arms.
Logan ran to her.
Against the spectral cloud of Samara’s explosion, Maggie and Logan held each other, as the horror reeled around them.
Epilogue
On the day of the attack, the Vatican was steadfast against kneeling before a terrorist act. Hours after the scale of the incident became evident, the Vatican insisted that all the pilgrims who were sent away from the open- air Mass at the Buffalo Breaks be invited back.
Nearly all returned. Calm prevailed over the traffic gridlock and that evening the pope celebrated the work of Sister Beatrice in a ceremony lit with one hundred thousand candles. He called for peace, tolerance, under standing and love for all people of the world, likening those virtues to the stars that would guide humanity through its night of fear.
The investigation by U.S. and international security agencies led to a mercenary hiding in Algeria. The soldier, whose nationality was never determined, ad mitted to taking part in the assault on Samara’s family. His admission led to other suspects and a trial for their crimes in an Iraqi court.
All were hanged.
Other global investigations resulted in the destruc tion of much of Amir’s network, the arrest of several commanders and agents in the organization’s cells in Ethiopia, Morocco, South Africa, Spain, Italy, Malay sia, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
The investigation failed to find and arrest “the Believer,” who was thought to have vanished some where in The Empty Quarter of Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
In Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, working with the Canadian Security Intelligence Ser vice, the CIA, the FBI, British, German, French, Italian, Egyptian intelligence and other investigators around the world, concluded that Ray Tarver, his wife and their two children had been murdered by agents of Amir’s network.
Interrogations of captured operatives in Berlin, Cairo, Rome and Paris enabled them to piece together what had happened.
When the network had discovered that Tarver, a reporter from Washington, D.C., was going to break the story of the attack, Amir devised the strategy to lure Tarver to the Rockies with the promise of a major story. Ray Tarver and his family were then murdered in what appeared to be a wilderness tragedy.
Kate Morrow, Tarver’s former newsroom colleague, began writing a book about the case and the price he and his family paid. Part of the earnings would go to a jour nalism scholarship Ray’s former wire service helped es tablish in his name.
The book’s cover bore the powerful news photo graph of the moment Maggie and Logan were reunited after the attack. It was shot that day by Luke Rappel, a teenage journalism student. The image would become
Six Seconds 467 known worldwide as the iconic portrait of the tragedy and go on to win many awards.
For his part, Graham needed time alone in the Alberta Rockies, where he’d spent entire days search ing the Faust River for answers. Had he not been there at the outset, mourning Nora, he would not have found Emily Tarver, or the thread that led to the Conlins and the plot.
Had it all happened for a reason?
He didn’t know.
Had he found a measure of redemption?
He didn’t know.
For his action from the Faust River to Cold Butte,
Graham was told he would receive the Governor General’s Medal of Bravery. There was also talk that Graham, Walker and Takayasu’s team were being consid ered for the President’s Medal of Valor. And all of the people involved in thwarting the assassination were invited to the Vatican, where the pope thanked them per sonally.
Because Maggie’s information contributed to the capture of key operatives in Amir’s global network, a Manhattan law firm offered to represent her without charge, to ensure she received a fair portion of reward money posted by international security agencies. The amount sought was half a million dollars.
Jake Conlin was buried in a small cemetery in Northern California near a place where his parents had gone on vacation every summer. As a boy, Jake lived for the adventure of the long coastal drive. It nurtured his love for the road.
After the funeral, Maggie took comfort in Jake’s final e-mail message to her. She shared it with Logan during counseling sessions.
“He came back to us in the end, honey, always remember that.”
Samara lived in her video.
She became known to the world as it played repeat edly in the postincident analysis of what came to be “The Montana Attack.” It gave rise to debates and reviews of foreign policy, security, religion and global terrorism.
In the weeks and months afterward, Maggie studied Samara’s video, replaying it countless times at night, hating her as the woman who had destroyed her family. But as Maggie continued analyzing the in-depth news profiles that dissected Samara’s life and re-created the horrors leading up to the attack, Maggie’s regard for her changed.
Again and again, Maggie’s thoughts went back to the instant at the school when her eyes had met Samara’s in one intense gaze. Maggie’s loathing evolved into ac ceptance that she and Samara were never enemies. They were women from different worlds. They were mothers united by tragedies beyond their control.
And, late at night, when sleep would not come, Maggie found herself reconciling it all with a question that- although she would never know-was identical to the question Samara had asked when she came upon a child’s foot on the street in Baghdad.
It was an ancient question no one could answer.
What are we doing to each other?
And in the time that followed, Graham would call Maggie and Logan to see how they were getting along.
Some six months later, he’d returned to California to take part in a symposium on security.
Maggie invited him to visit.
They went to the beach, where Logan flew a kite Graham had bought for him.
Maggie and Graham watched as it soared and held steady against the wind.
