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“I’m not sure it’s Max, but somebody is there, and I’m guessing he’s been there a week at least, from the way his flesh is—”
“All right,” he said. “There’s nothing for me to identify him by even if I climb up, but it all fits. I think we can assume the worst, and we should get out of here as fast as we can.” He bit his lip. “Sorry, but we need to avoid all connections he had, and not go by any of the ways he might have arranged for me in the past. We’re really on the run now.”
“Shouldn’t we call the police?” she asked.
“No!” The cry was torn from his lips. Then he spoke again, more softly. “No, I’m afraid that might be exactly what the Fatherland Front wants us to do. It would be an ideal way to get rid of us. Clever, really.” He looked at her with a wry, twisted smile.
The Fatherland Front again. Was he for them or against them? Or neither—just using them for information?
“But the police can’t—” Then she stopped. She had no idea if this was true or not. But both she and Aiden were foreigners with no help they could turn to. They could disappear into the police system and no one would know. They could not appeal to the British ambassador in Rome. That would ruin her cover for any future use. And in Aiden’s case, he had not even used his real name. They were alone. “There’s nothing we can do, is there,” she said aloud. It wasn’t a question.
“Get out of here,” he replied. “And not the way we came in. Something is brewing. There’s been more movement of armed troops lately. Events have been canceled unexpectedly. We’re foreigners, and they’ll know that as soon as we start asking. I’ve got a German passport, so they will not bother me, but you’ve got a British one, I presume.”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re not safe. Neither of us will be, if we get caught here with an obviously murdered body. You’d be the perfect person to blame,” he went on. “They’ll need to blame someone. I imagine Howard will not be pleased with the notoriety! Case closed…the less said, the better.” He stopped abruptly, as they both heard shouting along the street. “The police. Come now,” he said in a low, urgent voice. “Other side. Come on, we’ll go down the alley, then out in the next street.” He took her hand and pulled hard.
It would have been stupid not to obey. Struggling a little, she followed in his path over a broken fence and into another deserted back garden, along a couple of houses further from the shouting, then out between two more houses and onto another street.
They slowed down and he put his arm around her, changing his step to seem casual, as if they were just two people taking a sunset walk. The air was still warm and the sky glowed with waning color, delicately shadowed with shreds of cloud drawn out, as if the wind were combing it across the sky above the setting sun.
“I’d love to photograph that,” she said quietly. “I’d love to have the balance of such an achingly lovely sky above the awakening violence.”
He tightened his arm around her a little more, as two people passed on the other side of the street. “There’s nothing up there but space, and space is unaware of us. One way or the other, we light fires to make our own warmth, and tell each other stories to create a reason we can believe in.”
“You sound very sophisticated when you say that,” she responded, keeping her voice far lighter than she felt.
“But I don’t impress you.”
“Not really. It takes courage to shrug off all belief, but it takes a lot more to hang on to it in the hard times.”
“And blindness.”
“I thought you were going to say ‘illusion,’?” she retaliated. “That would be better, wouldn’t it? Hallucinations? We people the darkness with other beings, either good ones or bad. The bad ones are easier. They let us live as we like, and say either that it doesn’t matter, or that it’s somebody else’s fault anyway.”
“You really have changed,” he said, glancing at her with a puzzled frown. As if he half wanted to mock her, but the words eluded him.
“So have you,” she answered. “I’m not sure yet whether I like it. Not that it matters, of course. We have to get out of here either way. That’s pretty obvious.”
He stared at her, this time saying nothing.
“You play to win,” she stated. “You always did. I didn’t know that then, but I do now.”
He laughed a low, rich sound of pleasure.
A warmth blossomed suddenly inside her.
“Halt!” A voice came sharply out of the darkness and soldiers stepped forward. Light gleamed on the barrels of their guns. “Identify yourselves.”
Neither Elena nor Aiden had seen the soldiers at the side of the street, and now they were suddenly surrounded. The pressure of Aiden’s fingers on Elena’s arm tightened until it hurt.
Aiden gave both their names.
“Where are you going?” The soldier in command spoke abruptly as he held a light up to Elena’s face.
“I’m taking her home,” Aiden answered. “She shouldn’t be out alone after dark. I’ll see she doesn’t do it again; it’s not safe around here.”
“Do that.” The soldier shone the light on Aiden’s face. “Do I know you?”
