Abigail – The Avenging Agent: The agent appears again by Rose Fox Page A

clear?”
                “Perfectly,” Abigail
replied. 
    For days, she found
that she was speaking only Persian, and she found she was even able to think in
that language.
                “I think I
am already dreaming Persian,” Abigail announced to Aisha, who smiled.
                “Yes,
you’re almost cooking like a Persian and you also look like one in your galabiya.”
    Abigail laughed with
satisfaction.
                “We’ve done a marvelous job. 
No one will mistake you for anything else, and I must add that you are a fast
learner.”
    A day earlier Aisha heard that she would
end her assignment with Abigail the following day.  She hesitated to tell her
that it was their last day together and decided not to say anything but, in the
evening, she would talk to her again about the village of the disabled.
    Aisha began speaking as
they undressed and prepared for bed.
                “At the
entrance to the village there is an enormous waterfall from above but it is
possible to enter beneath it without getting wet.”
                “Interesting,”
Abigail remarked without interest or curiosity.
    She had almost fallen
asleep when she heard Aisha speaking quietly.
                “The people
of that village will be my gift to you and I believe it is a very precious
one.”
                “Ah, thank you very much.”
    When Abigail rose the next day, Aisha’s
bed was empty.  She opened her closet and also found it empty, understanding
now that what Aisha had said the night before, were her parting words to her.
    She heard Barak and San
talking in the living room.
                “Oh, I
would very much like to keep in touch with Aisha,” she said as she came to them.
                “That won’t
work out because Aisha was with you as part of her assignment.”
                “Okay, but it is also
possible to remain friends after an assignment.”
    Barak and San were silent,
and Abigail continued speaking.
                “It bothers
me that you sent her off in such a manner. Why did she disappear all at once
like this?”
                “Look, it’s
good to connect with people and befriend them but it’s also important to know
how to part,” Barak explained and Abigail burst out furiously in Persian:
                “That’s
easy for you to say.”
    She laughed when she saw his brows furrow
into a frown and knew that he didn’t understand what she had said.  So she continued
chatting away in Persian until his expression of confusion turned into one of delight.
                “Have you
finished?  Now, would you be kind enough to translate what you just said in
Persian for us.”
                “I said that one day I will
become attached to an attractive Persian fellow and I will make him fall head
over heels in love with me.  And after I’ve had some fun with him, I’ll just
disappear.  After all, that’s what the job demands, right?  That’s what I
said.”
    Barak looked away, and
San replied:
                “You’re
quite right.”  He resisted laughing when he saw how shocked Barak was at just the
thought of this woman falling in love or starting a relationship with another
man.  San knew that Abigail’s remarks were causing Barak pain, so he changed
the subject.
                “Today
you’re going to your new home.  We have already moved all your belongings, and
it was very easy because your new apartment matches your previous one.  I would
say that it mirrors it accurately.”  He added immediately, “And, Abigail, you
won’t forget to continue keeping your eyes open.”
                “For what,
precisely?”
                “For
everything.”
                “And what’s
being planned for me?”
                “The idea is that you are on
standby.  Your