Authors: Dominic C. James
Stratton watched in amusement as the two Swiss Guards attempted to lift Kandinsky off the trolley and onto the chair. Eventually, after several comic tries, they enlisted the help of the two burly suits, who were unimpressed at having to leave their card game. Between the four of them, huffing and puffing, they lowered the Russian's enormous frame into place and tied him fast. The Swiss Guard departed and left the captives in the hands of Jonathan Ayres' henchmen.
“Another one down,” Stratton said to Cronin.
“And three to go,” said the priest. “And the way it's going I don't fancy their chances for much longer. How the hell did Kandinsky manage to get himself caught?”
“Search me. I'm hoping it's part of some great master plan â and that any minute now the cavalry are going to come in and save us.”
Cronin gave a grim laugh and said, “I suppose we can always hope.”
Stratton called for some water. The chief suit laid down his cards and tutted, and then wandered over with a litre bottle. Stratton drank over half of it and thanked his captor. He had no idea what the immediate future held, but he could feel his strength gradually waning, and the water was the only thing keeping him from a state of permanent fatigue. It may just have been the after-effects of being drugged, but something told him it ran a lot deeper.
“How are you feeling?” asked Cronin.
“Not too bad, maybe a little bit tired. How about you?”
“The same. I'm much better than I was though. I don't know what they gave us but it certainly messed with my head. I don't envy Kandinsky when he wakes up.” He sighed. “I still can't believe they killed Desayer.”
“I told you before, there's nothing you could have done about it,” said Stratton. “There's no point beating yourself up.”
“There's nothing else to do though is there?” said Cronin. “Nothing to do but sit here and think.”
Stratton was about to answer when a phone trilled in the corner. The chief suit answered, and after a brief conversation hung up again. He nodded to his partner and they stood and picked up their guns from the table. They released their respective safety-catches and strode silently over to the captives.
“Your little friends have been caught,” said the chief suit. “I'm afraid your time's up.”
They raised their guns in unison.
The sun was setting on the tree-filled valley. High up on the mountainside Annie looked out from the veranda and watched the day fade into dusk. She took a sip of her vodka martini and focused on a lone cloud hovering in the pink horizon, trying to form an empathy with its peaceful solitude. The loneliness she understood only too well, but the nebulous calm was alien. She longed to find something, anything, to fill the internal void and rid her struggling heart of the inherent and desperate pain. A tear formed in her eye as the chitter of monkeys echoed through her soul.
She finished her drink and called for the servant to get her another. She pulled a cigarette from the pack and lit it. Smoke and booze: old friends from her teenage years who had forged fresh links. She hadn't gone out of her way to get back in touch, it had just happened. Boredom had been her worst enemy. With Kamal disappearing for days on end there had been nothing much to do, and consequently she had begun to spend her afternoons staring out over the valley with a glass in her hand. At first it had been incredibly relaxing, gathering her thoughts in the peace of the trees, but as the days drew on the drinking had increased until all the hatred and self-loathing of her past had crept its way back inside.
The smoking was a result of chance and curiosity. One evening after eating by herself once more, she had gone to the garden to watch the birds when she noticed the servant, Amir, standing outside the gate with a cigarette. Filled with wine she called him over and asked if she could have a couple of drags. After an initial bout of coughing and a head rush she had quite enjoyed the sensation, and so the descent had begun. She didn't smoke when Kamal was about of course, but she got the feeling that he probably knew. Kamal knew pretty much everything, except the effect his frequent absences were having on her.
Below, through a gap in the trees, she saw the red 4x4 making its way up the track to the house. She smiled and put out her cigarette. It wasn't healthy to rely on someone so heavily, but the thought of spending another evening on her own had been eating away. She asked Amir to empty the ashtray and hide the evidence, then she went to the bathroom to wash away the misery of her self-pitying afternoon.
When she returned Kamal was sitting on the veranda sipping at some tea. She walked up behind him and pecked him on the cheek. “Hello,” she said. “I wasn't sure if I was going to see you tonight.”
Kamal turned to her and smiled. “I felt that I had been away too long. It is not right leaving you here alone so often.”
Annie sat down next to him and reached for her drink. “It's not all that bad,” she said. “And I know you've got a lot of work to do in the city. The children there are far more important than me.”
“They are neither more important nor less important,” said Kamal. “But I will not need to go back for a while. Everything is now set up as I want it and my people will look after things. I only wish that I could do more.”
“More?” said Annie. “I think what you've done is amazing. Think of how many lives you're going to change for the better. Those children would be on the streets begging if it wasn't for you. Within a few years most of the girls would have been forced into prostitution.”
Kamal nodded. “Yes, I know,” he said. “But really it is a drop in the ocean. There are still thousands of children out there who need help.”
“You can't save every child in Mumbai you know,” said Annie. “You can only do as much as you can, and with the amount of money you've poured into this project I don't think anyone could accuse you of lack of commitment. You should be proud of what you've done.”
“Perhaps,” said Kamal. “But I have also done enough bad over the years. I do not think it will be cancelled out overnight.” He finished his tea and poured another. “Anyway,” he continued. “How have you been for the last few days? I hope that Amir is looking after you properly.”
“I've been fine and Amir's been great. You should stop fretting.” She smiled at him as cheerfully as she could, trying to hide the pain.
“I am concerned, not fretting.”
“Well, I'm fine,” she said, then took a swig of her drink. “There's bigger things in the world to worry about, or haven't you been watching the news?”
“Yes, I have been watching the news. I have been following it very closely.”
“And what do you think?”
“I am not sure what to think at the moment. I find it very strange that the two major world religions have simultaneously announced a messenger from God. They both appear to have some kind of healing gift, but whether it is genuine I do not know. There is no way of telling just by seeing them on television. I would have to have one of them come to the slums and heal a crippled child there to make me into a real believer. At present I am inclined to believe that the whole thing is tricks and propaganda. Something does not seem quite right. What do you make of it?”
Annie shrugged. “Like you, I'm not really sure. I'd like to believe that God has sent a messenger to us, but I lost faith in him a long, long time ago. It's more likely to be a manmade trick if you ask me.”
“Perhaps,” said Kamal. “And if it is, it is certainly a very dangerous one. Already there are signs of trouble in the city. The Christian and Muslim populations are each making the wrong sort of noises. When the news first spread it was a point of celebration, but now it is turning into a battle with both sides claiming they have been blessed by God and that the other is lying. Mumbai is the wrong city to have such conflicting opinions. Religion is a huge part of people's lives, and I fear it will not be long before the strained atmosphere turns into all-out violence.”
“What about the orphanage? What are you going to do if everything does kick off?”
“I have two buses ready to take the children away if needs be. But I hope that it will not come to that. They are in a relatively quiet area, so they should be fairly safe. Or as safe as you can be in these days.”
Amir came out to the veranda and let them know that dinner would be ready in ten minutes, asking them whether they wanted to eat where they were or in the dining room. Kamal asked Annie who said they would take their meal outside.
“It's such a beautiful evening,” she said. “I don't want to be stuck indoors.”
“Of course,” said Kamal. “A good choiceâ¦And then perhaps your cigarettes will not make the house smell,” he added with a grin.
Annie frowned and then laughed. “I should know better than to try and fool you, shouldn't I?”
“If you wish to smoke, then go ahead,” he said. “I have nothing at all against it. It is entirely up to you what you do. Although I am unhappy at Amir for tempting you.”
“It wasn't anything to do with Amir.”
“He is the only person up here apart from you. There is no-one else who could have provided you with them. I am sure that if I ask him he will come clean.”
“He was only doing what I asked. He is there to serve me after all.”
“Do not worry, I am not going to fire him. He is a very good man, and they are hard to come by. So, anyway, if you would like to smoke then please go ahead.”
“Maybe after dinner,” she said. She looked up to the blue-grey sky and saw the perfect crescent moon. It reminded her of the summer before when she had sat in the back garden at home with her boy David. She remembered him asking if he could climb up and swing from it. That was his thing, climbing and swinging. She smiled briefly and then felt her eyes welling.
“Is everything alright?” asked Kamal.
Annie rubbed her eyes. “Yeah, everything's fine. I'm just a bit tired, that's all. I've probably had one too many of these vodka martinis.”
Kamal nodded. “It is easy to do. I know that Amir makes very good cocktails. They are hard to resist. I think I may even join you in one later.”
Amir brought the food to the table and left them to eat. He had prepared a selection of traditional Indian dishes. Annie had not felt hungry, but the mouth-watering smell coming from the colourful platters went a long way to restoring her appetite. She picked at first, and then once she'd got the taste she found herself guzzling down more than she had done in the previous two days put together.
“It is good to see you eating properly,” said Kamal.
“How could you not, with all this in front of you?” said Annie. “He's certainly a great cook. Where did you find him?”
“He comes from a local village originally, but I found him in the city. He helped me out of a tight situation, and I helped him get out of a bad way of life.”
“Sounds intriguing.”
“Not especially,” said Kamal. “He stopped me from being mugged, and in return I offered him a job out here.”
“You, being mugged?” she said. “I'm amazed that anyone would try.”
“Well they did, and there were a fair few of them as well. Too many even for me. I am the best, but even the best can be outnumbered. It is not like the movies out there. If you are attacked by a group who know what they are doing then it does not matter who you are.”
After filling herself almost to bursting point Annie sat back in her chair and relaxed with her drink. Kamal carried on eating for a while until he too was more than satisfied. He asked Amir to make them another two martinis and to bring some cigarettes out for Annie. He made this last request with a pointed expression, letting Amir know that he was disappointed with the situation.
With the plates cleared, and the drinks made, Annie lit a cigarette and took a few heavenly post-dinner drags. She was glad that Kamal knew about it because having to hide things from him was difficult in the extreme. He had been so good to her that she felt any deviance was a betrayal of his trust.
“Have you never smoked?” she asked.
“Yes, when I was much younger I dabbled with it a little. But it did not suit my lifestyle. I allow myself to drink, and that is enough I feel. To be honest I never really saw the attraction of cigarettes anyway. They seem to be a crutch for people, and I am loathe to ever need crutches.”
Annie watched the smoke rise in front of her. “Sometimes people need crutches,” she said. “What happens if you break your leg?”
Kamal smiled. “Good point,” he said. “I will let you have that one.”
Annie liked to see Kamal smile. It was such a rare occurrence that when it happened it made her glow inside. It wasn't that he was a miserable person, he was just serious, and forever contemplating the world and his position in it. He seemed to analyse everything to the point of complete deconstruction and beyond, picking the bones of his own psyche like a Freudian vulture. The upshot of this was that he not only knew himself very well, but could see into the hearts and minds of others like nobody she'd ever met. It was intimidating and yet at the same time comforting, as you could always rely on him to understand exactly what you were going through. His smile let you know that you were not alone.
She stubbed out her cigarette and took a sip of her drink. Kamal was gazing out into the horizon. She watched his face in the half-light and thought how incredibly handsome he was. She had noticed before of course, but there were times when she looked at him and saw something beyond the physical that set him apart. He had a noble bearing with granite cheekbones and a firm jaw, and his deep-set brown eyes glistened proudly under a stern brow, but on top of all this was an indefinable presence that caused him to appear far more striking than even the sum of his parts. She imagined it was how a king or an emperor of old would have looked: regal and imperious and indomitable and wise.