INCARNATION

by Daniel Easterman

  ‘There’s nothing we can do to prevent it. But you have to remember that we’re really only specks from up there. If they stay high, they can see the terrain very well, but it’s hard to make out individual objects or people. The minute they come down low enough to make naked eye identification, their command of the terrain is lost. That’s what happened just now. By being on the lee side of a tall dune a mile or so south of his flight path, we were invisible.’

  'That doesn’t mean we’re really safe, it just means we were lucky.’

  ‘We’ll try to keep it like that. Let’s stay here for about half an hour, then move on. We’re losing too much time.’

  He returned to the lip of the dune and started scanning the sky for incoming helicopters. None followed the first two, not within his range of vision at least.

  But he knew they were coming, that they’d come in again and again. They were looking for him. The helicopters themselves gave that away. Neither the army nor the air force possessed Mi-8s or Mi-24s. Only one agency had bought them from the Russians, the Guojia Anchuanbu, China’s new Ministry for State Security. And David happened to know that the Guojia Anchuanbu owned a small air base somewhere on the eastern edge of the Taklamakan.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

  Loch Monar

  He watched her sleep. Da-da, dee-da, he hummed to himself as he bent over her, almost on tiptoes, watching her sleeping features. She was closed down, inert, stretched on the bed like a white bird washed up on an unwelcoming shore. Flotsam. Jetsam. Her hair was like seaweed from the bottom of a troubled sea. Dee-da, da-dee.

  He’d no idea how long it would be before she regained consciousness. On the one hand, he wanted her awake to be able to talk down a phone and prove she was still alive. On the other, he wanted the minimum of fuss. This - he looked at Maddie - had all the potential of turning into a puking, bawling, cabbage-headed pain in the balls.

  Being new to this kidnapping business, he’d no idea how best to handle his goods. He knew he might have to damage her in order to get what he wanted. He’d heard that cutting off ears and fingers could have a serious persuasive effect on reluctant relatives. If she’d been a man, he’d have started with his middle leg. He reckoned that, if you sent one of those in the post, next-day delivery, they’d know you meant business. And he did mean business. In her case …

  He glanced at the rise and fall of her small breasts. She hadn’t put a bra on when she dressed. From time to time he could see the tiny mound of a nipple push through the fabric of her T-shirt. He’d been tempted to strip her more than once, give her the once over, maybe run his hands over her.

  Her eyes swooped open. No preliminaries, no fluttering, no twitching of the lids. They stayed open, as she swivelled to take in her surroundings. He expected she wasn’t able to see much, that what little she did see was blurred.

  ‘Where ... am ... I?’ she asked, her voice befuddled with something darker than sleep. There was pain in her eyes, and bewilderment, and loss. He ignored them, since in all honesty they were as much use to him as an attack of the trots.

  ‘You’re with me, hen,’ he said, bending over her, a doctor but for the white coat and the educated voice. ‘Ye remember me, eh? Calum Kilbride. Remember Ah brought a letter fae yir father, all the way fae China. Ah helped ye ootay yir hoose in London. The big hoose. Mind that?’

  She nodded blankly, still in a fog. ‘But where … ?’

  ‘Ye fell asleep. Didnae wake up after London. Ah let ye stay like that while Ah drove. Best thing, likes.’

  ‘Yes, but where exactly ...?’ She was coming round rapidly now, taking account of her surroundings. He didn’t want her to know where she was. She might have to speak to her mother, and he couldn’t risk the possibility that she might tell them where to go looking for her.

  ‘Maddie,’ he said, ‘ye ken yersel’ ye havenae been very well. That’s why ye were in that clinic. Since yir mother took ye oot, ye’ve gone badly doonhill. They fuckers wis puttin’ you through hell, likesay. So Ah pulled ye oot and drove ye up here, where they cannae find ye. How ye feelin’ now, doll?’

  Maddie’s head was still spinning, and a persistent grogginess threatened to pull her back down into the dark, dreamless sleep out of which she had only just awakened.

  ‘I’m a bit woozy,’ she said. ‘Whatever you gave me must have been bloody strong. How long have I been out?’

  Calum shrugged.

  ‘Aboot a day an’ a half. Ye can have some more in a wee while. But first ye need tae put some grub inside ye.’

  She looked round the strange room. Almost everything was made from pine: the ceiling, the walls, the floor, the door. Her bed had a light quilt made up of patches in vibrant colours. Stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes populated a bay of shelves opposite. The lampshade was in the shape of a balloon, with a basket hanging below it filled with white mice. She looked round the room and speculated on why bad taste could sometimes be so comforting.

  She swung herself round and planted her feet firmly on the floor.

  ‘I’m not really hungry, thanks.’

  He sniffed. All that politeness when he knew she was a swarm of maggots inside.

  ‘Dinnae go makin’ that mistake, hen. Ye havenae eaten in two days or more. Would ye no’ like some bacon or a wee sawsidge?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘Neither, thanks. I’m a vegetarian.’

  ‘Aw, Christ, Ah had tae get mixed up wi’ a loony. Nae cunt in his right mind eats just vegetables. Nae wonder you’re such a scraggy wee thing.’

  ‘What about eggs? Everybody has eggs.’

  She started towards the window. He did not try to get in her way.

  ‘Ah’ve got fresh eggs, bread, marmalade, an’ some cheese. No fancy French stuff, mind: just ordinary cheese.’

  She drew back the curtains. It was broad daylight outside. For a moment her eyes shrank from the blazing sunlight, then she recovered and looked out. A long meadow ran down to a lake, a beautiful blue lake on which nothing moved. To the left, she could make out trees, the beginnings of a forest, perhaps. At the far end of the lake there were mountains, blue mountains topped with cloud, whose reflections lay on the flat water as though put there to still it. As she watched, an eagle plunged down towards the lake, and lifted again with a silver fish squirming in its beak. And everywhere she looked, she saw flowers.

  ‘Where is this?’ she asked again. ‘It’s beautiful.’

  ‘Aye, it’s no’ bad. Better Ah don’t tell ye where we are, though. Better not, eh?’

  ‘But why … ? I don’t…’

  ‘Ma no’ tellin’ you is for your own good. Stay there an’ watch, if ye fancy. Ah’ll get ye your grub.’

  He came back fifteen minutes later, carrying a folding table which he set up in front of the window.

  ‘Ye’U find a chair over by the dressin’ table. Ah thought ye might like tae watch oot the windy while ye eat. What will ye drink?’

  ‘Orange juice. My throat’s parched.’

  ‘Ah’ve nae juice, but Ah’ve got squash.’

  ‘Well, I ...’

  ‘It’ll have tae do. Unless ye find water more satisfyin’. Or tea. Ah can make tea.’

  She shook her head.

  ‘Squash will do very nicely,’ she said, thinking to herself that her Galahad would have to be trained. For the moment she was content to let herself be fed, and to wallow in this breathtaking scenery to which she’d been transported like a character in Aladdin.

  It felt too good to be true. London, Farrar’s house, Rose’s clinic were all bad dreams, as far away as China. She thought about her father, and wondered if she’d ever see him alive again. And all at once the demons came, rustling their heavy wings, mocking her, telling her there was nowhere she could run to in order to escape them. But she thought that perhaps she had just found such a place.

  Calum came in, carrying a plate of scrambled eggs and mushrooms. He wasn’t absolutely sure they were mushrooms, but he’d foun
d them that morning, growing next to the trees. He’d fried them in butter and tried one. It had tasted close enough. The smell they exuded awakened what little appetite Maddie had.

  ‘Calum,’ she asked, taking the plate from him and setting it on the table, ‘can I have some more of whatever it was you gave me when you came to the house?’

  ‘Finish your breakfast first, then we’ll see.’

  A ribbon of sunlight tied itself through her long hair, and the brightness of it drew his eyes. He noticed that she had narrow shoulders, and that her breasts were exactly as he would have wanted them to be.

  ‘Is this your place, Calum?’ she asked.

  He shook his head.

  ‘It’s no’ mine, no’ exactly. This is kinday what ye might call a holiday residence. It belongs tae ma Uncle Hamish an’ ma Auntie Morag. Morag’s ma mother’s sister, likes, only she disnae call hersel’ Morag any more. It’s Charlene. That’s because she’s so keen on this Country an’ Western rubbish. “Stand by yoo-oor maaaan”, an’ all that. Goes line dancin’ evra Friday night in Kirkcudbright. Can you believe that? Woman ay fifty plus wi’ five bairns an’ a figure like Roseanne Barr. Mean tae say ...

  ‘Well, she and Hamish bought this wee dive fir fuck all years an’ years ago, when Ah wis nae bigger than that table. Ah spent most o’ ma summers here till Ah grew up and pushed off. Ah wisnae gonna be Scotland’s answer tae Tammy Wynette. They’re no’ so very keen on us now, ma aunt an’ uncle. But Ah said this wis an emergency, an’ could Ah have the place fir a week or two. They were very good aboot it, actually. Said Ah could have the bothy free o’ charge so long’s Ah looked after it. So, here we are.’

  ‘Is it very remote? I mean, it looks very cut off here.’

  ‘Aye, we’re well oot the way here. Ah wis here in the winter once. We wis snowed up three months, and nae shite came tae get us oot. Couldnae get in, likes. Three months wi’ fuck all tae eat but baked beans an’ frozen sawsidges. It’s a fair bit oot fae anywheres here.’

  ‘But it is Scotland, isn’t it? If you got snowed in like that. Or the Lake District, I suppose.’

  He said no more, but watched her eat. She was hungry now, but handled her food gently, taking small mouthfuls at a time. In all honesty, he’d expected her to wolf it down. He would have done so. Anyone he knew would have done so.

  He glanced at her again. He’d never seen a woman like her before, or if he had it had been at a distance, out of his grubby reach. Even sick, she looked better than any of the women he’d ever met or slept with.

  When she finished, he cleared the table and folded it away. It was a card table, really, but the baize had been stripped off and the top replaced with wood veneer. Maddie rose and returned to the window, to gaze out at the lake.

  ‘Can I go down to it?’ she asked.

  ‘Doon? Doon tae what?’

  'The lake, of course. Or is it a loch? Would I be able to walk round it? Or go for a swim? I’ve no costume, but perhaps you can come up with something.’

  ‘Ah’m not sure. Ah used tae go for walks when Ah wis a bairn, with ma cousin Jimmy and his sister. Well, maybe later on.’

  ‘Why later? Why not this moment?’

  ‘Ah ... well, for one thing Ah’ve got tae make a telephone call. Ah need you tae say a few words tae yir folks.’

  Her face lit up with alarm.

  ‘I don’t understand. What on earth are you up to? I don’t want to speak to anybody, let alone ...‘

  ‘Ah’m just plannin’ tae give yir mother a wee bell. Her and her - what’s his job description? - boyfriend.’

  ‘Boyfriend’s a bit ... Have you met Anthony?’

  ‘No, but the cunt starred in a number o’ portraits artfully displayed roond the auld place.’

  ‘Then you have some idea. Why the hell would you want to speak to them?’ Panic had seeped into her voice. Maybe her rough Galahad was having second thoughts.

  ‘It’s no’ for you tae fret yir pretty head aboot.’

  He whipped a small mobile telephone from his pocket and waved it at her.

  ‘Nokia,’ he proclaimed, making it sound like a football chant. ‘It’s got all the functions. An’, believe it or no’, Ah git next-tae-perfect reception oot here. Ah mean, it’s fuckin’ radge, eh? There’s nae shoaps, there’s nae polis, there’s nae church, an’ there’s nae pub, but Ah get better fuckin’ reception on this wee gadget here than in parts o’ London. Fuckin’ radge, eh?’

  She looked at him and smiled. He seemed a loose cannon, but she thought he was harmless, really. All the time, a need was growing in her for the drug.

  ‘What’s “radge”?’ she asked.

  ‘Crazy, likes. Now, where’s yir mother’s number?’

  He fumbled in his pocket and brought out a crumpled piece of paper with a scribbled telephone number on it. He switched the phone on and punched in the number. There was a single ring at the other end, then a woman’s voice answered, harsh and fragile.

  ‘Hello? Who’s this?’

  ‘Hello, Lizzie. Remember me? Ah’d say it wasnae a matter of “Who?” so much as “How much?” wouldn’t you?’

  ‘How is Maddie? I want to speak to her. I don’t think you realize what you’ve got yourself into. There’ll be hell to pay if you’ve harmed her in any way.’

  ‘Ah think we’ll take things in the right order. What aboot the polis? Has either o’ you told the blueberry muffins anything aboot this? Are they listenin’ in tae this conversation?’

  ‘Oh, don’t be such a pillock. Who do you think I’ve got here, Inspector fucking Morse? I’ve as little wish to see the police here as you do. All I want is to get my daughter back. Put her on the line.’

  Calum pressed the ‘Mute’ button and turned to Maddie.

  ‘Yir mother wants tae have a word. Tell her ye’re all right, but say nae more than ye have tae.’

  She looked at him coldly. Thoughts of gallant knights had entirely left her.

  ‘Would you like to tell me what the fuck is going on here? “How much?” “What about the police?” Have I just been kidnapped? Is that what this is all about?’

  ‘No, but Ah’d like yir mother tae think so. Ah’d appreciate it if ye’d just play along wi’ the charade. You’ll come tae nae harm fae me, Ah promise.’

  She glared at him for several moments, then snatched the phone.

  ‘Mother? Are you all right?’

  ‘I think it’s I who should be asking that question, dear. Just what the hell do you think you’re up to?’

  ‘I’m not up to anything, Mother. Jesus, does somebody have to be up to something just because they’ve run out on you?’

  ‘Of course not, dear. It’s just that ...'

  ‘Let’s get this straight, Mother. You pulled me out of a clinic where I was being given essential treatment, and you refused to get me the drugs I needed. So I decided to get as far away from you and that two-faced bastard Farrar as I could. Once Dad gets back, I’m moving in with him. End of story.’

  ‘Darling, has he hurt you?’

  ‘Hurt me? Quite the opposite. I’m feeling better than I have in years.’

  ‘Well ...Has he laid hands on you?’

  ‘Laid hands ...?’

  ‘You know perfectly well what I mean.’

  ‘He’s been a perfect gentleman.’

  She felt the handset lifted from her. Calum sat down and crossed his legs.

  ‘Hear that, Lizzie? Yir daughter is unharmed an’ unfucked. If ye’d prefer tae keep her in that condition, a wee donation tae ma trust fund would be appreciated. Ah’m no’ greedy, but Ah dinnae intend tae haggle over this. You’ll pay the price Ah ask - nae discounts, nae reductions, nae bargain offers.’

  Elizabeth sighed.

  ‘How much?’

  He hesitated at the last moment, wondering if he shouldn’t raise his demand after all. What if she had more money than he thought? He almost doubled his original price, then reasoned that there were ways of raising it further down the li
ne. A package with a finger in it would go down a treat. Or a nose.

  ‘One million,’ he said.

  ‘Pounds?’

  ‘What the fuck else?’

  'I’m sorry, I’ll have to talk about this with ...'

  ‘Ah wouldnae waste much time, hen. Ah’m no’ runnin’ a Billy Butlins here. You an’ Spiderman have two days. One tae get the money, one tae get it tae me. Otherwise ...’ His voice fell away. He looked at Maddie, raising his eyebrows as if to say it was all a joke. But that wasn’t what he was thinking. Inside he was contemplating his options.

  ‘Otherwise what?’ Anthony Farrar’s voice hurtled down the line like an angry rocket.

  For a moment, Calum was knocked off course, but it took only seconds for him to regain his equilibrium.

  ‘Ah leave all that tae yir imagination. The chief thing is that ye’ve only got two days.’

  ‘Fine. Two days. Now, listen carefully to me, you numskull. I take it you’ve never dealt in amounts like a million before, so you will hardly be aware that we will need a good deal more than twenty-four hours to put a sum like that together. People like Elizabeth don’t just leave their money in a Post Office savings account or the Co-op Bank. Money gets tied up in shares, trust funds, bonds - and a lot of it lives abroad. For her to realize one million will take at least three days. Do you understand that?’

  ‘If Ah said you’d get Maddie’s head in a Damien Hirst box if Ah didnae see ma money, what would ye do?’

  ‘Do? Frankly, I’d think you were the greatest buffoon who ever lived. If you kill her, you get nothing. If you wait a day or two longer, you get all you want. We haven’t even disputed your price, so we can expect a bit of co-operation from you. Now, when the money’s ready, where do you want it left?’

  ‘Dinnae push me. Ah’ll leave you know nearer the time. An’ Ah want you tae swear there’ll be not a word said aboot this tae the polis.’

  ‘Very well, you have my word on that if I have your agreement on the question of time.’

  ‘Good. Three days. Ah’ll keep in touch.’

  He pressed the ‘End’ button and switched off the phone. As he put it down, he looked at Maddie and winked.