Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

no intention of answering any questions or revealing any personal
    information.

    Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

    91

    “There‟s a bloke with a really weird reputation that no one knows who the hell
    he is, but you know what rumors are like. They call him the Black Widow because
    he has sex with his targets before he kills them. He probably doesn‟t even exist, but
    Denbigh reckoned it was you. He was mouthing off about it after Herstmonceux.”
    “Denbigh is no longer working for SIS.”
    “Was it because of you? You know…after the castle weekend?”
    “He‟s the wrong sort,” Kael said.
    “I know. He was a bastard. He hates you. I can‟t believe you threw him over a
    wall. Everyone was thrilled.” She giggled. She had the cutest laugh, and Kael found
    himself smiling but quickly controlled it.
    “Put a foot wrong and I‟ll throw you over a wall too,” he warned.
    “Yes, sir.” Still smiling but looking a little wary, she said, “I believe that.”
    “Now, let‟s get to the location so I can decide what I‟m going to do tonight.”
    Kael paid the bill and held the door on the way out. If anyone remembered
    them, they would have seen a nice, professional-looking French couple on a
    weekend excursion.
    The house was about twenty-five minutes from the center of Provins. Set well
    back off a narrow country lane, it was a grand mansion surrounded by a high brick
    wall with black wrought-iron security gates at the beginning of a sweeping
    driveway. “Keep driving past. Don‟t slow down or look at the house,” Kael told
    Mattie.
    About a mile from the house, Kael ordered her to pull over into a lay-by. “I‟m
    going back on foot to get the feel of the place. But at this point, I think I‟m going to
    secure the target after dark. You sit here, and if anyone looks suspicious, act as if
    you are stopping for a smoke. Do you smoke? The French are always puffing away.”
    “I don‟t smoke, but”—she pulled out a cigarette case and lighter—“I can in a
    pinch.”
    Kael smiled. “You‟ve done a good job of fitting in.” The look on her face told
    him she was eating up his praise. “Stay here.”
    The landscape was wide-open fields with copses of trees. The air was brisk but
    dry and sunny. At the mansion, a narrow lane ran around the perimeter of the wall,
    allowing access to different parts of the grounds through gates in the wall. Kael
    easily scaled the ten-feet high wall near a large, spreading oak tree and used the
    branches for cover as he looked over. There was no activity at all in the extensive
    gardens. He pulled out a small pair of binoculars and scanned the big windows.
    People, mostly men, were moving around inside. He pocketed the binoculars and
    looked about for dogs, but there weren‟t any. That would make things easier.
    Levering himself off the wall, he dropped to the ground. It took about fifteen
    minutes for him to reconnoiter the grounds and the exterior of the house and to
    orient in his mind the floor plan Conran had shown him. There were eight
    bedrooms, and Clement was believed to be staying there, so one of them was his,
    and very probably one at the back to keep him out of the way.

    92
    Fyn Alexander

    The sound of cars driving up to the house caught Kael‟s attention, and using
    the ornamental shrubbery around the house for cover, he made his way around to
    the front. Four cars had pulled into the sweeping, paved drive, and as many as
    twelve young women, some looking no more than fifteen years old, got out. Their
    eyes were wide, their clothing disheveled as though they had been roughed up. All
    of them looked terrified. There were two men per car, and they ushered the girls
    straight to the door.
    “In the house. Get in!” they shouted in Russian.
    Three men wandered out onto the wide steps, and among them Kael spotted
    Clement. He looked at the thinnest, youngest-looking girl, his face a case study in
    lust. Kael‟s stomach turned.
    Piece of shit.
    When the men and girls disappeared into the house and closed the door, Kael
    made his way toward the gate near the oak tree. With a switchblade, he broke the
    lock and walked out, heading back to Mattie. Another car was pulled up behind
    theirs, with a family eating a picnic. Mattie stood leaning against the car,
    pretending to smoke a cigarette. When Kael approached, she called out, “ Chéri, vous
    y êtes .”
    He smiled, and they got into the car and drove off.
    “He‟s there, and by the looks of