Gabriel shot a glance at Graham Seymour before accepting the outstretched hand. “I’m a friend, Zoe. I’m also a great admirer of your work.”

“And you’re evading my question.”

Seymour was about to intervene, but Gabriel stilled him with a small shake of his head. “I’m afraid that evading questions is an affliction common to men like Graham and me. We demand truthfulness in others while concealing ourselves behind a cloak of lies.”

“Is it your intention to lie to me tonight?”

“No, Zoe. If you are prepared to listen to what I have to say, then you will be told only the truth.”

“I’ll listen. But no commitments beyond that.”

“Do you have a problem with commitment, Zoe?”

“No,” she said, holding his gaze. “Do you?”

“Actually, some people tell me I’m too committed.”

“Committed to what?”

“I care about some of the same things you do, Zoe. I don’t like powerful men who prey on the weak. I don’t like men who take things that don’t belong to them. And I certainly don’t like men who do business with regimes that speak openly about wiping my country from the face of the earth.”

She looked at Seymour, then at Gabriel again.

“You’re obviously referring to Iran.”

“I am.”

“Which means you’re Israeli.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“And the other country involved in this operation?”

“That would be the United States of America.”

“Lovely.” She sat down again and scrutinized him for a moment without speaking.

“Is there something you wish to ask me, Zoe?”

“Your name.”

“I suspect you already know it.”

She hesitated, her dark eyes flickering over his face, then said, “You’re Gabriel Allon, the one who rescued the American ambassador’s daughter outside Westminster Abbey.”

“If memory serves, the two men who rescued Elizabeth Halton were officers of the SO19 division of the Metropolitan Police.”

“That was the story put out to cover up your role in the operation. The kidnappers demanded that you deliver the ransom money. They’d planned to kill you and Elizabeth Halton together. It was never determined exactly how you were able to escape. There were rumors you tortured the cell leader to death in a field north of London.”

“You really mustn’t believe everything you read in the papers, Zoe.”

“Isn’t that the truth.” Her eyes narrowed. “So are the rumors correct, Mr. Allon? Did you really torture that terrorist in order to save Elizabeth Halton’s life?”

“And what if the answer was yes?”

“As an orthodox left-wing journalist, I would be predictably appalled.”

“And if you were Elizabeth Halton?”

“Then I suppose I would hope the bastard suffered a great deal before you put him out of his misery.” She scrutinized him carefully. “So are you going to tell me what happened in that field?”

“What field?”