by Paul Johnson
I thought about Sara. In the past she’d managed to access all my various communication systems, though more recently I’d had a high-level security system applied to my computers and phones. Even if she used other methods to find me, she’d struggle to get into the camp. On walks around the place, I’d noticed a very large amount of razor wire, as well as sophisticated monitoring gear of all kinds; and large numbers of personnel, both in FBI jackets and army camouflage gear, all toting firearms. Which reminded me, if we were heading toward release, I’d need some time on a firing range. Even back in the U.K., with its zero tolerance policy toward handguns, I’d managed to equip myself with pistols. We’d have no chance against Sara without them.
I leaned back in the uncomfortable chair. Maybe Peter Sebastian wasn’t really planning on cutting us loose. He only knew about the Soul Collector by reputation, but he’d had experience of what Heinz Rothmann and his brainwashed mob could do with guns. With Rothmann still out there, Karen and I were targets if we were going to be staying in the U.S. until we were sent for trial-if that ever happened. Could it be that the Americans and the Brits had done a deal and we were going to be allowed home? Given what Karen and I had tried to do to the President, I didn’t think that was very likely.
When I looked up again from the computer, I noticed it was after midnight. I woke Karen up and walked her to bed. She was only semiconscious, but she managed to press my hand against her abdomen and kiss me before sleep swallowed her up again. I stood watching her, a stupid smile on my face. Then I remembered how it had been when Lucy was newly born-never more than an hour of sleep at a time, deafening wails, the endless changing of diapers. Soon I’d be going through that again. I had never thought I would, but the prospect didn’t induce panic. To my amazement, I was actually looking forward to it. How old would Magnus have to be before I could get him his first rugby ball?
I went out and made a jug of coffee, then spent the next three hours getting in touch with people and surfing the web. Nothing earth-shattering seemed to have happened in the weeks since we’d been out of circulation-the usual earthquakes, changes of government, wars. There had been a string of grisly murders across the U.S.-Peter Sebastian, who was in charge of the FBI investigation, was quoted as saying that the fact the victims were involved in human rights activities and Democratic politics was not necessarily significant. Go, Peter, go. Asshole.
I diverted myself by checking the rugby league scores. My old club, the South London Bison, had lost their last four games. That put everything into perspective. I needed to get back there and do some coaching.
Eventually my eyes started to close of their own accord. I found myself checking my email in-box before logging off, as I always used to do-it seemed plenty of old habits had survived the brainwashing process. The second I took in the new message in bold, I sat up like an electric eel had brushed me. So, Matt, how are you? You must have gone to ground, I can’t find you anywhere. I’ve been busy-blood, lots of it, and enough pain to make a torturer squirm in jealousy-which is why I haven’t been bombarding you with messages like a sick schoolgirl. I’m sick, no doubt you’d say, but a schoolgirl? Well, you remember what I was like in bed, don’t you? How’s Karen, by the way? Not up to much in the sex department these days, I shouldn’t think, getting fat and such. Have you become a father again yet? I do hope that doesn’t cramp your style. I won’t let it cramp mine… Anyway, keep well, Matt. I will find you and only one of us will walk away from that happy reunion. Did you ever come across that Thomson/Rothmann character again? I heard that he’d escaped, despite what one of your pet detectives in Washington D.C. called your ‘brave and selfless efforts.’ You really must be more ruthless. It’s essential in this line of work. Remember this: you brought about my brother’s death, you killed my sister. I’m going to slaughter you and everyone you love, not necessarily in that order. In the name of our beloved and most glorious White Devil, S.C.
The Soul Collector. Sara. I sat back, my heart thundering and my palms damp. The bitch. If I hadn’t been sure before, now I knew-nobody was safe, not Karen, not our son, nobody. The only way for us to survive was for me to kill my ex-lover. And the only way to do that was to offer myself as bait. But to do so, I needed to get out of the camp.
I was going to have to do whatever it took and, as my crazed ex-lover said, I would have to be ruthless-a rock; tougher and sharper than steel.
I needed more time with Quincy Jerome.
The woman was of average height and build, only the lightness of her movements suggesting that she maintained a high level of physical fitness. She wore a pale blue tracksuit and a green baseball cap with the single word Irish on the peak. Any passersby on the street in Astoria who tried to make out her features had little luck. She used no makeup and her features apart from the high cheekbones were unremarkable. A ponytail of auburn hair sprouted from the back of her cap and the unusually bright winter sun brought the color out.
‘Hey, doll, you want to feel my olives?’
The woman stopped and looked back at the stallholder. He was short and swarthy, a slack smile on his lips. Olives in various shades of green and black were arrayed in large plastic trays.
The man tried again. ‘Just for you, from Kalamata with love.’
A plane taking off from nearby La Guardia roared above them.
‘What’s that?’ the stallholder said, leaning forward.
‘I said, your olives look beautiful, but I hate the taste.’ The woman’s voice was even and only marginally accented.
‘Hey, where you from?’ the man said, still eager despite the fading prospect of a sale.
‘Oh, here and there,’ replied the woman, her eyes invisible beneath the peak of her cap. ‘How about you?’
‘Astoria born and bred,’ he replied proudly. ‘My family’s from Greece.’
The woman smiled. ‘Land of brave heroes and tragic wives,’ she said, her voice hardening. ‘If memory serves, Queen Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon in the bath.’ She stepped forward, raising her hands as if she was brandishing a weapon. ‘With an ax.’
The stallholder took an involuntary step backward. ‘Crazy poutana!’ he yelled, as she disappeared into the crowd on the sidewalk.
The woman didn’t know Greek, but she could guess what the word meant. In a way, the fool was right. She was a whore, selling her services to whichever client paid most. But she didn’t open her legs for them. She…how did Havi, the guy who brokered her jobs, put it? She put people’s problems to sleep. That was quite poetic, even though Havi, a preening Puerto Rican who doubled as a Wall Street economist, wouldn’t know a poem from a postmodernist.
She was here in Queens to put a certain problem to sleep. It was a low-profile job, but she liked to kick back occasionally with something simple. There wasn’t much money in it, but that didn’t matter-she was making enough on the big contracts to retire in a few years. Not that she had any longing to duck out of the world she had slipped into so easily. The work was an addiction, but one with no side effects-as long as you weren’t in possession of a conscience.
The street she was looking for was off Ditmars Boulevard. The building was in reasonable condition and the vehicles parked by the curb were recent models, a mixture of family cars and SUVs. The red BMW Roadster stuck out like a thumb that had been caught in its door. She knew who its owner was. Besides, Havi had told her that the target always slept late and the presence of the car suggested his information was, as usual, correct. Glancing down the street in both directions and confirming there was no one nearby, the woman worked the lock. She was inside in under thirty seconds.
The lobby smelled of lemon cleaning fluid and dope. She subdued a sneeze and headed upstairs, her sneakers making no sound on the carpeted steps. Jimmy Vlastos’s apartment was on the third floor. He had made a lot of money from a coke deal and had bought the whole building without a mortgage-officially with money given by his father, a ship owner. When she got to his door, the woman slid her right han
d under her belt and took out the custom-made switchblade. The blade glinted in the light from the cupola.
It took slightly longer to open these locks. The question was, had the target applied the chain? Negative. Either he wasn’t in after all or he’d forgotten after a long night in his cousin’s club. She slipped inside and closed the door quietly behind her.
The apartment was a blaze of glass and stainless steel, the drapes open to admit the sun. There were magazines all over the place, women in minimal clothing displaying their charms in positions that must have been agony for more than a few seconds. The musty smell from an ashtray full of roaches was cut by something sweet and mildly rotten. A bottle of Southern Comfort had spilled its contents onto an ugly purple rug.
The woman headed for the bedroom, extending the hand that held the well-honed plastic blade. She knew which door it was from the plan Havi had sent. Although it was closed, the sound of snoring announced that the resident was, indeed, present. She gripped the handle and turned it, her shoulder against the paneling. Then she was betrayed.
As the door opened, the hinges let out a loud screech. The woman moved forward quickly, but the man in the bed was instantly alert. He leveled a snub-nosed revolver at her before she was halfway across the varnished wood floor.
‘Who the hell are you?’ Vlastos demanded, his gun hand steady.
The woman slowly lowered the knife to her hip. ‘I’m dropping this, okay?’
‘You do that, bitch,’ Vlastos said, his eyes boring into hers. ‘That’s better. Now answer the fucking question. Who are you?’ Keeping the gun aimed at her chest, he pulled aside the quilt and stood up. He was naked.
‘Nice weapon,’ the woman said, flicking her eyes toward his groin.
‘Quit playing around. Take off that cap. Slowly.’
She complied, letting it fall to the floor beside the switchblade.
‘Now take your top off.’
So much for not getting distracted, the woman thought. She raised her hands to her neck and pulled the zipper down. Then she shucked the tracksuit jacket off.
Jimmy Vlastos eyed her breasts, which were accentuated by a tight white T-shirt. ‘Who are you working for?’
The woman smiled. ‘You don’t want to know.’
‘Don’t fuck with me, bitch!’
The smile widened. ‘I didn’t come here to fuck with you, Jimmy,’ she said, though her sultry gaze suggested the verb had some relevance.
‘You were going to gut me with that blade, poutana.’
She shook her head. ‘No, I wasn’t. Honestly.’ Suddenly she was pleading, her right hand raised toward him. ‘Please, I’m not a killer. I’m a-’
Vlastos’s eyes had followed the hand, which meant that he didn’t see the Ruger semiautomatic that she’d pulled from behind her back until it was too late. The silencer swallowed the sound of the shot. The spit was immediately followed by a loud crack as the 7.65 millimeter Parabellum bullet ricocheted off the barrel of Vlastos’s revolver and ripped it from his grasp.
‘Shit!’ he gasped, as his hand flew back.
The woman was holding the pistol in both hands now, the muzzle trained on his chest. ‘On your knees!’ She kicked the revolver under the bed. ‘Now!’
Jimmy Vlastos did as he was told, his eyes locked on the Ruger. ‘Where did you learn to shoot like that? You had the blade in your right hand.’
‘So I’m a woman and I’m ambidextrous. Get over it, asshole.’
He stared up at her. ‘So finish it,’ he said, his voice cracking. ‘But before you do it, tell me who’s paying you.’
‘I told you, that’s not for you to know.’ She smiled, but there was no warmth in it. ‘If you find out, I’ll have to kill you.’
Furrows appeared on Vlastos’s brow.
‘That’s right.’ The woman trained the pistol on the center of his face. ‘I’m not going to kill you.’
‘So what the hell are you here for?’
The woman stepped backward, holding her aim, and picked up the knife. ‘I’ve got some information for you. If you hadn’t pulled that gun on me, we’d have got along fine.’
‘Gimme a break. You came in packing.’
‘How was I to know if you were on your own or not?’
He looked dubious. ‘What good would a knife have been if there were two of us?’
She laughed. ‘Do you want to see how good I am with it?’
Jimmy Vlastos sat back on his heels and tried out a grin. ‘Not right now.’
‘Smart decision. All right, listen up. Your cousin Eleftheria.’
Vlastos tensed immediately. ‘What about her? Do you know something?’
‘I know that she’s eleven and she was raped last summer.’
He stared at her morosely. ‘So?’
‘I know who did it.’
There was a snort of disbelief. ‘How the fuck would you know anything? It was dark-even Ria didn’t see him.’
‘But he boasted about it later.’
‘What?’ Vlastos’s expression was a mixture of disgust and rage. ‘Tell me his name.’
‘Alonso Larengo.’
‘Fuck! Alonso? He’s my business partner, he’s a friend of the family.’
‘The kind of partner and friend nobody needs.’ The woman reached the door and lowered her pistol. ‘We’re done.’
‘Wait! That’s it? You don’t want nothing in return?’
She shook her head. ‘Even drug dealers are entitled to deal with child abusers.’
‘How do I know you’re on the level and this isn’t some play to screw with my Colombian connection?’
‘Well, I suggest you take Mr. Larengo to a darkened room and ask him if what I told you is true. I find pincers and wire cutters useful in such cases.’
‘I’ll bet you do, lady. Can I give you something for your trouble?’
The woman turned away. ‘Just stay off my tail. If I hear you behind me, I’ll empty my clip into your Roadster.’ She glanced back. ‘I’ve got another one for you, if necessary.’
Back on Ditmars Boulevard, the woman headed for the subway. Seagulls were shrieking above the buildings, flying in from Rikers Island, with its teeming prison, and the strait between Queens and Manhattan that was called Hell Gate. Her broker Havi wouldn’t be impressed by what she’d done-she’d been contracted to kill Vlastos, but she had decided that the rapist Larengo should be punished. The Colombians would give Havi a hard time, but she thought Vlastos would survive. Larengo had crossed a line.
She felt an unusual lightness of spirit, although that did nothing to alleviate the ache in her upper back that had appeared a few weeks back. She had painkillers at home. What would her ex-lover Matt Wells think if he heard the dreaded Soul Collector had just righted a wrong that was beyond the normal reach of justice, and that she was pleased she’d done it?
Sometimes the line between good and evil was as blurred as a charcoal drawing in the rain.
Six
A week passed and we started gearing up for the birth. Karen seemed fine, though she got tired very quickly. She looked magnificent, like a galleon with the wind in every sail, as she moved around our rooms. Judging by the size of her bulge, my son was going to live up to his name. I was still having daily sessions with Quincy Jerome and, when pressed, he agreed that I was making progress. My body disagreed. I had more bruises than a linebacker-American football was the only sport I could get on the TV set we’d been provided with-but my fitness was definitely improving. I spent a lot of time on the internet, catching up with old contacts and, as much to see if there was any censorship going on, searching for traces of Heinz Rothmann and my lethal ex-lover Sara Robbins. None of the sites I logged on to were blocked by the Feds, nor did I find anything about the pair except out-of-date media reports.
We were sitting watching a romantic comedy-not my choice-after dinner one evening, when Karen let out a groan.
‘What is it?’ I asked, immediately panic-stricken.
She
grimaced and then smiled. ‘Calm down, Matt. I’m supposed to be the nervous one.’ She ran a hand over her abdomen. ‘Oh, you little swine. Stop doing that. It hurts.’
‘You aren’t having contractions, are you?’
‘I don’t think so.’ She squeezed my hand. ‘I have a feeling it won’t be long, though.’
I fetched her a glass of water and she gradually got back to normal.
‘Do you want me to call the health center?’ I asked.
Karen shook her head. ‘It’s okay. Things are calming down.’ Then she swallowed hard and her eyes filled with tears.
‘What is it, my love?’ I said, putting my arm round her shoulders.
‘Oh, nothing,’ she said, sobbing. ‘It’s just…it’s just I’m so happy…to be having our son…’ She blinked and looked into my eyes. ‘I’d never have done this if it wasn’t for you.’
I laughed. ‘You got that right. Remember how it started?’
She inserted her elbow under my arm. ‘Don’t make a joke of it, Matt. I…I’ve never felt so happy.’
It was infectious. I felt tears in my eyes. ‘Neither have I,’ I said, kissing her. ‘Neither have I.’
Karen slept unusually deeply that night, and so did I; no nightmares or blood-lathered memories, and no Sara. Despite all the bullshit-the kidnapping, the conditioning, the Rothmanns’ conspiracy, being held in this Spartan camp for weeks-the imminent arrival of our son was all that mattered; that and Karen keeping well.
In the morning we had breakfast together and I went off for a session in the pool with Quincy. I’d asked him to see if he could arrange some time on the shooting range, thinking that perhaps he’d be able to swing it with his superiors, but that didn’t work out. I knew who I could blame for that.
And when I got back to our rooms, there he was- Peter Sebastian, sitting at the table, in front of our laptop.
‘Where’s Karen?’ I asked, looking around the living room.