But the definitive stories came from the World Press Alliance, which produced an exclusive series that dissected Ivan Felk’s Operation Retribution and everything it had touched.
Jack Gannon led a team of WPA reporters who examined Ivan Felk and the men behind the attack, chronicling their lives and careers as elite ex-soldiers contracted by shadowy, global security firms for secret missions.
The WPA posted parts of Harlee Shaw’s video online and analyzed Red Cobra Team 9’s disastrous operation into the forbidden zone. They revealed how it had spawned the 6.3-million-dollar heist in New York and the plot to hit the Federal Reserve in San Francisco before a widowed, single mother of two from Queens brought it all to an end.
Twice, Ivan Felk had held a gun to Lisa Palmer’s head, Gannon wrote in his profile of her. The first time was when she’d witnessed the murder of FBI agent Gregory Dutton; the second time when Felk hunted her down to her family cabin in Upstate New York, where he’d forced her to dig graves for herself and her children in his plan to eliminate her as a witness.
“I shouldn’t be alive,” Lisa said in the interview. “Something told me to fight, that it wasn’t my time.”
Gannon detailed how ten-year-old Ethan Palmer used his penknife, a cherished gift from his late father, to escape and call for help, in a story that illustrated her family’s refusal to be defeated.
“Everyone faces hardship, but you have to keep going,” Lisa said.
Gannon wrote how Lisa had made the heart-wrenching decision to leave Queens with her children and start a new chapter of their lives. He did not disclose the new location in the article.
In the weeks that followed, Gannon learned how authorities had concluded that Lisa would be eligible for the two-hundred-thousand-dollar reward that had been posted in the heist, once the surviving suspects had been convicted of their crimes. Her wish was for the reward to be shared with the families of the guards and agent who had been murdered.
The FBI’s ongoing investigation reached around the globe. Working with police in Kuwait and Pakistan, agents made more arrests and were able to recover much of the cash stolen from American Centurion.
The Times of London, quoting intelligence sources, broke stories on how shortly after the WPA’s news reports had exposed the unsanctioned military action in the forbidden zone, coalition forces launched surgical air strikes against “terrorist strongholds” in the region.
The strikes ensured an end to the hostage ordeal involving Red Cobra Team 9.
No one survived the bombings.
The activities in the disputed territory raised disturbing questions about potentially rogue intelligence operations, which led to a probe by the United Nations, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and calls for congressional hearings.
In New York, there was talk that the WPA’s series was a leading contender for a Pulitzer, and Gannon was approached by two publishers to write a book on the case. The morning he went to Lisker to request a leave of absence, he was surprised: Lisker’s office had been cleared out.
“When Beland got wind that he was going to take a job with an investment firm, he ordered him to leave forthwith,” Carter O’Neill said. “Dolf Lisker was never quite attuned with the craft, Jack. Not like you.”
With the case cleared, FBI special agent Frank Morrow took a long lunch one day and walked to Ground Zero, where he looked back on his life. Reflecting on September 11, he was grateful that he was given proper time to say goodbye. He booked a few weeks off, then, with Beth and Hailey, drove south along the East Coast. By the time they’d reached the Keys, Morrow had decided to undergo chemo and take that three percent chance at hope. They spent their days talking and watching the sunset on the Gulf of Mexico.
Some months later, after she’d sold her house, on the day before she was set to leave Queens with her children, Lisa Palmer met Gannon for coffee at one of the outdoor plazas near Penn Station.
“I just wanted to thank you for everything, Jack.”
“How are you and the kids doing?”
“Better, with all this behind us.” She smiled.
“Listen,” he said. “I don’t know much about karma, but with all you’ve faced so far, I’d say you deserve nothing but the best for the rest of your life.”
She kissed his cheek and smiled.
“If you ever get out to California, feel free to stop by.”
Lisa Palmer had a nice smile and that’s what Gannon remembered long after she left him standing alone on the busy street across from Madison Square Garden.
As he walked back to the office, he accepted what he was: a loner. It took him much of his life to realize that he would always be alone to do what he did best: search for the truth.
He’d searched for the truth where it concerned his sister, Cora, and he searched for it behind every kind of injustice he’d encountered because that’s where the story was.
And he would always find the story.
At that moment, near La Guardia’s runways in the East River, on Rikers Island, Ivan Felk lay on his cot in his cell.
He was sore, still recovering.
His face was permanently scarred from the beating Lisa Palmer had given him. He was awaiting trial on four first-degree murder charges and a long list of related charges. Under federal law he was likely to receive the death penalty.
Last week, Felk heard how Unger had hung himself in his cell.
This morning, reading an old copy of the Washington Post from the library, Felk learned about the air strike.
Forgive me, Clay.
Everybody and everything was gone now.
But it was not the end.
The Post also carried one of Jack Gannon’s features, the one about Lisa Palmer. Felk stared at her photo for hours, absorbing her, slowly devouring her the way a snake swallows its prey.
No, this was not the end.
Death penalty cases were long, complex. They’d take years, maybe even decades. And in that time, they’d move Felk constantly, to court, to his cell, even to other facilities. And in that time, he’d study, he’d learn.
Then he’d execute his escape.
No, this would never be over.
* * * * *
Acknowledgments
and a Personal Note
The Burning Edge is loosely inspired by a true case, a commando-style armored car heist that I’d covered many years ago while working as a crime reporter. Other aspects of the novel were drawn from real-life situations that I, or others I knew, have experienced. But I won’t go into any of it here.
It’s too personal.
I want to thank Special Agent Anne Beagan of the FBI’s New York Division who patiently suffered many questions from me to ensure my work of fiction rang true. If this story worked for you, it’s because of Anne’s kind help. If this story fell short for you, then blame me; the mistakes are mine.
Many thanks to Amy Moore-Benson, Miranda Indrigo and to the incredible editorial, marketing, sales and PR teams at Harlequin and MIRA Books in Toronto, New York and around the world.
Wendy Dudley, as always, made this story better.
Very special thanks to Barbara, Laura and Michael.
It’s important you know that, in getting this book to you, I benefited from the hard work and generosity of many people, too many to thank individually here. I am indebted to everyone in all stages of production, the sales representatives, librarians and booksellers for putting my work in your hands.
This brings me to what I hold to be the most critical part of the entire enterprise: you, the reader. This aspect has become something of a creed for me, one that bears repeating with each book.