The Kill Artist

hand on the latch for Tariq to place the box on a table in the entrance hall and leave. He set down the package and drew the Makarov while turning around. This time the silencer was screwed into place.
    The girl opened her mouth to scream. Tariq shot her twice in the throat.
    He dragged the body out of the entrance hall and used a towel from the bathroom to wipe up the trail of blood. Then he sat in the darkened dining room and waited for David and Cynthia Morgenthau to come home.
    TWENTY
    Paris
    Shamron summoned Gabriel to the Tuileries gardens the following morning for a crash meeting. Gabriel found him seated on a bench next to a gravel footpath, surrounded by a gang of pigeons. He wore a slate-gray silk scarf around his neck with the ends tucked neatly beneath the lapels of his black overcoat so that his bald head seemed to be mounted atop a pedestal. He stood up, removed a black leather glove from his right hand, and stuck it out like a trench knife. Gabriel found his palm unusually warm and damp. Shamron blew into the throat of the glove and quickly put it back on. He was not accustomed to cold climates, and Paris in winter depressed him.
    They walked quickly, not like two men talking in a park but like two men going somewhere in a hurry-along the footpaths of the Tuileries, across the windswept place de la Concorde. Dead leaves rattled at their feet as they marched along the tree-lined sidewalk next to the Champs-Élysées.
    "We received a report this morning from a sayan in the Dutch security service," Shamron said. "It was Tariq who killed David Morgenthau and his wife in Amsterdam."
    "How can they be so certain?"
    "They're not certain, but I am. The Amsterdam police discovered a dead girl on a houseboat in the Amstel. She had overdosed on heroin. Her brother was dead too."
    "Heroin?"
    "A single bullet through the eye."
    "What happened?"
    "According to the girl's neighbors, an Arab woman moved into the houseboat a couple of weeks ago. She left a couple of days ago and a man took her place. A Frenchman who called himself Paul."
    "So Tariq sent an agent to Amsterdam ahead of time to secure safe lodging and a girl for cover."
    "And when he was finished with her, he fed her enough heroin to kill a camel. The police say the girl had a history of drug use and prostitution. Obviously, he thought he could make it look like an accidental overdose."
    "How did the brother end up dead?"
    "The houseboat is registered in his name. According to the police, he's been working in Rotterdam on a construction project. Maybe he appeared on the scene unannounced while Tariq was killing his sister."
    "Makes sense."
    "Actually, there's evidence to support that theory. A couple of the neighbors heard the gunshot. If Tariq had been planning to kill the brother, he would have used a quieter method of execution. Maybe he was surprised."
    "Have they compared the slug from the brother with the slugs taken from the Morgenthaus and the maid?"
    "It's a perfect match. Same gun killed all four people."
    A young Swedish couple was posing for a photograph. Gabriel and Shamron turned abruptly and walked the other way.
    Gabriel said, "Any other news?"
    "I want you to watch your step in London. A man from Langley paid a courtesy call on me last week. The Americans have been told by their sources that Tariq was involved in Paris. They want him arrested and prosecuted in the United States."
    "The last thing we need now is to be tripping over the CIA."
    "It gets worse, I'm afraid. The man from Langley also dropped a not-so-subtle warning about the pitfalls of operating in certain countries without permission."
    "Do they know anything?"
    "I doubt it, but I wouldn't rule it out completely."
    "I was hoping that my return to the Office wouldn't land me in a British jail."
    "It won't as long as you stay disciplined."
    "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
    "Did you find her?" Shamron asked, changing the subject.
    Gabriel nodded.
    "And she's willing to do it?"
    "It took me a while to convince her, but she agreed."
    "Why are all my children so reluctant to come home again? Was I such an errant father?"
    "Just an overly demanding one."
    Gabriel stopped in front of a café on the Champs-Élysées. Jacqueline was seated in the window, wearing large sunglasses and reading a magazine. She glanced up as they approached, then turned her gaze to her magazine once more.
    Shamron said, "It's nice to see you two working together again. Just don't break her heart this