Plot
A suicide bomber named Ivan Bolotny trying to destroy Lenin's Mausoleum ends up killing himself in a locked room. Shortly thereafter his brother is murdered and a bishop named Nescou has gone missing. The Militia Christi is tasked by the Catholic Church with solving the crime because church members can be implicated, and their lay brother Francis Killy is sent to Switzerland to track down Nescou. Whilst there he runs into a former colleague named Carlin who worked for the British Secret Service as has partnered with a Russian massage therapist named Marya. It turns out that Marya, Nescou and the Bolotny brothers are/were members of an fanatical anti-sex sect called Skoptsy. Carlin, who is not a member of the sect, reveals to Killy that he quit the Secret Service after inheriting money from a relative and stealing a patent to refine titanium. His company, however, has gone broke and he is now planning a train heist and requests Killy's help. Killy informs his superior, Cella, of this plan and is instructed to go along with it. The plan involves tracking down a Russian train and breaking into it whilst it is stationary, removing gold bullion, and then replacing it with gold-plated lead so that the theft is not detected until well after it has been removed. Though the heist is successful, the Skoptsy ambush Killy, and Nescou tries to shoot and kill Killy, but is ultimately unsuccessful. Killy returns to report to Cella and is sent to Russia to track down Nescou and the gold in the resorts of Sochi. While divining in a mud bath in Sochi, Killy discovers that the gold is hidden under the baths, but Nescou enters the room and tries to shoot Killy again. Killy manages to submerge Nescou in the water and drown him. Killy then returns to Switzerland where he expects Carlin has returned. Carlin must dilute the quality of the gold because all Russian gold is refined to .999, whereas other countries only refine gold to .995. Killy locates the smelting plant and tracks down Carlin. The two have a confrontation where Carlin reveals that he did not know about the ambush. Killy tells Carlin that the grandson of the man whose patent Carlin stole is aiming to get revenge, but the man enters the room and shoots Carlin before he can escape. Killy returns home to Rome where he runs into his former girlfriend and tells his frequently absent partner Mario that he plans on making sure she is happy with her new husband and on rescuing her should she be ill-treated.
The Khlysts or Khlysty were an underground Spiritual Christian sect which emerged in Russia in the 17th century.
Jean-Claude Killy is a French former World Cup alpine ski racer. He dominated the sport in the late 1960s, and was a triple Olympic champion, winning the three alpine events at the 1968 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete there. He also won the first two World Cup titles, in 1967 and 1968.
The Skoptsy were a sectarian cult within the larger Spiritual Christianity movement in the Russian Empire. They were best known for practising emasculation of men, the mastectomy and female genital mutilation of women in accordance with their teachings against sexual lust. The term "Skoptsy" is a descriptive one used by the Russian Orthodox Church.
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