Destiny

ONE-HUNDRED-NINE

Alicia stood in the sleeping compartment and pulled the pillow from under her dress. She ripped the veil off the snaps and tossed it on the bed. “He knows we’re here. We don’t need this stuff now. Besides, I can’t run very well with a pillow strapped to my stomach.”

Marcus removed the fake beard. “He no doubt has a gun. Maybe we should make a fast break and run into the dining car. With so many people around, he’d be stupid to do anything.”

“What if the sick bastard is standing in the hall? He’s got orders to eliminate us. He doesn’t care where he does it. He could shoot his way out of the damn train.”

“We have something on our side?”

“What?”

“He doesn’t know that we know he’s here.” Marcus held a finger to his lips. He heard a soft knock at the door across the hall. A man said, “Biglietto, per favore. Tickets, please.”

Alicia whispered. “The conductor. We can tell him.”

“What if it isn’t the conductor?”

“He speaks with a perfect Italian dialect. If it’s not the conductor, don’t open the door then. The conductor would have a key.”

“Jenkins can probably pick a lock.”

“But if he tries that, it’s going to take longer, and we can hear him.”

The voice came closer. A soft knock on the door of the next compartment. “Biglietto, per favore…tickets, please.”

Marcus and Alicia could hear the adjacent door open. A woman’s voice answered. “È qui il mio biglietto.”

“Grazie, signora.”

Alicia leaned near Marcus’s ear and whispered. “It has to be the conductor. The woman in the next compartment thanked him. Open the door.”

“No.” Marcus pulled the spearhead from his pants pocket.

“What are you doing, Paul?”

“It’s all we have to defend ourselves. It’s sharp and can do some damage to a throat if I can strike first.”

There was a knock at their door. “Biglietto, per favore…tickets, please.”

Marcus held his finger to his lips and looked at Alicia.

Another knock. “Biglietto, per favore…tickets, please.”

There was the sound of someone trying to pick the lock.

Marcus whispered in Alicia’s ear. “It’s not the conductor. Lie down on the floor. When I open the door, crawl out into the hallway and run like hell to the dining car.”

“What are you going to do?”

Marcus said nothing. He took the Zippo lighter from his pocket and ignited the newspaper, allowing the paper to become engulfed in flames before he threw the pillow over it. The room filled with smoke.

The door swung open and smoke billowed into the hall. Andrew Jenkins, wearing the conductor’s jacket, thrust his pistol into the blanket of smoke. He fired two quick shots. Marcus charged and hit Jenkins hard, pushing him backwards into the door across the hall. He bounced and hit the floor with a thud, knocking the wind from his lungs. Alicia dove beneath the smoke, rolling into the hall in the opposite direction from Jenkins.

Jenkins grabbed her leg and pointed the pistol at her head. “Back off!” Jenkins stood. “I’ll kill her on the spot! Give me the flash drive and the spear. Do it now!”

A woman in one of the berths opened the door slightly and slammed it, locking the door.

“Let her go!” Marcus said, holding his hands out. “The drive, computer and spear are in the suite.”

Smoke drifted from the room into the hall, dimming the lights. A silhouette, a man wearing a fedora, appeared at the end of the hall. He said, “Drop the gun, Andy.”

Nathan Levy appeared through the smoke. He held a pistol pointed directly at Jenkins. “You betrayed me, you betrayed Israel, and you betrayed America. Was it always about the money?”

“Take another step, Nathan, and I’ll put one through the girl’s brain.”

A smoke alarm in the hall blared. Jenkins pushed Alicia and fired at Levy. The bullet hit Levy in the gut. He returned fire, connecting a single shot to Jenkins throat, snapping his spinal cord in the back on his neck. He fell onto the floor, blood pumping from his mouth. He stared at Levy through the haze of smoke, his eyes dimming.

Levy held his stomach, blood seeping from his shirt through his fingers and onto the mauve carpet. He looked at Marcus. “Go! Leave now!”

“Lie down. We’ll get you a doctor. Save your strength.”

Levy shook his head and leaned against the wall. He glanced at Alicia and smiled. “You both must leave the train as it pulls into Salerno. That’s in a few minutes. Don’t go through the normal exit doors. Go out the opposite side of the train through the emergency exits, through a window if you have to.” Levy coughed, his eyes closing in pain. He opened them and stared at Marcus for a moment, the smoke swirling in the air conditioning. “They have a huge bounty on your head. The information on the flash drive and the spear are what they want, and they want to silence you before you can add more to the website. They won’t stop. You’ll be hunted to the ends of the earth unless you can find a way to stop them.”

Alicia said, “I’m going to get help.”

“No!” Levy shook his head, the sweat beading on his face. “It’s not safe. Trust no one. Get off the train and disappear.” He looked up at Marcus. “Paul, you were right. What you said, I know now, is true. The conspiracy, the assassinations of Rabin and Meltzer, Kennedy. You also succeeded in shutting down some of Iran’s nuclear progress. Two of their nuclear centrifuges self-destructed. The Iranians are hunting you, too.”

The train began to slow. Levy held his stomach with both hands, the blood dripping across his shoes. With his back to the wall, he slowly lowered himself to the floor. He glanced up at Marcus. “In my office, I have a photograph of my father standing next to a burial trench in Nazi Germany. Many bodies are in the mass grave. A Nazi officer pointed a Luger at my father’s face. He stared at death and didn’t shy away. My father was a good man who did his best to protect his family. I did my best to protect the family of Israel. I can only pray that I have been my father’s son.” He glanced over at Alicia. “Take care of this man. You may be the last person on earth he can ever trust.”

Alicia nodded and said, “I will.”

Levy coughed, his eyes moving back to Marcus. “Paul…there is something else you must know. They have hired the devil himself to hunt you down — the Lion. He is unstoppable. God be with you. The assassin’s name is…” Levy coughed, his eyes opening wide, trying to focus on something above Alicia’s head. Nathan Levy touched Marcus’s hand, closed his eyes and died as the train pulled into Salerno.

Marcus felt stomach acid burn in his throat. He opened his hand and stared at the spearhead. He looked at Alicia. “We have to go.” Marcus took the pistol from Levy’s hand and tucked it under his shirt.