Angel and the Assassin

anyone who strolled too near to Angel.
    “You have no choice. I want citizenship for the boy because he is staying here
    in England. I want him to have a future, just like you want for little Rupert over
    there.” He indicated the children whose mother sat on the grass beside them now.
    “Which one is Rupert?”
    “The oldest.” Conran spoke reluctantly, not wanting to give Kael any personal
    information.
    “What are the others called?”
    He paused before saying, “Hugh and Annabelle.”
    “Lovely,” Kael said.
    “Look, Saunders, you‟re asking too much. You should have killed that boy. You
    must be getting soft.”
    Kael clenched his fist again. “Don‟t tempt me, Stephen.” He said Stephen on
    purpose to remind him of their time in the dungeon. What angered Kael and
    frightened him was precisely that. Was he getting soft? “Nobody is going to hurt
    Angel, and I want him here in England to ensure that nobody hurts him.”
    “A man in your position cannot afford to have intimate relationships,
    especially not with a teenager. They‟re all volatile. Do you know he‟s only just
    turned eighteen?”
    “Yes, I know that.”
    “Why didn‟t you kill him?”
    “Because I didn‟t want to. Now get me a fucking British passport for him and
    do whatever you need to do to protect him from the boys who would come after
    him.” Kael stuffed his hand into the pocket of his leather jacket to finger the video
    camera.

    Angel and the Assassin
    123

    “It‟s out of the question.” Conran began to get up. “And there is definitely
    nothing I can do about Andresen‟s Bosnian cohorts.”
    Kael looked at him. “Tell me where they are; I‟ll take care of them.”
    “I can‟t. There‟s an operation in place already. Someone is going to go after
    that boy as soon as they know where he is, and it could be us or them. He‟s not
    safe.”
    “Sit down,” Kael ordered, pulling out the camera. “I want to show you
    something.”
    When he saw the camera, Conran swallowed hard and his tongue flicked out to
    wet his dry lips. “Oh God.”
    Kael waited until Conran sat beside him again and switched on the film. He
    had set it at the point where Conran, bent over the leather-topped table, was
    begging Kael to fuck him. The voice was unmistakably Conran‟s despite the fact
    that his back was to the camera at that moment. As if mesmerized, Conran watched
    himself being reamed, then watched as Kael removed his restraints. Conran turned
    to fully face the camera, naked, shaking, his cock still dripping fluids. Kael fast-
    forwarded to where he removed Conran‟s blindfold and he thanked Kael for taking
    care of him.
    “You bastard, you evil bastard.” Conran‟s face twisted with pain; his eyes filled
    with tears of frustration. “No one ever gets to win with you, do they? You‟re always
    on top.”
    “That‟s right; I always win,” Kael said very calmly. The memory of Angel, hurt
    and angry, calling him an anal-retentive asshole suddenly filled his head. He hadn‟t
    won that scrap; Angel had. “No one need see this video as long as you take care of
    my boy.”
    “Are you in love?” Conran tried to be sarcastic, but it was obvious he was very
    frightened of being found out and frustrated at his own helplessness.
    Anger tightened his muscles. He felt responsible for Angel. He was Angel‟s
    mentor and protector. He was not in love. “Don‟t be ridiculous. I‟ve never loved
    anyone in my life.”
    The little girl got up from the grass and began a stumbling run toward them.
    She threw herself on Conran‟s legs. “Daddy, play with me.” She looked at Kael, shy
    for a moment, and then smiled coyly. Kael never knew what to do with children. He
    had never wanted them. They were an alien species to him.
    “You‟re big,” she said. “Put me on your shoulders.”
    “You shouldn‟t talk to strangers,” Kael said with a stern expression.
    The child burst into tears and ran back to her mother.
    “For God‟s sake, Saunders, you terrified her,” Conran said.
    “You should teach her not to talk to strangers,” Kael said, though he wished he
    had not made the child cry. “If you don‟t protect my boy, Conran, the first thing I‟ll

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    Fyn Alexander

    do is take this video to the top brass at Vauxhall Cross. The fact that I‟m on it is
    irrelevant. They know what I am, and I don‟t have a wife and kids to embarrass.”
    “Why not just kill me now?” Conran said. “At least then my family will