Covenant

74

Please,” Malik said, “we can work something out.”

Malik struggled like a trapped insect pinched between Rafael’s finger and thumb, the assassin twisting the pressure-point grip on Malik’s elbow. Malik felt himself spun around again and marched to where the sniper rifle lay by the window. A knee slammed hard into his legs and dropped him with a crack onto his knees. Rafael shoved him over onto his front and drove a knee into his back, grinding his ribs against the tiles. Malik’s hands were yanked behind his back and bound tightly with electrical cord.

“This was Stone’s idea,” Malik said desperately. “He’s lost his mind.”

Rafael said nothing.

“You don’t have to do this.”

Rafael remained silent, binding Malik’s ankles and then removing his shoes and socks.

“Stone is out of control,” Malik said, “but we can stop him.”

“You can plead, bargain, and beg all you want,” Rafael said softly, “but rest assured that you’ll not be leaving this room alive, and your passing will not be pleasant.”

Malik struggled to control himself.

“You don’t have to do this.”

“No, I don’t have to do this,” Rafael agreed. “But I am going to, I’m going to enjoy every moment of it and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Something trickled out onto the tiles beneath Malik’s body as he felt hot fluid spilling down his legs.

“Please,” he gasped.

Rafael moved across and squatted down beside him.

“Tell me,” he whispered, “what is MACE really doing out here?”

Malik, wracked with dread, dribbled as he blurted out an explanation.

“They are trying to resurrect some kind of alien that they found out in the deserts. We wanted nothing to do with it, but Patterson insisted that he be allowed to—”

“Who is Patterson?” Rafael demanded.

“Kelvin Patterson, the head of the American Evangelical Alliance,” Malik spluttered.

Rafael slowly reached down and from his waistband produced a slim, long blade with a needle-sharp tip. Malik whimpered and shivered as he caught a whiff of a pungent odor staining the breeze, that of his own feces and urine.

“Now,” Rafael said quietly, “you’re going to tell me everything, from the very day you joined MACE. If you hide anything or fail to answer any of my questions, I will kill you. Begin.”

Malik told him. Everything. Of Byron Stone’s plan, of the fossils and the girl, of Bill Griffiths and the Bedouin and Israel and the profits from weapons and abductions. When he was done, Rafael looked at his watch.

“Let me go,” Malik begged, still trembling and with tears now blurring his eyes.

Rafael looked down at him and nodded. “Very well.”

A pitiful wave of relief and gratitude flooded Malik as Rafael turned and reached out for his wrist bonds. The assassin suddenly pressed down hard, and Malik’s breath caught in his throat as he felt something pierce the base of his neck, a quiver of motion that was gone as soon as it had arrived. Malik’s body stopped trembling as though a switch had been flicked. The assassin leaned back on his haunches.

“I would pity you, were you not such a coward.”

Malik managed to crane his head around to look at him. “What have you done?”

Rafael leaned forward, raising one hand and revealing the blade now smeared with dark blood. Malik heard a pitiful sound crawl from his own larynx as Rafael spoke.

“You are paralyzed for what little remains of your life. I’ve severed your spinal cord between the fourth and fifth vertebrae. Enough remains intact for you to breathe and speak, but little more.”

Malik tried to move his body. Nothing happened. Tears scalded his face as he cried out in despair, only for Rafael to shove a pungent-smelling sock into his mouth.

Malik watched helplessly as Rafael reached down, searching his body and retrieving his cell phone. Then Rafael turned to the sniper rifle, pushing it forward to poke out of the window and tying a length of thread to the trigger, unwinding it as he backed away. Malik could see that the rifle would be easy to see from outside the open windows, as would his body lying prone behind it.

Malik screamed through the sock lodged in his mouth as sweat streamed down his face and prickly heat stung his skin. Rafael looked down at him for a few moments, an expression of absolute calm on his dark features, and then he turned and walked out of sight.

Moments later, the apartment door closed behind him.