As it pulled over his broken nose, he screamed in pain.
Alessandra knelt over his face and spoke loudly.
"Lick the blade of the knife."
The man stared at her.
"I'll give you one more chance. Wet your lips and LICK the blade of the knife."
She could see the confusion in the man's eyes, but he complied, Alessandra lowering the metal blade to his lips.
Alessandra then moved aside from the man's face, maintaining the pressure with her foot the whole time, and indicated for Lisa to take the photograph, which she duly did. As soon as she had two good shots, Alessandra knelt closer to the man's face and spoke softly but calmly, no fear showing in her voice.
"You picked the wrong women. I'm a police officer on holiday. Now, ordinarily I would frog-march you to the nearest prison, and throw away the key, but like I said. I'm on holiday," she bluffed. "The last thing I want is a pile of paperwork." She paused. "Are you getting this?"
The man nodded, trying to speak, but not able to.
"Good. Now I want you to get up, go home, pack your bags and leave. I don't care where you go, but I can promise you this. If you return home within the next three years, I will have you arrested for Attempted Murder, Armed Robbery and Assault, and that's just for starters." She bluffed, trying to scare him but knowing full well the law didn't work like that. "We have a photograph of you at the scene of the crime, we have your weapon with your finger prints, blood and saliva all over it, and we have three witnesses. Are you still getting this?"
The pupils of the man's eyes had now shrunk to pinpricks, despite the lack of light. He was now petrified.
"Good. And, one more thing. When I get back to England I'm taking this knife into work, and I'm going to run a check on your DNA. If I find you have previous, and the DNA fits any known murder or serious crime, we're coming after you, so if you're guilty of anything and know it, I suggest you leave the country in the next few days. Forever. If I find you have nothing serious against you, I'll put a tag on your file, and watch to see if you reoffend in the next five years. If you do, just once for anything, we'll come after you and when we catch you, we'll do you for the crimes committed here today. This was premeditated. You won't get out of prison. I'll make sure you never get parole. You've been warned."
She put a bit more pressure on his windpipe just to emphasise the threat, and then released it, taking the foot away.
The man on the ground looked up, his eyes darting from Alessandra to the other two women and back.
Alessandra wafted the knife in front of his face one more time, then grabbed the man by his shoulder and yanked him up.
She smiled at him and then said "Now SHOO!" quite loudly.
The man took to his heels and ran.
"Who the hell are you?" Sally asked, laughing.
"I can't believe you just did that!" Lisa exclaimed, amazed.
Alessandra laughed.
"He's just a scared young man, way out of his depth. We won't see him again ever. In about an hour's time he'll be in a car heading south. I doubt he'll ever step foot in Scotland again."
"Seriously, though," Lisa added. "Sally has a point. Who are you? Where did you learn all that from?"
"A long time ago I served a few years in the military. That's all I want to say about it."
Just then Alessandra's phone began to ring.
A minute later she had left Lisa and Sally and was running back to her car.
It was the Abbot.
Brother Mathew had just woken up.
The Abbot sounded distraught.
"He's dying. I don't know how much time he has left. Get here soon!"
Chapter 28
Inverness
Raigmore Hospital
Monday
11.55 p.m.
It took about forty-five minutes for Alessandra to drive to the hospital in Inverness, find a parking space and make her way through the maze of corridors to the ward the Abbot had said Brother Mathew was in.
She found herself at the reception desk in the centre of a ward, with a row of private rooms on either side.
Asking for Brother Mathew and explaining that the Abbot had called her, she was accompanied to a room on her left, where the nurse opened the door, went inside for a minute and fetched the Abbot who returned outside with her. The nurse then left.
"Thank you for coming," The Abbot smiled at her, both his hands inside the long sleeves of his cassock.
He looked tired.
"He's awake and lucid, but very weak, and in some pain. Although he can self-administer morphine when he needs it. I've told him about you, and he remembers you. He is expecting your visit. Shall I come in with you, or would you rather I left you alone together?"
Alessandra shrugged.
"I don't mind. I hadn't thought about it. Maybe you could come in but sit at the side of the room, in case he needs you?"
"Certainly." He replied. "As you wish."
The Abbot pushed open the door and stepped aside to let Alessandra walk in first.
Alessandra was immediately shocked to see the transformation that had occurred in the monk. He'd lost a lot of weight and his face was haggard and drawn.
His eyes were closed and his hands were resting on his chest.
As she stepped closer towards him, his eyes flickered open.
"Aha... I've been waiting for you to return. To hear your questions. To see if you have the same questions as did I."
Alessandra smiled. "I have a lot."
Until this moment, she didn't know how she would react to the monk, if and when she finally saw him. Inside, she was full of anger, but knowing that he was so ill, she'd wondered if the anger would come out, or if she would be able to control it.
Seeing him now, so weak and fragile, she felt sorry for him.
"I came as soon as the Abbott called me. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
"No, you misunderstand. It is I who have been waiting for you to come back, since the B..B..Blessing."
"Since..."
"Yes."
"You knew?"
"Bless you, for you are now blessed. Yes, I knew. I felt it."
She stood by his bed, looking down onto his face, his head lying on the pillow, looking directly up at her.
"Why me?"
"Aha.. the sa...s...same first question that I had."
Alessandra hesitated for a second.
"Were you blessed by someone else? Did someone pass the healing ability to you, as you passed it to me?"
"I did not pass it to you. It passed from me to you. There is a difference. But in answer to your question," he coughed lightly, his voice quiet, forcing Alessandra to listen hard, ..."in answer to your question, no. It was not the same. I had a dream one night. I awoke. And I found I had the Gift."
"Who were you then?" Alessandra asked, pulling a seat over from the wall and sitting down beside him. It was very warm in the room, so she took off her jacket and hung it over the back of the chair.
"I was just a n...normal man. I had always believed in God. I tried to be g..g..good. I tried to treat others well, even though others made fun of me, if I let them."
She shook her head..."So, you were just a normal person, before you were given the Gift? You call it the Gift, don't you? The Abbot called it the Gift of Healing too."
"Yes. Because I've learned that is what it is. In spite of what you think of it now."
"But you believe in God. I don't. You try to be a good person and I can promise you that I am far from a good person. Imagine the worst type of person in the world that exists, and that is who I am. I break every commandment there is. And I don't care. So why me? Why me?"
"I don't know. I still don't know why it happened to me either. I couldn’t and still can't see any logic as to why it came to me. But all I know is that this Gift is from God, and that if He in His ultimate wisdom has deemed it right to pass the Gift on to you, that you must therefore be beloved in His eyes. All His children
are special to Him, but for some reason, and I do not know the reason why, He has chosen you as worthy to receive the Gift."
"Worthy?" Alessandra laughed. "I just told you, that I am not worthy." She leaned forward in her chair, so that the dying monk could hear her whisper. "List the Ten Commandments for me, please. I don't know them all."
The Monk hesitated for a moment, then started repeating them one after another.
"You shall have no other gods before Me." His wide eyes appraised Alessandra as he spoke. She nodded.
"Go on!"
" You s...shall not make idols. You sh... shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."
"More..."
"Honour your father and your mother. You shall not murder..."
"Yep, that one. I've broken that one, many times, and the one about adultery, and the one about stealing. And all the other ones that went before it. So, please, tell me how on earth I can be bloody worthy? Tell me!"
""Have you heard of Saint Paul? He w..was one of the top persecutors of the Christians. God chose him, in spite of everything he s..stood for or what he had d..done."
"That was a long time ago. This is now. At least Paul knew something about Christianity. I know nothing. If God walked into the room right now, I wouldn't even recognise Him."
"He is in the room right now. He's in all of us."
Alessandra was starting to get angry, in spite of the situation Brother Mathew was in.
"I didn't come here for a sermon. I want you to take the Gift back. There's been a big mistake. I don't want the Gift."
"It's got nothing to do with me. Sorry, may I ask what your name is? My memory is so bad. I'm sorry if you told me before." He started to cough again.
"Alice."
"Could you pass me some water, please?" He said very weakly. For a while some energy had returned to his voice, but now it was fading fast.
He took a sip from the glass as Alice held it and gently lifted his head from the pillow, then he sank back down and closed his eyes for a second. For a moment, Alessandra worried that he was drifting back off into a coma.
She gently touched him on the hand.
"Don't worry. I'm still here. I'm just r...resting my eyes for a second."
Looking across at the Abbot, Alessandra saw that he had nodded off, his head hanging forward over his black robe, his hands tucked neatly into either sleeve.
"How long did it take you to get used to it?" she asked.
"I never did. I got accustomed to it, eventually accepted that I wasn't mad, but each time I p..p...performed a miracle it amazed me. No, let me rephrase that, each time a miracle was p..p..erformed through me,... it amazed me. I never accepted that it was m...me that was doing it."
"Could you do anything?"
He opened his eyes.
"What do you mean, anything?"
"Could you cure anybody, of anything, whenever you wanted?"
He thought about it for a moment, or perhaps he was falling asleep again, but Alessandra waited, hoping it was the former not the latter.
"At first, it w...was r...rather random. I had no control. But later, months later, I b..began to do it almost at w...will. "
"And what could you do? What could you cure?"
"Whatever God wanted me to cure. From colds to cancer. Everything. I just acted as the catalyst for the healing to take place.
"I tried to cure a friend a few days ago, and I couldn't do it."
"It might not be God's will."
"He's dying."
"God might be calling him."
"Do you honestly believe that? Is he calling you now, or are you just 'dying'? Isn't your body failing, simple as that?"
"I hope He's calling me. Otherwise... well..."
"Were you a monk beforehand?"
He laughed.
"No. I w...was a teacher: A m...maths teacher."
"But you stutter? How could stand up in front of so many people and talk to them all the time?"
"It was n...not so bad then. It's g..got worse. Especially when I'm t...tired, or stressed, or dying..." He smiled weakly at her then, and in spite of the anger she had felt towards him previously, she couldn't help but feel a moment of warmth within her.
"To answer your question, I became a monk afterwards. I was almost suicidal when I t...turned up at the monastery. They helped me. G...guided me. My faith deepened. I found s...sanctuary within their walls..."
"You hid? And the Gift? Did it go away?"
"No. I used it whenever I had to, or whenever I wanted to."
"And me? Which was I?"
"I felt the urge to bless you. A strong urge. I didn't know, it would h...happen. When it did, I knew it h...had. God chose you. Not me."
Alessandra stood up, and stepped back from the bed, lifting her hands up in the air in frustration.
"This is total crap. Why on earth would God choose me? You don't know who I am. He would NEVER choose me. This doesn't make sense!"
Brother Mathew started to cough again.
Alessandra stood for a second, just looking over at him, then helped him drink some more water, before lowering his head back onto the pillow.
"How is it with y...you?" he asked. "What do you feel?"
"My fingers...they start to tingle. It gets unbearable."
"It was my arms...they got very w...w...warm..."
"Did you feel sick afterwards? ...I do..."
"Yes, but it always went away. I think you abs...s...sorb the pain or the illness from the person you are healing...you take it from them...and then God takes if from you."
Alessandra shook her head. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation. Talking to a dying, stuttering, dwarf monk about something so bizarre and impossible. It was all so unreal.
She looked at her fingers, remembering that morning and the boy beside the road.
"It's getting worse. Each time it happens, it feels stronger. It feels like ...like... the Gift ...or whatever it's called...it's getting more powerful..."
The monk turned his head towards her, his eyes showing his surprise.
Alessandra went to his side and leant over him.
"You? Did it get stronger with you?"
"No."
"It has to stop. I can't stand it. This is a curse not a Gift!"
"You can't think like that, Alice... you have to th..think of all the good you can do. The lives you can improve, even save!"
"No. I have another life. My life. I chose it, it's a good life. And I'm happy. You have to take this thing back!"
"I can't. It's got nothing to do with me."
"It's got everything to do with you! You gave it to me!"
The monk closed his eyes and looked away from her.
Alessandra walked away from the bed and stood facing the wall, her hands pulling at her hair.
She was shaking with frustration.
"So, why are you dying?" she asked, still facing the wall. "Can you not heal yourself?"
"When I laid hands on you, I think the Gift passed from me to you. I haven't been able to heal anyone since. I felt very weak, the cancer saw the opportunity and returned. I'm dying."
She turned around and came back to the bedside.
"When did you have the cancer the first time?"
"About six months before I got the Gift."
"Were you not 'healed' then? Did 'God' not make you better?"
"No. I don't think so. It never went away. The doctor's just said that it had stopped growing. The tumours got a little smaller, but they didn't disappear or grow any larger. I was in remission. For years. Until I met you."
"So, it's my fault you're dying now? My bloody fault? What sort of Gift is it if it kills the host?"
"I'm not blaming you. At all. What's happening now is God's will."
"Bullshit. I DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD! Do you not get it? This can't be happening to me!"
The monk started to cough again. Alessandra stared at him.
For a moment, she hung back, but then gave in to the need to help him, and she went to support him and help him to drink again.
"You have to take it back."
"I can't."
"You must. You will."
"I can't..."
"Do you want to die? Do you want to bloody die?"
He started to cough. Worse this time. Some blood came out of his mouth, and in the background Alessandra heard an alarm go off.
A nurse entered the room, looked at the electronic equipment on the other side of the bed, and turned to Alessandra.
"Can you give us a moment please? You can wait outside."
It wasn't a request.
Alessandra looked down at the coughing, spluttering, stuttering, dying monk, and left the room.
She stood outside the door, tears of frustration, anger, and confusion brimming on the edge of her eyelids.
Another nurse came up to her, and took her gently by the arm, leading her to a chair. Alessandra sat down.
A moment later the nurse returned with a cup of tea, offering it to Alessandra.
She nodded, took the cup, and held it with both hands in her lap.
She drank it slowly, a wave of exhaustion, both mental and physical, sweeping over her now that she had finally sat down and taken a moment, inadvertently allowing for the world to catch up with her.
As her eyelids closed, the cup inched its way out of her hand until it eventually fell free, landing on the ground silently beneath her, empty and spent.
Just like Alessandra.
--------------------
Inverness
Raigmore Hospital
Tuesday
4.25 a.m.
It was the tingling in her fingers that awoke her. The sensation broke through her dreams and dragged her back to her pathetic reality.
Her eyelids were heavy, and she struggled to open them, but when she did, she didn't immediately recognise where she was.
Looking up, she saw the blue walls, the green linoleum, and smelt the disinfectant.
She was in the hospital.
Someone had picked up the plastic cup from the floor and wiped up the remnants of the tea which had spilled out.
She remembered now.
Lifting her hands to her face, now wide awake, she stared at her tingling fingers.
This had to stop.
The Assassin's Gift Page 28