Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

amused and comfortable, out into the big
    entrance hall. People wandered up and down the wide, curving staircase. He cruised
    through a billiards room and a dining room. Everywhere people were having sex in
    the open. More women must have been brought in after the group he saw arriving.
    At the end of the hall, two male voices issued from a partly open door,
    conversing in Polish. Kael walked slowly past and looked in. Behind a desk, a small,
    thin man sat talking. He poured vodka freely into a tumbler and drank it neat.
    “Make sure everyone is happy. Bring up more champagne,” he told the other man.
    Kael made his way back to the stairs and walked up. He‟d been in the house
    eight minutes already, and he had told Mattie he would be only twenty. The
    bedroom doors all stood ajar, revealing men having sex with unwilling girls while
    their friends watched. The laughter and catcalls were sickening. He looked carefully
    from one face to the next.
    But there was still no sign of Clement.
    At the end of the long hallway, one door was closed, and Kael made his way
    toward it. If he walked in on something that was of no interest, he would apologize

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    Fyn Alexander

    and leave. But he knew Clement was somewhere in the house. Quietly he opened
    the door.
    On the bed, lying on top of someone was a man he knew at once to be Clement,
    though he saw him only from the back. They were still unaware of his presence as
    he closed the door and went silently to the bed. The wide blue eyes of the girl
    beneath Clement met his. Kael pressed his forefinger to his lips and pulled the
    syringe from his pocket. He removed the protective sheath and pushed the needle
    into Clement‟s neck. With his other hand, he pulled him off the girl, letting him
    slide, senseless, to the floor.
    For a moment, Kael, a man who had seen everything, felt himself stupidly
    naive. Conran had told him Clement went there to be supplied with young girls, but
    he had not been expecting this. The child lying on the bed was no more than eight
    or nine years old, a thin, fragile creature with long blonde hair and a blank look in
    her eyes.
    Taking several deep breaths, he allowed the stillness that kept him safe to
    settle over him. If he got angry, he would lose focus and frighten the child, and if
    she started screaming, he would have to leave without the target.
    Clement‟s clothes lay on the floor, and as hurriedly as he could, Kael pulled the
    man‟s trousers and shirt back on. “What‟s your name?” he asked the child in
    French. She made no response, so he tried Polish and finally Russian.
    “Ekaterina,” she answered.
    “How old are you?”
    “Nine,” she said quietly.
    “How did you get here, to this house?”
    “A man brought me.”
    “From where? Where did you live?”
    “I don‟t remember. I was born in Russia.”
    Kael slapped Clement‟s face several times to bring him back to partial
    consciousness. When he seemed to be coming round, he pulled Clement to his feet
    and drew the man‟s arm around his neck as if he was supporting a drunken friend.
    Watching him work, the child put on a frilly blue dress. She looked lovely, like an
    ordinary little girl going to a birthday party. “Are you taking me with you?”
    A series of possibilities ran through Kael‟s head. Computing the outcome of
    each one instantly, he concluded within seconds that he would never be able to get
    Clement and the child out of there without alerting someone. “No, I can‟t.”
    “Please take me with you.” Kael was confused. Why would she want to go with
    him? The poor kid should be terrified of men. “I‟ll be good. I won‟t be any trouble.
    Please don‟t leave me here.”
    “I‟ll come back for you.” He had no idea why he said that, knowing he couldn‟t
    possibly come back. “You can‟t tell anyone I was here. If anyone asks where this
    man went, you tell them he went outside.” It was impossible to return for her; he

    Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

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    had to focus on his target. “I want you to hide in the wardrobe and remain
    absolutely quiet until the party‟s over. Can you do that?”
    She nodded and ran to the wardrobe, where she pulled open the door. “When
    will you come?”
    “In a few days. Be brave,” he said, pulling Clement to his feet.
    “Shall I stay in the wardrobe till you come back?” Only a child would say
    something like that. Kael nodded and watched her close the door, but she popped
    her head out again.