None of this excused them. Instead it was a damning indictment of a largely indifferent and uncaring society. The glue that held them together was a common belief in their cause. Most of their lives had been so meaningless, impoverished, and brutal that latching on to any cause was understandable. Why they had chosen this one cause was as varied as the backgrounds which had preyed upon their weaknesses.

That being said, Juan Pablo could not imagine being able to reform any of them except the girl Trudy Kerrigan. She was the nineteen-year-old girl, mature beyond her years, who guarded the door at Sanford's place. She loved to flaunt her physical assets, especially in front of the priest. She seemed to be attracted to him which might delight many men Juan Pablo's age but only made the priest worry more about her.

He inquired into her history. It was Tommy O'Keefe, one of Sanford's explosive specialists, who gave him the best information. The priest was watching him put together a C4 bomb that would be triggered by a cell phone call. The dexterity of the man was fascinating and frightening at the same time when one considered that he could blow them both up if the accidentally made the wrong wires come together.

"She lost her real father when she was eight. She was raped by her step dad when she was twelve. Her old mum just let it happen. She and the old man were a strange pair." He winked at the priest. "Hold this circuit board down a minute, Father. Make yourself useful." He torqued the board down with four small screws. "OK, you can let go. Like I said, a strange pair. They used little Trudy to do most of their dirty work, you see. The step dad was a pharmacist so he and the mum had Trudy delivering those designer nightclub drugs all over DC. Did a good business until they got into Papa Joe's territory in Southeast. He wasn't none too happy with that and blew the two of them up. Least that's the way we think it went down. Trudy was in foster care for two years, in three different places, and then she ran away and became one of Purple Boy Floyd's whores. Paul saved her from that." He quickly mounted the electronics to the pack of C4. "He had to kill Floyd, of course, when the pimp came after him."