Highlander - Donna Lettow [115]
Maybe only God could do that.
Maybe only God could judge Avram. But MacLeod knew, right or wrong, he had to stop Avram before more mortals died. Israeli mortals. Palestinian mortals. Their race, their religion, their politics didn’t matter.
And maybe someday God would judge MacLeod for that act, as well. But until that day of reckoning came, he could live with the knowledge that no more innocents would die at Avram’s hand.
MacLeod didn’t have to wait long for his invitation to be answered. Still more than an hour before sunrise, he felt Avram approach, saw him along the foggy Quai.
“You failed,” MacLeod pointed out, as Avram came within earshot.
“You win some, you lose some.” Avram’s demeanor was calm, resigned. “Arafat and the Prime Minister signed the agreement in the back of the security van after they evacuated the embassy. Guess I pushed them into each other’s arms.” He approached the gangplank. “It’s only one battle. You have to fight a lot of battles to win a war. There’ll be others.” Despite his words, he seemed less than enthusiastic at the prospect.
MacLeod shook his head, standing. “Not for you, Avram.” He climbed down from the top of the pilothouse.
“Guess we have to finish this,” Avram said. MacLeod nodded his head, sad but resolved. Avram tried one more time to get his old friend to understand. “Duncan, you know why I had to do it.” He started up the gangplank.
“And you know why I have to stop you.” The katana was heavy in his hands.
“’Cause you’ll always be the white knight, goy, champion to damsels in distress everywhere.” Avram pulled his sword and leapt from the gangplank onto the deck of the barge. “C’mon, hero,” he challenged, darting to the flat open deck of the bow, “let’s go. Time for the O.K. Corral.”
In two long strides, MacLeod was there, and, with no formality, he laid into Avram, three quick slashes to Avram’s head. Avram’s sword was ready to deflect, deflect, then he twisted out of MacLeod’s reach.
Avram circled to MacLeod’s left, tried to thrust in behind his blade, but the katana that had saved MacLeod’s life more times than he could remember was already there, waiting to block the blow. MacLeod spun to face him and pressed a flurry of attacks—hip, head, head, thrust—that drove Avram back, then back again as he struggled to defend against the powerhouse blows.
He realized MacLeod was maneuvering the fight into the narrow prow of the barge. The boat’s hull and the collection of pipes and winches and equipment would negate what little advantage his natural agility gave Avram against MacLeod’s superior sword skills.
Avram feinted at MacLeod’s legs, drawing the katana down, then an overhead slice at the head, to lure the katana into a defensive position perpendicular to MacLeod’s body. Quickly, he slipped inside MacLeod’s guard, catching the katana’s blade at the hilt and, putting all his weight and strength behind it, he powered his sword down and away, dragging the tip of the katana into the deck of the barge.
Avram jumped back quickly and swung before MacLeod could raise the sword back into proper position to defend. He caught MacLeod across the right arm, a wicked slash that severed the tendons. First blood, and a much-needed advantage. He slipped out of the narrow confines of the barge’s prow.
MacLeod spun away, howling, but he held firm to the sword with his left hand. While the katana wielded two-handed was a powerful killing weapon, one-handed it was still formidable. Holding his damaged arm close to his body, MacLeod spun the sword expertly in his hand to show Avram he had gained no advantage, then attacked aggressively.
They battled across the deck of the barge, MacLeod on the attack. Again and again, Avram found himself forced to retreat to what he hoped was a better position. With a roar and a mighty slash of his sword, MacLeod locked blades with Avram and pressed him back against the raised roof of the living space belowdecks. To avoid falling, Avram scrambled on top and over it, running nimbly across the narrow passage between the pilothouse and the side