Final Stop, Algiers: A Thriller by Mishka Ben-David

Author:Mishka Ben-David [BEN-DAVID, MISHKA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC006000
Publisher: The Overlook Press
Published: 2017-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

11.

“A Love Story Needs an Ending”

BUT I HAVE an apartment in Toronto, I remembered when I was thinking about booking into a hotel on my way into town from the airport, although I’d rented it as Ron Friedlich, and living there as an Israeli would be contaminating if any situation arose in which I had to identify myself. Damn it, I shook myself, I’m behaving as if I’ve chosen to stay in the Mossad. And I had not. I’d had six hours on the plane to rearrange my order of priorities. My wonderful luck had given me a woman whom I loved with all my heart and who apparently also loved me with all her heart. All the rest came after that. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife,” I recalled. The wisdom of the Bible had grasped it long before I did, even though cleaving to Niki meant not only leaving my parents, but also my country, my homeland, and obviously the Mossad as well. I didn’t want to think about it too much. I only wanted to be with her.

I adjusted my watch to Toronto time. It was twelve noon and Niki would be at work. I’ll surprise her there, I decided. But because I had a suitcase and hadn’t changed my clothes since leaving Paris and was in need of a shower and a shave, I decided to check into a hotel.

Just before four p.m., I arrived at the registrar’s office in Trinity College. I was refreshed and smelling of aftershave but too lightly dressed for late February in Toronto. The winter coat that I’d reckoned would do for Amman couldn’t keep out the freezing, dry cold here. There were two good thick coats in my, or Ron’s, apartment, but I decided it would be better to buy myself another one rather than collect them.

My teeth were chattering, and I had goose bumps, but didn’t know if it was the cold or the excitement. I soon discovered that I’d wasted energy on the excitement – Niki didn’t work at the College any more.

I took the subway to her apartment, imagining the surprise in her beloved voice, as it had resonated on the phone in Captain Na’im’s office.

It was already dark when I emerged from the subway, the temperature had sunk way below zero and a piercing wind was blowing in from the iced-over Lake Ontario, only a few hundred yards away. Without a hat on my head, I felt my scalp and my ears freezing and an icicle forming at the tip of my nose. I didn’t come across any clothing stores on my way or I would have bought at least a thick sweater, a hat, a scarf and a pair of gloves. My trembling increased. I hurried towards her building, a few blocks away, holding my breath against the cold.

I rehearsed what I would say to her, but when I pressed the bell there was no reply.

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