I Am Pilgrim

Assuring Bradley he has no choice but to leave, Murdoch confirms his identity and goes with the two men, soon boarding a flight to Washington. He eventually arrives at the Oval Office for a meeting with Grosvenor and Whisperer. He reflects that their personal relationship had always been one of “wary admiration, as if a Great White had come face-to-face with a saltwater croc” (266). Murdoch is unsurprised to hear that they have summoned him due to the near certainty of a smallpox bioterrorism attack.

Murdoch reviews the case details and realizes that the satellite calls were likely a personal emergency—indicating that the woman and her interlocutor had a prearranged communication protocol. Murdoch is equally unsurprised to hear that Whisperer and the president want him to go to Turkey to identify the woman. When a phone call interrupts, Murdoch has a vision of himself on a boat, which he recognizes as a “vision of death” (269). He accepts, putting his terror aside, and tells Whisperer that he chooses the code name “Pilgrim” (269).

Whisperer will be personally handling every detail of Murdoch’s mission and stresses that he will become a legend if he succeeds. Whisperer notices that Murdoch is almost calm during the description of the current threat, as if he anticipated it.