Gabriel Allon 01 - The Kill Artist Read online

  He closed his eyes again and this time drifted into a restless sleep. The last image he saw before slipping into unconsciousness was Jacqueline and the woman seated in the airport café, rendered as an Impressionist street scene, and standing in the background was the ghostly, translucent figure of Tariq, beckoning Gabriel forward with an exquisite Van Dyck hand.

  36

  PARIS

  Yusef took a taxi from the airport to the center of the city. For two hours he moved steadily about Paris—by Métro, by taxi, and on foot. When he was confident he was alone, he walked to an apartment house in the Sixteenth Arrondissement not far from the Bois de Boulogne. On the wall in the entranceway was a house phone and next to the phone a list of occupants. Yusef pressed the button for 4B, which bore the name Guzman in faded blue script. When the door opened he stepped quickly inside, crossed the foyer, and rode the lift up to the fourth floor. He knocked on the door. It was opened instantly by a stout man with steel blue eyes and strawberry blond hair. He pulled Yusef inside and quietly closed the door.

  It was early evening in Tel Aviv when Mordecai stepped out of his office in the top-floor executive suite and made his way down the corridor toward Operations. As he entered the room a pair of Lev’s black-eyed desk officers stared at him contemptuously over their computer terminals.

  “Is he still in?”

  One of the officers pointed toward Lev’s office with the tip of a chewed pencil. Mordecai turned and walked down the corridor. He felt like a stranger in a besieged village. Outsiders were not welcome in Lev’s realm, even if the outsider happened to be the second-most-senior officer in the service.

  He found Lev seated in his cheerless office, hunched forward, elbows resting on the desk, long hands folded at the last knuckle and pressed against his temples. With his bald head, protruding eyes, and tentacle-like fingers, he looked very much like a praying mantis. As Mordecai moved closer, he could see that it was not a case file or field report that held Lev’s attention but a large volume on the beetles of the Amazon Basin. Lev closed the book deliberately and pushed it aside.

  “Is there something going on in Canada I should know about?” Mordecai asked.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I was reviewing the expense reports from Ottawa station, and there was a minor discrepancy in the payouts for the support staff. I thought I’d save a few minutes and deal with it by telephone rather than cable. It really is just a minor thing. I thought that Zvi and I could clear it up in a moment or two.”

  Lev drummed his fingers impatiently on the desk. “What does this have to do with Operations?”

  “I couldn’t find Zvi. In fact I couldn’t find anyone. It seems your entire Ottawa station is missing.”

  “What do you mean missing?”

  “I mean nowhere to be found. Gone without explanation.”

  “Who did you speak to?”

  “A girl from the code room.”

  “What did she say?”

  “That Zvi and all his field personnel took off in a hurry a few hours ago.”

  “Where’s the old man?”

  “Somewhere in Europe.”

  “He just came back from Europe. Why did he go this time?”

  Mordecai frowned. “You think the old man tells me anything? That old bastard is so secretive that half the time I don’t think he even knows where he’s going.”

  “Find him,” Lev said.

  37

  MONTREAL

  Leila rented a car at the airport. She drove very fast along an elevated motorway. To their right lay an icy river; to their left freezing fog drifted over a vast rail yard like the smoke of battle. The lights of downtown Montreal floated in front of them, obscured by a veil of low cloud and falling snow. Leila drove as if she knew the way.

  “You’ve been here before?” Leila asked. It was the first time she had spoken to Jacqueline since the café at Charles de Gaulle in Paris.

  “No, never. How about you?”

  “No.”

  Jacqueline folded her arms against her body and shivered. The heater was roaring, but it was still so cold in the car she could see her breath. “I don’t have clothes for this kind of cold,” she said.

  “Lucien will buy you whatever you need.”

  So, Lucien was meeting her here in Montreal. Jacqueline blew on her hands. “It’s too cold to go shopping.”

  “All the best boutiques in Montreal are underground. You’ll never have to set foot outside.”

  “I thought you said you’ve never been here.”

  “I haven’t.”

  Jacqueline leaned her head against the window and briefly closed her eyes. They had sat in business class, Leila across the aisle and one row behind. An hour before landing, Leila had gone to the lavatory. On the way back to her seat she’d handed Jacqueline a note: Go through immigration and customs alone and meet me at the Hertz counter.

  Leila turned off the motorway and turned onto the boulevard René Lévesque. Wind howled through the canyons of high-rise office buildings and hotels. The snowbound sidewalks seemed to have been depopulated. She drove a few blocks, stopped in front of a large hotel. A porter rushed out and opened Jacqueline’s door. “Welcome to the Queen Elizabeth. Checking in?”

  “Yes,” said Leila. “We can manage the bags, thank you.”

  The porter gave her a claim check for the car and climbed behind the wheel. Leila led Jacqueline into the large, noisy lobby. It was filled with Japanese tourists. Jacqueline wondered what on earth could bring them to Montreal in the dead of winter. Leila deliberately switched her bag from her right hand to her left. Jacqueline forced herself to look the other way. She had been trained in the art of impersonal communication; she knew a good piece of body talk when she saw it. The next act was about to begin.

  Tariq watched them from the hotel bar. His appearance had changed since Lisbon: charcoal-gray wool trousers, a cream-colored pullover, Italian blazer. He was neatly shaved and wore small gold-rimmed eyeglasses with clear lenses. He had added a touch of gray to his hair.

  He had seen the photograph of the woman called Dominique Bonard, but he was still taken aback by her appearance. He wondered how Shamron and Gabriel Allon could justify putting a woman like that into such danger.

  He glanced around the lobby. He knew that they were here, somewhere, hidden among the tourists and the businessmen and the hotel employees: Shamron’s watchers. Tariq had stretched their resources by taking the woman from London to Paris and then Montreal. But surely they had regrouped and moved their assets into place. He knew that the moment he approached the woman he would be revealing himself to his enemies for the first time.

  He found that he was actually looking forward to it. Finally, after all these years in the shadows, he was about to step into the light. He wanted to shout: Here I am. See, I’m a man like you, flesh and blood, not a monster. He was not ashamed of his life’s work. Quite the opposite. He was proud of it. He wondered if Allon could say the same thing.

  Tariq knew that he had one major advantage over Allon. He knew he was about to die. His life was over. He had survived on the knife edge of danger to be betrayed in the end not by his enemies but by his own body. He would use the knowledge of his impending death like a weapon, the most powerful he had ever possessed.

  Tariq stood up, smoothed the front of his blazer, and crossed the lobby.

  They rode an elevator to the fourteenth floor, walked along a quiet corridor, stopped at room 1417. He opened the door with an electronic card key, then slipped the card into his pocket. When Jacqueline entered the room, Shamron’s awareness and memory drills took over: small suite, separate bedroom and sitting room. On the coffee table was a room service tray with a half-eaten salad. A garment bag lay on the floor, open, still packed.

  He held out his hand. “Lucien Daveau.”

  “Dominique Bonard.”

  He smiled: warm, confident. “I was told by my associates that you were a very beautiful woman, but I’
m afraid their descriptions did not do you justice.”

  His mannerisms and speech were all very French. If she had not known he was a Palestinian, she would have assumed he was a well-to-do Parisian.

  “You’re not what I expected,” she said truthfully.

  “Oh, really? What did you expect?” He was already testing her—she could sense it.

  “Yusef said you were an intellectual. I suppose I was expecting someone with long hair and blue jeans and a sweater with holes in it.”

  “Someone more professorial?”

  “Yes, that’s the word.” She managed a smile. “You don’t look terribly professorial.”

  “That’s because I’m not a professor.”

  “I’d ask what you are, but Yusef told me not to ask too many questions, so I suppose we’ll just have to make pleasant small talk.”

  “It’s been a long time since I made pleasant small talk with a beautiful woman. I think I’m going to enjoy the next few days immensely.”

  “Have you been in Montreal long?”

  “You just asked me a question, Dominique.”

  “I’m sorry. I just—”

  “Don’t apologize. I was just joking. I arrived this morning. As you can see, I haven’t had a chance to unpack.”

  She walked from the sitting room into the bedroom.

  He said, “Don’t worry. I intend to sleep on the couch tonight.”

  “I thought we were supposed to be posing as lovers.”

  “We are.”

  “What if the hotel staff notices that you slept on the couch?”

  “They might assume we’re quarreling. Or they might assume that I was working late and didn’t want to disturb you and that I fell asleep on the couch.”

  “They might.”

  “Yusef said you were intelligent, but he neglected to say that you also possess a conspiratorial mind.”

  It had played out long enough. Jacqueline was proud of the fact that she was guiding the conversation and not he. It gave her the sense that at least she was in control of something.

  “Do you mind if I smoke?”

  “Not at all.”

  She placed a cigarette between her lips and struck the lighter Shamron had given her. She could almost imagine the radio waves flying out, searching for a receiver.

  “I didn’t bring clothing for this kind of weather. Leila said you would take me out shopping for something warmer.”

  “I’d be happy to. I apologize for the way we had to keep you in the dark about where you were going. I assure you it was quite necessary.”

  “I understand.” A pause. “I suppose.”

  “Answer one question for me, Dominique. Why did you agree to come on this mission with me? Do you believe in what you are doing? Or are you doing it simply for love?”

  The coincidence of his question was almost too vulgar to contemplate. She calmly placed the lighter back into her handbag and said, “I’m doing it because I believe in love. Do you believe in love?”

  “I believe in the right of my people to have a homeland of our own choosing. I’ve never had the luxury of love.”

  “I’m sorry—” She was about to call him Lucien, but for some reason she stopped herself.

  “You don’t want to say my name, Dominique? Why won’t you call me Lucien?”

  “Because I know it isn’t your real name.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Yusef told me.”

  “Do you know my real name?”

  “No, Yusef wouldn’t tell me.”

  “Yusef is a good man.”

  “I’m very fond of him.”

  “Is Dominique really your name?”

  She was caught off guard. “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s a simple question, really. I want to know if your name is really Dominique.”

  “You’ve seen my passport.”

  “Passports can easily be forged.”

  “Maybe for people like you!” she snapped. “Listen, Lucien, or whatever the fuck your name is, I don’t like your question. It’s making me uncomfortable.”

  He sat down and rubbed his temples. “I’m sorry, you’re right. Please accept my apology. The politics of the Middle East tend to make one paranoid after a while. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

  “I need to check my machine in London.”

  “Of course.” He reached out and pressed the speaker button on the telephone. “Tell me the number, and I’ll dial it for you.”

  She recited the number, and his fingers worked over the keypad. A few seconds later she heard the phone ringing—the two-beat moan of a British phone—followed by the sound of her own voice on the message tape. She pictured a technician, seated behind a computer console in Tel Aviv, reading the words Hotel Queen Elizabeth, Montreal, Room 1417. She reached out for the receiver, but he covered it with his hand and looked up at her. “I’d like to listen, if you don’t mind. Paranoia is creeping up on me again.”

  She had three messages. The first was from a woman who identified herself as Dominique’s mother. The second was from Julian Isherwood—he had misplaced a file and was wondering if she could give him a ring at some point to help him locate it. The third was from a man who didn’t identify himself. She instantly recognized the sound of Gabriel’s voice. “I just wanted you to know that I was thinking of you. If you need anything I’m here for you. See you soon, I hope. Cheers.”

  “You can hang up now.”

  He punched the speaker button and severed the connection. “That didn’t sound much like Yusef.”

  “It wasn’t Yusef. It was a man I knew before Yusef.”

  “It sounds to me as though this man still cares for you.”

  “No, he never really cared for me.”

  “But it’s obvious to me you cared for him. Perhaps you still do.”

  “I’m in love with Yusef.”

  “Ah, yes, I forgot.” He stood abruptly. “Let’s go shopping.”

  38

  MONTREAL

  Zvi Yadin met Gabriel and Shamron at the airport and drove them into Montreal. He had thick, curly hair, a rather shaggy full beard, and the body of a rugby player. Because he was large, people tended to think he was stupid, which he was not. Gabriel had spent time at the Academy with him. They had been paired for the physical combat course, despite the vast difference in their size. On the final day Yadin had broken two of Gabriel’s ribs. Gabriel had retaliated with an elbow to Yadin’s chin that dislocated his jaw. Later, when they were being patched up in the infirmary, Yadin had admitted that Shamron had put him up to it—that he had wanted to test Gabriel’s capacity for pain. Gabriel wished he had broken Shamron’s jaw instead.

  “They say it’s going to be thirty below tonight,” Yadin said as he sped along the motorway toward downtown. “I brought you some parkas and gloves. And I brought this for you, Gabriel.”

  He handed Gabriel a stainless steel combat case. Inside was a .22 Beretta target pistol. Gabriel stroked the barrel and the walnut grip. The gun felt cold. He closed the lid and placed the case beneath the seat.

  Shamron said, “Thanks for the weather update, Zvi, but where the hell is Jacqueline?”

  Yadin brought them quickly up-to-date. The flight from Paris had arrived twenty minutes late. Yadin’s team had picked them up after they cleared immigration and customs. The girl had rented a car from Hertz and driven downtown to the Hotel Queen Elizabeth. She’d handed Jacqueline to a man: forties, well dressed, decent-looking. They went upstairs to a room. Yadin had a sayan on the hotel staff: a senior concierge. He said the fellow in question had checked into the hotel earlier that day under the name Lucien Daveau. Room 1417.

  “Pictures?” Shamron asked hopefully.

  “No way, boss. Not possible under the circumstances.”

  “Was it Tariq?”

  “Could have been. Hard to say.”

  “What happened to the girl?”

  “After the handoff she left the hotel. She was
picked up by another car outside on the boulevard René Lévesque. I didn’t try to follow her. I didn’t think we could spare the personnel.”

  “How many people do you have?”

  “Three experienced men and that new girl you sent me from the Academy.”

  “How are they deployed?”

  “Two members of the team are in the hotel lobby pretending to be shopping. The other two are outside in the car.”

  Gabriel said, “Can our friend on the concierge desk get us inside the room?”

  “Sure.”

  “I want to put a glass on his telephone.”

  “No problem. I brought a kit from Ottawa. We can get another room at the hotel to set up a listening post. It will tie down one member of the team, though.”

  “Getting his phone is well worth one member of your team.”

  “I’ll use the new girl.”

  “No, I may need the girl for street work.”

  Yadin glanced at Shamron. “Now for the problems, boss.”

  “What problems?”

  “Lev.”

  “What about Lev?”

  “While I was waiting for you to arrive, I checked in with the station.”

  “And?”

  “Mordecai called on a routine housekeeping matter after we’d left. Obviously he told Lev the entire station was missing, because Lev fired off a cable from the operations center about a half hour later, wondering what the fuck was going on.”

  “What was Lev told?” Shamron said wearily.

  “I left a cover story in place with our secretary. She told Lev that we received a tip from a friend in the Canadian service that a member of Islamic Jihad might be living in Quebec City and that we had run up to QC to have a look at him. Lev sends another rocket: On whose authority? Please supply the name of IJ Activist. So on and so forth. You get the picture, boss.”

  Shamron swore softly. “Send him a message when you get home. Tell him it was a false alarm.”

  “Listen, boss, we go back a long way. But you’re going to retire again soon, and Lev may be running this place. He could make my life miserable. He enjoys that sort of thing. He’s a bastard.”