by Wilbur Smith
‘Johnny Congo has escaped from prison,’ she said. He stared at her and he felt the ice forming around his heart. Jo drew a deep breath before she went on speaking. ‘He killed three of his guards and got clean away.’
Hector shook his head in denial. ‘How do you know this?’
‘Ronnie Bunter told me. I have been on the phone to him for half the night, discussing it with him.’ She broke off to clear her throat. Then she went on softly. ‘You will blame me for this, won’t you, Hector?’
He shook his head, but he could not find the words to deny it. He knew what she had said was true.
‘You will go after Johnny Congo again,’ she said with quiet certainty. He did not answer her immediately.
‘Do I have any other choice?’ he asked at last, but the question was rhetorical.
‘I have to leave you,’ she said.
‘If you truly love me, you will stay,’ he protested, but quietly.
‘No, because I truly love you I must go.’
‘Where to?’
‘Ronnie Bunter has offered to give me back my old job at Bunter and Theobald. At least there I can do something to protect Catherine’s interests in the trust.’
‘Will you ever come back?’
‘I doubt it.’ She began to weep openly, but she went on speaking through the tears. ‘I never imagined there could be any other man like you. But, being with you is like living on the slopes of a volcano. One slope faces the sun. It is warm, fertile, beautiful and safe there. It is filled with love and laughter.’ She broke off to choke back a sob, and then she went on. ‘The other slope of you is full of shadows and dark frightening things, like hatred and revenge; like anger and death. I would never know when the mountain would erupt and destroy itself and me.’
‘If I cannot stop you going, then at least kiss me once before you do.’ But she shook her head again.
‘No, if I kiss you it will weaken my resolve, and we will be stuck with each other for ever. That must not happen. We were never meant for each other, Hector. We would destroy each other.’ She gulped another breath and then she looked deeply into his eyes and said, ‘I believe in the law, while you believe you are the law. I have to go, Hector. Goodbye, my love.’
He knew in his heart what she had said was true.
She turned her back on him and went out through the door. She closed it softly behind her. He listened for the last sounds of her departure but the house remained silent.
The only sound was Catherine suckling on the teat of her bottle. He looked down at her and said softly, ‘Now it is just you and me, baby.’
Catherine popped the teat out of her mouth. She reached up to his face to touch with one chubby pink finger the single tear on his cheek. She had never seen anything like that before and her eyes were huge and awed. She said softly but clearly, ‘Good man, Baba.’ And he thought his heart might burst.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
VICIOUS CIRCLE. Copyright © 2013 by Wilbur Smith. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Smith, Wilbur A.
Vicious circle / Wilbur Smith.—1st U.S. Edition.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-250-00031-6 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-25003762-6 (e-book) I. Title.
PR9405.9.S5V58 2013
823'.914—dc23
2013020529
First published in Great Britain by Macmillan, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited First U.S. Edition: October 2013
eISBN 9781250037626
First eBook edition: September 2013