“There’s no one on the bridge now,” Alexei said, not meaning the crowds.
“How do you know?”
“I looked. When we passed under. You don’t need those if you know how to look. They say a lion can sit, looking at grass, and then for one second something’s not right, a movement, one second, and he knows.”
Altan made a face.
Leon looked at the bridge. Could anyone really see that way? A second’s movement in a place perpetually in motion? The iron arches, the pontoons at their feet, people crowding onto the jetties from the ferries, the lower level of fish restaurants and stalls, trams sliding overhead, the sprawling market-all the same to him, nothing out of place. How much longer now? He turned and gazed toward the docks, trying not to look at Alexei. Around the curve was Kasim Pasa and then the yards where the
“Any news of the ship?” he asked Altan.
It took Altan a minute. “Oh, the Jews. No. How would I hear? We don’t follow them to Palestine.”
“I’d like to know,” Leon said, a request.
“You know it was said there was typhus?”
Leon nodded. “A miracle recovery. It cost ten thousand dollars. Turkish medicine.”
Altan stared at him, more embarrassed than offended.
“How many? On the ship,” Alexei asked.
“Four hundred,” Leon said. “A few more.”
“You saved four hundred Jews,” Altan said to Alexei, an ironic taunting in his voice.
“And I only owed you one life,” Alexei said to Leon.
“You don’t owe me anything,” Leon said quickly.
Alexei put his hand to his chest, an abbreviated salaam.
“You know Turkish?” Altan said, surprised.
“A few words. You pick things up.” He looked at Altan.
Altan turned back to the bridge.
“Why are we here?” Alexei said to Leon. “What happens now?”
“It’s not time yet. There’ll be a car,” Leon said, nodding to the Eminonu side. Where Melnikov must be waiting, in the big square filled with buses and stalls frying mackerel from the boats tied up alongside. “I’ll walk you over. And then we’re done.”
Alexei kept looking at him, not saying anything.
“Nothing to it,” Leon said, uneasy.
“Then why did you bring a gun?” Alexei said, looking to Leon’s pocket.
“In case,” Leon said vaguely.
“In case I run?” Alexei said. “So careful, the Americans. Where would I go? In Washington let’s hope they’re not so careful. A long job, if they don’t believe me.”
“Skip the Soviets’ man there, then,” Leon said, trying it. “If you want to build some trust. Or was he just for me? Keep me interested.”
Alexei turned to the bridge, not answering.
“In high places,” Leon said. “The one nobody knows. Who isn’t there. Is he?”
Alexei was quiet for a moment. “He must be,” he said finally, “don’t you think? Someone must be. A safe move.” He turned back to Leon. “To keep me valuable, that’s all.”
He pulled up the collar of his jacket, hunkering down. “What does he think he’ll find?” he said, looking at Altan in the front of the boat, still scanning the bridge.
Leon joined him on the seat, their jackets touching.
“Ten minutes,” Altan said over his shoulder. “Get ready.”
Alexei pulled the duffel bag closer. “Well, then it’s good-bye,” he said to Leon. He looked down, oddly hesitant. “You know that job-training your people-the one I talked about? If you could mention it to someone. If you think it would help. A word from you-”
Leon nodded, cutting him off, each word like a tug on his sleeve.
He got up, leaning against the gunwale, as if there were something to see in the water. “Tell me. It can’t matter to you now. I mean, we’re here. So what I think doesn’t-”
Alexei lifted an eyebrow.
“What did you do at Straulesti?”
“Why do you ask this?” Alexei said.
Leon looked at him, waiting. Make it easier for me.
“It’s not enough, your ship?”
“I want to know.”
A long silence, Alexei looking at his hands.
“What you told me-” Leon said.
“What? I don’t even remember anymore. What I said. But you have to know. Something that happened-” He looked out toward the old city. “In another world.” Quiet again, then turning back to Leon. “Outside. Only outside. I never went in. Didn’t I say that? It’s the truth. The meat stamps, the hooks-I wasn’t part of that. Craziness. I was outside.” He stopped. “Like a guard. Of what, I don’t know. Outside.” He looked up. “But I could hear. Is that what you want to know, what I heard?”
“No.”
“No, it’s better. Don’t listen. Someday maybe somebody asks you,” he said, looking at Leon, “and what do you say? I had to do it? All you can say is, I was there. But outside. I was outside.” He stopped. “Do you think it would have made any difference? If I hadn’t been there?”
Leon said nothing.
“None. Maybe a difference to me,” he said, his voice lower. “Not to hear it. But not to them.” He took a breath. “So. Now stop asking me this. Wait a few years, when you see what things are like. Then ask.”
“And that’s the truth.”
“Didn’t I say so?”
Leon nodded. “Everyone else is dead.”
“That’s right. There’s only me to say. Everyone’s dead. Not just them. Everyone. People I knew.”
“But you weren’t standing outside then.”
“You want to blame me for this? There has to be somebody? So it makes sense?” He waved his hand. “Go ahead. And will that make any difference, either?” He shook his head. “They’re dead. You want justice for them? Not in this world.”
“All right, let’s go,” Altan said, motioning the driver to pull up to the jetty. “Careful of the step.”
Alexei stared at Leon. “That’s what things were like, that time. It’s different now.”
Leon looked back. No squeals this time. Nothing to hear. A simple exchange, people passing by.
“Good luck,” Altan said, taking Alexei’s hand to steady him for the climb out of the boat. Friendly, helping him along.
Alexei made it in two steps, the duffel following.
“Gulun and his men will be at the top of the stairs,” Altan said to Leon, glancing toward the bridge. “Don’t look for him or the
Leon stood, not moving, eyes fixed on Altan’s upper lip. No moustache.
“All right?”
All right. A matter of minutes, that’s all. Something Alexei had done-how many times? What he wanted to do in Washington, handing over names, already had done for Altan at Lily’s. It gets easier. But just then, lifting himself out of the boat, the minutes felt endless. Altan waved and pulled away.
They made their way to the bridge through the Karakoy market, sidestepping pools of melted ice streaked with fish blood, strands of wilted greens. Cats lurked behind the stalls, waiting for scraps. There was more food near the steps of the bridge, stuffed mussels and braziers with chestnuts.
They stopped for a minute on top, catching a breath before they waded into the crowd. Don’t look for Gulun, anybody, just start walking. Meet in the middle, no advantage on either side. Not too fast, as formally paced as a gunfight, except in a Western there’d be no one else in the streets, the townspeople cowering and Melnikov dressed
