The Brotherhood of the Rose Read Free Page A

tensed. "Shalom," the old man said. Impossible. The man was Eliot. He stood. As always, he wore a black suit and vest. A matching overcoat and homburg hat lay on the seat beside him.. A gentile, he was sixty-seven, tall and gaunt, gray-skinned, dark-eyed, his shoulders stooped, his face pinched with sorrow.
    Smiling warmly, Saul replied, "Shalom." His throat hurt as he approached.
    They hugged each other. Feeling the wrinkled kiss on his cheek, Saul kissed the old man in return. They studied one another. "You look well," Saul said. "A lie, but I'll accept it. You look well, though."
    "Exercise."
    "Your wounds?"
    "No complications."
    "In the stomach." Eliot shook his head. "When I heard what happened, I wanted to visit you."
    "But you couldn't. I understand."
    "You received good care?"
    "You know I did. You sent the best."
    "The best deserves the best."
    Saul felt embarrassed. A year ago, he had been the best, But now? "A lie," he said. "I don't deserve it."
    "You're alive."
    "By luck."
    "By skill. A lesser man could not have escaped."
    "I shouldn't have needed to escape," Saul said. "I planned the operation. I thought I'd allowed for every factor. I was wrong. A cleaning lady, for God's sake. She should have been on another floor. She never checked that room that early."
    Eliot spread his hands. "Exactly my point. Random chance. You can't control it."
    "You know better," Saul replied. "You used to say the word accident had been invented by weak people to excuse their mistakes. You told us to strive for perfection."
    "Yes. But--2' Eliot frowned, "-perfection can never be attained."
    "I almost had it. A year ago. I don't understand what happened." He suspected, though. He was six feet tall, two hundred pounds of bone and muscle. But he was also thirty-seven. I'm getting old, he thought. "I ought to quit. It's not just this job. Two others went bad before it."
    "Random chance again," Eliot said. "I read the reports. You weren't to blame."
    "You're making allowances."
    "Because of our relationship?" Eliot shook his head. "Not true. I've never let it sway me. But sometimes failure can have a beneficial effect, It can make us try much harder." He took two slips of paper from the inner pocket of his suitcoat.
    Saul read the neat handprinting on the first one. A telephone number. He memorized it, nodding. Eliot showed him the second sheet. Instructions, six names, a date, and an address. Again, Saul nodded.
    Eliot took back the papers. Picking up his hat and overcoat, he left the temple to cross the vestibule toward the men's room. Thirty seconds later, Saul heard flushing. He took for granted Eliot had burned the pages and disposed of the ashes. If the temple had been bugged, their conversation alone would not have revealed the subject of the notes.
    Eliot returned, putting on his overcoat. "I'll use the exit in the rear."
    "No, wait. So soon? I hoped we could talk."
    "We will. When the job's completed."
    "How are your flowers?"
    "Not just flowers. Roses." Eliot shook a finger at him in mock chastisement. "After all these years, you still enjoy baiting me by calling them flowers." Saul grinned. "Actually," Eliot said, "I've developed an interesting variation. Blue. No rose has ever been that color before. When you come to visit, I'll show it to you."
    "I look forward to it."
    Warmly they embraced. "if it matters," Eliot said, "the job you'll be doing is designed to protect all this." He gestured toward the temple. "One more thing." He reached into his overcoat, pulling out a candy bar.
    Saul's chest tightened as he took it. A Baby Ruth. "You still remember."
    "Always." Eliot's eyes looked sad.
    Saul swallowed painfully, watching Eliot leave through the back, listening to the echo of the door snicking shut. In accordance with procedure, he himself would wait ten minutes and go out the front. Eliot's cryptic remark about the purpose of this assignment troubled him, but he knew only something important would have caused Eliot to deliver