Jaime Espiritu

The Message: a Novel Jaime Espiritu

A disgruntled federal worker with top-secret clearance decides to get even with his bosses by selling critical security data to America's enemies, resulting in horrifying consequences to the U. S. Government. It also brings into play Omar Husain, a faceless, nameless master terrorist, known only by the FBI code-name Saladin. Consumed by hatred the day he lost his entire family including Kamilah, his fianceé, in southern Lebanon during the '82 Arab-Israeli war, he commits himself to the Jihad. Out of the ruins of his life, he carries a relic of his love for Kamilah whose mother is a Christian-a copy of the Holy Bible. A quarter of a century before, Sister Caterina, an Italian nun on a mission in the Philippines, had written a message inside the book which she would later give Kamilah's mother as a gift. Holding Julie Santorelli-a niece of Sister Caterina and a witness to his identity-captive while hunted by the FBI, memories of the past overwhelm him. Seeing Julie in anguish reminds him of Kamilah. He struggles with guilt. Here, his hatred finally succumbs to it when he recalls the message in the Bible which, in part, says:' what good is a victoryif it turns you into your enemy?'