Angel and the Assassin 3: Sins of the Father

knew everything about him. To work at SIS,
    he’d had to hand over a copy of his birth certificate that had only his mum’s name on it.
    Father unknown. “No, I don’t think she does.”
    “Ask her.”
    “No! I asked her once, and she got very upset.”
    “I’ll see what I can find out. There’s very little about him on the Internet, but there
    must be some information somewhere.”
    For the second time in a few weeks, Kael asked Conran a question he would not
    normally ask anyone. Exposing himself emotionally was a thing he simply never did.
    Even to himself, he had admitted long ago that his emotions were neither deep nor
    refined. “You’ve accused me in the past of being evil. Do you believe that?”
    A little cough together with Conran moving several inches away from Kael on the
    bench proved the man’s nervousness. “You threatened to kill my children.”
    “How many fucking times do I have to tell you I wouldn’t have done it? You were
    refusing to cooperate in keeping Angel safe. What was I supposed to do?”
    “Not that.” Conran met his gaze. “I’m not sure about evil, but it takes a certain
    type of individual to kill perfect strangers on command.”
    “What about the person who orders them to do it?”
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    “Me?” Conran shrugged. “People like me are cowardly. We sit behind desks and
    order people like you to put yourselves in danger. Rather like politicians sending young
    men and women to war.”
    “So you’re the coward and I’m the evil bastard?”
    Conran sighed. “It’s for the greater good. Everything we do is for the greater
    good.”
    Crossing him arms over his chest, Kael looked at him. “That old chestnut again?
    Keep believing it if it makes you feel better.”
    “It’s not as if we slaughter people willy-nilly.”
    “Could you do what I do?”
    “No.”
    “Because you’re scared?”
    “No, because I do not have it in me to kill unless, perhaps, I was protecting my
    wife and children, but most people would kill in those circumstances. Why are you
    questioning yourself? I thought you liked your job.”
    That’s what scares me sometimes . “I do. I love it.” A ferry full of early tourists caught
    Kael’s attention. The tour guide would be pointing out the building as the headquarters
    of MI6, and references to James Bond would be made. “I feel immense satisfaction at a
    kill well done.”
    “I’ve never come across another operative who uses a scalpel as their weapon of
    choice. Even the most hardened like a little distance between themselves and their
    targets. And they never have sex with the man first.”
    “I don’t do that anymore, not now I’ve got Angel. It would be disloyal. He’s my
    sweetheart.” Thinking of Angel always made him smile. “I need to kill someone. It’s
    been too long. I need a fix.”
    “Saunders.” He waited until Kael met his gaze.
    “What?”
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    177

    “Tell me you’re joking.”
    “I’m not joking. I never joke about things like that. I mean it. Give me a job.”
    “I can’t conjure up a target just because you have a bloodlust on you. For God’s
    sake, man. You make me very nervous when you say things like that. I know you killed
    Graham Clement in Bangkok last year.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The pedophile had deserved a bullet in
    the forehead, and anyway Kael had used it as a training exercise and allowed Angel to
    kill the pervert.
    “No one cried any tears when his body showed up in a river,” Conran said. “But
    still. I know it was you.”
    “In a river?” Kael looked at him. They had left the man in a back passage at a
    brothel that sold children to foreign sex tourists.
    “He was probably dumped there after you shot him so as not to bring attention to
    others in the child sex trade.” Placing a hand on Kael’s shoulder, Conran said, “Don’t
    look too closely at yourself. It will throw you off your game.”
    “I wouldn’t dream of it.” Without saying good-bye and without looking back,
    Kael rose and began to run home.

    * * * *
    The cheese cannelloni was delicious. Angel had made a big salad to serve with it,

    and when Kael finally sat on the couch with his glass of whisky, he was sufficiently
    distracted from thoughts about Romodanovsky to actually pay attention to his boy.
    “ I piatti vengono lavati, Papà .” Angel stood before him with a smile on his face.
    “Good boy. The