Though, of course, Jana knew that he came from a country where the most beautiful women often wear concealing saris, even to the beach, and that Balan had to be aware of her body. So maybe there was a message.

But the killer had resisted even glancing at her figure. He was a professional and had learned to stifle his lust. Sikari always came first.

Jana now said through her untraceable cell phone, “I have the hypodermic ready for him.”

The plan was that Balan would stun the American with a Taser and kill the others. Then Jana would race up in the van. They’d throw the man inside and inject him with a tranquilizer. She’d drive him to an abandoned warehouse outside of Nice for the interrogation. Balan would meet her there soon after.

“You’ll kill the family,” she said, as if this were something they’d argued about, which they had not.

“Yes.”

“All of them.”

“Of course.” He resolved to keep to his decision not to harm the child. But he couldn’t help but wonder about her: How could a woman be so casual about killing an infant?

“Get to work,” Jana said abruptly.

Because she was beautiful he didn’t give her a snide response, which was his first reaction. Instead he simply disconnected.

Balan looked around for traffic. Nobody was on the wind-swept beach road. He climbed out of the car with a canvas bag over his shoulder. Inside was an automatic weapon with a sound suppressor. It could fire 600 rounds a minute, but he had it set to fire in three-shot bursts every time the trigger was pulled. This was far more efficient than fully automatic, and more deadly than single-shot.

The bullets weren’t big—.22 caliber—but they didn’t need to be. Sikari instructed his people to look at guns as an extension of more primitive weapons, like spears or knives. “Your goal,” Sikari said, “is to open the flesh and let the life flow out. Let the body destroy itself.”

How brilliant he is, Balan thought, his heart tapping hard with love and awe as he rubbed the copper bracelet and walked closer to the people whose lives were about to change so dramatically.

He crossed the sandy road and slipped behind a faded sign advertising Gitane cigarettes. He peeked out. The family was pouring wine and beer and setting out food.

Their last meal.