Prayers for the assassin

CHAPTER 38

“It’s me,” said Rakkim.

“Let me speak to Sarah,” said Redbeard.

“What did the werewolves say about the assassin?”

“Let me speak to her. Now.”

Redbeard would be happy to go back and forth as long as Rakkim wanted to keep it up-the longer they talked, the better chance Redbeard had to pinpoint their position. Rakkim didn’t take the bait. He passed the phone to Sarah. “He wants to talk to you.”

“Hello, Uncle.” Sarah looked past Rakkim, toward the ferry slowly crossing Baraka Bay, the water rusty in the setting sun. She was wearing a new, pink-camouflage hooded sweatshirt, and baggy, matching sweatpants. The anonymous retro-jock look that was all the rage among moderns. The two of them were sitting on a bench with a panoramic view of the waterfront. A relief to be out in the open air after the dark claustrophobia of the tunnels. “I’m fine…I said, I’m fine. I’m twenty-six years old; I’m capable of making my own decisions.” She chewed her lower lip, listening. “Shame is not really an effective strategy at this point, Uncle.” A glance at Rakkim. “That’s not possible…No. I love you, but I’m not about to do that. Tell Angelina that I’m well. Tell her I’m saying my prayers.” She stuck her tongue out at Rakkim, handed the phone back to him.

Rakkim watched the trolley roll along tracks paralleling the waterfront. A short run, back and forth, the trolley packed with tourists. “Your turn.”

“There were no werewolves at the site,” said Redbeard.

“Did you go to the right place?”

“I found the wreckage of the car, just as you described, but there were no werewolves. None to ask, anyway.”

Rakkim was silent for a moment. “How many?”

“My men found seventeen bodies scattered around the site. All werewolves. If there were any survivors, they were gone by the time we got there. Fled into the woods, probably, because their cars and goods were still at the encampment. Boxes full of watches and eyeglasses and sporting equipment. I helicoptered in myself when I got the first report. A quick walk-through and I could see that one of their cars was missing. A four-by-four. There were tire tracks dug through the mud getting up the embankment. Quite a mess around the burned-out vehicle. Seventeen werewolves…even for a Fedayeen assassin, that’s quite an accomplishment.”

“Maybe the Old One will pin a medal on him.” Silence from Redbeard. Rakkim watched the trolley start back on the return trip. Heard the faint clang of the bell.

“You should bring Sarah home. Leave the Old One to me,” said Redbeard. “I’ve kept him at bay this long-”

“You can’t stop him anymore.”

Redbeard chuckled. “Don’t tell me what I can do, boy.”

“You don’t have the men for the job, and the ones you do have, you can’t trust. If you could stop the Old One, you wouldn’t have needed me to find Sarah for you.”

“Come home.”

“I saw Ibn Azziz. At least I think I did. He’s young.” Rakkim watched three cars pull up alongside the trolley. A fourth car pulled onto the tracks ahead, forcing the trolley to a screeching stop. Men jumped out of the cars and into the trolley. Others covered the rear exit. One of them looked like the arrogant dandy who had fetched him the evening of the Super Bowl, but Rakkim was too far away to be sure. He hoped it was him. “You better watch yourself, Uncle. I think Ibn Azziz has already declared war on you.”

“Better him than Oxley.”

Rakkim had picked up a signature transmitter in the Zone, bought it an hour ago from the same electronics wizard who had bought Redbeard’s tracking device from Sarah. A major felony for all concerned. The transmitter sent a cell signature to a small unit he had secreted in the trolley, the same signature as the cell he was using, only more powerful. He watched the tourists filing out of the trolley under the eyes of Redbeard’s agents. “I’ll get in touch with you again when I know more.”

“You can’t outwit the Old One. Not by yourself.”

Rakkim could see the passengers being marched out of the trolley. “Don’t be so sure. You’re smarter than the Old One and I just outwitted you.” He broke the connection.

The setting sun glinted off the tips of Sarah’s hair as the muezzin’s call to pray undulated from the Grand Mosque, summoning the devout. They stayed where they were, watching Redbeard’s men tearing through the trolley. Unnecessary roughness. A sign of weakness.

Rakkim stared up at the new Jihad Cola sign while Mardi’s private number rang. Sarah was beside him, equally entranced.

There must have been five thousand people in Pioneer Square for the great unveiling, the crowd spilling over into the side streets. They were packed in so tightly that it had been no problem for Rakkim to lift the cell from the inside pocket of a young modern. Zebraskin interactive, the latest model.

“It’s me,” said Rakkim as Mardi answered.

“What’s wrong?”

Moderns in the crowd cheered, applauded, gasped as the sign lit up-a three-story-tall hologram that seemed deep as infinity. The fundamentalists swayed, lips moving as they prayed, ecstatic in their approval. Even Sarah was openmouthed with delight.

“What’s that noise?” asked Mardi.

It wasn’t the hologram that the crowd was cheering-holographic advertising had been common for twenty years. It was the ad itself. Islam didn’t approve of representations of the human face or form, so signs in the new republic were forced to use a simple photo of the product, counting on vibrant colors and elaborate typefaces to get their message across. A poor substitute for image, and yet another reason for the economic doldrums.

“I can hardly hear you,” said Mardi.

“You need to get out of the Blue Moon.”

The new Jihad Cola sign portrayed a healthy young Muslim couple drinking a JC in the park, their chaperone discreetly in the background. What was unique about the ad was that it wasn’t just holographic, but mosaic, the images formed from careful layering of Arabic text from the Holy Qur’an. Not only did the use of script circumvent the strictures against graven images, Arabic script itself, particularly script from the Holy Qur’an, was believed to possess a unique and mystical power. An added value to the brand. The computer program used to create the ad had taken three years to write, but the mosaic process was certain to revolutionize advertising. The launch was in the capital, but subsequent unveilings were planned in Los Angeles, Chicago, New Detroit, Denver, and other major cities. Mullah Oxley had given the technique the Black Robes’ approval, but Rakkim wondered how Ibn Azziz felt about it.

“Where are you?” asked Mardi.

Rakkim turned away from the crowd, sheltering the phone from the worst of the noise. “You have to get out of the Blue Moon. You have to leave now. The liquor salesman you were so charmed by…he’s a Fedayeen assassin.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Take the money from the safe and go. Call Riggs from the airport and tell him he’s going to manage the club for a month. He can handle it for a few weeks.”

“He’ll steal us blind.”

“Consider it the cost of staying alive.” Rakkim lowered his voice, trying to reach her. “Take a vacation, partner. You’ve already got more money than you can spend. Just leave. Don’t even go home to pack. Just leave. Call the club in a month and ask to speak to me. If I’m not back yet, then stay gone for another month and call again.”

“It’s really that bad?”

“Worse.”