"Even with that Canadian passport, you can't go anywhere in Europe right now. You can't rent a car, you can't get on an airplane. You need me. And what if Pazner was lying? What if there are two men on that boat instead of just one?"
Gabriel had to admit she had point.
"You're a fool to do this, Chiara. You'll destroy your career."
"No, I won't," she said. "I'll tell them that you forced me to accompany you against my will."
Gabriel looked up at the motor yacht. It was growing larger by degrees. Honor was due. Chiara had picked the perfect time to spring her trap.
"Why?" he asked. "Why do you want to do this?"
"Did my father tell you that his grandparents were among the elderly Jews who were removed from that home in the ghetto and deported to Auschwitz? Did he tell you that they died there, along with all the others?"
"He didn't mention that."
"Do you know why he didn't tell you? Because even now, even after all these years, he can't bring himself to speak of it. He can recite the name of every Venetian Jew who died at Auschwitz, but he
can't bring himself to talk about his own grandparents." She removed a Beretta from her jacket pocket and pulled the slide. "I'm coming with you to find that woman."
The Zodiac nudged against the stern of the motor yacht. Above them, a figure appeared on the deck and looked over the railing at a them. Gabriel tied off the line and held the boat steady while Chiara pulled herself up the ladder. Then he followed after her. By the time he reached the deck, the captain was standing with his arms in the air and a look of utter disbelief on his face.
"Sorry," Gabriel said. "I'm afraid there's been a slight change in our itinerary."
Chiara had brought a syringe and a bottle of sedative. Gabriel led the captain down to one of the staterooms below deck and bound his wrists and ankles with a length of line. The man struggled for a few seconds as Chiara pulled up his sleeve, but when Gabriel pressed his forearm against the man's throat, he relaxed and allowed Chiara to give him the injection. When he was unconscious, Gabriel checked the knots--tight enough to hold him, not tight enough to cut off the circulation to his hands and feet. "How long is the sedative supposed to last?" "Ten hours, but he's big. I'll give him another dose in eight." "Just don't kill the poor bastard. He's on our side." "He'll be fine."
Chiara led the way up to the bridge. A chart of the waters off Italy's western coast was spread on the table. She checked their position on the GPS display and quickly plotted a course. Then she powered up the engines and brought the yacht around to a proper heading. A moment later they were cruising north, toward the straits between Elba and Corsica.
She turned and looked at Gabriel, who was watching in admiration, and said, "We're going to need some coffee. Think you can handle that?"
"I'll do my best."
"Sometime tonight would be good."
"Yes, sir."
Shimon Pazner stood motionless on the beach, hands on his hips, shoes filled with seawater, trousers soaked to the knees, like a long-submerged statue being slowly revealed by the receding waters. He brought his radio to his lips and tried to raise Chiara one last time. Silence.
She should have been back an hour ago. There were two possibilities, neither pleasant. Possibility one? Something had gone wrong and they were lost. Possibility two? Alton ...
Pazner hurled his radio into the surf in disgust, a look of pure loathing on his face, and trod slowly back to the van.
THERE WAS just enough time for Lange for Eric Lange to catch the night train for Zurich. He directed Aziz to a quiet side street adjacent to the rail lines feeding out of the Stazione Termini and told him to shut down the engine. Aziz seemed puzzled. "Why do you want to be dropped here?"
"At the moment every police officer in Rome is looking for Gabriel Allon. Surely, they're watching the train stations and airports.
It's best not to show your face there unless it's absolutely necessary."
The Palestinian seemed to accept this explanation. Lange could see a train easing out of the station. He waited patiently to take his leave.
"Tell Hussein that I'll contact him in Paris when things have cooled down," Lange said.
"I'm sorry we weren't successful tonight."
Lange shrugged. "With a bit of luck, we'll get another chance."
The train was suddenly next to them, filling the car with a metallic screeching. Lange saw his chance. He opened the door and stepped out of the car. Aziz leaned across the front seat and called out, but his words were drowned out by the sound of the train.
"What?" Lange asked, cupping his ear. "I can't hear you."
"The gun," Aziz repeated. "You forgot to give me the gun." Ah, yes.
Lange removed the silenced Stechkin from his coat pocket and pointed it toward Aziz. The Palestinian reached out for it. The first shot pierced the palm of his hand before tearing into his chest cavity. The second left a neat circle above his right eye.
Lange dropped the gun on the passenger seat and walked into the station. The Zurich train was boarding. He found his compartment in the first-class sleeper carriage and stretched out in the comfortable berth. Twenty minutes later, as the train slipped through the northern suburbs of Rome, he closed his eyes and was immediately asleep.
TIBERIAS, ISRAEL
The call from Lev did not awaken Shamron. Indeed, he had not closed his eyes since the first urgent flash from Rome that Gabriel and the girl were missing. He lay in bed, the telephone a few inches from his ear, listening to Lev's histrionics while Ge'ulah stirred softly in her sleep. The indignity of aging, he thought. Not long ago, Lev was a green recruit, and Shamron was the one who did the screaming. Now, the old man had no choice but to hold his tongue and bide his time.
When the tirade ended, the line went dead. Shamron swung his feet to the floor, pulled on a robe, and walked outside to his terrace overlooking the lake. The sky in the east was beginning to turn pale blue with the coming dawn, but the sun had not yet appeared over the ridge of the hills. He dug through the pockets of the robe, looking for cigarettes, hoping against hope that Ge'ulah hadn't found them. It filled him with a sense of great personal victory when his stubby fingers came upon a crumpled packet.
He lit one and savored the bite of the harsh Turkish tobacco on his tongue. Then he lifted his gaze and let it wander for a moment over the view. He never tired of it, this window on his private corner of the Promised Land. It was no accident the vista faced eastward. That way Shamron, the eternal sentinel, could keep watch on Israel's enemies.
The air smelled of a coming storm. Soon the rains would arrive, and once more the land would run with floodwater. How many more floods would he see? In his most pessimistic moments, Shamron wondered how many more the children of Israel would see. Like most Jews, he was gripped by an unwavering fear that his generation would be the last. A man much wiser than Shamron had called the Jews the ever-dying people, a people forever on the verge of ceasing to be. It had been Shamron's mission in life to rid his people of that fear, to wrap them in a blanket of security and make them feel safe. He was haunted by the realization that he had failed.
He scowled at his stainless-steel wristwatch. Gabriel and the girl had been missing for eight hours. It was Shamron's affair, but it was blowing up in Lev's face. Gabriel was getting closer to identifying the killers of Benjamin Stern, but Lev wanted no part of it. Little Lev, thought Shamron derisively. The craven bureaucrat. A man whose innate sense of caution rivaled the daring and audacity of Shamron.
"Do I need this, Ari?" Lev had screamed. "The Europeans are accusing us of behaving like Nazis in the territories, and now one of your old killers is accused of trying to assassinate the Pope! Tell me where I can find him. Help me bring him in before this thing destroys this beloved service of yours once and for all."