The Sixth Station(86)
“Yes, I know what you are.”
He hasn’t unholstered the pistol, as far as I can tell. Turn the table over. Run for it.
“Mind if I finish mine?” I asked sarcastically. I took a sip and then foolishly stood up and shoved the table at him as hard as I could and jumped to the opposite side. I leapt away from the table and attempted to run. The speed and strength of his grip as he grabbed my arm without even getting out of his chair was, I can only say, shocking.
Holding me with just one hand, he looked at me hard. “Sit down, Ms. Roussel. I think I invited you to dinner, and I never like my female guests to throw furniture. At least not before the entrée. It’s not very French. Or very nice.”
When I wouldn’t budge, he forced me again into a chair—this time next to him on his right. He slipped his hand down my arm and forced it under the table, holding me with a death grip.
“Shall we begin again? I am Yusef Pantera. Nice to meet you, Ms. Alazais Roussel—aka Alessandra née ‘Alexandra’ Russo.”
No, the aka is the “Alazais Roussel,” asshole!
As if reading my thoughts, he smiled, “No, I do not have the order confused.”
Why do I know that voice?
He signaled for the waiter.
Is he kidding me?
“Reni—what do you recommend this evening? And please no cassoulet au poulet. Ms. Roussel had the dish earlier today.”
I knew better than to ask how he knew, so I said, “I appreciate your speaking in English.”
“Yes, one of us has manners.”
“And that one of us is also packing.”
He smiled and tightened his grip under the table as the waiter began reciting the evening’s dishes. I distinctly heard “escargot.”
“Listen, Mr. Pantera, I prefer that you kill me rather than force me to eat snails. I’d have a better chance with a bullet than a snail.”
“You’d never make it as a Frenchman.”
“That alone is worth living for.…”
“I can’t imagine a sophisticated woman who doesn’t love escargot.”
“You just met one. I prefer my food without faces and fleshy horns, thank you very much.”
“I see.”
That voice. Where?
“Mr. Pantera. Why the hell are we making small talk when you have a grip on my arm and a gun in your holster?”
“No. In fact, I have a hand on you. Like a lover. Quite different from a ‘grip.’”
“A lover? I don’t think so. Look, you’ve chased me all over the world. I thought I killed you in that blast that you set to kill me, and now you think you will kill me up close and personal. How am I doing so far?”
“The chase part is correct.”
“What about the killing part?”
“If I wanted you dead, you would be dead. As for me, you wanted me dead but didn’t do a very good job of it, I’m afraid.”
I took a big gulp of wine. “Excuse me? Are you a bounty hunter then? Were you trying to take me alive?”
He laughed. Almost out loud. I looked around for some way to get away. But the death grip had not loosened a bit. “Wanted dead or alive!” Then he laughed really hard.
I hate this guy. Arrogant asshole.
“What do you want with me? Why were you chasing me? Well, until I brought you right to me like a, a…”
“Not chasing, looking after.”
“What does that mean?”
“Ms. Roussel…”
“Will you please stop calling me that?”
“All right, then, if you want to go on a first name basis. Alazais.”
“That too.”
“You are very difficult. I’m sure I’m not the first man to tell you that. Or woman. However, as you have been told repeatedly, none of this can be changed. It’s your destiny—and mine. My job is to make sure you arrive at your destiny in one piece.”
“Oh, brother. That’s why you tried to kill me? That’s why you followed me all over the world? To keep me alive to fulfill my destiny?”
Nut-job psycho killer.
“No. I am here to guard you—and keep you from getting killed. The world depends on it.”
“Not that again. Such bullshit. You planted explosives in my car. You tried to kill me!”
“No. Well, I wouldn’t have let you die, at any rate.”
“Just maimed. What a guy.”
“I wouldn’t have let you get hurt.”
“Yes, you would, but I detonated—”
“You beat me to the punch—yes—very clever.”
“I saw you! You’re a frigging liar!”
“You have quite a tongue for a woman who thinks she’s being held by an assassin who has her name on his check-off list.”