It's not an unusual job for Burke  -- ex-con, career criminal, and ultimate urban man-for-hire  -- to act as middleman in an exchange of cash for a kidnapped child. But this time the only things exchanged are bullets. Burke loses his beloved partner, and lies in a hospital bed close to  -- or maybe even past  -- death, hovering in a netherworld of nightmares and hallucinations. When he finally escapes from the hospital, his appearance has changed radically  -- and so has he.Burke's religion is revenge, and he is eager to begin worship. Without the slightest clue as to who ordered the hit, he goes back to his original contact. When that meeting ends in homicide, Burke goes even deeper underground than ever before. He vanishes off every radar screen, and starts his hunt. In order to connect the dots, Burke enlists the aid of a pilot he worked with during the war in Biafra, a Russian-speaking Cambodian woman named Gem, and a mystical childhood friend  -- the police would call him a "co-defendant"  -- who finds patterns where others see chaos. Burke's search starts in Chicago and ends in the Pacific Northwest  -- a foreign country to the New York City-bred orphan. When a pattern finally emerges, Burke discovers truly foreign territory  -- a  place where pedophiles, neo-Nazis, abortion clinic bombers, and kiddie porn manufacturers expect immunity from prosecution, a safe harbor for predatory degenerates. And when he learns who is running the show, Burke mus