Assassin’s Revenge–A David Slaton Novel
Chapter 31: Thirty-One
by Larsen, WardThe chapter opens with Slaton waking to a rainy morning in Vienna, his mind weighed down by the aftermath of a triple murder in Danube Park—his own doing. Checking his phone, he finds no new messages, only the same cryptic warning that upended his life. News reports confirm the discovery of the bodies, though details remain scarce. Slaton grapples with the urgency of his situation, haunted by fleeting memories of his family, particularly his son Davy, which underscore the personal stakes of his mission.
Determined to regain control, Slaton shifts focus to the present. He rouses Mordechai, a reluctant ally, and reverses their earlier plan: Mordechai must return to work to gather critical intelligence on El-Masri, a key figure tied to the threat against Slaton’s family. Slaton argues that their enemies will likely assume he eliminated the hit team and severed ties with Mordechai, leaving the scientist as an unnoticed insider. Mordechai reluctantly agrees, though he fears the risks to Slaton’s family.
The two men strategize their next moves. Slaton insists Mordechai maintain a normal routine at work while secretly digging into El-Masri’s background—his schedule, family, habits, and vulnerabilities. Mordechai provides details under Slaton’s relentless questioning, revealing El-Masri’s home address, family status, and even his car model. Their partnership, though tense, is cemented by mutual necessity. Before parting, they establish secure communication via burner phones.
The chapter closes with Slaton observing the mundane rhythms of Vienna as he blends into the crowd. For the first time, he envies the ordinary lives around him, a stark contrast to his own perilous existence. The scene underscores his isolation and the relentless pull of his past, even as he steels himself for the dangerous path ahead. The quiet tension of the morning sets the stage for the high-stakes pursuit of El-Masri and the looming confrontation with his enemies.
FAQs
1. How does the weather description in the opening paragraph reflect Slaton’s emotional state?
Answer:
The “wandering shower” compared to “a stray dog” creates a sense of unease and unpredictability, mirroring Slaton’s unsettled mindset. The feeble streetlights battling the mist further emphasize his struggle to find clarity amid chaos. The meteorological imagery parallels his professional life—just as the rain drifts without purpose, Slaton feels untethered from his former Mossad identity yet still pursued by its consequences. This pathetic fallacy establishes the chapter’s tone of tension and transience.2. What strategic shift does Slaton make regarding Mordechai, and why is this tactically significant?
Answer:
Slaton reverses his initial plan by instructing Mordechai to return to work, recognizing that maintaining Mordechai’s cover provides critical intelligence access. This demonstrates adaptive thinking—when the hit team’s discovery accelerates the timeline, Slaton pivots from defensive to offensive operations. By analyzing that adversaries will likely misinterpret the park killings as a professional dispute rather than an alliance, he turns their assumptions into an advantage. The move shows Slaton’s tradecraft: leveraging human psychology in operational planning.3. Analyze how Slaton’s interrogation technique with Mordechai reveals his intelligence background.
Answer:
Slaton’s rapid-fire questioning about El-Masri—from family status to commuting habits—demonstrates structured intelligence gathering. He extracts seemingly mundane details (car color, exercise routines) that collectively build an actionable profile, reflecting Mossad’s “byzantine” methodology where trivial data points form operational patterns. The clinical detachment (“Does he have a mistress?”) contrasts with Mordechai’s discomfort, highlighting Slaton’s professional conditioning. Notably, he avoids mirror-gazing during the bathroom scene, further emphasizing his focus on external threats over self-reflection.4. What does Slaton’s final observation about Vienna’s civilians suggest about his character development?
Answer:
His unprecedented curiosity about “workaday routines” reveals latent longing for normalcy, a vulnerability humanizing the typically calculating operative. The contrast between civilians’ “easy Thursday morning” and his own crisis underscores his isolation. This moment of existential reflection—wondering about life without perpetual danger—marks a departure from his usual tactical mindset, suggesting the family abduction has eroded his professional detachment. It foreshadows potential conflicts between his operative instincts and civilian desires.5. How does the chapter use temporal elements to heighten tension?
Answer:
Time operates on multiple stressful levels: the “7:12 a.m.” digital glare acts as a countdown trigger, news reports confirm the “sooner than anticipated” discovery of bodies, and Mordechai’s sluggish awakening contrasts with Slaton’s urgency. The reference to “nearly four years since he’d left Mossad” shows how past timelines haunt present actions. Most critically, Slaton’s declaration that “time was not a luxury” he has transforms the narrative into a race against both adversaries and bureaucratic processes (police investigations, El-Masri’s return).
Quotes
1. “Rain was tapping the window when Slaton woke. It wasn’t a downpour, but more of a wandering shower, the meteorological equivalent of a stray dog.”
This opening line sets the atmospheric tone of the chapter, using vivid imagery to mirror Slaton’s unsettled state—neither fully immersed in danger nor free from it, much like the aimless rain.
2. “A verdant park. A playground. Davy leaping off a platform into a mulch bed, looking for all the world like a commando jumping out of an airplane. It seemed an arbitrary set of images, nothing to do with the facts before him. And absolutely everything to do with them.”
This passage reveals Slaton’s internal conflict, juxtaposing mundane family memories with his lethal reality. The contrast underscores how his past as an operative relentlessly intrudes on his present, driving his actions.
3. “How does anyone conduct a proper interrogation anymore?”
A darkly humorous reflection during Slaton’s abrupt awakening of Mordechai. The line encapsulates his professional frustration while subtly highlighting the tension between his methodical spycraft and the messy human elements of his mission.
4. “When I put myself in their shoes, I see a more likely scenario… Right now, they’re probably wishing they’d hired more competent killers.”
This quote demonstrates Slaton’s strategic mindset as he reverse-engineers his enemies’ perspective. It also reveals his cold confidence in his own lethal capabilities, a recurring theme in his character.
5. “And for the first time in his life, Slaton wondered what it would be like to be among them.”
The chapter’s closing line poignantly captures Slaton’s existential dilemma—his longing for normalcy amid the isolation of his mission. This moment of vulnerability contrasts sharply with his otherwise ruthless efficiency.