“It’s go time”, came the text from Grant Henry while Teddy Bear and I were working through the series of moves to twist and dislocate an opponent’s arm, forcing the enemy to drop their knife.

  “What’s our window?” I texted back.

  “Unknown, but conditions are ideal right now”, he replied.

  “Alright. Everybody goes tonight. Let me know when to be at the airport. I’ll be ready.” I texted.

  “Everything O.K.?” Teddy Bear asked, concerned.

  “Yeah, everything’s cool,” I said, pocketing my phone. “I’ve got to deal with something, so I’m gonna have to bail on you tonight,” I apologized.

  “When will you be back?”

  “Hopefully it’ll only take a couple of days, but it’s hard to know until I get there and see how things go,” I said. “So don’t necessarily plan on me being back on Monday or Tuesday, but I’ll try. For all I know it might take me all week.”

  Looking around to make sure nobody else was close enough to overhear, Teddy Bear asked, “Um, are you taking Eddie and and Nick and the guys with you?”

  “Yes,” I confirmed.

  “Is this what the ninja training was all about?”

  “It’s better if you don’t know the details,” I told him.

  “God! That sent a shiver down my spine, Leah, the way you said that. I mean, seriously, you do casually frightening better than anybody I’ve ever seen,” Teddy Bear said.

  “I have a meeting planned with a guy that needs to be reminded of that,” I said. “But for now, let’s finish this sequence so we can call it a day.”

  We continued to work on the scene fine-tuning it and speeding it up until it looked believable, which is all we could hope for. Once I was satisfied, we called it done for the week.

  I only had an hour to pack up my necessary clothing and gear at home before I had to leave for the compound, and from there to the airport.

  “I hate that I must stay here and wait,” Emmy said, tears running down her face as I packed a simple unmarked duffel bag.

  “I know, babe, I do,” I said, taking her in my arms and kissing her hair. “You need to stay here and be publicly visible, looking unconcerned. You’re part of the cover story.”

  “Yes, I understand,” Emmy said, her voice muffled against my chest. “But that doesn’t mean that I do not hate it.”

  “Stay here and stay safe,” I told her. “If things go really wrong, you can still lead our people without me. I’m- well, not expendable, really, but not required for our nation.”

  “You have done far more for our people than I ever could have,” Emmy said, sobbing now. “You are the true queen. I am nothing more than a figurehead.”

  “Em, baby, we’re in this together. Like they used to say, ‘keep the home fires burning’. I’ll come back after I’ve eliminated this threat. After I do this, nobody- none of the other nations- will question our right to sit at the table. This is our big inflection point, Em. I have to do this.”

  “Come back to me,” Emmy said, letting me go and wiping her eyes. “Kill Marfan. Kill him for what he did to Max in Vancouver, and to Grace. Kill him for what he had done to Angela and our babies. Kill him, kill his sons, kill them all. Do this for me, Leah. End that house once and for all.”

  “That’s the plan,” I agreed.

  The Airbus A-350 took off at eight that night, transporting a bunch athletic guys wearing soccer jerseys for a team that didn’t exist and quite a few of us in similarly logoed polo shirts mixed in among the rest of the passengers. Everybody was in makeup, looking like your normal, everyday group of amateur club players and coaches on their way to an invitational soccer tournament.

  Customs at Istanbul Airport was quick and easy- the officials on the job at the crack of dawn were uninterested in pawing through the luggage of a bunch of footballers from America, so we sailed through the official scrutiny in no time. We were just another group, boisterous, but not too memorably so. We were tired from the overnight flight, but happy to be there, as far as anybody was concerned. Nobody had doubted our passports, and the agents’ perfunctory questions of why were we visiting Turkey were easily answered without raising any eyebrows. All in all, it was the insertion we’d planned for, and it went perfectly. ‘Colonel Bridger would be pleased to see it,’ I thought to myself, knowing full well I was never going to tell him anything about it. Mr Han, maybe, but not Bridger.

  We had no idea how long our window of opportunity would stay open, but for now, we knew that all members of the Marfan family were accounted for in Istanbul, so we were going to strike while the iron was hot. Ahmet Asker had returned and was staying at the family’s main house, too, further cementing the idea that it was time to act.

  The hotel we’d booked was in a touristy district a few blocks from the Bosporous in a cute area of shops and restaurants. This made it easy for us to stretch our legs before getting a good night’s rest, ready to do the deed the next morning. As a group, we acted like any other visitors seeing Istanbul for the first time. We’d all changed into more generic clothing, but made no effort to try to blend in as anything other than American tourists.

  Grant, Eddie and I had dinner with Yusuf Ozan (the head of our scout program) to get the final intel, but really, there was nothing new for him to report. It was all just as it had been during the entire time we’d been watching, and so we went to bed confident that we were going in hot in the morning.

  A couple of vans arrived at eight the next morning to take us to our staging spot. Our target was in a part of town farther north- we’d wanted to stay well away until the last possible moment to avoid detection by any local Night Children. First step was to take out the two remaining Marfan princes and their mistresses, then rendezvous to assault the main Marfan house.

  The sons lived in different parts of town, but we knew that we had time. According to everything our scouts had seen the entire family went by traditional Night Child hours, so they were bound to be solidly asleep by nine AM, when we planned for our action to begin.

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  I was in one of the vans with four of our guys, not counting the scout driver, while Grant was leading the second team with another eight. My job was going to be easier in some ways, but harder in others. Emirhan, the elder brother, liked to spend nights with his girlfriend on his boat down on the waterfront. This meant limited room for movement and potentially witnesses, so the plan was for me to do the job myself. My guys would simply be backup and support for the actual murder part of the deed.

  ‘After all, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing yourself,’ I repeated in my mind as I got ready for some cold-blooded killing.

  I’d seen plenty of photos of the boat in question and its slip in the marina, so once I passed through the locked gate to the dock (thanks to the key Eren, our scout, had procured) I walked as if I knew exactly where I was going- which, in fact, I did. Yeah, sure, photos, maps and diagrams aren’t the same thing as real life, but they did prepare me quite well for what to expect.

  For one, I had keys. For two, I knew the boat’s layout, and that there was no overnight crew- this wasn’t that grandiose a yacht. In fact, people in my economic circle wouldn’t even call it a yacht at all. ‘Power Cruiser’ is the right term, I believe. Fifty-seven feet on the waterline made it good for seeing the eastern Mediterranean’s isles, but it would never cross an ocean. Still, mighty nice stuff for a bachelor who liked to impress the ladies.

  There was no reaction when I stepped on board, but I hadn’t expected any. I knew just how soundly Emmy slept in the mornings, after all.

  I didn’t look around to see if anybody was watching, just pulled the second key from my pocket and let myself in as quietly as I could. Creeping quietly through the salon and into the bridge, I could hear no sounds of life, which was just how I wanted it. I eased my way down the stairs into the tiny hallway separating the cabins, and here is where I really wished I had Emmy’s amazing sense of hearing. According to the boat builder’s plans there were two cabins of equal size- one in the prow and the other the starboard side. The port side cabin was the small one, so I mentally wrote that one off. Emirhan wouldn’t be using that one. Sure, I was going to go through every inch of the boat before leaving, but for now, I only cared about which one the prince was sleeping in.

  Feeling the boat gently rocking on its lines, I decided that the prow made more sense. After all, lying in bed you’d feel the movement as a sort of bodily rotation, and not as your head going up and down as the boat sat at anchor.

  Stabby Number Three (or maybe four?) in my hand (I wasn’t going to risk bringing my heirloom through customs, so our scouts had scored weapons for us all), I turned the handle as slowly and silently as I possibly could, before swinging the door as gently as anything.

  In the dim light filtering through the curtains I saw two shapes in bed, unmistakably male and female, and unmistakably Night Children. The cabin smelled of alcohol, weed and sex, which I found quite reassuring. It meant they’d be sleeping soundly.

  Sliding my feet over to the guy’s side of the bed, I could tell that it was, in fact, Emirhan Marfan I was looking at, asleep and drooling on his pillow.

  Feeling no need to prolong anything, I cut his throat and held him still when he awoke in a panic. His thrashing only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough for his mistress to rouse from her drug and alcohol-induced slumber. I’d hoped to avoid having to kill her as well, but I wasn’t going to leave any witnesses.

  I clamped my hand over her mouth and reality was just starting to set in for her when my new knife took its second life.

  As I pulled the prince’s Rolex Submariner off his wrist and then her bracelet and necklace, I reflected that I’d never even bothered to learn the names of the two princes’ mistresses and that the woman had died because she hadn’t been quite drunk and stoned enough to sleep through Emirhan’s death. I guess that’s how it goes sometimes. Relatively innocent people get caught in the crossfire.

  I looked at myself in the mirror in the suite’s head, checking to see if I’d gotten any blood on myself. It was strange, seeing my reflection. I’d used makeup to make my skin look darker, and with the dark but short-haired wig and mustache, plus the uncomfortable chest binding and thick, chunky glasses I really did look like a man. Amused, I couldn’t help a small chuckle even in the middle of the grim task I found myself engaged in.

  I took everything of value that I could find, which amounted to a few more pieces of jewelry and a surprising amount of cash in an unlocked safe hidden behind the backrest of the small sofa in the master suite. I’d only ever found it because I’d memorized the plans for this exact boat, but that was paper planning for you. I left the cabin looking as if it had been thoroughly rifled, adding to the robbery look I was going for. I found a stash of drugs, too, and I took them as well, loading everything in a plastic grocery bag I found in the galley. As far as I was concerned, the real prize was his cell phone.

  Fifteen minutes after first stepping onboard, I locked the door behind me and walked back up the dock and to the waiting van as if nothing had happened.

  “How did it go?” Nick asked.

  “Smooth,” I told him as we pulled onto the waterfront road. “No issues.”

  “The prince?”

  “He’s dead. I had to kill the woman, too,” I said.

  Nick sighed. “That one was for Angela’s baby. We’re still not caught up.”

  “No, but we’re coming from behind,” I agreed, my mind already on the main house.

  We had to wait a bit until we got confirmation that Grant’s team had taken out Murat Marfan in his townhouse, so we stopped at a coffee shop and had this stuff they called ice cream but wasn’t cold. I liked it, but I have no idea what it really was. Of course the coffee was strong and excellent and the pastries were delicious, so it was a win as far as I was concerned.

  “I don’t understand how you can eat ice cream at a time like this,” said Johnny, one of the heavies that I didn’t know all that well.

  I shrugged. Keeping my voice low, I said, “It’s a perfect time for ice cream- or whatever this is,” as we watched ships on their way to and from the Black Sea. I’d been thinking about how Istanbul seemed a lot more European than I’d expected, and a whole lot greener.

  “I hope that when all this shakes out we can come back to see more of the city,” I said.

  “I miss it sometimes,” Eddie admitted, and I could hear the homesickness in his voice.

  “All we can do is hope that Arslan Tezcan rises to the occasion and steps into the leadership role we hope he will,” I said. “Maybe then we can improve our relations.”

  “Tezcan is capable,” Eddie said, thinking about it. “The question is whether he can rally the other families behind him.”

  “Lascaux is going to lean on everybody here, making it very clear that he supports Tezcan,” I said.

  “He will?” Eddie asked, surprised. “That will definitely affect things. Some will resent the outside interference, but there are families that have been clamoring for stronger connections to Europe…”

  Just then my burner phone chimed with a text.

  “All wrapped up”, it said. “See you in half an hour”.

  “We need to go in twenty,” I told the rest of the guys. “No need to rush, but…”

  Our driver/scout asked one of the heavies, thinking I couldn’t hear, “Is she always this calm?”

  “You should have been there in Chicago,” he replied.

  I stayed in the van when the time came to move on the main house. We were parked just around the bend on the narrow, heavily wooded street that led to the house, up a steep hillside from the waterfront. This was an area of grand homes well separated by forest and substantial walls- perfect for privacy, and perfect for our purposes, too. The plan was for me to follow ten minutes after the assault began, giving time for the guys to clear out any resistance.

  “How useful do you think this thing’ll be?” I asked Grant, indicating the StingRay cell phone interceptor that he was operating.

  “Well, that’s a good question. If the guys get the job done quickly and quietly, we won’t have needed it at all. Nobody had any time at the townhouse to even try to make any calls so it never even pinged, but there were only three people there. We know there are at least fifteen here at the main house, so…”

  “I took Emirhan’s phone,” I told Grant, fishing it out of my pocket and handing it to him.

  “How did it go?” Grant asked, more to make conversation than any real curiosity.

  “Like butter,” I assured him. “I did have to kill the girlfriend, though. I’d been hoping she would sleep through it, but…” I said with a shrug.

  “It was kind of a shit show at Murat’s place,” Grant admitted. “The key didn’t work, so we wound up breaking in the back door and bum-rushing the place. It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done.”

  “Witnesses?” I asked.

  “I don’t think so. Like I said, nobody made any phone calls within a five-house radius.”

  "We’re two for two, then,” I said, putting my wig and mustache back on, ready to go in.