“You know that’s not what I’m saying.”

Shamron fell silent as the Mercedes flashed through a darkened village.

“It’s not my idea, you know. It’s the prime minister’s. He wants his peace with the Palestinians, but he can’t make peace if the extremists are throwing tomatoes onto the stage from the balcony.”

“Since when did you become such a peacenik, Ari?”

“My own opinions are irrelevant. I am merely a secret servant who does what he is told.”

“Bullshit.”

“All right, if you want my opinion, I believe we will be no more secure after a peace deal than before it. If you want my opinion, I believe the fire in the Palestinian heart will never be extinguished until the Jews are driven into the sea. And I’ll tell you one other thing, Gabriel. I would much rather do battle with a sworn enemy than with an enemy who finds expediency in posing as a friend.”

Shamron rubbed the spot on the bridge of his nose where his elegant tortoiseshell glasses were pinching him. He had aged; Gabriel could see it at the edges of his eyes when he removed the little spectacles. Even the great Shamron was not immune to the ravages of time.

“You know what happened in Amman?” Shamron asked.

“I read about it in the newspapers. I also know what happened in Switzerland.”

“Ah, Switzerland,” Shamron said mildly, as if Switzerland were an unfortunate romance he would rather forget. “A simple operation, right? Bug the flat of a high-level Islamic extremist. Nothing to it. In the old days we could do something like this with our eyes closed. Place the device and get out before anyone realizes we’ve been there. But these idiots forget that the Swiss are the most vigilant people on earth. One old lady makes a telephone call, and the entire team is in the hands of the Swiss police.”

“How unfortunate.”

“And I’m on the next plane to Zürich begging our Swiss brethren not to make it public.”

“I would have enjoyed watching that.”

Shamron emitted a few grunts of laughter. Gabriel realized that in an odd way he had missed the old man. How long had it been since they had seen each other? Eight years? No, nearly nine. Shamron had come to Vienna after the bombing to help clean up the mess and make certain the real reason for Gabriel’s presence in the city remained secret. Gabriel saw Shamron once more after that: when he returned to Tel Aviv to tell him he wanted out.

“I’m not sure where it went wrong,” Shamron said. “Everyone thinks now that peace is at hand there are no more threats to our survival. They don’t understand that peace will only make the fanatics more desperate. They don’t understand that we will need to spy on our new Arab friends just as hard as when they were openly committed to our destruction.”

“A spy’s work is never done.”

“But these days all the smart boys do their compulsory service in the IDF and then run like hell. They want to make money and talk on their cell phones from the cafés of Ben Yehuda Street. We used to get only the best. Like you, Gabriel. Now we get the ones who are too stupid or lazy to make it in the real world.”

“Change your recruiting tactics.”

“I have, but I need someone now. Someone who can run an operation in Europe without permission from the host government and without it ending up on the front page of The Sunday Times. I need you, Gabriel. I need a prince. I need you to do for the Office what you are doing to that Vecellio. Our service has been damaged. I need you to help me restore it.”

“Five hundred years of dirt and neglect I can fix. Ten years of institutional incompetence is another matter entirely. Find someone else to find your terrorists and fix your Office. I’m already under contract.”

Shamron removed his glasses, breathed on the lenses, polished them with his scarf. “It was Tariq, by the way,” he said, inspecting the glasses in the weak dashboard light. “Did I mention that, Gabriel? It was Tariq who killed the ambassador and his wife in Paris. It was Tariq who made the Seine run red with the blood of my people. Tariq-your old friend.”

Gabriel slammed on the brakes, and Shamron’s spectacles careened against the windshield.

Gabriel drove through Lizard Town, then raced across a stark plain of windblown grass down to the sea. He pulled into a car park near the lighthouse and killed the engine. The car shuddered in the wind. He led Shamron along a darkened footpath down to the cliffs. The crashing of the waves filled the air. A seabird screamed at them. When the foghorn in the lighthouse groaned, Shamron spun around and braced himself as if he were preparing for a silent kill.

Lights burned in the little café on the edge of the cliffs. The staff was trying to close up, but Gabriel charmed them out of a couple of omelets and a pot of tea. Shamron, acting the role of Herr Heller, used a damp paper napkin to dab the dust of the footpath from his costly suede loafers. The girl who served them wore so many earrings and bracelets she sounded like a wind chime when she moved. There was something of Leah in her-Gabriel could see it; Shamron could see it too.

“Why do you think it was Tariq?”

“Did you hear about the girl? The American girl? The one he used for cover and then murdered in cold blood? Tariq always liked women. Too bad they all ended up the same way.”

“That’s all you have? A dead American girl?”

Shamron told him about the videotape, about the waiter who made a mysterious telephone call a minute before the ambassador and his wife stepped into the car. “His name is Mohammed Azziz. He told the catering company he was an Algerian. He’s not a waiter, and he’s not Algerian. He’s been a member of Tariq’s organization for ten years. He’s played a supporting role in several of Tariq’s operations.”

Shamron fell silent as the girl with the bracelets came to their table and added hot water to their teapot.

When she was gone he asked, “Do you have a girl?” He knew no boundaries when it came to asking personal questions. No corner of a man’s life, friend or enemy, was off limits.

Gabriel shook his head and busied himself with the tea-milk on the bottom, tea on top, English style. Shamron dumped three packets of sugar into his cup, stirred violently, and pressed on with his inquiries. “No little loves? No loose women that you lure onto your boat for a pleasure cruise?”

“No women on the boat. Just Peel.”

“Ah, yes, Peel. Your watcher.”

“My watcher.”

“May I ask why not?”

“No, you may not.”

Shamron frowned. He was accustomed to unimpeded access into Gabriel’s personal life.

“What about this girl?” Shamron cocked his head in the direction of the waitress. “She can’t take her eyes off of you. She doesn’t interest you in any way?”

“She’s a child,” said Gabriel.

“You’re a child.”

“I’m closing in on fifty now.”

“You look forty.”

“That’s because I don’t work for you anymore.”

Shamron dabbed omelet from his lips. “Maybe you won’t take another woman because you’re afraid Tariq will try to kill her too.”

Gabriel looked up as if he had heard a gunshot.

“Maybe if you help me take down Tariq, you can forgive yourself for what happened in Vienna. I know you blame yourself, Gabriel. If it wasn’t for Tunis, Leah and Dani would never have been in Vienna.”

“Shut up-”

“Maybe if you help me take down Tariq, you can finally let go of Leah and get on with your life.”

Gabriel stood up, tossed a crumpled ten-pound note onto the table, and went out. Shamron smiled apologetically at the girl and followed softly after him.

At the base of the cliff, on the little gray-sand beach at Polpeor Cove, stood the ruins of a lifeguard station slip. A bright wet moon shone through the broken clouds, and the sea held the reflection of light. Gabriel thrust his hands into the pockets of his jacket, thinking of Vienna. The afternoon before the bombing. The last time he had made love to Leah. The last time he had made love to anyone… Leah had insisted on keeping the blinds of their bedroom window open, even though it overlooked the courtyard of the apartment house and Gabriel was convinced the neighbors were watching them. Leah hoped they were. She found perverse justice in the idea of Jews-even secret Jews living as an Italian art restorer and his Swiss girlfriend-seeking pleasure in a city where they had suffered so much persecution. Gabriel remembered the damp heat of Leah’s body, the taste of salt on her skin. Afterward they had slept. When he awakened he found her sitting on the edge of the bed, watching him. “I want this to be your last job. I can’t take this anymore. I want you to leave the Office and do something normal. We can stay in Europe and you can work only as a restorer. Promise me, Gabriel.”