Slansky got up and walked toward the bedroom. Isabeau took a few steps after him. Titus said, "I think you better wait here." Isabeau shrugged and wandered over to the open window. She turned and faced them. She was still calm; Aisha had to give her credit. Fear gripped her suddenly; maybe there was nothing in the bedroom, maybe Isabeau had hidden the drug elsewhere. The air was close and humid; she could hardly breathe.
Jacob Slansky was at the door. Aisha caught her breath sharply. He approached them and held out a vial and a syringe. "I found these," he said, "in a blue velvet box."
Titus's head had sunk between his shoulders. "She never wanted me near her things," he muttered. His voice was cracking. "She said she wanted respect for her privacy, and I believed it. I thought it was their way, those kind of people."
Isabeau laughed again. "That's nothing," she said. Her voice wasn't tiny any more, it was low and firm. Aisha watched her, marveling, expecting the blond woman to plead with Titus. "That's nothing," Isabeau repeated. "It's just a harmless little something, just for fun. I didn't want to tell you about it, I know you disapprove of those things." She tilted her head, gazing at her husband. She was beautiful, almost too beautiful. She stood there, with her silver hair, in her long violet gown, a pale unearthly creature, and for a moment Aisha was sure Titus would forgive her, because she was too beautiful to hate.
"Of course," Titus whispered. He got up slowly; his face sagged. He took the vial and syringe from Slansky and turned to his wife. "Why don't you relax now? You're with friends." Isabeau did not answer. "You heard me, dear, I want you to come over here and take this harmless drug. I don't like these things myself, so the rest of us can just have a drink instead."
Isabeau's smile was frozen. The room was very quiet, so quiet that Aisha could hear the sound of people talking in the hall outside. The bodyguard behind Titus's chair moved, taking a step toward Isabeau. The blond woman lifted a slender arm as she leaned against the windowsill; her hand was steady. She perched on the sill, holding her hand out to her husband. Titus, still holding the vial and syringe, looked away.
Isabeau spun around quickly, lifting her legs over the sill, and disappeared out the window.
The bodyguard dove toward her, too late. Titus staggered backward, almost falling in his chair. Aisha screamed, and jumped up. She covered her ears with her hands, still screaming. Slansky grabbed her arms and shook her. She pulled away from him and was silent. Her knees shook. She heard the screams and cries of people outside, far below the window. She turned toward Titus. His mouth hung open, his complexion had a yellowish tinge. The bodyguard stood by the window, peering down. He turned back to the others. He said, "She's dead, sir. I'm sorry."
Titus took a step toward Aisha, raising his arm. The blow sent her reeling back. She threw up her hands. His fist hit her chest and she gasped for air. Another blow struck her on the left side. The beige carpet on the floor rushed toward her and she was down, her legs curled, her arms wrapped around her head. She waited, then peered up from under an arm.
Slansky stood with his arms around Titus, holding him still. Aisha sat up and tried to crawl away. Slansky released Titus and reached for her, pulling her up. She stood unsteadily on wobbly legs.
Titus said, "Where's Simon? He's hiding, isn't he, waiting for you."
She shook her head. Her ribs ached. "You lied to me," Titus went on. "Oh, I know you did. Simon must have been her lover, that's why she trusted him, that's why she thought she was safe, otherwise she would have gotten rid of him, I'm right, I know I'm right." He stumbled back to his chair and sat down, rumpled and defeated.
Slansky signaled to the bodyguard. The man hurried to his side, "Go downstairs," he commanded. "Isabeau's bodyguard's somewhere in the lobby or the supper club. Make sure she's shot. And tell some of the men to get the body, and if anyone questions you, don't answer." The man nodded and left.
Aisha looked down at her hands. The pattern of the chair arms she had gripped so fiercely was etched on her palms. She was numb. Her chest and abdomen were hollow and empty; her skin was like glass, fragile, ready to break. Another person was dead because of her. Powerful people struggled, won and lost, lived and died while most others went on, seeing very little change for them. It made no difference to them whether Titus or Isabeau survived.
"Take a message to your friend," Titus croaked. "You hear me? You tell him if he's in that apartment of his tomorrow, I'll kill him. You tell him if any of my people see him after that, he's dead. You tell him that."
Slansky took her arm and pushed her toward the door.
Aisha opened a counter door and crawled under her sink. She pried open a panel and fumbled under the pipes, finally locating her pouch of jewelry. She grabbed it and crawled back out, closing the door.
She stood up and tied the pouch around her waist, tucking it into her jeans. She pulled a loose red tunic over her head, then put on her knifebelt. She left the apartment without looking back.
Simon waited in the hall. They hurried down the stairs and outside. The dawn sunlight cast an eerie red glow, making the fountain in the courtyard pink. They walked toward the street.
A small, muscular woman was suddenly in front of them. "Aisha Baraka?" she said, brushing back her short, uneven brown hair.
"Yes."
"My name's Maudine. Werner Takaishi sent me here." She spoke quickly, with a northern accent Aisha couldn't place. "Who's he?" The woman gestured toward Simon.
"He's my—" Aisha paused. "He's my friend," she said at last in a low voice.
"Werner didn't say anything about a friend."
"He's in trouble," Aisha said. "He can't stay here and he doesn't have anywhere to go."
"Come on, then. Werner can decide what to do with him." They followed her down the street. "He's waiting a couple of blocks down."
The streets seemed emptier than usual, even for early morning. The beggars had disappeared, the venders and their carts were absent. In the distance, Aisha could hear a sharp chattering. She recognized the sound: gunfire. A block down, a group of men ran across the street, keeping close to the ground. They carried rifles. Maudine walked more rapidly, her hand on the revolver at her waist. "It's starting already," she muttered. Aisha opened her mouth to ask what.
A deafening boom clapped her. She fell to the ground and heard the shattering of glass. Her ears rang. She pressed against the sidewalk, clutching the curb.
Maudine was pulling at her tunic. "Get up," she said. Aisha's ears hummed. Gray smoke billowed in the east, over toward the Americana. Maudine began to run. Aisha followed, Simon close behind her. They ran past barred storefronts, past a few boys and girls trying to jimmy a lock on one set of bars.
Maudine stopped suddenly and Aisha almost collided with her. "In here," the muscular woman said, unlocking the metal grating in front of a small store. They followed her inside.
The store was dark. Shelves filled with books lined the walls, reaching to the ceiling. Maudine closed the door behind them.
Takaishi sat behind the check-out counter. A slender man in khaki was with him. "Barron!" Maudine cried, rushing toward them and almost knocking over a display rack. She leaned over the counter, rubbing her hand over the man's short, bristly, blond hair. "God, I'm glad you made it here."
The man smiled, turning his boyish face up to her. "I heard you had problems last night."
Maudine sat on the counter, putting her feet on the man's lap. "Oh yeah, I had her all lined up, I saw that scar on her face, and I knew it was her. Then these two other guys came running around the side of the hotel, screaming about Isabeau Rasselle taking a dive out the window. She was quick, damn it, she took off fast and I lost her."
Aisha went to the counter and looked over it at Takaishi. "As you might have guessed," he said, "these are my associates." He gestured sharply at Simon. "What's he doing here?"
"He's in trouble," she answered. "I couldn't just—he would have been killed. I had to help him. I don't know anyone else to—anyone el
se to—" She swallowed.
"What kind of trouble?"
She tried to think of how to put it. "Simon found out something," she said finally. "Isabeau Rasselle was trying to kill Titus Echeverria, I went to Titus with the news, and—" She paused when she saw Takaishi knit his brows. Maudine had turned and was staring at her, eyes wide. "After Isabeau went out the window, Titus just fell apart, it was as if he blamed Simon for it. I guess he must have loved her."
"So you're the ones," Maudine said.
"What do you mean?" Aisha asked, puzzled.
"Don't you know what you've done?" Takaishi muttered. Aisha shook her head. "You should have left it alone. As far as Sean Rasselle is concerned, Echeverria pushed his only child out that window." He sighed. "You've started a war."
Barron returned from the back room with some cheese, a few bean sprouts, and two big bottles of warm beer. He sat on the counter and passed the provisions around. Takaishi, as it turned out, owned the bookstore; it had been one of many innocuous fronts for his activities.
Maudine offered Aisha some bean sprouts. Aisha shook her head. "Better eat them," the woman said. "We might have trouble getting some food later on."
Aisha took the sprouts. The sounds of gunfire were farther away now, more intermittent. She drank some beer, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. "What are we going to do now?" she asked Takaishi.
"I wanted to talk to you about that," he answered. "We have to get out of here. It's going to get worse. Sooner or later even the police'll have to take sides, most of them owe something either to Rasselle or Echeverria. Miami'll sit across the bay and watch, and when this town is weak enough, they'll move in and that'll be it. I'm cutting my losses and going back to Lauderdale." He frowned. "You don't have anywhere to go now, do you?"
Aisha shook her head.
"Do you want to go back to René?"
She stared at his shadowed face, surprised. "I wish I could." She choked, and lowered her eyes. "I wish I hadn't left." She peered at him hopefully.
"They'll take you back. I was going to tell you today, before all of this." He waved an arm at the barred window. "Barron and Maudine want to go back to Canada, to Ontario. I can't say I blame them. You can travel with them if you like."
Maudine threw an arm over Takaishi's shoulders. "Werner! You mean it, don't you?"
Takaishi's mouth twisted into a half-smile. "Why not? We're closing out operations here."
"But we can't," Aisha said. "We don't have any papers, or—"
"Didn't you bring your jewels?" She nodded. "Then you don't need papers, believe me." She glanced at Simon, who scowled as he ate some sprouts. She turned back to Takaishi.
"How do you know," she said, "that they'll take me back?"
"I talked to them, over a radio. We have a code." He slapped one of his jacket pockets; it held a paperback book. "The code's based on Great Expectations, chapter titles, lines." He looked around the bookstore. "You know what really hurts, Aisha? Not being able to move my books out. I'll never be able to replace a lot of them." He chuckled bitterly. "I wish I'd moved them when I had a chance."
A machine gun chattered outside, closer this time. Takaishi stood up quickly. "Come on, we have to get out. We're going to go north, try to get to the boat basin, stay as close as you can."
They crept out of the store and into the street. To the east, near Collins Avenue, Aisha saw a pillar of smoke, flames at its base. Then she saw them.
A ragged mob was moving toward them from the north, filling the street. Aisha grabbed at Takaishi's sleeve. She froze. He spun around, pulling her with him, trying to go east. She heard screams and cries as the crowd came closer, brandishing sticks, shattering windows and rattling bars as it went. Takaishi began to run; she followed. Then she saw the second mob, also moving toward them, from the beaches. Terrified, she realized that the crazies were escaping from the beaches and from the makeshift shelters where the police usually kept them confined. She panted as she ran. The shouting of the mob behind them was deafening; they too had turned east. Something hit her leg, she stumbled and Takaishi grabbed her, pulling her upright.
They turned south, too late. People swept around them, one man striking at Aisha with a plank. She ducked, and pushed his arm aside. Farther back, she heard screams and curses as the two mobs met.
"Don't fight it!" Takaishi yelled above the noise. "Take it easy, and don't fall!" Bodies pressed around her as he spoke, carrying her south. She couldn't move, couldn't even raise her arms. She was swept along, her feet barely able to touch the ground. A sudden shift of bodies behind her propelled her against a young man next to her. He tripped and fell, dropping quickly out of sight. The mob pressed on. Takaishi was thrown against her; he clasped her hand.
"Stay with me," he shouted, his lips close to her ear. Dimly she noticed that Maudine and Simon were near him; she couldn't see Barron. People pushed ahead of them, filling the street and sidewalks. Takaishi pulled at her hand. She realized he was trying to maneuver, get to the edge of the mob.
The people ahead were moving more slowly. Aisha's ears hummed and buzzed, making the screams around her louder, then softer, distorting the sound. The voices were inside her, enticing her. The air shimmered. A fierce joy filled her; she wanted to run with them, smash the windows, burn the condos, seize the city. Her ears sang.
She heard shots. Two women in front of her fell, leaving a space. A block down the street, she saw an overturned bus. Someone was behind it, firing into the crowd. Those in front were slowing up still more, those behind her were still pressing ahead—she would be trampled. Someone screamed.
Aisha felt a sharp pull; it nearly yanked her arm from its socket. She lurched to the left, and was suddenly out of the crowd. Takaishi pulled her again; she stumbled forward. They were in a narrow side street. She leaned against a wall, exhausted. Others were swarming into the side street now; she caught a glimpse of Maudine. Her shoulder ached. "Come on," Takaishi said. She hurried after him, lifting leaden feet.
The side street led to the beach. She staggered onto the sand, gasping. Takaishi took her arm, more gently this time.
The beach was a ruin. Clots of people huddled near the remnants of campfires. Ragged tents and ramshackle lean-tos sagged on the soiled sand. Sandpipers scurried around refuse while gulls screeched overhead. In front of a nearby tent, a child, abandoned, sat crying; it reached out to Aisha with its skinny arms.
Maudine approached them, followed by Simon and Barron. A cut over Barron's left eye was bleeding; two red rivulets were drying on his cheek. Takaishi looked around quickly, then stepped over the abandoned child into the tent. He came out holding a plastic bottle. The child's cries were louder. "Water," Takaishi said. "We might need it."
Simon was peering at Barron's cut. The blond man waved him away. "What now?" he asked Takaishi.
Takaishi threw out a hand. "We go south," he said. Aisha looked down the beach, which stretched as far as she could see. Tall structures towered along the mottled white expanse, as if feeding from the ocean. Fences protecting the hotel beaches had been trampled into the ground. "We keep going," Takaishi went on, "until we can get off safely. We should be all right here. It looks like most of them made a break for the streets." Aisha heard the distant chatter of a machine gun.
"Why can't we try for the boat basin again?" Barron asked.
"That should be obvious," Takaishi replied. "We won't get through now. Things are getting bad faster than I thought they would. That area up there, and around the boat basin, is going to be the center of this war, we'll be safer farther down."
The blond man shrugged. "And we'd better start now," Takaishi said. "Sooner or later, the police may try to drive those people back here."
The sun, high overhead now, burned into Aisha's flesh, making her long to throw off her tunic and hurl herself into the ocean. Her lips were dry and cracked. Even the light, salty breezes blowing over the calm ocean did nothing to help, only stinging her skin with grains of sand. Far behind them, sh
e could hear the whirring of a helicopter. Ahead, she saw a knot of people in rags, huddling together near the ocean's edge. Two men darted away from the others, splashing into the water, lifting their knees. They paddled out and were captured by the current. One disappeared under the aqua surface; the head of the other became a small round marker among the ripples.
"Down!" Takaishi shouted, throwing himself on the sand. Then Aisha heard the shots, barely audible above the helicopter's motor. She dived down, rolling against Maudine. The helicopter swooped, blowing sand into her eyes. She blinked, and tears streamed down her cheeks. Through the blurriness, she watched the metallic insect approach the people ahead. They fell, stumbling into the water, dropping on the sand. The helicopter circled around them, mowing them down. Another helicopter passed overhead; she watched its squat shadow retreat down the beach as it moved toward another group of people.
The helicopter hovered for a moment, then settled on the sand, blocking their view of the murdered people. The whirring subsided; the blades slowed, then stopped. Two men climbed out of the vehicle, then a third, a police officer. Aisha lay perfectly still, squinting over the sand. The man looked toward them for a moment, then followed the others. They disappeared around the side, and Aisha saw the rifle left carelessly behind on one of the seats.
She had barely registered the thought when Takaishi was on his feet, signaling quickly to Barron and Maudine. He had seen it too. Barron was moving toward the copter in a crouch, torso almost parallel to the ground. Maudine followed, with Takaishi close behind her. Aisha glanced uncertainly at Simon as she got up; he was squatting on the sand, one hand shading his eyes. When she turned back toward the helicopter, Barron was already inside, holding the rifle, his back to her. Maudine circled around the vehicle and began to fire with her revolver; Takaishi was shooting from the copter's rear. Barron raised the rifle and fired, turning rapidly as he swept the area beneath him.
Takaishi spun around, waving an arm to her. She ran to the copter, climbed in, and squeezed herself behind one of the seats. Simon followed, piling in next to her. Maudine and Takaishi climbed into the front. Barron started the engine and the machine shuddered, then lifted. Aisha saw the bodies of the three men on the beach, sprawled like crabs next to those they themselves had mowed down.
The Sudden Star Page 23