***
Four days later, Ran-Del buzzed the security office and told them he was leaving the complex. When he arrived at the front gate, he found Eduardo Merced and Fiona Geldorf waiting. Geldorf seemed a little subdued, but Merced was his usual self.
“Hello, Ran-Del,” he said cheerfully, noting Buster’s absence. “You headed for Benjie’s?”
“Yes,” Ran-Del said. “Why so eager? Have you got your eye on Thelma?”
“Maybe,” Merced said. “Fiona here won’t give me the time of day, so I thought maybe Thelma might like to go out sometime.”
“I don’t like to date people I work with,” Geldorf interjected, with some of her usual spirit. “It’s nothing personal.”
“I know it’s not,” Merced said, unperturbed. “But I’d like to get personal now and again.”
Ran-Del smiled as they argued back and forth on the wisdom of relationships at work. He traveled at a slow, easy jog, not wanting to push himself. In some ways, he wasn’t in a hurry to get to Benjie’s. He wasn’t at all sure what his reception would be.
It was late in the afternoon when they came over the bridge. Ran-Del had timed his visit carefully, so that his friends would have finished their shift and be through with work for the day. The three of them came in the door as they always did, Ran-Del first and the other two right behind him. An instantaneous silence fell over the room. Everyone swiveled in their seats to look at Ran-Del.
Janis looked up from her place behind the bar. “Hello, Ran-Del,” she said, with studied casualness. “Tea?”
Ran-Del nodded. “Yes, thanks.” He glanced over at the Rangoon table. It was occupied as usual. Even Clara was there.
Georges Rangoon pulled an empty chair from a nearby table. “Have a seat, Ran-Del.”
Ran-Del came over to the table and put his hand on the back of the chair. “Does anyone mind if I sit here?”
There was an exchange of glances.
“No,” Jena said firmly. “Of course not, Ran-Del. Sit down.”
Ran-Del sat, and the security staff pulled up chairs and took their usual places on either side of him.
“Hello, Eduardo,” Clara said. “Who’s your friend?”
Merced introduced Geldorf to Clara.
“Pleased to meet you,” Geldorf said. “I didn’t know Georges was married.”
Clara chortled and nudged her husband. “I hope you haven’t been deceiving young women again, Georges.”
Georges smiled broadly. “As if I would dare, Clara. You’d kill me if I so much as tried.”
An awkward silence blossomed.
“So, Ran-Del,” Thelma said, taking the direct approach as always, “is it true you were the one who exterminated that Leong guy?”
Ran-Del leaned back in his chair. “Yes. Hans Leong had killed Francesca’s father. He would have succeeded in killing me if you all hadn’t gotten medical help for me.”
Guillermo leaned forward eagerly. “How’d you do it, Ran-Del?”
“I slit his throat,” Ran-Del said, surprised by the question. “I thought everyone knew the details. Quinn told me she followed custom and put the body on display as a warning.”
Georges shook his head. “The Leongs came and got it after only an hour or so. No one here really got a look at it, and there were a lot of rumors flying around afterwards. We all figured it was you because the one fact we knew was that he was killed with a knife.”
Ran-Del glanced around the table at all their faces. He saw everything from morbid curiosity to anxious dread. “What do you want to know?”
“Is it true you carved your name on his chest?” Brandon asked.
“No,” Ran-Del said indignantly. “I killed him with one stroke, from behind. I didn’t want him to see me, and feel any fear, so I did it very quickly.”
“I’ll say,” Merced said. “We never even knew it was happening until it was over.”
“You were there?” Thelma asked, her voice squeaky with nervous excitement.
Merced nodded. “Surprised the hell out of me. Made quite a mess, too. We had to throw out the carpet.”
“So that was it?” Georges asked. “One quick stroke from behind and it was over?”
Ran-Del nodded agreement. “That was all there was to it. He had confessed. There was no point in dragging things out any longer.”
Georges’ eyes flicked from Geldorf to Merced. “But you still have your watchdogs, Ran-Del, in spite of having taken care of the person who hired those two assassins?”
Ran-Del gave a half-hearted shrug. “Francesca worries. I don’t want her to worry, especially not now.”
Clara smiled. “Is that a subtle Sansoussy way of telling us she’s pregnant?”
Ran-Del was surprised by the rush of pride he felt in answering. “Yes. It should happen next season. He’ll be an autumn-born.”
There was an easing of tension around the table at this news.
“Congratulations, Ran-Del!” Jena said enthusiastically.
Everyone else added their good wishes; Brandon seemed particularly heartened by the news. Janis put a cup of tea in front of Ran-Del but said nothing.
“Ho, wild man,” Georges said. “You need more than tea. We should celebrate! Bring Ran-Del a beer, Janis.”
The bar owner looked to Ran-Del. “Would you like a beer, Ran-Del?”
Ran-Del glanced around the table at the only friends he had in Shangri-La. “Yes, thank you.”
Georges insisted on buying a round for everyone, so that they could toast Ran-Del’s good news. There were several toasts by the time they had finished the round, and then Georges ordered another. Ran-Del drank with the others, not noticing any particular effect until he stood up to leave and the room lights seemed to swirl as he turned his head.
“You okay, Ran-Del?” Georges asked.
“I’m fine,” Ran-Del said, feeling very happy. “Don’t worry, Georges. I have my watchdogs to see me home.”
Geldorf took his arm before Ran-Del could run into Francis, who was clearing the next table. “We’ll get him home all right,” she said.
Ran-Del looked around for Janis to say goodbye to her, but she was nowhere in sight. Merced took his other arm and the two of them gently led him outside. It was beginning to get dark, and long shadows reached across the water.
“You’re not used to beer, are you, Ran-Del?” Geldorf asked.
“No,” Ran-Del said, pulling away from them carefully. “But don’t worry about me. I feel fine. I feel wonderful, in fact.”
“Ran-Del!” a voice called.
Geldorf and Merced were instantly alert, but Ran-Del knew who it was before she stepped out of the shadows.
“Hello, Janis,” he said, feeling strangely triumphant. “I wondered where you’d gone.”
“Could you come upstairs for just a moment, Ran-Del?” Janis said. “I’d like to talk to you.”
Ran-Del took a step toward her. She was standing at the foot of the stairs that led up to her apartment. “Wait here,” he said to the two security staff.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ran-Del,” Geldorf said, catching at his arm.
Ran-Del could feel her apprehension but suffered none of it himself. He felt too good to worry about appearances. He twisted out of her grip. “Just wait here.”
Geldorf looked at Merced, who shrugged helplessly. The two of them took positions on the bottom step as Ran-Del walked up the stairs behind Janis.
She opened the door to let him in, and then shut it and locked it behind him.
“What did you want to talk about, Janis?” Ran-Del asked. He thought he knew, and as she came closer he was sure of it.
“This,” Janis said, and she put her arms around him, pulled his head down, and kissed him on the mouth.
Ran-Del’s head swam from a combination of beer and the ardent desire that Janis projected. He started to tell her he had to leave, but her hands moved over his body and somehow his will slipped away from him.
Janis knew
it; he could feel her mind merging with his own, her thoughts and feelings flowing over him. He knew just how much she had wanted this moment, how often she had thought about it, planned for it, waited for him to come to her. The force of her need was so strong, it made Ran-Del gasp. A moment later her hands pulled his shirt open.
Ran-Del swayed, and Janis dragged him over to the sofa. She half fell and half lay down, pulling him down with her so that he lay almost on top of her. Ran-Del bent his head and kissed her neck, and then pulled open her blouse to kiss the top of one breast. Janis pulled her blouse open wider, and Ran-Del kissed her other breast, and then tugged her blouse open the rest of the way.
Janis slid his shirt over his shoulders and pulled it off completely. Her urgency and the sight of her body as she slipped off her blouse and trousers made Ran-Del breathless with anticipation.
Janis pulled him down on top of her again, and the heat of her desire rose up, engulfing him as he caressed her. Every movement of her body made him aware of his own needs.
Janis gave a small moan of pleasure and suddenly Ran-Del was reminded of Francesca.
The thought of his wife made Ran-Del instantly aware of what he was doing. No! No, he shouldn't be here! He sat up abruptly and fought to clear his head.
Janis looked up at him and frowned. “What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”
Ran-Del recited the mantra for the First Discipline in his mind and struggled against the effects of the alcohol and her passion.
“What are you doing?” Janis cried. “Ran-Del, stop it! You’ll ruin it! Please, Ran-Del!”
Ran-Del felt himself regaining control, felt the mild, calming influence of initial samad state sweep over him. He sat up straighter, refusing to look at Janis lying nearly naked next to him, and let his body relax and slow itself.
Janis sat up next to him. She picked up her clothes and glared at Ran-Del. “Why did you come up here with me if all you were going to do is meditate?”
Ran-Del let out a deep breath and stood up. “I’m sorry.”’ He pulled on his shirt. “I shouldn’t have come.”
She bit her lip and looked away.
Ran-Del fastened his shirt and went to the door. He felt rather as he had that day that Georges had pulled him from the Jordan. “You should find someone, Janis. If you don’t want Brandon, then find someone else. Go into the forest if you want to meet a Sansoussy. I’m married. I have a wife, and soon I’ll have a child. I can’t be yours, and that’s all there is to it.”
Instead of answering verbally, Janis sent an angry mental blast at him. Ran-Del let himself out and walked down the stairs.
Merced and Geldorf both looked up as they heard his footsteps.
“Well,” Merced said with a grin, “either you work incredibly fast, or you got out of there just in time.”
“Shut up, Eduardo,” Geldorf said. “Do you want a skimmer, Ran-Del? You look a little wobbly, and we can have one here in ten minutes?”
“No,” Ran-Del said. “Thank you, Fiona, but I think I need the exercise.”
“Whatever you say, Ran-Del,” she answered. “Tuck your shirt in, and we’ll get started.”
By the time they reached the Hayden complex, Ran-Del was feeling more like himself. He had a late dinner with Francesca without her noticing anything different in his manner. Ran-Del decided that it would be best to say nothing about his excursion to Benjie’s. He hoped that Geldorf and Merced would decide to do the same.
The Sixth Discipline Page 98