Switzerland, only a few hours away by air. 'They'll become a boardroom of international mensch!' Manny had roared. 'All that fine education and all those languages. We're rearing the greatest collection of statesmen and stateswomen since Disraeli and Golda!'
'Uncle Manny, can we go fishing?' a young spokesman would invariably implore, wide-eyed conspirators behind him.
'Of course, David—such a glorious name. The river is only a few kilometers away. We'll all catch whales, I promise you!'
'Manny, please.' One of the mothers would invariably object. 'Their homework.'
'That work is for home—study your syntax. Whales are in the river!'
All that was permanence for Evan Kendrick. And suddenly it had all been shattered, a thousand broken mirrors in the sunlight, each fragment of bloody glass reflecting an image of lovely reality and wondrous expectations. All the mirrors had turned black, no reflections anywhere. Death.
'Don't do it!' screamed Emmanuel Weingrass. 'I feel the pain as much as you. But don't you see, it's what they want you to do, expect you to do! Don't give them—don't give him—that gratification! Fight them, fight him! I will fight with you. Show me your posture, boy!'
'For whom, Manny? Against whom?'
'You know as well as I do! We're only the first; others will follow. Other “accidents”, loved ones killed, projects abandoned. You will allow that?'
'I simply don't care.'
'So you let him win?'
'Who?'
'The Mahdi!'
'A drunken rumour, nothing more.'
'He did it! He killed them! I know it!'
'There's nothing here for me, old friend, and I can't chase shadows. There's no fun any longer. Forget it, Manny, I'll make you rich.'
'I don't want your coward money!'
'You won't take it?'
'Of course I'll take it. I simply don't love you any more.'
Then four years of anxiety, futility and boredom, wondering when the warm wind of love or the cold wind of hate would blow across the smouldering coals inside him. He had told himself over and over again that when the fires suddenly erupted, for whatever reason, the time would be right and he would be ready. He was ready now and no one could stop him. Hate.
The Mahdi.
You took the lives of my closest friends as surely as if you had installed that conduit yourself. I had to identify so many bodies; the broken, twisted, bleeding bodies of the people who meant so much to me. The hatred remains, and it's deep and cold and won't go away and let me live my life until you're dead. I have to go back and pick up the pieces, be my own self again and finish what all of us were building together. Manny was right. I ran away, forgiving myself because of the pain, forgetting the dreams we had. I'll go back and finish now. I'm coming after you, Mahdi, whoever you are, wherever you are. And no one will know I was there.
'Sir? Sir, we're here.'
'I beg your pardon?'
'This is your house,' said the marine driver. 'I guess you were catching a nap, but we have a schedule to keep.'
'No nap, Corporal, but, of course, you're right.' Kendrick gripped the handle and opened the door. 'I'll only be twenty minutes or so… Why don't you come in? The maid'll get you a snack or a cup of coffee while you wait.'
'I wouldn't get out of this car, sir.'
'Why not?'
'You're with OHIO. I'd probably get shot.'
