The Assassin's Gift

by C. P. IRVINE, IAN

  -------------------

  Amelia and Alessandra cried together, two people consoling each other as best they could.

  A daily sight in this part of the hospital.

  After a few minutes, Amelia removed her hands from Alessandra's and started to wipe her tears away again.

  "I'm sorry. This is awful of me. I approached you thinking I could offer you some support, and I've just spent the whole time talking about me. Hogging all the attention."

  She reached for a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed her eyes.

  "I didn't intend it this way. I honestly didn't. But I think it's just because I haven't really had a chance to talk to anyone about it, and I just exploded... sorry."

  "Don't worry. Please don't feel bad," Alessandra insisted.

  "It's just all so unfair... everything. Life. I'm going to die soon, and I never got to do half of the things I ever wanted to do. I just kept leaving them to the future, and now that future will probably never come!"

  "Tell me about one of those things," Alessandra asked warmly. Genuinely interested.

  "Talking to my daughter. Or my son. For example. Actually, more talking to my daughter. I've always wanted a daughter. I just didn't realise how much until now."

  "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

  "No. But I think it's a girl. I've dreamt about her."

  Alessandra said nothing in reply. What could she?

  "Okay. That's enough about me. Karen... do you want to talk about you? Get it off your chest just like you've let me do?"

  Alessandra bit her lip.

  Said nothing.

  "It's hard at first. Just to get those words out. But believe me, as soon as you do..."

  "It's not that..."

  Amelia reached across and took Alessandra's hand in hers.

  "Take your time."

  "Honestly, it's not that..."

  "What is it then? You can tell me anything. How serious is it? Are you scared? Have you seen the consultant already? Would you like me to come with you to see the consultant?"

  "I'm not sick."

  Amelia hesitated. Her face went blank for a second. Alessandra could see the confusion in her eyes.

  "I don't understand..."

  "I'm not sick. I'm healthy."

  "Then why are you here?" Amelia sat up straight and edged forward on her chair, frowning.

  "It's difficult to explain. And if I do,... I don't want to give you any false hopes."

  "You're confusing me. What do you mean? About what?"

  Alessandra gently removed her hand from Amelia's.

  "I came here to meet other people who were suffering. To surround myself by them. To sense their feelings. To feel their pain."

  "Why?"

  "You're not going to believe me when I tell you, but what I'm going to say is the truth. And it's something I'm really struggling to come to grips with. It scares me, and worries me. And I feel powerless to control it."

  "What?"

  "I can heal people."

  "Heal people? What do you mean? How?"

  "I touch them, they get better. I don't understand how or why. It only started about a month ago. I got blessed by a monk. Next thing you know when I'm with sick people I sometimes get an urge to heal them, and if I touch them, I do..."

  "What you do mean? I don't understand."

  "I can make them well again. I can heal them of whatever is wrong with them."

  Amelia was shaking her head. Tears appeared at the corner of her eyes.

  "I'm confused. I... Why....?"

  "I'm sorry... I know this sounds ridiculous, and it is. It's unbelievable. But it's real. The monk who gave it to me calls it 'The Gift'. I feel like it's a curse. It's ruining my life. Taking me over. And I can't predict when it will happen or with who... So I came here to surround myself with sick people to see if anything would happen."

  Amelia's eyes opened wider. She looked across and studied Alessandra's face. Alessandra could see that Amelia was thinking hard. Deciding whether to believe her or not.

  She said nothing for a few moments, then the question came.

  As expected.

  "I'm sick. I'm dying. Can you cure me?"

  Alessandra shrugged and swallowed hard.

  "I don't know. I've touched you, and I felt nothing," she replied, lying slightly. There had been that initial tingle, although very slight.

  "Touch me again," she said, reaching out her hands to her, and holding them in front of her. Offering herself to Alessandra.

  Alessandra lifted her hands and gently took Amelia's in her own.

  She closed her eyes.

  Amelia waited for a second, then couldn't wait any longer.

  "And? Anything?"

  Alessandra opened her eyes.

  "Sorry, nothing. I want to heal you. I really do. I can feel your pain, your suffering, and I really like you. We have a real connection. But I don't feel anything..."

  "Why not? If you can heal people then why can't you heal me?"

  "I don't know. I'm sorry. But I don't understand how this works. Which is why I came here today."

  "I prayed last week. I prayed to God that He would cure me. That He would save my baby. That He would let me live to bring my baby up. I prayed. Actually, I didn't just pray. I begged Him. I begged Him to let me live. To save us..."

  Amelia had started to cry really loudly now.

  For the second time that afternoon, the server behind the counter looked across at them.

  Alessandra squeezed her hands.

  "Then maybe this meeting was not for nothing. Maybe there was a purpose behind it. I can't heal you now. But perhaps I will be able to in the future if I can just learn how to control it."

  "When in the future? I haven't got time. I have to make a decision soon. Either I go ahead and start the treatment and possibly save my life, but kill my baby, or I wait, and just increase the likelihood of both of us dying... When?"

  "I DON'T KNOW!" Alessandra replied, raising her voice.

  "PLEASE..."

  Alessandra quickly moved her chair across to Amelia and wrapped her arms around her. She squeezed her tightly and gently rocked her from side to side.

  "Right now I can promise you that there is nothing more in the world that I would like to do Amelia, than to heal you. Cure you. To save your baby. To give you both a life together... But I can't. Not just now. I don't feel anything. The power to heal is not with me just now..."

  Amelia continued to cry quite loudly, then as Alessandra held her more closely and stroked her hair, she started to calm down.

  The sobs began to subside.

  "Amelia, listen to me... I promise you. In the next few days if I think there is any possibility that the power to heal you might suddenly materialise within me... then I will call you immediately. Day or night. The moment I sense anything, ... I will call you!"

  Amelia turned to her. "You promise?"

  "I do..."

  "My number... it's 077...." And she started to give her mobile number.

  Grabbing a napkin from the table and a pen from Amelia's outstretched hand, Alessandra scribbled it down, and checked it with her.

  "I'm sorry, I have to go... this is all too much..." Amelia stood up and started to edge away from Alessandra.

  "I will call you. I promise."

  Amelia nodded, started to cry again, and then turned and almost ran out of the café.

  Alessandra watched her go.

  As soon as she'd left the room, Alessandra lifted her hands to her face and stared at them.

  She felt nothing.

  No tingling.

  No electricity.

  No Gift.

  Just frustration.

  Anger.

  And confusion.

  -------------------

  Back at the hotel, Alessandra made straight for the bar. Picking up three whiskies to save time, she planted herself in the corner furthest away from everyone else, and turned her back on the rest of the
room.

  The first whisky was downed in one.

  She closed her eyes, and rested her head backwards against the top of the chair, enjoying the wave of alcohol as it coursed its way down her throat, into her blood and across her brain.

  What good was having 'The Gift' if she couldn't give it to someone?

  Her mind had been awash with thoughts and emotions since the moment she had left the hospital.

  Thoughts streamed through her consciousness and disappeared into the ether without finding answers.

  What had she learned from her trip to the hospital?

  Perhaps something, after all, she realised.

  Being close to suffering, infirmity and disease did not create an immediate summoning of her magical healing powers.

  She had felt real compassion for Amelia, or whatever her real name was. She had really wanted to heal her. Just as she had for Young Angus. Yet, in spite of her desire to help her, she had been powerless.

  If the Gift was going to stay with her, would she ever be able to summon the power of healing herself, or would she always just be a conduit through which the healing energy passed, subject to the whim of fate, the cosmos, or God?

  Would Alessandra ever be able to select and choose who she wanted to heal, or would the person she healed just be the nearest random person available when the power of healing came upon her?

  There was something about the plight of Amelia that really struck her. Was it the fact that she was struggling so hard to face her fate and was so scared, or was it because she was pregnant? That cruel twist in the tale that made it seem so unreal. So unfair.

  Another mother who may not be able to look after a child.

  She thought of her own mother.

  There were uncomfortable similarities.

  Uncomfortable similarities which the second whisky helped to blur.

  Extracting the napkin from her pocket, she memorised the number while she still could, and then stuffed it away again in her jacket.

  On top of everything else, she liked Amelia.

  A lot.

  There had been an immediate openness, a frankness between them. Under different circumstances, perhaps they could even become friends.

  Friends?

  But could she become friends with a person due to die in the very near future? Was there even time to get to know her?

  Alessandra finished the second whisky and started on the third.

  If she had ever wanted to heal someone before, then Amelia had topped the list.

  Thankfully, she had learned from the fiasco with Young Angus and had not pushed Amelia through the circus she had made Young Angus experience.

  She'd learned.

  Unless her fingers were tingling, don't even bother.

  When the third glass was finished, she walked to the lift, rode it up to her room, and was in bed and asleep within half-an-hour.

  Chapter 36

  Edinburgh

  Edinburgh Castle

  Saturday 7.30 a.m.

  Copernicus climbed into his new rental car, switched on the ignition and smiled.

  Things were beginning to happen.

  Within hours he would be close to McKenzie, primed, waiting, and ready for Salvador.

  According to the sat nav, it was about two hours drive to the cottage which McKenzie was renting, tucked away up a secluded drive, away from prying eyes, tourists or passers by.

  Yet again the SVR had come up trumps.

  The email Copernicus had finally managed to access last night had been comprehensive, containing all the details they had uncovered so far.

  It was a good piece of work.

  First, they had found and hacked into the bank account of DCI McKenzie, by accessing his personal details through the police payroll.

  They'd quickly seen that a short while ago McKenzie had made a rather large transfer of cash to another account, which upon investigation had turned out to belong to a fellow police officer, and an old friend.

  The SVR had investigated the recipient of the cash and found links between McKenzie and him spread throughout social media. They included photographs of both men taken together on a skiing holiday several years before.

  By accessing the bank account of his friend, they had discovered that just after receipt of the money from McKenzie, he had withdrawn three thousand pounds in cash. Over the next two days, his friend had taken out another six thousand, and also rented a cottage on the other side of Scotland in a small village not far from Loch Lomond.

  SVR agents in Scotland had then reported that a car was parked in the driveway of his friend, which, according to the UK's DVLA system belonged to McKenzie.

  Another car, which the DVLA reported as belonging to McKenzie's friend, had also been observed at the address of the rented cottage near Loch Lomond.

  So far, a positive ID on the occupant of the cottage had not yet been made, but from the intelligence already gleamed, it was logical to surmise that McKenzie's friend had rented the cottage for McKenzie, given him a supply of cash, and then lent him his car.

  McKenzie may well have gone off the grid, but it had only taken Copernicus several days to track him down.

  Which was why McKenzie was the amateur, and Copernicus the professional.

  -------------------

  Edinburgh

  9.30 a.m.

  It had been a while since Alessandra had last had a hangover. Allowing herself to relax too much, get intoxicated, and feel under the weather, whilst on a mission, was strictly against her basic operational guidelines... but things on this trip were not normal.

  Perhaps, things would never be normal again.

  She awoke feeling groggy, a little nauseous and with a slight headache.

  Ten minutes in a cold shower helped a lot, but it was only after she had forced herself out into the streets for a thirty minute run followed by a stint in the pool and the steam room, that she had begun to feel acceptably okay.

  Good enough to get in a car and drive.

  Almost good enough to face an enemy.

  And well enough to kill those who needed to be killed.

  Which led to thoughts of McKenzie.

  Checking her mobile for messages at regular intervals still brought nothing.

  Wondering what she would do with the day, she sought suggestions from the beautiful young woman at the reception and then decided to visit the Edinburgh Royal Botanical Gardens.

  A bit of culture would not go amiss.

  It might even make up for the debauchery of the night before.

  It was only a fifteen minute drive to the Gardens, which once again took her through the New Town and down through stunning neo-classical Georgian streets.

  It was downhill most of the way, which surprised Alessandra and showed just how high and elevated the Castle and its surroundings actually were in comparison to sea level.

  No wonder the views from the Castle and her surroundings were so stunning, allowing her to see so far out to sea and across to the peninsula north of the river Forth.

  Parking her car just outside the Botanical Gardens, she looked back towards the city and the Castle, and was impressed by how different it looked from this angle.

  The Castle dominated most of the views in Edinburgh, and all of them were good!

  Entering the Gardens she was surprised to discover just how extensive they were, and how quickly she forgot all about the city and the world outside.

  The sun was shining, the sky was blue, she was surrounded by flowers, trees and acres of manicured grass, and the air smelt wonderful.

  After buying a sandwich from a café she wandered across, she sat down on the grass and started to open the packet.

  She was just about to pull out the sandwich and take her first bite when her fingers spasmed, and the sandwich fell to the ground.

  An intense wave of tingling -far worse than anything she had experienced before - coursed through both her hands.

  Adrenaline poured into her blood, a
nd she began to shake.

  Not from fear.

  Or hunger.

  But from excitement!

  Putting the packet of sandwiches on the ground, she fished out her mobile and dialled the number from memory.

  "Amelia? It's Karen. Where are you right now?"

  -------------------

  Dunsapie Loch Car Park

  Queen's Park

  Edinburgh.

  1.35 p.m.

  It took fifteen minutes for Alessandra to get back to her car, to programme the sat nav, and make the drive to the Queen's Park then up the private road that ran along the contour of the hills until it reached the bottom of Arthur's Seat.

  The scenery was beautiful, and if possible, she knew she would have to come back at some point in the future to enjoy it properly.

  For now though, she had other things on her mind.

  What had triggered it off, she still didn't know, but the tingling sensation in her hands and fingers was getting worse by the minute.

  Whereas to a certain extent she was finding it a little easier to compartmentalise it, and to still concentrate on the driving, gripping the steering wheel was becoming increasingly more uncomfortable.

  She was glad when her car finally swept over the top of the Queen's Drive and entered into the car park beside the small Dunsapie Loch.

  "You have arrived at your destination..." the kind lady in her car gently informed her.

  Amelia was waiting for her at the edge of the car park.

  As soon as she saw Alessandra step out of her car, she hurried across.

  Alessandra could see the look of hope and expectation written all over her face.

  "I can't promise anything. Please, don't get your hopes up too high. Remember, I'm more a victim of this 'Gift' than a beneficiary. In fact, I'm not a beneficiary at all. The only thing I get out of this, if it works, is nausea, pain and a headache! And if I'm lucky, fingers that stop tingling for a while!"

  "Thanks for calling me. I was up on the top of Arthur's Seat, in the private place I go to think. I was thinking about our meeting yesterday, and praying. Praying that what you were telling me was the truth, and that somehow God would forgive me and perhaps show me some mercy and let me be healed... through you!?"