“In the concealed darkness of the bag her fingers began to work her rosary, clumsily at first but with increasing dexterity - Push. Click. Slide. Press -”

“Push out a bayonet. If it strikes fat, push deeper. If it strikes iron, pull back for another day.”

“... he tried to visualise her apartment, but he couldn't do it, he didn't know enough about her.”

“We are born in a clear field and die in a dark forest.”

“To be brave, by definition, one has first to be afraid.”

“She had the resigned indifference of extreme old age. Buildings and empires rose and fell. It snowed. It stopped snowing. People came and went. One day death would come for her, and she would not find that surprising either, and she would not care -”

“She didn't say goodbye. She set off up the street, dodging the pedestrians, walking fast. He watched her, waiting to see if she might look back. But of course she didn't. He knew she wouldn't. She wasn't the looking-back kind.”