Prayers For The Assassin - Characters

Characters

• Rakkim Epps: The Story's protagonist, an ex-Fedeyeen shadow warrior (trained in espionage) currently running a night club in Seattle's Christian zone. He is hired to track down Sarah (his longtime love interest) by her uncle, when it is discovered that she has disappeared.

• Sarah Dougan: Rakkim's lover, a young college professor who attracts a great deal of controversy in her short career, having recently authored a book on the American's conversion to Islam which angered the country's fundamentalist population. While working on her latest book, one of her sources informs her to go into hiding because her work has attracted the attention of a mysterious figure who was behind her father's assassination.

• Thomas "Redbeard" Dougan: Sarah's uncle and head of the Department of State Security. He is seen as the constant target of the country's fundamentalist leaders, a true patriot of his country. He took in Rakkin while he was a young orphan; he also raised Sarah after his brother's assassination and her mother's mysterious disappearance. They had a falling out when Rakkim joined the Fedeyeen and were not on speaking terms after he refused to grant Rakkim's request to marry Sarah. With the disappearance of his niece and knowing that his rivals were closing in on him, he overcomes his estrangement with Rakkim and asks him to find Sarah.

• The Old One aka Hassan Muhammed: a terrorist mastermind responsible for the shaping of much of the current world. Although his actual age is unknown due to scientific procedures that help him live longer, he is estimated to be around 70–90 years old. Possibly a Yemeni who speaks his English with a British accent, presumably indicating where he received his education. He is the one who ordered the assassination of Sarah's father and discovers that her latest work could threaten to expose his life work.

• Darwin Conklin: A psychopathic ex-Fedeyeen assassin hired by the Old One to track down Sarah (despite being described by the Old One's son as a demon), he leaves a bloody trail of murders throughout his journey.

• Mullah Ibn Azziz: The new leader of the Blackrobes order, a young extremist who seeks to create a fundamentalist society cleansed of Catholics, Jews, and non-fundamentalist Muslims. He knows nothing of the Old One though his swift rise through the Blackrobes ranks was mostly due to him; when he discovers Sarah's disappearance he believes she is seeing a lover; he proposes to find her and use her to destabilize Redbeard's leadership.

• Angelina: Redbeard's loyal, kind-hearted house maid.

• Anthony Colarusso Sr.: A Catholic Seattle detective who is a good friend of Rakkim; also a former Catholic priest who now has a family of his own. His son Anthony Jr. is local hoodlum but hopes to join the Fedeyeen which his father encourages to help improve their social standing. Initially Rakkim refuses to give his recommendation, until he recognizes that he will better off in the Fedyeen than the streets, and agrees.

• Mardi: Rakkim's business partner at the night club, she's also the widow of Rakkim's Fedeyeen friend Tariq. She largely blames herself for his death, believing her refusal to convert cost him a promotion. Occasionally they sleep together though he stopped after he started seeing Sarah, which makes her a bit jealous.