She’s Coming For You – Chapter 23

           Pat Walker was no more.

Kim Samuels looked back from the hotel mirror.

She had folded all the clothes worn earlier in the day inside a black plastic bag, placed inside her rucksack. This was in the cupboard in her room. It was like the matryoshka dolls Samuels had seen in Russia and its satellite countries, one way in which the relocation of people during Stalin’s time became clear in cultural terms.

Samuels smiled at herself. Her hair was a different colour and the sandals without socks made her look more like a pilgrim than an assassin. The footwear had also taken three inches off her height. She would discard the shoe supports in separate litter bins in the next few hours.

A thin jumper worn over a Lisbon T-shirt had replaced the travel jacket. Her last touch was to wear shorts with buttons on the pockets, which contained her new identity. She would burn the old passport on her trip to A Coruna the following day.

Samuels intended to continue on her holiday. The people searching for her would scour the train station, the bus station, and the airport, expecting her to make a getaway, but she wouldn’t be doing that. She’d liked all the cities she’d visited so far and she looked forward to deciding where she should go next, rather than following someone else’s itinerary. This would be true until she caught the train from Vigo down to Porto, when she would be back on her hunt.

Kim’s hotel had two entrances, and she used the side entrance this time, which led out into a narrow alley where it would be difficult for anyone to conceal their presence. She popped a sunhat onto her head and placed a cheap pair of sunglasses over the top, just to make herself appear like a tourist.

Samuels opened the door and looked up at the balconies with their green railings and potted plants. She saw no one watching, so she stepped out and turned left. It was time for Kim Samuels to walk around Santiago de Compostela. She was feeling hungry and thirsty and headed away from the hotel towards a bar recommended in the guidebook she clutched in her left hand.