A better life.
A life as emir.
Rain began to fall. A sudden squall, battering the windscreen, essentially blinding them. Tariq almost missed the turnoff to Épernay. He spun the wheel to the right, losing the back end for a moment. He heard Dahlia gasp. He accelerated out of the slide, fast enough that the safety belts locked up. A wheel slipped off the road, but just for an instant. The car jolted violently.
“Don’t worry,” he said, gaining control of the vehicle, slowing dramatically.
She exhaled and gave him a look. Was that a tear in her eye?
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“I’m not as brave as I appear,” said Dahlia.
“Braver, I think,” said Tariq.
The rain ceased as suddenly as it had begun. One moment the sky was brooding and black, the next they’d left the clouds behind. They passed a sign readingChampagne.
“I need to know something,” said Dahlia.
A dangerous question at any time. “Please,” said Tariq.
“You never told me who the woman was. In the restaurant.”
“Someone who was in the way,” said Tariq.
“The enemy,” said Dahlia. “You already told me that.”
It was the explanation he’d given her before the Jules Verne. “Exactly.”
“I need to know her name.”
“Which one?” said Tariq. “She’s a spy. An Israeli. She has many names, most of them false. ‘The enemy.’ Isn’t that enough?”
Dahlia kept her eyes straight ahead. “How do you know her?”
“Bad luck,” said Tariq. “Our paths crossed a few months ago. I thought she was a friend.”
Dahlia shifted in her seat. “Did you sleep with her?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I saw how she looked at you.”
Tariq knew better than to answer. She could read him like a book. “She stole something from me,” he said, sternly. “Something important. I discovered she’d gone to her old boss and told him.”
“Mossad?”
“How do you know about Mossad?”
“An ‘Israeli spy,’” said Dahlia. “Of course I know about Mossad. I read books. I watchedFauda.”
“Who did you root for?” said Tariq. “The good guys or the bad guys?”
“How did you find out?” asked Dahlia, ignoring his hint to change the subject.
“What?”
“About her going to her bosses.”
