"Bel-Sidek's father!" Aaron blurted.
"Eh?"
The old soldier who lives up the street."
"Khadifa," Raheb interjected.
Aaron scowled at her. "The old guy with the bad leg from Dak-es-Souetta. WhenI was going out to work this morning there were people at his house. I gotnosy and went up there. He told me his father died during the night. I wasn'tsurprised because the old man had been bedridden since they moved in."
"Bel-Sidek," Naszif mused. "That fits. He sounds like the man who visitedReyha. He had a bad leg. She'd seen him before but didn't recall who he was.
He knew all of us. He didn't really believe Reyha had done anything. Hethought she had come here to visit Laella. But he wanted to be sure."
Aaron was disturbed by the man opposite him. This was not the Naszif to whomhe was accustomed. This Naszif was calm, collected, in complete control, andaltogether too businesslike. He did not know what to make of the apparentchange.
Naszif continued, "Reyha can be very stubborn. She refused to tell themanything till they gave Zouki back."
"Which they refuse to do because they'd lose their hold on you."
"No. According to the crippled man they can't do that because they don't havehim in the first place."
"What?"
"Yes. Despite the fact that they took me to see Zouki last night, this morningone of them is denying that they have him. And I think he was sincere. If he'dhad that advantage he would have used it. On the other hand, Reyha thinks sherecognized the voice of one of the men with the cripple, subject to hisorders, as that of one of the men who took me away last night."
Aaron had begun to get a bad feeling about this Naszif that he did not know.
He was up to something.
"Is there something going on inside the Living? Are there factions operatingwithout recourse to the established chain of command?"
"What are you doing, Naszif?"
"Thinking out loud. Consider. I'm sure the man who took me out last night, andwho was with bel-Sidek today, is a character named Hadribel. Hadribel is thenumber two man of the Living in the Shu. He was taking orders from bel-Sidek.
And bel-Sidek said, at least by implication, that the man who had died wasmore important than him. Who was that man, really? And who would dare murderhim?"
"That's enough, Naszif. I've figured out what you're doing. I'm not going tolet you use me. You had your one shot at getting me killed and got away withit. You don't get a second chance."
Naszif frowned, pretending he did not understand.
"Almost two hundred from our tower survived the Herodian prison camps, Naszif.
Most of them came back to Qushmarrah. Some work down at the yard. You rememberBig Turi? Bad Turi we called him sometimes. What do you think Turi would do ifsomeone told him it was our buddy Naszif that opened that postern that night?"
Naszif looked troubled. Laella said, "Aaron! You stop that kind of talk."
"Be quiet. And use your head. What happens after he fills me up witheverything he knows or guesses? The Herodians somehow get a sign, they grabme, and Naszif gets his message through. So what if old Aaron gets himselfbusted up some while they're getting him to tell them what he wants them toknow? He gets rid of Aaron and he gets rid of one of the ways he'svulnerable."
Laella looked at Naszif, whose face was a blank, then at Reyha, who stared ather hands still, shaking as she shed silent tears. "Reyha?"
Reyha said nothing. She did not look up.
Straining her old bones till their creak sounded in the silence, Raheb movedto the hearth where she began adding wood to the fire.
Aaron's throat was so tight he was afraid he was squeaking when he said, "Theguys who survived our outfit don't belong to the Living or anything, Naszif.
But they've got it all planned out, what they're going to do when they findout who opened that postern. It's going to take them a long time to get thatfar, but the last thing they're going to do is send him out to run through the streets without his skin on."
He could not believe this was him talking. Never in his life, that herecalled, had he threatened anyone.
"I've kept quiet for six years, out of concern and respect for Reyha andZouki. But now you've forfeited my silence by denying me and mine an equalconcern and respect. Now you have to buy my silence. You will go out of myhome and out of my life and forget I even exist. If you ever speak my name toanyone and I hear about it I'll see that yours is mentioned to those of ourcompany who survived."
Naszif met his gaze briefly, saw that there was nothing more that could besaid or done. He rose.
Raheb turned from the hearth. Clutching a large, greasy carving knife, shethrew herself at Naszif. Aaron did not move fast enough to deflect her assaultcompletely. The knife ripped a gash almost the length of Naszifs left arm.
It was eerie. Nobody made a sound. Faces pale, eyes filled with horror, theyall watched in silence as Aaron disarmed the old woman, who stopped strugglingthe instant he did so. In a calm voice she said, "Sixty thousand murdersblacken your soul, Naszif bar bel-Abek." She spat on him as Reyha, eyes stilldowncast, tried to look at his arm. "Sixty thousand curses upon your grave, may it be an early one."
Pale and terrified, Naszif backed toward the door. Reyha opened it for him.
They went out. Aaron closed it behind them.
Still there was no sound except a soft sniffle from Laella. Raheb went back toher chores. The boys clung to Mish, frightened. In some symbolic gesture hedid not understand himself, Aaron stabbed the carving knife into the door andleft it quivering there as he went to comfort his sons.
He eased back from the boys and told them, "Go hug Mom. She needs you." Theytoddled right over, somewhat reassured.
Aaron watched, the fear snarling inside him.
"Aaron?" Mish said in a small voice.
"Uhm?"
"When I was talking to Yoseh ... His brother Nogah said he stayed all nightin Tosh Alley last night. In the middle of the night, he said, he saw the mostbeautiful woman he's ever seen. She came from up the hill. She came down andstopped in front of our door for a few minutes. Then she disappeared in thefog."
"Uhm?" The fear grew stronger.
"That man said they thought a woman k-killed Mr. bel-Sidek's father. If Nogahsaw a beautiful woman, that couldn't have been Reyha."
"I suppose you're right."
Someone knocked.
Fear filled Aaron's home.
Bel-Sidek was just steps from his door when he saw the traitor and his womanleave the carpenter's home. What now? Didn't he have troubles enough? Now thetraitor was going to go roaming around anywhere he felt like?
He eased into shadow and let them pass. They did not notice. They wereengrossed in themselves. The woman moved with difficulty, still feeling theeffects of her stubbornness this morning. The traitor carried his left armoddly, as though it was injured.
The khadifas would begin arriving any moment. But this bore investigation.
With a resigned sigh he limped to the carpenter's door. He knocked.
The door opened. The coldness that came into the man's face was so intensebel-Sidek retreated a step. "May I come in?"
"No."
Forthright and rude, that answer flustered him. What could he do?
But the carpenter surrendered some of his advantage. He stepped outside, closed the door behind him. "We aren't interested in the games being playedaround here, old man. By you or anybody else. Leave us alone."
"Qushmarrah ..."
The carpenter spat at his feet. "You're not Qushmarrah. Thieves andextortioners, torturers of women and stealers of children, claiming they speakfor Qushmarrah?" He spat again.
Bel-Sidek could not restrain his anger. It had been piling up all day. "Aaron, we've never touched a child!"
"If you believe that, you're a fool. A fool without an idea what those who owehim allegiance are doing in his name. And for that I fear you more than I fearyou for all the knives you can send in the dark. A knife can kill a man but afool can kill a city."