Lies

by Alda Grand

  “This is a very large opportunity, don’t wait too long to call me,” Jonsi said.

  This guy is really laying it on thick Brad thought to himself. “I’m sure it is. As I said I’ll pass it up the chain.”

  Jonsi threw his hands up in the air and said, “Right my American friend, I get it. Hang out time is over. Happy hunting.”

  Once Jonsi had left the room Brad laid the map out on the bed and checked over the notes that were attached to it. Jonsi had provided a list of town names starting with Vik and then continuing on around the circular road that ringed the country. If they had left Vik he had a list of ten or so places that they could be holed up in. Apart from Vik every town on the list had a name that Brad wouldn't have even attempted to pronounce. Before going to bed he checked the rifle and its action and it was smooth and in perfect working order. I’ve a long drive ahead of me tomorrow he thought to himself as he got into bed. He tried not to think what was ahead of him, he could already feel the first tentative fingers of pain run skittering across his brain. If he allowed himself to think about the girls and what he had to do he would never sleep. He tried to block out all thoughts and pictured the snow capped Mount Esja across from the hotel, towering over the bay in silent judgement.

  For several hours he stared at the ceiling unable to sleep. Light seeped in underneath the heavy curtains from the unsetting sun. He tossed and turned and sleep eluded him. He got out of bed and found the knife and unsheathed it and placed it on his bedside table. He got back into bed and lay on his side staring at the patterns in the bone handle. Eventually he drifted off to a fitful sleep filled with the screams of women coming up from beneath the soles of his shoes.

  His alarm rang and it pulled him from the thin mist of sleep he had been bobbing along through. His head felt stuffed with broken glass as he rose. He dry swallowed three of his pills and waited for the softening haze of the meds to kick in. Time to focus he told himself as he prepared himself for the day ahead.

  Chapter 18

  Lana slowly opened her eyes in the hospital room enjoying the tingle of heat on her skin as a beam of early morning sun bisected her room. The window was open and she could her the call and response of the birds as they swooped and wheeled through the air scooping beak fulls of flying insects as they rose from the warming earth. This was now her fourth morning in the clinic and she hoped to be getting out sometime in the next few hours. It would be another few days before she would be allowed to take the bandages off her eyes the nurse had told her yesterday evening. The last few days had seemed to whizz by and as each day passed her excitement for the sun to rise and Einar to come visit her would increase. He had come every day and spent several hours with her and the two of them just spoke to each other, no distraction from other people, no incessant call of social media to check in and view someone else's fabricated life unfold. Most of all it made her forget even if only for a few hours a day, the fear of her past catching up with her.

  While she was with Einar she felt safe as if nothing bad could ever happen to her in his company. He listened to her so intently when she spoke that she had found that some of her more embarrassing or shameful stories came spilling out. He seemed to pass no judgement and shared some of his own stories with her. He was so easy going and open to her and as the days rolled on she longed to take off her bandages and look upon his face as they talked. To see the crinkles in the corner of his mouth when he smiled at one of her amusing stories, to see him nodding along and empathising with her when she spoke of hardships, to connect with him when she looked into his eyes. When he left her in the evenings she felt a severe sense of dislocation from her situation and and the room she was in. When he was their she felt linked to the real world and the world of Iceland that Einar was slowly opening up to her through his stories of rural life.

  Only a handful of days ago she had not known Einar and now after four days of talking to him she couldn’t imagine not getting to know him more. He had been so abrupt and cold to her after they kissed last night that she was still reeling from it. Was it such a big mistake for him that he had to rush away from her as if she was bad news. A tiny panicked flutter filled her stomach at the thought of not ever seeing him again once she was out of the hospital. She raised one of her arms up in the air until she could feel the ray of sun shining across it, as her arms tingled with the warmth she held in her mind the image of Einar and for the first time thought to herself, Am I falling…

  Her thought was cut off when something moved in the corner of the room. A chair leg scraped against the floor and she heard the rustle of cloth as someone stood.

  “Who’s there,” she said, her voice coming out more high pitched and scared sounding then she expected. “Is that you Einar,” she said trying to keep the rising panic from tipping over and dragging her down. She waved her hands back and forth while leaning forward in her bed. The sides of her chest screamed in bruised protest at this sudden movement. “Stop playing whoever it is,” she begged as her voice began to crack. Her heart beat like a frightened animal in her chest and a cold sweat drenched her body. “Please stop you’re frightening me. I’ll scream if you don't answer,” she said, the last words coming out in a reedy croak betraying her. She couldn’t scream if she wanted to as it felt like her throat began to constrict tightly. Fear flooded her body with an acrid wash. She was a woman in a deep dark cave and a monster was observing her from the shadows. A shoe squeaked on the floor as the apparition approached the bed.

  The black silence of Lana’s existence was broken by a calm and steady voice. “If you try to scream it will be the last thing you do,” the man said.

  Lana let out a low moan and she sank into the bed as if she wished for it to swallow her up and take her to another place far away from her past life. Her sheets where soaked with her cold sweat and as if coming from another world that she would never be a part of again she heard two birds sing back and forth to each other. “Who is this,” she begged.

  “You know who I am. I am the keeper of secrets, a stone faced gargoyle who sees all and never judges. I work for someone that you will wish you never messed with,” she heard in her head in a strained cracking voice.

  “Please don't hurt me,” she begged as she waved her hands out in front of her. Fearing the first touch from the voice in the darkness she cowered in her bed.

  “You have something that belongs to my client. Something he doesn’t wish for anyone to see. Give me the password to your account. Once I have deleted all copies of the video file you will be free to go.”

  It was as if a bucket of ice cold water had been thrown over her as the words you will be free to go echoed in her mind. These where words meant to assure her and yet she felt nothing but cold disdain from the mans voice. He had no intention of letting her go free and she knew it.

  “What about Sara, where is she?” Lana asked.

  “Don’t worry about her. Give me the password and you won’t see me again.”

  “I don’t have it on me,” Lana stammered.

  “Don’t play with me,” he said taking another step closer to the bed.

  “Stay back,” she croaked as she pushed herself against the wall and waved her arms madly in front of her, her fingers whipped back and forth through the air waiting for the skin crawling moment when they would connect with something.

  “One last time, give me the password,” he said as he stepped closer.

  Lana flailed her arms wildly as her heart hammered painfully in her chest and her bruised body blazed with pain. White spots bloomed and exploded like fireworks behind her closed eyelids as her panic see sawed on the edge of a full blown meltdown. She could feel the man’s presence and in her mind she saw the image of him as a large grey stone gargoyle perched on the end of her bed and looking down on her with his tongue lolling out. A low guttural whelp escaped her lips as she heard him take one final step towards her. Lana’s feet dug into the thin mattress and the sheets came loose as she tried to push herself as far aw
ay from the approaching man. She tucked her knees under her chin and rocked, her limbs unable to work and carry her away in a blind panic. She tried to scream again and nothing but a whisper came out. She could feel how close he was to her and her skin crawled in anticipation of him reaching out and touching her.

  The man took one more step towards Lana. “Please don’t hurt me,” she begged.

  Chapter 19

  Wednesday

  The door to the room was flung open and something made of glass hit the floor and exploded like a bomb. Lana let out a low whimper and tucked her knees under her chin.

  “Who are you,” Einar shouted.

  The room erupted into chaos. Lana heard a meaty slap as the two men tackled each other. She felt the bed shake as they smacked against the wall opposite the bed. She tore at her bandages and ripped them off her head. Lana opened her eyes and they were flooded with light that stung like sewing needles in her eyes. She opened them again a crack and could make out the two blurry shapes of the men fighting. One was dressed all in black and the other wore lighter colour clothes. The dark clothed man lunged forward and swung his fist and connected with the other figure. It looked like the darker blur ducked and rugby tackled the other man to the floor. A blur of fists and feet moved through the air like paint in a jar of water. The edges were unfocused and mixed together, Lana could not make either of them out, as they rolled across the floor, glass crunching underneath them. They were a tangle of limbs on the floor, both breathing heavily as they rained down punches on each other. Lana tried to refocus her eyes and still the scene before her was indistinct and washed out. She heard a sickening crunch and a thud as someone rolled away. The man dressed in black got to his feet and ran from the room.

  The man on the floor let out a low moan and his hand reached up to her bed leaving a blurred red streak behind. “Is that you Einar?” Lana said her voice coming out in a strained squeak.

  He coughed a wet loose sounding cough and spit blood onto the floor. “Yes, its me,” he said propping himself against the side of her head. She reached out to him and ran her fingers through his hair. His scalp burned under her touch. The corners of her vision began to come into focus and suddenly it was as if everything snapped back into existence. For the first time she saw his face as he looked up at her. He had clear blue eyes one of which was already darkening in the corner from multiple blows and a short cropped beard. His nose was beginning to swell and looked like it was broken across the bridge and his lip was split open in two places. “What is going on, who was that man?” he asked.

  He got up off the floor and sat on the bed beside her. He flexed his fingers and they popped loudly and he was bleeding from a few small cuts on his hand. Lana looked at his broken face and leant in and gently kissed him on the corner of his mouth. “I don't know who he was,” Lana said and felt a pain in her chest from her lies. She picked up her discarded bandages and began to soak up the blood from his busted lip and hands.

  He looked at her with his piercing blue eyes, the right one slowly getting squeezed shut from the swelling. “Don't lie to me Lana. I walk in here and there is a guy standing over your bed holding a knife. What is going on?”

  Lana felt like ice water was flowing through her veins at the thought of her assailant calmly walking over to her bedside to kill her. She would not have known the danger she was in until it was too late and he slid the knife into her belly. “I don't want to get you involved, its too dangerous.”

  Einar pointed at his face and tried to smile through his damaged lips, “I’m already involved.”

  “When I get out of here I’ll tell you everything. Here isn't the right place, “ She said. “Do you think he's coming back?” she asked.

  “If you think I look bad you should have seen him. When we fell onto the ground he fell onto the shards of glass. It was the only thing that gave me the upper hand, one of his arms lost some of its power and it gave me an advantage. This guy was as strong as a bull. I think he's pretty beat up but nothing fatal. It should be easy enough for the cops to find him out here, theres not too many places to hide.”

  Lana looked him in the eye and gently rubbed his cheek and said, “Don't involve the cops, please.”

  Before he got to answer the door swung open and the doctor came in. His shoes crunched on broken glass as he surveyed the room. He looked down at Einar and said something and then left the room. This is it Lana thought, the cops are going to get called and I’ll be arrested and probably deported back to the states. Her limbs felt heavy with the inevitability of what was to come. She had tried to run from her old life and now it had caught up with her and all dreams of escape would disappear with one phone call.

  Einar took one of her hands in his and said, “I told him it was an old jealous boyfriend of yours and you didn't want to press charges. He wont say anything more about what happened to anyone in town. He’s gone to get the nurse to clean me up.”

  Defeat disappeared in an instant, she felt like she had been balancing precariously on the edge of a cliff and Einar had snatched her back at the last second. “Thank you Einar. I’m sorry for getting you involved in all my shit, that was the last thing I wanted to do.”

  “We are in this together now, Icelanders are very loyal people you know,” he said trying his best to smile without wincing too much.

  The nurse came to the room and cleaned the wounds on Einar's hands and face and then took him off to be X-rayed for his broken nose. While Lana waited for them to return an orderly in a blue tunic came in and swept up the glass shards scattered across the floor. He said something to Lana in Icelandic and smiled at her. She smiled back at him weakly. After a few minutes Einar returned.

  “The good news is it’s not a broken nose. I have a cut across the bridge and some swelling but no break. I don't need any stitches so the nurse said I can check out when I’m ready,” he said sitting on the corner of her bed.

  “What about me?,” Lana asked.

  Einar cracked a smile and then winced in pain. “She said you can leave with me. You can come back for a check up in a few days.”

  Lana threw her arms around him and pulled him close. She buried her face in his neck and held him. He wrapped his massive arms around her and they stayed in each others arms in silence.

  “Shit, we need to check on Sara,” Lana said when the embrace finally ended. “She could be in trouble.” Lana got up and started to gather her stuff and Einar turned around while she changed.

  Outside it was another day of blue skies with wisps of cotton clouds drifting out to sea. The guesthouse was less then a five minute walk from the clinic and Lana could feel her heartbeat speed up the closer she got to it. What if her attacker got to Sara first she thought and it made her palms sweat. At the front door of the guesthouse Einar put his hand on her shoulder.

  “You stay here. I’ll check the room first.”

  As she stood outside waiting for him to return she could feel a creeping dread in her bones. How foolish was she to think she could outrun her past, in only a handful of days it had come back like a spectre invading her room. She couldn't outrun it or try hide from it. Her stomach roiled with fear. They are going to catch me and kill and I’ll end up another dead hooker dumped in some backwoods pit. I have to keep it together she told herself as the horn of a boat honked twice somewhere off in the distance.

  “Its all clear,” Einar said when he returned.

  With legs that still felt like they were made out of jelly Lana took the stairs two at a time and flung the door open to her room. Everything was as she had left it. She opened the wardrobe and turned to Einar and said, “Her bag and clothes are gone. You don't think he killed her?, do you,” she said.

  “I’ll go and talk to the owner and see if I can find anything out,” he said leaving the room.

  Lana sat on her bed looking around the room for any signs of a struggle. Nothing looked out of place. Could Sara have betrayed me she thought, how else would the hulking giant of a man have
found her. She had been starting to feel off about Sara and now what she had once thought was purely paranoia tipped over into certainty. She betrayed me Lana thought to herself, how else can we have been found so quickly. Lana felt hollow inside, why had she ever thought she could trust Sara. She must have bought herself freedom by giving up Lana’s location.

  Einar came back into the room and said, “The owner said she left this morning. Had a bag with her. He said she left right around the time that the bus to Reykjavik leaves. It looks like she is gone.” He sat down on the bed across from her and said, “Are you going to tell me whats going on? I cant help you if I don't know the full story.“

  Lana looked at him and couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth just yet. Would he look at her the same if he knew she slept with men for money. She couldn't face looking at him and watching the slow progression of disgust spread across his features as she told him everything. Let me have a little more time of Einar thinking I am a regular woman and not some sort of tainted good she thought to herself, I can’t tell him yet. “Please trust me Einar. I want to tell you everything. I feel guilty for getting you involved in all my shit, I never wanted that to happen. I don’t want you to think less of me,” she said.

  “I’ll be honest I’m already thinking some pretty wild things about you. A beautiful girl comes into town and I walk in on some guy who looks like a heavy from a mob movie threatening her. My imagination is already filling in the blanks. Are you on the run from the mafia? Under witness protection maybe? Lana probably isn't even your real name and you have been playing me for a fool the whole time,” Einar said getting up suddenly and walking over to the window.

  “I wont lie to you Einar, I promise you that. Im not ready to tell you everything yet. The man who attacked you in my room. I do know him thats all I can bring myself to say for now. I know once I tell you the truth you wont look at me the same. If I’m honest I like the way you look at me now. I don't want that to change. Please give me time,” she said.