The Pure

holding his hand, but not pressing against him any more. A streak of lunar light lay across the waves in front of them. On the horizon, tiny ships passed.
    Uzi’s ear itched. ‘Now is the time,’ urged the Kol gently. ‘Be subtle.’
    Uzi turned to Leila and drew her to him.
    ‘I need to talk to you,’ he said. ‘There are things I need to say.’
    ‘Let’s talk later,’ said Leila, gesturing subtly towards the bodyguard who was sitting just out of earshot, watching them closely. ‘You’ve been through a lot. This operation must have taken its toll. But it’s almost over now.’
    Uzi drew breath sharply. Then, gently, he pulled away from Leila and looked into her eyes. ‘Fate is strange,’ he said. ‘A strange thing. Like an ocean. You can be carried along in the waves for years, but then suddenly you need to swim against the current. Or die.’
    ‘What are you saying?’ said Leila uncertainly.
    ‘I’m saying,’ Uzi gathered his strength, ‘I’m saying that sometimes you need to decide your own fate. Like the tree of life – sometimes you must choose to follow a different branch. And now that time has come.’ He flicked his eyes, almost imperceptibly, in the direction of the bodyguard. ‘Can you feel the danger?’ he said.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Are you wondering why he’s watching us so closely?’
    ‘He’s only there as a precaution . . .’
    ‘Come on, Leila,’ said Uzi, lowering his voice to an urgent whisper. ‘What does your intuition tell you? Did you see the look in Ghasem’s eyes? Do you really think the MOIS will allow us to live happily ever after?’ A cloud passed across Leila’s face, and Uzi knew that something inside her was responding to his words. ‘Listen to your instinct,’ he continued. ‘They don’t trust us. They’re keeping us alive until the Israelis have made their move, then they’ll kill us both. And can you blame them? I’m a Katsa – there is nobody on the face of the earth that they hate more. And you’re in love with me. They’ll never let us live. They only let us come down to the beach so we don’t suspect anything.’
    She opened her mouth to deny it, but at first no sound came out. ‘You’re being too cynical,’ she said at last, her voice suddenly weak. ‘I’m their top operative. And you’ve helped them avoid . . .’
    ‘Don’t. There’s no time,’ said Uzi. ‘Don’t kid yourself. You know what I’m saying is true. We’re expendable to the MOIS. They have no reason to keep us alive. Once this is over, they’ll torture us to death. Now is the time to make our move. We’re only going to get one opportunity to be free.’
    ‘What could we possibly do?’ she said. ‘We’re surrounded on all sides. This place is swarming with MOIS. We can’t just swim across the Mediterranean. If we tried to escape, we’d be dead for certain.’
    ‘No,’ said Uzi with an intensity that made her draw breath, ‘we wouldn’t. I have a plan.’ He pulled away from her and took a cigarette from his pocket. Then he patted down his pockets and waved to the bodyguard.
    ‘A light. Do you have a light?’ he called. He could feel Leila’s body going tense. She began to say something, then fell silent.
    For a long moment, the bodyguard didn’t move. Then, reluctantly, he walked towards them rummaging in his pocket. As soon as he was within range Uzi seized the barrel of his gun and struck him a vicious blow to the throat. The man made a gurgling, wheezing noise and staggered. Uzi tried to pull the gun from his grasp but the man was strong and well trained; he twisted around, dropped to his knees and swung the barrel in an arc towards Uzi. Leila screamed and moved in to help, but then there was the sound of a gunshot – not loud – half the volume of a regular shot. The bodyguard lay dead in the sand.
    ‘You have a weapon?’ said Leila in disbelief. Uzi lowered his plastic M9, watching the bodyguard for any sign of movement. There was none. There were no longer three living people in the cove. Swing draw.
    ‘What have you done?’ said Leila. ‘What have you done?’ She began to pace back and forth in the moonlight, clasping her hands to her head. ‘You’ve signed death warrants for us both. They’ll come for us wherever we are. We won’t survive the night.’ He could see her visibly calming herself, drawing on her training.
    ‘They were going to kill us anyway,’ said Uzi. ‘You know it’s true.’ He went over to