‘Listen to me, Adrianna, you don’t need to understand. There isn’t time to make you understand. You just need to do exactly what I’m telling you. You need to climb through the window and out into the alley on the other side. The drop isn’t far and I’ve put some cardboard boxes on the ground outside that will break your fall so you don’t hurt yourself. You’ll find yourself in an alleyway. You must go left and then left again. You’ll come out on to a side street. A taxi will be waiting for you. Get into the back and sit directly behind the driver. Tell him to go straight to the airport. On the way, take out your cell phone and throw it out of the window. Tell the-’
‘My phone. Why? What’s going on? You’re scaring me.’
‘Tell him to hurry,’ Emmanuel continued. ‘Tell the driver you’ll pay him double if he steps on it. Show him the money if you have to. At the airport take out as much cash from an ATM as you can. Then get the first flight out, whatever it is, wherever it’s going. When you arrive at your destination, take another flight, the next available flight. It doesn’t matter where to. When you arrive you can go wherever you wish, but take a train or bus. Pay in cash. Don’t use any credit cards again.’
Tears welled in her eyes. She didn’t understand. Emmanuel was a whole other person. Intense. Frightening.
He grabbed a napkin and scribbled down a long number, an alphanumeric one and the name and address of a bank. ‘This is a numbered account. The balance of it is now yours. It should keep you going for a few years if you’re careful. Are you paying attention?’
‘Yes, yes. But I don’t-’
‘This last part is very important. You can’t go back to Geneva. You can’t go home. You have to stay moving. You can’t contact any of your friends or clients. And you can’t contact your brother in America. You can’t have anything to do with your old life.’
She felt nauseous. ‘How… how do you know about David?’
‘Listen to me, Adrianna. You’re in a lot of danger. That’s my fault, and I’m so sorry, but you have to do exactly what I’m telling you if I’m to protect you.’ He wrote another number on the napkin. ‘Call this number in a week’s time. Hopefully, I’ll have left a message to say everything’s okay and you can go home, or I’ll have left instructions. I’ll use a code so you know it’s from me.’
‘What code?’
He shook his head. ‘If I give you one now they’ll make me tell it to them. But you’ll know it’s from me, all right? If there is no message, or there is no code or the message asks you to meet me somewhere, you must ignore it and not call the number back under any circumstances. In which case you’ll never be able to go back home.’ He paused. ‘And whatever happens, you won’t see me again.’
She couldn’t stop the tears. She reached out a hand to touch his.
‘Stop crying,’ he said. ‘Stop it right now. If they see you crying, they’ll know.’
‘Who? Who will see? Who will know? Who will make you tell?’
‘Put that napkin in your bag and don’t lose it. It’s time to go.’
‘I don’t want to.’
‘Do you remember everything I’ve said?’
‘I don’t understand why you’re doing this.’ She squeezed his hand, seeking comfort. ‘Who will see? Emmanuel, what is going on?’
He snapped his hand away.
‘ Go,’ he snarled.
‘Who are you?’ she asked, wide-eyed.
‘Someone you don’t want to know.’
Adrianna folded up the napkin, subtly dabbed her eyes, stood and headed for the ladies’ room. She didn’t look back. Victor was glad of that. He didn’t want to see her face and the terror he’d put there. She pushed open the door to the restrooms. Then she was gone, for ever.
He finished his cold tea and paid the bill with cash, including a one hundred per cent tip. Better the waiter got his money than Mossad.
If he left this instant it might confuse them for him to be without Adrianna, and that might buy Victor enough time to create some distance. But if he left now, watchers in the area might notice a taxi and the woman who sat sobbing in the back. While he remained here at his table, Adrianna was sure to make it to the airport safely.
After ten minutes they would know for certain she wasn’t going to return, and that she must have snuck out the back. And that fact would tell them that Victor knew they were out there and he would have lost his only advantage. It would be too late to catch up with Adrianna, but they would take him at the first available opportunity.
When his watch showed it had been eleven minutes since Adrianna’s departure, Victor stood, unbuttoned his suit jacket, and stepped outside.
CHAPTER 62
The air was cool. The sky was cloudless. There was a full moon. The Indian restaurant stood just outside Sofia’s centre, in a dense commercial neighbourhood. The street out front was busy in the daytime, but at this time of night few establishments were open and the street was quiet. Pedestrians were sparse. The storefronts on the opposite side of the street were all dark. Some had security grilles. Cars were parked on either side of the road, but there was little traffic. Victor examined every person.
He went left because it would take him into central Sofia. More people there, more cars, more buses. More options. Plus there was access to Sofia’s metro system. It was relatively small and new, but he needed as many escape options as possible. He couldn’t know where or when the Kidon would strike and he needed terrain that would make their job more difficult while at the same time offering him the most advantages. A taxi was no good. He would be even easier to follow than on foot, and all they would have to do was get a car in front and a car behind and that would be it. He walked at a hurried pace. There was no point trying to act casual. They knew he knew.
He walked for four minutes along the same street. People walked ahead of him, behind him, on the opposite side of the road. Mostly men, the odd couple. No single women. He crossed over the street and looked in store windows to check the reflections of anyone walking behind on the far side of the road. No one, but there was a man and a woman on the same side as him. Not the couple with the camera. That would have been too obvious. These both looked in their thirties, both in reasonable shape, unremarkable clothes. Potentials.
He stood with his hand near his waistband, within a short distance of the gun tucked there. The couple didn’t react and walked straight past him.
He walked some more. After two minutes the couple stopped under a bus shelter and sat down. A perfectly normal action or a smart way to step out of the game now their target was behind them and out of sight. Victor kept the same pace as he passed. He used what windows he could to keep watching but within seconds he’d gone too far to get an angle.
Cars rolled by intermittently in both directions. Victor walked towards the flow of traffic on the near lane so a Kidon vehicle couldn’t come up behind him. Traffic was light. Too light for a van to roll up next to him without warning. The cars that went by were mostly small European sedans. He saw a blue four-door Peugeot that looked familiar, but it was hard to be sure.
He checked his watch. Adrianna should be almost at the airport by now. It was close to the city. Even if the Kidon had sent people there after realising what was happening, they wouldn’t catch up that lead. He willed her to do exactly as instructed and take the first flight out, whatever it may be.
He watched the unmistakable shape of a minivan approaching. It seemed to slow as it neared. He looked to the row of stores to his left. No alleyways or side streets. No flimsy doors or unbarred windows. He tensed in readiness. His best bet would be to sprint across the road the second the van got close, adopt a shooting stance, kill the driver and keep shooting until his gun clicked empty and he felt the burning sting of a bullet penetrating his flesh.
But the van drove by without slowing. In minutes Victor was the only pedestrian in sight and the space between passing vehicles grew enough to cause him concern. He had to get off the street. He took the next turning that presented itself.