The Last Assassin

2

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening dozing, making love again, then dozing some more. I remember thinking at some point it was good Barceloneans eat so late, or we would have missed our chance for dinner.

We finally managed to shower and get dressed, and then had a hotel car take us to Torre d'Alta Mar, a restaurant perched seventy-five meters above the sea atop the Torre de Sant Sebastian, one of three towers that serve the city's cable car system. Delilah had made the reservation, and once again she had chosen well. The 360-degree views were jaw-dropping; the food, even more so: partridge and lobster and filet mignon, all flavored with Catalan specialties like Ganxet beans, Guijuelo ham, and Idiazábal cheese. We killed two bottles of cava from a local winery called Rimarts. I'd never heard of the place, but they knew what they were doing.

I didn't bring up anything about Midori. It seemed too early. We'd only just gotten together, and the meal and atmosphere were so perfect, I didn't want to spoil any of it. Also, after all those hours of lovemaking, I was just too confused, not only about what I was going to do, but even about what I wanted.

So we stayed with familiar subjects instead, mostly work and travel. She told me she was still on administrative leave, pending her organization's completion of an inquiry into what had happened in Hong Kong, where Delilah had defied orders and helped me. They'd lost a good man there, and there were people who thought Delilah was to blame. I knew better, of course, but it wasn't as though she could call on me as a character witness.

'I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm happy to have the time off.'

I nodded. 'I was wondering how you managed to get away for this.'

She raised her glass. 'I'd say it worked out well.'

We touched glasses and drank. I said, 'How do you expect it's going to turn out?'

'I'm not even thinking about it.'

I knew her better than that and smiled sympathetically. Delilah didn't like to take shit from her supposed superiors, or from anyone.

After a moment, she shrugged. 'I'm a little worried. Not so much about whether I'm going to be reinstated or reprimanded or whatever. It's more… I just hate the way they use me and then judge me for doing the jobs they send me on. You'd think Al-Jib dead would trump everything else, but no.'

Al-Jib had been a terrorist, part of the A. Q. Khan network, who'd been trying to buy nuclear materiel so he could assemble a bomb. Delilah had killed him in Hong Kong, a target of opportunity, and right now that victory was probably the only thing holding the line against her organizational detractors.

'Well, they've got their priorities,' I said.

'Yeah, their little tsk tsk meetings, that's the priority. I swear, sometimes I feel like I should just tell them to go to hell.'

'I've dealt with that type, too,' I said, reaching over and taking her hand. 'Don't let them get you down.'

She smiled and squeezed my hand. 'I haven't even thought about it since I saw you. Not until we started talking about it, anyway.'

'Well, you'll have to see me more often, then,' I said, before I could think better of it.

She squeezed again and said, 'I'd like that.'

I didn't answer.

We finished after midnight and walked northwest into La Ribera. It was a weeknight, but even so El Born, one of the most ancient streets in the city and the heart of La Ribera, was hopping, with crowds spilling out from the bars lining the street and from the surrounding clubs and restaurants. We managed to get a table at a bar called La Palma. It was a beautiful old place, unpretentious, with wine barrels in the corners and sausages hanging from the ceiling. I ordered us each a shot of a 1958 Highland Park, one of the finest single malts on earth — ridiculous at 150 Euros the measure, but life is so short.

Afterward we strolled more. Delilah hooked an arm through mine and snuggled close in the chill night air. It felt so natural it almost worried me. I wondered what it would feel like to be this way all the time. Then I thought of Midori again.

We drifted south, into the Barri Gòtic, where the maze of stone streets narrowed and the crowds thinned. Soon the echoes of our footfalls, the shadowed walls of dark cathedrals and shuttered apartments, were our only companions.

A few blocks west of Via Laietana, I heard loud voices speaking in English, and as we turned a corner I saw four young men coming in our direction. From the clothes and accents, I guessed working-class British, probably football hooligans; from the volume and aggressive tone, I guessed drunk. My immediate sense was that they had struck out with the local girls in La Ribera, hadn't found any prostitutes to their liking along Las Ramblas, and were now heading back to La Ribera for another pass. My alertness ticked up a notch. I felt Delilah's hand on my arm stiffen just slightly. She was telling me she had noted the potential problem, too.

The street was narrow, almost an alley, and there wasn't much room to let them go by. I steered us to the left so I would have the inside position.

They saw us and stopped shouting. Not a good sign. Then they slowed. That was worse. And then one of them peeled off and started crowding our side of the street, with the others drifting along with him. That was unwelcome indeed.

I eased out the Benchmade and held it hidden against my open palm with my thumb. I didn't want anyone to know there was a knife in play until I decided to formally introduce them to it.

I had hoped simply to pass them, maybe absorbing a predictable shoulder check en route. But they had fanned out widely enough so that going past wasn't an option. Well, I could go through just as easily. I envisioned dropping the nearest one with osoto-gari, a basic but powerful judo throw, which I expected would provide an attitude adjustment sufficient for the remaining three. And if Delilah had fallen in behind me, I would have done just that. But she was close beside me, and therefore in my way. I felt her slowing, and I had to slow, too.

A paranoid notion tried to grip me: Delilah could have set this up. But I knew instantly it wasn't that. The four of them were too young, for one thing. Their vibe was too hot, too aggressive. For professionals, violence is a job. For these guys, it felt like an opportunity.

Besides, Delilah hadn't been leading me as we walked. I would have noted that, as I had noted its absence.

We all stopped and faced one another. Here we go, I thought.

'Lovely evening, isn't it, ladies?' said the one who had originally started drifting onto our side of the street. He was looking at me, smirking.

'You must be the leader,' I responded, my voice low and calm.

'What's that?' he said, his brow furrowing.

'You moved first, and your friends followed you. And now you're talking first. I figure that means you're the leader. Am I wrong?' I glanced behind us just to ensure no one was closing in from the other direction — all clear — then back at the other three. 'Is it one of you? Come on, who is it?'

The interview wasn't going the way they had hoped. I wasn't cringing. I wasn't blustering. If the idiots had any sense, they would have realized that now I was interviewing them.

'Oh, it's me, all right,' the first one said, trying to recover some initiative.

I nodded as though impressed. 'That's brave of you to say.'

'Why?'

I smiled at him. The smile was in no way pleasant.

'Because now I know to kill you first,' I said.

He glanced at his friends as though reassuring himself of their continued presence, then back at me. I felt him starting to reconsider.

But one of his friends was too stupid or drunk or both to notice the position they were in. 'He's calling you a wanker, man. You going to take that?'

Fuck. 'I'm not calling anyone a wanker,' I said, my voice still calm and steady. 'I'm just saying neither of us wants to spoil the other's evening. La Ribera's like an outdoor party right now. Isn't that where you're going?'

The last question was calculated: not a command, just a reminder, a mere suggestion that could be taken with no loss of face. And I could tell from the guy's eyes that he wanted to take it. Good.

He glanced at his friends again. Unfortunately, they didn't give him what he was hoping for. He looked back at me, and I saw he had decided. Decided wrongly.

He started to move in, his arm coming up, probably for a finger jab to my chest or some other classic and stupid next- step- on- the- road- to- violence. He didn't know that I don't believe in steps. I like to get where I'm going by the shortest route possible.

But before I could move in and drop him, Delilah stepped between us. She had been so quiet, and the guy had been so focused on me, that it took him a moment to adjust. He paused and started to say something. But he never had a chance to get it out.

Delilah snapped a rising front kick directly into his balls. He made a half-grunting, half-retching sound and doubled over. Delilah moved close and stomped his instep. He grunted again and tried to shuffle back. As his forward leg straightened, Delilah swiveled and thrust a sidekick into the side of his knee. There was a sickening snap and he spilled to the ground with a shriek. I saw her measuring the distance. Then she stepped in and kicked him full-on soccer style, directly in the face. Blood shot from his nose, and he shrieked again, like a field mouse being torn apart by a falcon.

Delilah stopped and looked at the other three. There was no particular challenge in her expression, just a question: Who wants to go next?

They all looked wide-eyed from her to their twisting, wailing compatriot, then back again. Finally one of them stammered, 'Why, why'd you have to do that?'

If I had been feeling more talkative or even just kindly inclined, I would have explained that it was called a 'finishing move.' The idea is that, when your attackers are just bullies, not real operators, you do something so nasty, so gratuitously damaging, to one of them that the collective mindset of the rest veers from Let's kick some ass! to something more like Thank God it wasn't me! And while they're thus momentarily paralyzed with schadenfreude, you get to walk away unmolested.

All they needed now was a task to focus their scattered attention. 'You'd better get your friend to a hospital,' I suggested evenly, knowing that would help. I touched Delilah's elbow and we moved off.

We changed cabs twice on the way to the hotel. No sense making it easy for anyone to inquire about who we were or where we might have been going. We just kept our heads down and our mouths shut.

Back at La Florida, I let us into the room and locked the door behind us. The bed had been neatly turned down, the lights lowered, and the serene atmosphere was slightly surreal after what had just happened in the street. Delilah pulled off her shoes and examined them. One of them must have had blood on it, because she took it into the bathroom. I heard water run, then stop. A moment later she returned and put the shoes down together by the window. Then she sat on the bed and looked at me, her cheeks still hot and flushed.

'Sorry about that,' she said.

I shrugged. 'Makes me glad that time in Phuket was at least half-consensual. I guess I'd be limping right now if it hadn't been.'

We both laughed at that, harder than the comment really warranted, and I realized we were still giddy. The aftermath of violence is usually like that. I wondered if she recognized the signs, as I did.

When our laughter subsided, I said, 'I wouldn't have stopped to engage them, though. I would have just gone right through them, before they had a chance to get themselves worked up.'

She nodded. 'I realized afterward that's what you were thinking. But I don't have your upper-body strength. I have to play it differently. Plus, you have to admit, I can bring a certain element of surprise to the equation that you can't.'

'That's true. I guess we'll have to get used to each other.' I wasn't sure about the way that sounded, so I added, 'To the way we do things.' No, that wasn't right either. 'So we can... handle situations like that better.'

Her eyes softened and she smiled just slightly, and I felt she was seeing right through me. 'You think we should get used to each other?' she asked, ignoring my stupid qualifications.

I looked at her. I didn't know what to say.

'I don't think it's a bad idea,' she said, still smiling gently. 'I've been thinking about it myself.'

'You have?'

'Sure. Haven't you?'

I sat down on the bed next to her. My heart started kicking harder.

'Yeah, I've been thinking about it.'

She put her hand on my thigh and squeezed. 'Good.'

I had to tell her. And if I didn't tell her now, later it would seem like deceit.

'But just recently, right after the last time we talked, I got some… news.'

The pressure from her hand lessened. 'Yes?'

'Remember when we were talking at the Peninsula in Hong Kong?' I asked. My words were coming out fast, but I couldn't slow them down. 'The night you told me about Dov. I told you there was a woman, a civilian I'd screwed things up with.'

'I remember.'

'Well, it looks like, the last time I was with her, which was before I met you, we didn't… we weren't that careful. So it seems…'

'Oh, merde…'

'So it seems there's a child. A boy.'

There was a long pause. I sat there, my heart still kicking, wondering which way this was going to go.

Delilah said, 'She contacted you?'

I shook my head. 'I have a friend in Japanese intelligence. He got hold of some surveillance photos of the woman and the child, taken by my enemies. These people don't know how to find me, so they're hoping I'll reappear in the woman's life. They're watching her for that.'

'Is she in danger?'

'No. I don't think so.'

'What's her name?'

I paused, but I didn't want it to seem as if I was holding anything back. 'Midori.'

'Pretty name.'

'Yeah.'

'These people… they're hoping you'll hear about the child? And that hearing will make you go to Midori?'

'It looks like that, yes.'

'What are you going to do?'

'I don't know.'

'I think you do. Otherwise, you wouldn't have brought it up.'

I rubbed my temples and thought. 'I'm not even sure the child is mine. But I have to know. You can understand that, can't you?'

There was another long pause. Her hand was still on my thigh, but it felt like an afterthought now.

After a moment, she said, 'I can. But from what you've said, right now, Midori and the boy aren't in any danger. If you go to them, you might put them in danger, and yourself, too.' She paused, then added, 'But you know that.'

'Yeah.'

She took her hand off my leg. 'Well, it's not as though I was expecting us to figure out our crazy situation in just a few days together. It was going to take time no matter what. So you should do what you have to.'

I looked at her. 'I'm sorry.'

She shook her head. 'It's not your fault.' Then she laughed. 'Things are never easy for us, are they?'

'Should I not have told you? We don't have much time together, and I didn't want to ruin it.'

'You didn't ruin anything. I'm glad you told me. It was respectful.'

'What do we do now?'

'We enjoy the time we have together. Like always.'

But I didn't want it to be like always. I wanted it to be more than that, and so, I was beginning to understand, did she.

I wanted to tell her all that. But I didn't. I just said, 'Thank you.'

She shook her head and smiled. 'I'm going to take a bath. You want to join me?'

I looked at her, still wanting to say more, still not knowing how.

'A bath would be good,' I said.

Later, Delilah lay next to Rain in the dark. Pale light from a half-moon shone through one of the windows, and she watched him sleep in that almost spookily silent way of his. Most people would be wired all night after a run-in like the one they'd had earlier — she was — but Rain had dropped off almost immediately after they got in bed.

He could be so gentle with her when it was just the two of them that it was hard to remember what he was capable of. But she'd seen his other side before, first on Macau, then in Hong Kong, and she'd felt it surface again tonight in the Barri Gòtic. She wouldn't have told him, but she'd interceded with those drunken Brits in part because she was afraid of what Rain might do if she didn't. She'd noticed him palm something from his front pocket during the confrontation, and assumed it was a knife. She'd hurt that guy badly tonight, it was true. But she was pretty sure Rain would have killed him.

Before going to bed, they'd made love again in the bath. She was glad of that, and took it as a good sign. They had a new situation to deal with, true, as it seemed they always did, but it didn't affect their fundamental chemistry. She hoped it wasn't the situations that were fueling the chemistry. She'd had affairs like that, where it was the illicitness, or the danger, or some similar thrill that kept the thing going. She didn't want that with Rain. She wanted something more stable. Something…

She smiled. The word that had come to her, and that she didn't want to say, was lasting.

She'd been aware of these feelings before meeting him here, but she hadn't fully acknowledged them. She'd been afraid to. But now that she was faced with the prospect of losing him, of another woman who'd thrown a trump card down on the. table, she couldn't hide from her hopes, either.

She realized she was thinking in Hebrew, and that was strange. French was her default setting for matters of the heart. The one exception was Dov, and she realized with a pang that somewhere along the line Rain must have come to occupy a similar place in her consciousness, the place where she kept her first language, her first love, perhaps her first self.

She watched him. It was good with this man lying next to her, it really was. It wasn't what she had with Dov, but how could it be? She had known Dov before she was formed, when she was guileless, even defenseless. When she was just a girl, in fact. That girl was long gone, so how could she expect a love like hers?

But there were elements of what she had with Rain that she hadn't had with Dov, or with anyone. She and Rain were of the same world. Each understood the other's habits and didn't judge the other's past. They recognized and accepted the weight they each carried from the things they'd done. Both knew that weight irrevocably separated them from civilian society, and at the same time brought them together like some secret sign.

On top of all of which, she couldn't deny, was some astonishing personal chemistry, and the sex that went along with it.

But she didn't think it was love, exactly. It was more like … the possibility of love. She wondered for a moment what the difference was, or whether she would ever even know the difference, but she didn't want to think about that now.

She doubted he was seeing things clearly, and that concerned her. His tradecraft was superb, but as far as she knew he'd never before had to use it when he was this emotionally involved. He could screw up. He could get killed. And for what?

He was taking a risk in going to see Midori and the child. He'd acknowledged as much. And a man like Rain would never take a risk like that unless there was something serious he was hoping to gain from it.

She considered for a moment. What do men do when they're facing a hard decision? They defer it by trying to collect more data. Maybe that's all he was up to. But it hurt to know there was even a decision to make.

She tried always to be realistic, to keep her hopes in check. She knew she had no future in her organization. They used her for the things she was good at, but would never trust her with real power. And she'd long ago accepted that, after the things she'd done, she could never have a normal life. She could never have a family. She could never let someone get that close.

Except… Rain had been getting that close. Which was why what he'd told her tonight hurt. Worse than hurt. It ached in a place she couldn't describe, a place she hadn't even known was part of her.

Their reservation was for a week, but she didn't know now how long he was going to stay. She realized this could be their last time together. Even their last night.

Maybe the child wasn't his. That was possible; he'd said so. Or the woman would otherwise reject him. Or something else would happen to make this turn out the way she wanted it to.

She watched him sleep, and was surprised at how possessive she suddenly felt. And threatened. And angry.

She wasn't helpless, of course. There were things she could do to create the right outcome.

She'd gotten a little more information from Rain in the bath. Not much — just that he was going to New York. But combined with the name he'd mentioned, and a few other details she remembered from Hong Kong, it ought to be enough. She'd be looking for a Japanese female, first name Midori, who emigrated to the U.S. from Japan in the last three years, was currently residing in New York, and who gave birth to a boy, probably in New York, in the last eighteen months. Her organization had found people before with a lot less to go on than that.

She lay there for a long time, struggling with warring impulses: hope and fear, sympathy and anger, temptation and guilt. Eventually, just before moonlight gave way to sun, she slept.