Promised virgins

by Jeffrey Fleishman

Veteran journalist Jay Morgan senses that the simmering conflict in Kosovo is about to take on a new dimension when he hears rumors that a mysterious bearded foreigner, bearing weapons and money and preaching Holy War, has appeared in the rebel's mountain camps. What is his mission? What new horror has he brought? Together Jay and his translator, the beautiful Alija, herself a victim of the war, race to find this prophet of jihad while Alija searches for her younger brother, a student gone missing and possibly caught up in the conflict. Each danger-fraught foray across the lines, each interview with rebel commander, Serb sniper, or American spook tasked to evaluate and maybe take out this new threat brings them closer to each other and to the devastating truth.