Vae Victus [Volume 1] [WOE TO THE VANQUISHED]

Chapter 2

"That was reckless, Kefi," John said as we skipped out from the bar.

I looked back at him, my left hand was still holding his right. "He was a drunkard with no training," I said. "That was not much of a fight."

"Your limp said otherwise," John replied.

I stopped, walked back toward him and stared him in the eyes. His blue eyes stared back. For a second my mind went blank, you can get lost in those eyes forever.

"And what do you think I should do?" I asked. "Should I let him beat you up instead?"

John stared at me for a few seconds. He swallowed his saliva and turned his eyes to my feet. "I don't believe in violence," he whispered.

The world expected men to be strong and stoic. It also expected women to be gentle and docile. Neither of us was what decorum expected. Frankly, my dear, I did not give a damn. But it seemed that John did.

"I know," I whispered back. I walked closer to him until there was barely any space between our bodies. My open palms caressed his white shirt. "Does it still hurt?" I asked as I touched the spot where John was pushed.

John winced as I pressed my palm. "I'm okay," he said. "Let's get a taxi out of here." He raised his hand and a taxi stopped. Like the gentleman that he always was, he opened the back door for me and I scuttled inside. John chose to sit at the front, to my dismay.

"Four Seasons hotel, please," he told the driver.

We drove for fifteen minutes in complete silence. He paid for the ride as the hotel porter opened the door for me.

"Welcome back, Mr. Ben-Gurion," the receptionist greeted John as he passed by. John smiled and nodded. The receptionist stared at me, her eyebrows knitted and her lips pursed almost indistinctively.

The elevator took us to the penthouse suite. It was unthinkable for the great John Ben-Gurion to be in any other room but the best. Even in his retirement, he was unchanged from the man I knew two years ago.

He opened the penthouse door and waved me in. I tilted my head as I looked at his face. Is tonight the night? 

I had not been subtle about my interest in John. He knew that. His wife had known that. For some unfathomable reasons, the couple had welcomed me with open arms despite that. 

John and I had never crossed that line. He had been a devoted husband, he would always be. I remembered the way John used to look at Sarah. One would dream to be the object of such adoration.

I walked into the room. I scanned around for the mini bar and dragged my limp legs toward it. Ah, finally, the good stuff. I poured two glasses and offered one to John. He shook his head. Oh well, more for me. I gulped them down in no time and my head started to feel discombobulated.  

John held my elbow as I staggered forward. I laid my head on his chest. It felt firm and soft at the same time. I found safety in his embrace. For a minute, neither of us moved or said anything. I could hear his heartbeats.  Even as my own heartbeats became erratic with anticipation and fear, his was steady as a clock, unchanging, immovable, everlasting.

I sighed. John was never interested in me, not as a woman. I often wondered if he thought of me as his daughter. Sarah had not been blessed with any children during decades of their marriage. There were talks about adoption, IVF, surrogacy and even, on Sarah's worst moments, offers of divorce.

I had known because it was my job to know. Two years ago, John and Sarah were nothing more than another target on my long list of targets. It was my mission to learn everything about them, infiltrate their household, and extract valuable information about the latest security software that his company developed. 

BGS, Ben-Gurion Sofware, was a multi-billion dollar empire. As such, their offices were equipped with latest security measures: motion sensors, time-locked safes, the best firewall they could build. My superior at Mossad thought that instead of targetting the offices, I should target the CEO's home instead. John and Sarah would be the soft spot to gain intelligence.

I came into their lives with false pretenses. I left their perfect little family with one death and one broken man. Yet here I was. Welcomed into his abode, touching his body as if nothing ever changed.

"John," I whispered.

"Yes?"

"Did you come all the way to Tel Aviv just to see me?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Silence.

"Because you are the only family I had left," he said.

"I have left the Mossad," I said. He did not ask. Mossad was the Israeli's intelligence agency. Our equivalent of the CIA or FSB.

"Then come with me," he said.

"To San Fransisco?"

"No. I moved to New York two years ago. Sarah's family wanted her to be buried there, where she was born," John said.

"Then you still have a family," I said

"It's different."

"How so?"

Another silence. 

He sighed."I don't know," he finally replied. "I feel... empty... without you and Sarah in my life. I get along fine with Sarah's parents and siblings, but the emptiness remains."

I lifted my head off his chest and looked at him. I knew exactly how he felt.

"I am not your daughter," I said. I did not know why I said that out loud. I felt stupid after the sound escaped my throat.

He smiled and kissed my forehead. "You can take the bed, Kefi," he said. "I will take the couch."

"Are you saying that this gigantic penthouse had only one bed?" I asked. My eyebrows rose in disbelief.

He laughed. His real laughter. Oh, how I missed it so. "Apparently," he replied.

I looked at the couch and it was the size of a whale. "Why don't you share the bed with me? Or the couch? I just want to be wherever you are."

He looked at me. His face betrayed no expression. Then the most unexpected thing happened. He nodded.

My eyebrows rose. Did that just happen? I walked closer and tried to kiss him, but he stopped my lips with his fingers.

"It's not —" he said. He was lost for words. The greatest maestro in the Information Technology industry. Someone who could sell ice to an Eskimo, speechless.

"I don't want to sleep on an empty bed," he said. "Not anymore. But I could not give you what you want, Kefi." He sighed. "So if you are okay with that?"

I nodded. "Can I cuddle next to you?" I asked.

He looked blankly at me. His eyes unfocused. I could imagine him staring at his wife, right through my body. "Yes," he said.

I smiled. This was the best night of my life. I felt as if I was six years old again as I laid my head on his chest and fell asleep in his embrace.