The Pure

wide-eyed, nodded. Adam released his hand from his mouth and grabbed his collar. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘you’re going to unlock those handcuffs. Do it now.’
    ‘No,’ said the medic, ‘I can’t open it. I don’t have the key.’
    Adam, noticing the man’s eyes darting up and to the left – the classic sign of deception – pressed the dagger into his neck until it broke the skin. The man winced and made a noise like a startled animal. A thread of his blood slipped on to the blade and wound into the letters of the engraving: The guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps . Adam pulled back the dagger.
    ‘I’m serious,’ he said, ‘release the handcuffs or I’ll bleed you like a pig.’ Panting, the medic stooped over Leila and freed her. Adam rolled the woman gently to the floor, handcuffed the medic to the bed in her place, and stuffed a handful of surgical swabs into his mouth. Then he freed Leila from the drip and dragged her into the other room. He knew that he didn’t have long.
    Gritting his teeth, Adam stood behind the door and collected his thoughts. The dagger gleamed in the lights of the sick bay. He took three deep breaths then opened the door; in an instant he was behind the guard, holding the knife to his neck. He disarmed him, struck him three times with the handle of the dagger until he lay still. Then he pulled him into the sick bay, and bound and gagged him tightly. Rolling him over, he searched his pockets and found an electronic entry card, like that used in a hotel, but with the addition of a high-security digital chip. Fate was on his side, he thought; finally, fate was on his side. He pocketed the card, took the man’s gun and, with some effort on account of the numbness in his shoulder, hoisted Leila on to his shoulder. Then he padded quietly down the corridor, trying to regulate the rhythm of his breath.
    Adam knew that the odds were stacked against him. He was on a vessel commanded by the Mossad, in waters dominated by the Syrians, with a lover who – until tonight – had worked for the MOIS. Even if he could get off the yacht, even if he could escape the clutches of the Mossad, MOIS and the Mukhabarat, even if he could find somewhere to hole up, he would still need to win Leila over to his position. She had chosen to take a chance with him rather than go to her death. She was brave; but that didn’t mean he had won her trust. Was her love for him strong enough to endure all this? He couldn’t be certain. He was surrounded by a universe of darkness, like a nightmare he had had once as a child – impenetrable darkness without end, stretching to the borders of imagination. The nightmare of death itself. Yet he knew this: now he was his own master, and from this moment on, for however long he had left on this earth, he would never again be enslaved.
    With Leila over his shoulder, he climbed a shallow staircase and turned left along a corridor that he had noted on his way down to the sick bay. Three doors down was a door made of reinforced metal; through a porthole he could see an assortment of electronic equipment. Hoping against hope, he took the entry card from his pocket and slipped it into the slot. He held his breath. Nothing happened. Then, without warning, there was a low clunk and the door swung open. He entered and locked it behind him.
    Machinery hummed all around. Adam set Leila down gently in a padded leather chair and set to work on the buttons and dials, bringing multiple screens to life, powering up complicated systems and preparing the equipment for action. He hadn’t seen such sophisticated maritime computers for a long time – not since his Navy days.
    All was set. He took Leila in his arms, an unconscious Cordelia, and carried her down the passageway and into the airtight submarine launch chamber. The vessel lay in its docking bay, perfectly clean and in a state of constant preparedness. It was beautiful: dark grey in colour, as sleek as a bullet or a dolphin, as powerful and discreet a craft as he could have wished for. With some effort, he struggled up the ladder and strapped Leila into the passenger seat. She looked so perfect there, unconscious, peaceful, oblivious to the world, her mind resting in inaccessible spheres.
    The world was closing in. Adam climbed into the cockpit, strapped himself in and sealed the sub. Then he punched in the commands and, with a sound like a hundred waterfalls, the chamber began to fill with water. This is it, he