"You know what the difference is," replied Rapp in an obviously irritated tone. "Do you know who hired you, or not?"

She laughed bitterly. "Oh, I know who hired me, but I don't know who hired him."

Rapp didn't say anything for a while and then asked, "Who gave you the target profile?"

She shook her head. "I can't answer that."

"Why? Is the person connected to Mossad?"

"Don't ask me any more questions for a while. I need to think."

Rapp could manage to maintain his silence for only a few steps. "Where

are we going?"

"Back to your hotel. I want to meet your girlfriend."

Seeing no humor in the comment, he said, "That's not going to happen. I think you'd better get serious about this, Donny. This problem is not going to go away. This Cameron guy you killed had twenty years with the CIA. Some very important people want to know why he was meddling in an operation and who he was working for."

"I thought you were going to protect me."

"I can't protect you unless you tell me who hired you to make the hit."

"Then we have a problem, because I don't think I can tell you."

Rapp grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to a stop. "Donny, I'm not fucking around. Irene Kennedy knows you killed Cameron. She can prove you were in the country. She has you on surveillance video leaving Cameron's office at George Washington University and she knows of at least three other people who you've killed by shoving a pick in their ear. She is prepared to take this all the way to the top if need be. I'm over here as a personal courtesy to see if we can keep this thing as quiet as possible "

Donatella pulled her arm from Rapp's grip and started walking again. "Thanks for nothing. If you really want to do me a favor you can go back to Washington and tell Irene that I had nothing to do with this."

Rapp followed a step behind, his temper starting to boil over. "Donny, you'd better get real about this, and you'd better start showing some fucking gratitude. If it wasn't for me you'd have been snatched off the street and you'd be sitting in a dark basement with psychotropic drugs coursing through your veins and a black bag over your head." Donatella turned around and stuck her finger in his face. "Don't threaten me."

Rapp slapped her hand out of the way, and leaned in close. "What in the fuck is wrong with you? You know the rules. You a goddamn freelancer. You took a rush job and killed somebody who had been meddling in the business of the CIA, and now the CIA wants some answers."

"Well, they'll have to get them somewhere else, because I'm not talking." Donatella turned and walked across the Via Senate.

Rapp stood with his fists clenched at his side and watched her enter the big park known as the Giardini Pubblici. After a brief moment of indecision he followed. She was headed for her flat and away from the hotel. Rapp jogged across the street and yelled for Donatella to wait for him. She didn't, and kept going at full speed through the park with her head down. A short while later Rapp caught up to her and tried a different tack.

"Donny, I'm sorry I had to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm here to protect you. Whoever you're afraid of I can help."

She gave him a disbelieving sideways glance and kept walking.

"You don't believe me. You don't think I can protect you? Donny, give me the name of the person who got you into this and I swear I will make sure nothing happens to you."

"Just ... don't talk for five minutes. That's all I'm asking for right now. Just don't say another word until we get to the other side of the park."

Rapp was about to hit her with another argument but held back. Donatella was a very headstrong woman. She would have to decide for herself that the best thing would be to tell him who had hired her. After taking a deep breath Rapp grabbed her hand and squeezed it. He did not envy the position she was in. Whoever had hired her had neglected to mention who was looking for Peter Cameron.

Holding hands, they continued across the park in silence. The whole time, Rapp tried to think of ways to get Donatella to give him the information he needed. When they finally reached the other side of the park, Rapp said, "Donny, I'll do whatever it takes to protect you. I can have you on an Agency plane bound for the U. S. by morning. I'll give you my personal guarantee that nothing will happen to you."

She took a second to glance at him, but kept walking. "I can protect myself just fine."

"I didn't say you couldn't, I'm just offering my assistance." "If I were to take you up on that offer, I'd have to give all of this up. I love this city. I love Italy. I don't want to go hide in America."

Rapp thought about her predicament and decided to make a drastic offer. "Donny, you tell me who you're afraid of, and I'll pay them a little visit. One way or another, I'll make sure they're never in a position to do you any harm."

The thought of Mitch Rapp flying to Tel Aviv to threaten Ben Freidman made her laugh. If there was ever a man who would be so bold it would be Rapp.

"You think that's funny?"

"No, I don't think any of this is funny. What I do think, is that you need to slow down for a second. I'm not saying I won't give you what you need, I'm just saying I need a little time to figure out how to do it."

During the silent walk across the park Donatella had tried to figure out a way to give Rapp the info he needed without telling him that Ben Freidman was her handler. She felt an awesome sense of loyalty to Rapp, and if they were talking about anyone other than Ben Freidman, she'd tell him. But they weren't. They were talking about the director general of Mossad If the CIA were to find out that the head of Mossad was arranging hits in their own backyard they would have an absolute conniption. No, she had to find another way to give Rapp what he wanted. She couldn't simply give them Ben's name. He had snatched her from the clutches of heroin addiction and imbued her with a sense of self worth that she would have never found on her own.

Donatella knew Mitch well enough to know that he wouldn't rest until he found out who had hired Cameron to kill him. Somehow she would have to convince Freidman to tell her who had taken the contract out on Cameron's life. It was the only way out. She would send Freidman an encrypted e-mail when she got back to her flat and with any luck she'd have an answer by morning.

Donatella was about to speak when Rapp squeezed her hand in three quick successions. Her eyes immediately began sweeping from left to right, looking for trouble. Mitch had seen something and the hand squeezing was their signal that someone was watching them. They were just around the corner from her flat. As Donatella searched for what Rapp had seen she was slightly irritated that she didn't notice it first.

This was the third time Rapp had noticed the car. The first time was near Donatella's office earlier in the day, the second was when they'd left the bar and then now. Rapp broke into casual conversation. If anyone was listening to them via a directional microphone he didn't want to tip them off. "Are you free for lunch tomorrow?"

"I think so."

"Should we meet at eleven-thirty?" Rapp gave her hand a quick squeeze.

"That sounds fine." Donatella's eyes searched the street. Twelve o'clock was straight ahead. Eleven-thirty would be a click to the left. She could barely make out the form of a man slumped behind the steering wheel. The man was parked in the perfect position to keep an eye on her street and the one they were now walking on.

"That photo shoot you were talking about earlier?"

"Yeah."

"I've run into that photographer three times this week." "Really," said Donatella. Mitch had no idea who the photographer was, so she knew he was telling her this was the third time he'd seen the car.