach churned and he gagged. Then he saw the broken neck of a beer bottle jutting from her ruptured rectum. He doubled over, the obscenity of the violation hitting him like a heavyweight punch to his guts.
His gun slipped from his fingers. Nick threw up.
CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA.
7:03 P.M.
Del Valle poured himself a glass of cognac and sat back at his desk, returning his attention to Corvino’s file. He knew everything about his friend’s career as a soldier, mercenary, assassin, and more about Dominic, the man, than anyone else in the Company. At least as much as Corvino wanted him to know, which when you sat down and thought about it in detail—as he’d been doing for most of the day—wasn’t really a whole lot. He could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times he’d visited Corvino’s apartment; when they met outside the office, it was usually at a restaurant or on a golf course. And now, in light of the affair with Mitra and Corvino’s desire to quit, Del Valle wondered whether he knew him at all. Corvino’s confession seemed so out of character.
Spiral had been established as the cream of Covert Operations; a crack team made up of the best operatives, men whose lives no longer officially existed and could act as true shadow warriors—unseen, untraceable, anonymous, autonomous. Corvino had been ideal material.
He turned over the dossier and went back to the beginning.
NAME: Corvino, Dominic Anthony
D.O.B.: 07/09/48
PLACE OF BIRTH: Watchung, New Jersey.
PARENTS: Corvino, Michael (deceased); Molicone, Florence (deceased)
LIVING RELATIVES: None.
EDUCATION: Brandywine High School, Tarrytown, New York.
MILITARY CAREER: Enlisted New York City, 1966. Marines. Selected for Special Forces, 1971. Trained at Fort Bragg. A-Team detachment. Operations Sergeant.
ACTIVE SERVICE: Vietnam. Four tours of duty.
Del Valle skipped over the Nam details. He’d been on three of the four tours, and knew all the pertinent facts by rote.
Honorable Discharge, 1975.
FREELANCE ACTIVITY: Mercenary.
Angola 1975-1977. CIA-supported.
Mozambique 1978-79. Rhodesian CIO-financed.
Retired: 1980. Recruited, Covert Operations, 1982. Field Team Leader, SPIRAL, 1983-present.
BIOGRAPHICAL: Son of Army Corporal Michael Corvino. Died, Korea, 1952. Mother, grade school teacher, died in automobile accident, 1953. Subject raised by paternal grandmother, Sophia Corvino, Nyack, New York, until 1954 when last remaining relative died of a stroke. Subject was left alone with the undiscovered body for three days due to heavy snowfall.
Age 6. Ward of the state, St. Paul’s Orphanage, Tarrytown, New York.
Age 11. Deaths of two other wards of state: Billy Katz, Steven Richardson. Implication subject involved with deaths, though never proven.
Age 13. Subject began learning karate under the tutorship of Bernard Huston, former Captain, U.S. Army, stationed in Japan, 1948-1956.
Age 16. Awarded Black Belt.
Age 18. Enlists in Marines, encouraged by Huston. Passes all examinations within top 5 percent. Recommended for Special Forces (see Military Training).
PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION: Corvino is, and has proved himself to be, perfect killing material. Due to lack of parental contact and a relationship with grandmother the subject
He walked to the farthest room, the living room, as he heard Santos turn off the faucet in the bathroom. What he’d just seen didn’t prepare him for the atrocity draped over the worn, vinyl couch.
A young black woman lay twisted over the right arm, her legs dragging on the floor as if she had been kneeling before being pulled up, her torso turned to face him. Her eyes and mouth were stretched wide in silent agony, her tube-top torn open displaying vicious slash marks that angled down from her neck, over her breasts, and down to her abdomen from which a slick coil of small intestine protruded like a bolus of bubble gum. Nick’s stomach churned and he gagged. Then he saw the broken neck of a beer bottle jutting from her ruptured rectum. He doubled over, the obscenity of the violation hitting him like a heavyweight punch to his guts.
His gun slipped from his fingers. Nick threw up.
CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA.
7:03 P.M.
Del Valle poured himself a glass of cognac and sat back at his desk, returning his attention to Corvino’s file. He knew everything about his friend’s career as a soldier, mercenary, assassin, and more about Dominic, the man, than anyone else in the Company. At least as much as Corvino wanted him to know, which when you sat down and thought about it in detail—as he’d been doing for most of the day—wasn’t really a whole lot. He could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times he’d visited Corvino’s apartment; when they met outside the office, it was usually at a restaurant or on a golf course. And now, in light of the affair with Mitra and Corvino’s desire to quit, Del Valle wondered whether he knew him at all. Corvino’s confession seemed so out of character.
Spiral had been established as the cream of Covert Operations; a crack team made up of the best operatives, men whose lives no longer officially existed and could act as true shadow warriors—unseen, untraceable, anonymous, autonomous. Corvino had been ideal material.
He turned over the dossier and went back to the beginning.
NAME: Corvino, Dominic Anthony
D.O.B.: 07/09/48
PLACE OF BIRTH: Watchung, New Jersey.
PARENTS: Corvino, Michael (deceased); Molicone, Florence (deceased)
LIVING RELATIVES: None.
EDUCATION: Brandywine High School, Tarrytown, New York.
MILITARY CAREER: Enlisted New York City, 1966. Marines. Selected for Special Forces, 1971. Trained at Fort Bragg. A-Team detachment. Operations Sergeant.
ACTIVE SERVICE: Vietnam. Four tours of duty.
Del Valle skipped over the Nam details. He’d been on three of the four tours, and knew all the pertinent facts by rote.
Honorable Discharge, 1975.
FREELANCE ACTIVITY: Mercenary.
Angola 1975-1977. CIA-supported.
Mozambique 1978-79. Rhodesian CIO-financed.
Retired: 1980. Recruited, Covert Operations, 1982. Field Team Leader, SPIRAL, 1983-present.
BIOGRAPHICAL: Son of Army Corporal Michael Corvino. Died, Korea, 1952. Mother, grade school teacher, died in automobile accident, 1953. Subject raised by paternal grandmother, Sophia Corvino, Nyack, New York, until 1954 when last remaining relative died of a stroke. Subject was left alone with the undiscovered body for three days due to heavy snowfall.
Age 6. Ward of the state, St. Paul’s Orphanage, Tarrytown, New York.
Age 11. Deaths of two other wards of state: Billy Katz, Steven Richardson. Implication subject involved with deaths, though never proven.
Age 13. Subject began learning karate under the tutorship of Bernard Huston, former Captain, U.S. Army, stationed in Japan, 1948-1956.
Age 16. Awarded Black Belt.
Age 18. Enlists in Marines, encouraged by Huston. Passes all examinations within top 5 percent. Recommended for Special Forces (see Military Training).
PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION: Corvino is, and has proved himself to be, perfect killing material. Due to lack of parental contact and a relationship with grandmother the subject
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