The Assassin's Gift

by C. P. IRVINE, IAN

  "Good afternoon, Miss. I am Brother Peter. I am the Abbot here at St. Benedict's. Brother Samuel has explained to me that you wish to meet with Brother Matthew and that you believe he has passed over to you certain spiritual gifts?"

  Alessandra smiled.

  "Yes, I believe he has somehow given me the ability to heal people. Miraculously. Not like a doctor. I mean, by laying on hands, bingo, I can cure almost anything. Fix almost anything."

  "I see." The Abbot nodded.

  He turned to the other monk.

  "Thank you Brother Samuel. You may leave us now."

  The taller monk bowed, reversed out of the door and shut it behind him.

  The Abbot turned around and rested both his hands in the lap of his cassock.

  "I have some bad news for you, Miss. Excuse me, may I know your name? I feel rather rude calling you 'Miss'."

  "Alice. Please call me Alice."

  "As I was saying, Alice. I am sorry to inform you that our dear Brother Mathew

  is dying. A number of years ago, before he came to us, he was suffering from cancer, but since he's been with us, we all believed it to be in remission. Then very recently it came back. The prognosis is very poor."

  Alessandra stared at the Abbot. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was the last thing she was expecting.

  "But he was fine when I met him... when he blessed me."

  The Abbot asked when that was, and Alessandra took a moment to work it out, then told him.

  "Yes, he was well then. I'm afraid he became ill again quite quickly after that. In fact, I think it was the very next day."

  Alice's mind started working overtime. Considering what she had just been told.

  "You mentioned that you believe you have the gift of healing? Did you know that Brother Mathew was quite well known locally for some of the miracles which he'd performed. He too, had the gift of healing."

  Alice began to feel quite strange. The timing was too coincidental. Had the monk transferred the gift to her, and then become ill as a result?

  "I need to see him. Where is he?" she said adamantly.

  "He's in Inverness. In the hospital. However, I don't know if he would wish to see you. He's very weak."

  "I need to see him. I'm sorry to hear that he is unwell and that he's dying, but until he laid his hands upon my head, uninvited and without my permission, I had a life. Now thanks to his blessing, I don't. Or I won't. I can't carry on like this. I need to talk with him. If he had this 'gift' before me, and still has it, only he can tell me about it. He can't just shove it on me and expect me to deal with it. I have questions. I need answers!"

  There were tears welling in her eyes as she spoke.

  She felt scared. Confused. Bewildered.

  The Abbot nodded.

  "I understand. When Brother Mathew first came to us with the Gift, he too had questions. We could not provide the answers. He discovered them for himself, and only he can share them with you. Do you have a number I can reach you at? I will try to arrange a visit for you. But if I can, it may be at short notice. If it's already not too late. But I'll need time."

  "When shall I expect the call?"

  "I cannot tell. He has been slipping in and out of a coma. I will visit him and wait by his side. When he awakes, IF he awakes, I shall call you."

  "I'm staying at the Hilton. This is my number..."

  She started to scribble the number down on a piece of paper she extracted from her pocket.

  "The Hilton in Inverness?"

  Alessandra explained. He smiled meekly, then got up and indicated that he would escort her to the exit.

  At the doorway, Alessandra turned around and gently touched the Abbot on his arm.

  "I'm sorry...if I appear a little desperate. But it's only because I am. I'm lost, and I need some help and direction to understand all this."

  "Alice, you have been given a Gift by God, and whatever happens, it will enrich your life. Although it may take time to understand and see His plan."

  "But I don't even believe in God!" Alessandra protested.

  The Abbot smiled.

  "But God believes in you, Alice. He believes in you!"

  Chapter 27

  Loch Ness Hilton

  Monday

  6.55 p.m.

  Alessandra had just managed to open the windows of her caravan to freshen up the air and then pop the kettle on for a good old cup of English...no Scottish tea!... when there was a sharp rap on the door.

  "Where have you been?" Lisa demanded, stepping up into the caravan, without even being invited in.

  "I'm a tourist. I've been touring." Alessandra smiled, letting her pass. "I'm guessing you heard the kettle boiling?"

  "Sally's left me. Or I left Sally. Although technically we're still only three caravans away. She just moved out and went back to her own."

  "Why?" Alessandra asked, pulling out a couple of cups and taking the milk out from the shopping she'd just bought down in Fort Augustus, getting all the ingredients for tomorrow night.

  "It's been quite tense between us. Since you fixed me, I've been really broody. She can tell that I'm menstruating again. And she's been asking me if now I can maybe have children again, will I go back to my husband, or start looking for another man?"

  "And are you? What did you say to her?"

  "Nothing. I don't know. I couldn't lie to her. I had thought about it. And she could tell that I had when I didn't answer her immediately."

  "I'm sorry to have caused you so much grief. I didn't mean to," Alessandra apologised, putting the tea down in front of Lisa, now seated at the table at the front of the caravan.

  "Grief? No way. I'm bloody over the moon! I still can't believe what you did."

  "It wasn't me. I didn't do it..." Alessandra started to reply.

  "Of course it was you! Who else do you think did it?"

  "Technically, it was me that put my hands on you, yes,... but this is all as much a mystery and a surprise to me, as it is to you. I don't understand what's going on. But I'm going to try and find out."

  "How?"

  "I'd rather not talk about it just now. Anyway, what else has been happening?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

  "Actually, I don't fancy tea." Lisa replied. "I just saw your curtains open again and I wanted to see you. But we're going out for a drink later, if you want to come?"

  "Who is?"

  "Sally and me."

  "You're still talking?"

  "For now. She wanted to meet up. I'd appreciate your company."

  "I don't think it's a good idea. This is between you and her."

  "Please? Anyway, there's a good Scottish Folk band playing in the pub in town, and it'll be a good evening. Given your status as a tourist, it's the sort of thing you must absolutely not miss. Plus I need to buy you a drink, by way of a thank you for what you did for me."

  "I can't really drink. I might be getting a phone call inviting me to visit a friend in the hospital in Inverness."

  "A coffee then. Or Irn Bru. Whatever you fancy."

  "What the hell is Irn-Bru?"

  "It's a crazy Scottish drink... the equivalent of Coca-Cola. It's a natural cure for hangovers. No self-respecting alcoholic should not have one in their fridge."

  "I didn't know you were an alcoholic?"

  "I'm not... I just meant... never mind, are you coming or not?"

  Alessandra thought about it for a moment. It was probably better than sitting around in the caravan by herself, waiting for a call that may not come.

  Since leaving the monastery she had not been able to stop thinking about the monk, Brother Mathew. She was convinced that his sudden illness, his possible relapse back into cancer, was because of his passing of the 'Gift' from him to her.

  Was he dying because of her?

  Ridiculously, she felt guilty.

  She didn't even want the Gift.

  If she could get him to take it back, then maybe not only would she get her life back, but he
would too!

  The opposite also occurred to her, scaring her with the thought of it. What happened if he died before she could speak with him? Would she be stuck with the Gift for life?

  When Lisa left, Alessandra busied herself with taking a long shower, finally cleansing herself of any possible dirt or forensic material still on her skin that could possibly link her to the forest near Stirling. Then she rustled up something for herself to eat and started to plan the meal for the next evening.

  She had everything she needed, but realised that she had forgotten candles and napkins.

  Or was that all overkill?

  Would it scare him away if she overdid it?

  She caught herself thinking about it and shook her head. What the hell was happening to her?

  The truth was quite simple.

  She wanted him.

  She hadn't had a man in a long time. He was not only very interesting and handsome... but there was a real connection there. Something special.

  Plus, being honest with herself, she was desperate.

  The last time she'd slept with a man had been almost six months ago, in Tangiers.

  It was only a brief fling, like all of her affairs. But it had been amazing at the time. And amazing afterwards, just to think about.

  He was a rich businessman, French, and very charismatic.

  They'd met in a restaurant. Had a drink at his hotel. And then spent three days locked away in a room.

  She'd had the key.

  After three days she'd let him out.

  He was exhausted. She was smiling.

  The memories of those days and nights had sustained her until now, however all memories fade and tarnish.

  It was time for another adventure.

  At 8.30 p.m. she stepped outside the caravan and walked down to the shore, where she had agreed to meet the others. She'd been checking her mobile constantly to check for messages or missed phone calls, but so far there was nothing.

  The sky at this time of the night was beautiful. At this time of the year, the sun wouldn't set for another hour or so, but even when it did, the sky still remained bright until much later. It never really truly got completely dark.

  It had been a warm day. A lot of sunshine, and now the air-temperature was just perfect.

  The water on Loch Ness was calm.

  As she sat on the cobblestones, looking out across the Loch, she realised that so much had happened in the past week that she hadn't really thought about the Monster, the 'Lady of the Loch', for a long time. In fact, not at all. And yet, when she had arrived here, the monster had been all she'd thought about.

  Could it actually be real?

  When she'd first arrived, Alessandra had started to open up her mind to the possibility of it being true. Common sense was against it, but since arriving at the Loch Ness Hilton, her world had been turned upside down by something which was far more unlikely and impossible than the Loch Ness Monster. Yet, if the 'Gift' was real, then what gave her the right to doubt the Loch Ness Monster?

  "Seen anything?"

  Sally's voice.

  Alessandra turned around, finding Sally by herself.

  "No. Not yet. Maybe one day."

  Sally sat down beside her.

  "Lisa said you're coming for a drink with us?"

  "Yes. I hope you don't mind. I just got back this afternoon, and to be quite honest, I could do with the company." Alessandra lied. She didn't know what Lisa had said to Sally already.

  "Has she told you we split up?"

  "Yes... she sort of warned me, but it's your business and I didn't want to enquire anymore."

  Alessandra could feel that she wanted to talk more about it, but just then Lisa arrived.

  Sally and Alessandra both stood up, and for a moment or two, Alessandra could sense the electricity in the air between them, but as they started walking along the shore towards the town and the pub, it eased off.

  "So, where did you go?" Sally asked.

  "Sailing in Plockton, then I drove up and around the north to John O'Groats, and back down again. Just a quick drive. I might go back up the west coast next week and spend a bit more time there. It was beautiful."

  "All of Scotland is beautiful," Lisa agreed.

  "And the sailing?" Sally asked.

  Alessandra told them a story, lying proficiently and making up sufficient details to make it all credible, without over embellishing it.

  Holding her mobile in her hand and checking it occasionally, they walked up to the pub, with Alessandra walking between them both, one on either side of her. She was definitely the gooseberry.

  When they got to the pub, Alessandra got the drinks, and returning to join them at their seats in one corner of the pub, Alessandra had edged slightly away from them and given all her attention to the music which thankfully started quite soon after arriving.

  When the break came, she made her excuses, went to the ladies, and then for a short walk outside, again checking her mobile.

  Nothing from the Abbot yet.

  What if the monk had already died?

  Surely the Abbot would have called if that were the case?

  The second half started, and passed quickly, Alessandra managing to avoid further conversation with the others.

  By the time the band finished playing, she turned around to smile at Sally and Lisa and found that they were holding hands.

  Alessandra thought it best not to comment. Leaving the pub not long afterwards, they walked back down the road and turned off the path running down alongside the river from the series of canal locks, towards the loch side and the caravan park.

  It was quite dark now... at least as dark as it would get so far north, and very quiet away from the town.

  Lisa and Sally walked in front, holding hands still, and talking, and Alessandra hung slightly back behind them by about a metre. She was just enjoying the evening air, periodically checking her phone and lost in her own thoughts, mostly about the monk.

  They were about a hundred yards down the river path towards the Loch shore, out of sight from the main road and halfway to the entrance to the caravan park.

  Alessandra was just wondering about the monk and how long he'd actually had the ability to heal. Remembering what the Abbot had said while they were together, it seemed that Brother Mathew had turned up at the monastery with the ability, and she had got the impression that he had come to them for help in learning how to cope with it.

  If he had gone through the same as she was doing now, he possibly had the answers that she was seeking. She needed to speak to him!

  She was just checking her phone for the umpteenth time when she heard a voice. A man's voice.

  Looking up, a man had appeared in the pathway in front of Lisa and Sally. Alessandra immediately assessed the situation taking in as much detail as possible in one glance.

  He was dressed all in black with a balaclava hood pulled down over his head, only his eyes and mouth visible.

  His right hand was extended towards Lisa and Sally, a large knife protruding from his grasp.

  "Give me your mobile phones and your purses. Now!"

  His voice was deep and menacing, but Alessandra could immediately sense a nervous edge to it. The man was scared.

  His right foot was slightly forward, and his left foot slightly turned away. His left shoulder was raised, and his knees slightly bent.

  She could tell immediately he was inexperienced at this. His stance was all wrong. He lacked confidence that the women would comply with his demands.

  He was however, very dangerous.

  Unsure and scared, but now committed, he was as likely to use the knife in a moment of madness, as he was to run away if he didn't get what he wanted.

  The man must have been hidden in the trees and bushes on the right of the path, with the river running down to the loch hemming them in on the left.

  Alessandra looked behind her, and scanned the trees, listening for any other telltale signs of movement.


  She heard and saw no one else and knew that if the man had accomplices, they would have shown themselves by now.

  The man in front was at that moment more focused on those nearest him: Sally and Lisa. He had not yet properly taken notice of Alessandra.

  The moment the man had appeared, Lisa and Sally had stopped holding hands, and had separated slightly. For a moment they had frozen, but were now moving their hands to their pockets, moving even slightly further apart.

  Alessandra saw the moment and seized it.

  She took one quick step forward and launched herself into the air towards the man, through the gap that had now appeared between Sally and Lisa.

  Springing forward, and resting her hands on the inside shoulders of Lisa and Sally, she lifted her right leg, swinging it up and across the front of the man.

  The tip of her foot hit the hand grasping the knife, breaking two of the fingers instantly and kicking the hand away and outwards from the women. The force of the impact spun the knife out of the man's hand, into the air and it landed just beside the small protective wall that ran down the edge of the path between them and the river.

  Still turning in the air, Alessandra's momentum carried her on and she spun her body around until her heels were now facing the ground, the soles of both feet heading straight into the man's face and chest.

  The man, unprepared for the onslaught, was caught off balance.

  Alessandra's right foot immediately broke the man's nose, instantly turning it into a bloody mess. The impact of both feet on his upper torso snapped him backwards and he was momentarily lifted into the air and pushed backwards, before he smashed into the ground behind him.

  Alessandra landed on both hands and feet, immediately stretched out and bent down, recovering the knife, turning and diving back to the man. She stood above him, placing her foot across the man's windpipe, applying gentle pressure.

  The man was dazed and beginning to choke on the blood from his nose.

  "Lisa, get your mobile phone out quickly and take a photograph of this man's face." Alessandra spoke authoritatively but calmly, mimicking a slight English accent for some reason, and snapping the two women behind her into action.

  Alessandra bent down, pulling the balaclava off over the man's head.