The Assassin from Stavanger

Lord Harold McMann, an outspoken critic of the war and the government's adventurism into Iraq, is silenced by a sniper's bullet. Two unassuming detectives are assigned to the case: John Dimond-a divorcee, and his partner, Jack Muldown-a bachelor approaching retirement. They were selected because of their propensity to fail.

Muldown is diagnosed with terminal cancer and makes his partner promise to kill him when he can no longer care for himself. But Dimond can't bring himself to do the job.

Evidence of the assassin leads to Muldown's classmate from his orphanage days. The nuns referred to the suspect even then as "The Left Hand of God." Detective Dimond makes a deal with the assassin to kill his partner. In exchange, the police files against him and his employers would disappear.

For the past 400 years, The Star Chamber never hesitated to murder anyone who threatened it. And so it became Kill or be killed.