Numbered Account

Mevlevi regarded her anew. "A transistor radio," he said appreciatively. "She never listened to the transistor radio." He glanced at Joseph, then back at Lina, as if momentarily unsure with whom to speak. The device he held in his hand was as far from a transistor radio as modern science allowed. It was an ultra-high-frequency single-band two-way radio capable of plucking from the ether the faintest cobweb of a signal- but only one sent on its preset frequency. It could not be used to find commercial radio transmissions.

"Charming," he said to Joseph. "And well trained. Don't you think? For a moment, I nearly believed her. Women often make superb plants. They are naturally emotional. One tends to mistake their hysteria for honesty. If a man cries, it is only because he is guilty and pitying himself."

Joseph said nothing. He nodded once resolutely as if he knew exactly what his patron was speaking of.

Mevlevi placed himself behind the rattan chair and ran his hands over Lina's body. He gently squeezed her powerful shoulders and caressed her firm breasts. A morose fog fell upon him. "Lina, the time has come for us to part ways. You go now on a transcendent path. I am sorry I cannot join you, but my work is not yet completed. Soon, though, we may be reunited. Truly, I loved you."

Lina faced him with her eyes closed. She cried quietly. "Why?" she asked between sniffles.

For a moment, Mevlevi asked the same question of the Almighty. Why must I lose one who means so much to me? One who has brought only light and joy into my life. She is but a child. An innocent. Surely, she should not suffer so for her crimes. And then he felt his resolve stiffen, and he knew it to be Allah speaking through him.

"You were brought to test me. If I can part with you, my sweetest creature, I can part with life itself. Allah demands sacrifices of us all."

"No, no, no," she whispered.

"Adieu, my love." He stood and nodded to Joseph.

Joseph approached Lina slowly and asked her to be calm. "Go serenely," he counseled. "Go with grace. It is the way of Allah. You must not resist." And when he cradled her in his arms, she went without fighting.

Joseph carried her to a low bench at the far end of the building. An oblong stone, twenty inches long and ten inches high, lay below the bench. The stone weighed exactly thirty pounds- easily enough to anchor a small woman's body to the pool's bottom. He unbound Lina's feet and placed each one in a shallow depression molded into the stone. Stainless steel manacles extended from a brass eye screw that protruded from between her feet. He locked a cuff around each foot.

"Why are you doing this?" Lina asked. Her tears had dried. Her swollen eyes were clear.

"I must obey Al-Mevlevi. He is inspired by a greater purpose than either of us."

Lina tried to slap Joseph's face with her bound hands. "I do not believe you. It is you, the liar. You put the radio under my bed. You!"

"Shhh!" Joseph knelt and offered her a cup of wine. "It contains a powerful tranquilizer. Al-Mevlevi did not wish you to feel any pain. Look into the water. You don't want to die like that, not while you're fully conscious."

"This is the end of my life. I must feel every moment."

Hastily, Joseph raised her to her feet.

Ali Mevlevi stood at the opposite end of the pool, his head tilted toward the heavens, a muted prayer playing from his mouth. He stopped and looked at Joseph, then nodded and resumed his incantations. Truly, he had loved her.

Lina struggled against her bonds. She whimpered at her inability to move her feet or to free her hands.

Joseph whispered in her ear that Allah would love her forever. He carried her onto a narrow span that bridged the pool, and when he stood over the water, he lifted her as high as his strength would permit and threw her into the pool. Her scream mixed with the tumult of the splashing water, and for several seconds after she had fallen below the surface, her voice echoed through the vaulted pavilion.

***

Outside, a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter sat with rotors turning at idle on the main lawn of the compound. The sky was bleak. A light drizzle fell.

Mevlevi walked toward the chopper, his hand on Joseph's shoulder. "Lina jeopardized Khamsin. You understand there was no other solution."

"Of course, Al-Mevlevi."

"I am growing to be a sentimental fool. I felt for her. It is harder to live without emotion at my age." He paused and in a rare loss of temper, cursed the Almighty. "Our priorities are clear. Khamsin must be allowed to take shape. You must leave at once to take responsibility for our latest shipment. You will fly to a freighter steaming in the Adriatic, near Brindisi, off the Italian coast."

"May I gather my belongings?"

"No. I'm afraid you may not. No time."

For once, Joseph protested. "I only need a few minutes."