Now the secrecy of the false Roman coin, the odd rebus Boris had secreted inside, began to have a probable context. Bourne knew that the rest of this conversation balanced on getting information from Goga without revealing that he had no knowledge of Boris's Cairo operation.

"Tell me," Bourne said. When confronted with the unknown simplicity and directness is always the best choice.

Goga shot the two women a glance. "Outside," he said softly.

The two men rose, Goga put away his Makarov, and they went out onto the houseboat's deck, kitted out in twinkling fairy lights, reflections glittering in the purling water like anemones.

"Ivan Borz is here in Cairo. He arrived here yesterday."

Goga was careful to stand with his back to the interior of the houseboat. He was well schooled in security. But of course he would be, being handpicked for this assignment by Boris himself.

"Have you found him?"

"Yes, and no." Goga was careful to keep his head and body still, to present an impenetrable facade to those watching from inside. "We believe he has a villa somewhere in Giza."

"What is he doing here?" Bourne said.

"Besides being watched by the Israelis? He's recruiting soldiers for ISIS and selling weapons to them. The ISIS high command has a huge amount of money, and they're willing to spend it to get what they want."

"What is the source of their money?"

"Banks they robbed in Syria."

"But they have more than what they stole, don't they? Where is it coming from? Borz?"

Goga shrugged.

Bourne's gaze flicked over Goga's shoulder to where Sara stood in the flickering candlelight of Amira's living room. "Does he know he's being watched by Mossad?"

"They are being more careful than usual," Goga said. It was clear from his expression that the movement of Bourne's eyes had not been lost on him. "And they are usually even more careful than we are."

"We need to capture him," Bourne said. "I'll direct the assault."

Goga's eyes clouded over. "What about the Israelis?"

"I'll take care of them," Bourne said. "Boris sent a Mossad agent with me for that very purpose."

Goga's eyebrows lifted briefly. "The agent you brought?"

"That's right."

"But she's a woman."

Bourne's countenance darkened. "What's your point?"

Goga's mouth opened and closed like a landed fish. He let out a loud exhale. More like a snort. "Just... Nothing. Except, the Israelis have a habit of deploying women for men's jobs. It's...not how we Russians would handle matters," he ended lamely.

When Bourne made no comment, he flicked his hand, as if to dispel his words. "I've heard there'd be a price on Amira's head if it wasn't for General Karpov. They're afraid of him here-the lot of them. I don't really know why, but whatever the reason I'm grateful for it."

"Nothing's going to happen to Amira," Bourne said.

Back inside, Bourne took Sara aside. "Has Lev located Borz yet?"

"Indications are he's somewhere in the Giza neighborhood."

"Unless he hasn't told you everything he knows." Bourne looked at her levelly. "Is that possible?"

"With Lev anything's possible," Sara said. "I've never trusted him."

"But your father does."

Sara was silent for some time. Then, "It occurs to me that perhaps he shares my distrust."

"Why do you say that? He entrusted Lev with this operation."

"Maybe he's thought better of it. Now I'm rethinking the scene in my father's office. Just after the operation dossier was delivered my father got a call and stepped out for a moment. Surely he'd know I'd take a peek at the dossier. Surely he was aware once I saw an operation mounted against Ivan Borz I'd insist on being involved."

"Why?"

"Ivan Borz and I have a history."

"Field history, you mean."

Sara nodded. "I cost him the arms deal of a lifetime. I got his clients, but missed him. Eli worried that I was blown in Cairo, so he had me recalled."

"You wanted another shot at Borz."

"You bet I did." Her eyes burned brightly. "And now I will have it."

When Bourne did not reply, she kissed him lightly, then broke away a little. "What did Goga have to tell you?"

"Not much," Bourne said. "They're still trying to pin down Borz's whereabouts in Giza."

"Then we can work together."

"Why don't you stay here with Amira." It wasn't a question. "From what Goga told me she's safe only so long as Boris is alive."

"You're making that up."

"Ask him."

Still she eyed him, but she couldn't hide from him that a good deal of her skepticism was gone. "There's no way you're going to go off and leave me here with-"

"It's for your own good, Sara."

"What d'you mean?" She had her back up now, which was entirely predictable. "How do you know what's for my own good?"

"By your own admission when it comes to Ivan Borz you're too close, too wrapped up in your shared history to-"

"He toyed with me in Moscow. He stole my Star of David." Her fingers closed around the new one she had bought. "He used it to implicate me in your friend's murder."

"What you were sent to do was professional. Don't you see, he made your relationship personal. He doesn't want you thinking clearly."

"That's bullshit. I'm thinking as clearly as ever. Nothing he can do will change that." She was speaking to him as if in an argument with her father. "Don't do this to me. Don't deny me my revenge."

"Just take a step back for a minute and you'll see that staying here is your best option."

"I won't. I can't. You stay here with the girl. You two have a shared history." She threw his words back at him as if they were gunshots.

Bourne shook his head. "Goga doesn't know-Goga won't accept you. For one thing you're Israeli; for another you're female. He'll only work with me. Amira needs to be protected."

"Fuck you!" She was furious with him for trapping her, but at the same time the longer the moment went on the more her Mossad training came to the fore, the more she recognized the truth of what he said. Still, she gave it one last shot: "What about you and Borz?"

"What about it? I've been following him for more than a year. I'm near to finding him. Is there more to it?"

"You know there is!" she burst out. "After what he's put you through."

"It's all on a professional level."

"Maybe from your side," she retorted. "When you do catch him ask him if what he's done is professional or personal."

"Does that mean we're in agreement?" He gave her a level look, was reassured by the high color on her neck and cheeks, the spit of her voice. He'd had to make sure that she was okay, that she had returned to the tough-as-nails Kidon fighter he knew her to be. With her armor back in place, he could leave Amira in her care without worry. "You'll stay here with Amira. I can't think of anyone better equipped to keep her alive. Come on, Sara. I need you to do this. If there is a price on her head, as Goga has heard, no matter where I send her she won't be safe. Only you can keep her out of harm's way."

Still angry as a threatened hornet, Sara remained silent, and her brand of silence spoke a thousand words.

"Feyd is murdered, then Boris; Borz was in Moscow, now he's here. No coincidence-none of it is. Cairo is now a hot zone. We've stepped into something as deep as it is dark. I want to make sure we all get out of it alive."

She stared at him for what seemed like an eternity but must have been less than a minute. Then she said, "Don't worry. Nothing will happen to Amira."

34.

Nothing ever happens to me," Amira said mournfully.

"Be grateful," Sara said.

"It happens to everyone else," Amira said, ignoring Sara, "and I'm left to watch from the sidelines."

Bourne and Goga were gone, leaving the two women eyeing each other like two boxers sizing up their opponent at the start of a fifteen-rounder.

"Just what I need," Amira said now. "A babysitter."

"Do you think I want to be here? And, anyway, why are you pissed at me?"

All Amira did was glare at her. Then she turned on her heel, went out onto the deck.

"Going out there's not such a great idea," Sara said, following her.

"Fuck you. I don't listen to babysitters. I don't need a babysitter."

"But according to Uncle Samson you do."

They were both on the deck, Amira staring into the Monet reflections on the water. For her part, Sara was quartering the immediate environment, searching for glints of traveling lights off rifle barrels or binocular lenses.

"Do you feel confident ignoring him, Amira?" Sara shook her head. "I don't think you do. I know how you feel about him."

Amira's head snapped up, her dark eyes probing through the glittering darkness. "What do you mean?"

"It's just us women here," Sara said.

Amira looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I don't believe you." Sara took a step forward, leaned against the railing. Her eyes were still looking up and down the river for any anomalies, anything that did not belong or was lurking, patient, waiting, because now that Boris was gone those who had placed a price on Amira's head would feel free to collect the bounty. "You're too smart not to know what I'm talking about."

Amira's only response was to twitch her shoulders, as if shrugging off Sara's words.

"You don't like me simply because Jason brought me here. You see how we are with each other. You see me as a rival."

"Don't be stupid!" Amira snorted, but she kept her face averted.

Sara changed the pitch of her voice, softened it, made it more intimate, as she peered over the side. "Is that your motorboat?"

"It belongs to my neighbors."

"Which neighbors?" Sara asked, interested in the people surrounding Amira.

Amira pointed to the houseboat on their right. "Over there. I hate them." The houseboat was a mess. "They've gutted and are rebuilding from the water up."

A red flag waved in Sara's mind. "I bet there are a lot of workmen over there during the day."

"Crawling." A shy smile. "Sometimes I make them lunch the way I did for my father."

"You must miss him-your father."

Immediately, the smile was wiped off Amira's face. "I made him lunch and dinner because that's what he expected of me."

"Nothing else?"

"From his point of view there was nothing else."

"And your mother?"