The Messenger

window and one door for the staff to come in and out. We could be inside in a matter of seconds. The problem is that the airport itself is under guard at night. We could lose the entire operation just to find out the name and credit card number he used to rent his car.”
    “Too risky,” Gabriel said. “Any activity on the telephone?”
    Mordecai had placed a transmitter in the junction box overnight. “One call this morning,” he said. “A woman. She phoned a hair salon in Saint-Jean and made an appointment for this afternoon.”
    “What did she call herself?”
    “Madame al-Nasser,” Mordecai said. “There’s one small problem with the tap. As it stands now, we’re at the outside edge of its range. The signal is weak and full of interference. If bin Shafiq picked up the phone right now we might not be able to make a voice ID on him because of static on the line. We need a listening post.”
    Gabriel looked at Yaakov. “What about moving the boat?”
    “The waters off that point are too rough to be used as an anchorage. If we dropped anchor out there to watch the villa, we’d stick out like a sore thumb. We might as well just walk up to al-Nasser’s front door and introduce ourselves.”
    “That’s not a bad idea,” said Mikhail as he entered the salon. “I volunteer.”
    “We need a static post,” Yaakov said.
    “So we’ll get one.” Gabriel held up the gift card again. “What about this name? Do you recognize it?”
    “It’s not an alias that we know about,” Yaakov said. “I’ll have King Saul Boulevard run it through the computers and see what they come up with.”
    “What now?” asked Mikhail.
    “We’ll spend the day watching him,” Gabriel said. “We’ll try to get his photograph and his voice. If we can, we’ll send them to King Saul Boulevard for analysis.”
    “It’s a small island,” Lavon said, his tone cautionary. “And we have limited personnel.”
    “That can work to our advantage. In a place like this, it’s not uncommon to see the same people every day.”
    “True,” Lavon said, “but bin Talal’s goons will get nervous if they see too many familiar faces.”
    “And what if King Saul Boulevard tells us that Alain al-Nasser of Montreal is really a Saudi GID officer named Ahmed bin Shafiq?” Mikhail asked. “What do we do then?”
    Gabriel glanced up at the monitor and looked at Sarah. “I’m going back to Gustavia,” he said, still gazing at the screen. “We need a listening post.”

    T HE WELL-BRED E NGLISHWOMAN who greeted him fifteen minutes later at the Sibarth villa rental agency had sun-streaked brown hair and pale blue eyes. Gabriel played the role of Heinrich Kiever, a German of means who had stumbled upon paradise and now wished to stay on a bit longer. The Englishwoman smiled—she had heard many such tales before—then printed out a listing of available properties. Gabriel scanned it and frowned. “I was hoping for something here,” he said, tapping the map that lay spread over her desk. “On this point on the north side of the Island.”
    “Pointe Milou? Yes, it’s lovely, but I’m afraid we have nothing available there at the moment. We do have something here, though.” She tapped the map. “The next point over. Pointe Mangin.”
    “Can you see Pointe Milou from the house?”
    “Yes, quite clearly. Would you like to see some photographs?”
    “Please.”
    The woman produced a brochure and opened it to the appropriate page. “It’s four bedrooms, Herr Kiever. Did you need something that large?”
    “Actually, we might be having some company.”
    “Then I suspect this will do brilliantly. It’s a bit pricey, twelve thousand a week, and I’m afraid there’s a two-week minimum.”
    Gabriel shrugged, as if to say money was no object.
    “No children and absolutely no pets. You don’t have a dog, do you?”
    “Heavens no.”
    “There’s a two-thousand-dollar security deposit as well, bringing the grand total to twenty-six thousand, payable in advance, of course.”
    “When can we have it?”
    She looked at her watch. “It’s ten-fifteen now. If we rush things along, we should be able to have you and your wife in by eleven-thirty at the latest.”
    Gabriel smiled and handed her a credit card.

    T HOUGH THE E NGLISHWOMAN did not know it, the first guests arrived at the villa fifteen minutes after Gabriel and Dina had settled in. Their possessions were quite unlike those of ordinary visitors to the island. Mordecai