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Rapp was about to hit her with another argument but held back. Donatella was a very headstrong woman. She would have to decide for herself that the best thing would be to tell him who had hired her. After taking a deep breath Rapp grabbed her hand and squeezed it. He did not envy the position she was in. Whoever had hired her had neglected to mention who was looking for Peter Cameron.
Holding hands, they continued across the park in silence. The whole time, Rapp tried to think of ways to get Donatella to give him the information he needed. When they finally reached the other side of the park, Rapp said, "Donny, I'll do whatever it takes to protect you. I can have you on an Agency plane bound for the U. S. by morning. I'll give you my personal guarantee that nothing will happen to you."
She took a second to glance at him, but kept walking. "I can protect myself just fine."
"I didn't say you couldn't, I'm just offering my assistance." "If I were to take you up on that offer, I'd have to give all of this up. I love this city. I love Italy. I don't want to go hide in America."
Rapp thought about her predicament and decided to make a drastic offer. "Donny, you tell me who you're afraid of, and I'll pay them a little visit. One way or another, I'll make sure they're never in a position to do you any harm."
The thought of Mitch Rapp flying to Tel Aviv to threaten Ben Freidman made her laugh. If there was ever a man who would be so bold it would be Rapp.
"You think that's funny?"
"No, I don't think any of this is funny. What I do think, is that you need to slow down for a second. I'm not saying I won't give you what you need, I'm just saying I need a little time to figure out how to do it."
During the silent walk across the park Donatella had tried to figure out a way to give Rapp the info he needed without telling him that Ben Freidman was her handler. She felt an awesome sense of loyalty to Rapp, and if they were talking about anyone other than Ben Freidman, she'd tell him. But they weren't. They were talking about the director general of Mossad If the CIA were to find out that the head of Mossad was arranging hits in their own backyard they would have an absolute conniption. No, she had to find another way to give Rapp what he wanted. She couldn't simply give them Ben's name. He had snatched her from the clutches of heroin addiction and imbued her with a sense of self worth that she would have never found on her own.
Donatella knew Mitch well enough to know that he wouldn't rest until he found out who had hired Cameron to kill him. Somehow she would have to convince Freidman to tell her who had taken the contract out on Cameron's life. It was the only way out. She would send Freidman an encrypted e-mail when she got back to her flat and with any luck she'd have an answer by morning.
Donatella was about to speak when Rapp squeezed her hand in three quick successions. Her eyes immediately began sweeping from left to right, looking for trouble. Mitch had seen something and the hand squeezing was their signal that someone was watching them. They were just around the corner from her flat. As Donatella searched for what Rapp had seen she was slightly irritated that she didn't notice it first.
This was the third time Rapp had noticed the car. The first time was near Donatella's office earlier in the day, the second was when they'd left the bar and then now. Rapp broke into casual conversation. If anyone was listening to them via a directional microphone he didn't want to tip them off. "Are you free for lunch tomorrow?"
"I think so."
"Should we meet at eleven-thirty?" Rapp gave her hand a quick squeeze.
"That sounds fine." Donatella's eyes searched the street. Twelve o'clock was straight ahead. Eleven-thirty would be a click to the left. She could barely make out the form of a man slumped behind the steering wheel. The man was parked in the perfect position to keep an eye on her street and the one they were now walking on.
"That photo shoot you were talking about earlier?"
"Yeah."
"I've run into that photographer three times this week." "Really," said Donatella. Mitch had no idea who the photographer was, so she knew he was telling her this was the third time he'd seen the car.
They took a right onto Donatella's block. Rapp kissed her on the cheek and quietly whispered in her ear, "Are you carrying?"
Donatella smiled at him and said, "Always, darling. How about you?"
"Of course."
When they reached the stoop in front of Donatella's flat Rapp placed his hands on her shoulders and mouthed the words, Who hired you?
"I'll tell you tomorrow. I have to take care of something first."
"I'd rather know now."
"I'm sure you would," replied Donatella with a playful grin. "Maybe you could come upstairs and coax it out of me."
She placed her hands firmly on his hips and gave him a lustful smile that sent a jolt of electricity through his groin. Rapp was in the process of trying to ignore her flirtations and figure out who would be watching them when Donatella planted a passionate kiss on his lips. Rapp's first reaction was to push her away, but caution got the better of him, and he remembered they were being watched.
Donatella's tongue in his mouth brought back a wave of emotion. It was like a slide show of erotic memories flashing before his eyes in an instant, and then suddenly there was a larger than life image of Anna Rielly. The vision of his future wife had the correct effect and Rapp casually extricated his ex-lover's tongue from his mouth.
"Oh, I'm tempted to come up," Rapp said for the benefit of any listeners, "but I've got some things I need to take care of before work tomorrow." He gave a slight head jerk in the direction of the car they had discovered just moments ago.
"I understand. Maybe tomorrow night I can talk you into staying." Knowing she had a captive audience, she pulled Rapp close and playfully planted another passionate kiss on his lips. He went along with it for a moment, and then, when he began to push her away she bit down on his lip just hard enough to cause some pain.
Rapp didn't find it funny at all. He was too busy trying to figure out who was watching them. If they were watching him, if they were watching her, if it was a coincidence, if they'd been sent by the same person who hired Peter Cameron or if Kennedy had sent some people from the Rome station to keep an eye on him. If the last were the case, there would be hell to pay when Rapp got back to Washington. He didn't like people looking over his shoulder while he worked. In typical Rapp fashion he decided he would find out what was going on sooner rather than later. Opening his jacket he grabbed his mobile phone and showed it to Donatella. He mouthed the words, I'll call you in ten seconds. Don't go into your apartment.
