Payback

Начало книги

It was a little after ten-thirty in the morning of the last day of Saadallah Assad’s life.

A white Toyota Land Cruiser with three men inside, each wearing a gellabbiya and a kaffiyeh, turned off Mu’awia. The driver had no option but to proceed slowly — the streets bustled with people, a colourful throng moving with noisy and cheerful purpose — but even if the roads had been empty he would still have been driving with great care.

Most of the pedestrians were women wearing all-enveloping black chadors and burkas, or at the very least a hijab, and carrying shopping bags already bulging with purchases.

About seventy yards before the Al-Hamidieh intersection, the driver spotted a gap in the ragged line of parked vehicles and steered the Toyota to the kerb. It was already hot, so he kept the engine and the air-conditioning running. This was as close as he could get to the souk that runs from the Omayyad Mosque to Bab Al-Nasr, but it was near enough. It would only be a short walk for the shahid, and as far as the driver was concerned the further away he was parked the better.

Читать дальше →