Tango (27 page)

‘That was silly,’ said Box.

‘They didn’t see me.’

‘But they could have. You knew what was happening. You didn’t need to look. Unnecessary risk.’

‘Sorry.’

‘They’re very early. They must have come straight up the moment they got here. Hot with lust, no doubt. Keen to be at it like a lot of bulls.’

The noise diminished as the generals were herded into the massage rooms with their girls. There was still laughter and some calling out, but doors closed and water gurgled through the pipes.

‘Were they all there?’ asked Box.

‘I couldn’t see. How many should there be?’

‘Four – Carlos, Herrera, Quinto and Paulotti. We’ll give them a few minutes, then I’ll go downstairs. Trouble is, you won’t know where I’m hiding.’

‘Do you have to hide? Why not wait in the bar?’

‘I can’t do that.’

‘Why not? People do hang around in bars.’

‘I know.’ Box frowned. ‘Nonetheless, secret signals should be secret.’

‘But if no one knows you’re making signals it’s still secret, isn’t it?’

‘Point.’ Box’s frown cleared and he began collecting his papers. ‘All right, I’ll wait in the bar. You’re learning, you know.’

William examined the bath. It looked clean. ‘What goes on in these massage sessions?’

‘Oh, nothing you wouldn’t expect.’ Box closed his briefcase. ‘Most of my experiences were in the Far East, Bangkok mainly – all in the line of duty, of course
– but I imagine it’s much the same here as anywhere else. The number of things you can do with the human body is really quite limited. It’s all masturbatory, anyway, despite
people trying to pretend otherwise. That’s what the girls assume they’re here for.’

William thought of the graceful dancing girls and the fat generals – fatter than himself, full of wine and food. Manuel was not fat, of course, and Ines was supposed to be with him. She
was big and generous and would make a great fuss of him. He hoped so, anyway. They did not want Manuel anything other than engrossed. He didn’t let himself think of Theresa and Carlos.

‘Extras are extra,’ Box continued. ‘You come to a private arrangement with the girl. Not that I’ve indulged – unfair on Mrs B. – but I won’t say I
wasn’t tempted.’ His teeth showed briefly. ‘I used to have the same girl each time when I had to go regularly. B29 – they have numbers out there. Lovely girl. Called Mina,
when I got to know her better. Earned the same as a major in the Thai army – better than factory work, which was the alternative for her. Who’s to say she wasn’t right?’

‘You
had
to go?’

‘Yes, on a job. I was trying to get alongside a chap.’

‘A chap?’

‘A customer of the establishment, not an employee. Used to have two at a time, I remember.’

‘Can’t have been very easy to get alongside him.’

‘Not too difficult. You just find someone who can.’

‘B29?’

Box winked lugubriously. ‘State secret. Need to know.’

William opened the door and peered out. ‘All clear.’

Box breathed deeply a few times. ‘Good luck.’

‘And you.’ They shook hands. Box walked quickly along the corridor, briefcase in hand, jacket buttoned. William closed the door and sat in one of the armchairs. The air-conditioner
was not switched on but he could hear that the others were. The wall clock ticked, one of the bath taps gurgled a few drops of water. He looked at the round bed with its red cover reflected in the
ceiling mirror. The towels were red, the shower fitting was red and the inflated lilo that stood against the wall was red. He wondered what people had done on that bed. Did they get more out of it
for being able to see themselves in the mirror? He rather thought he wouldn’t. He would prefer to look at the girl, but presumably she would have to look at him. Not a very fair exchange. But
then it was her job. She would be getting paid for it and must be used to it, like nurses. He thought again of the graceful girls ministering to obese generals.

He got up, stretched and began pacing the perimeter of the room, his hands behind his back. He recalled seeing an interview with a woman who had spent seven years in solitary confinement in
Russia. She said that in such circumstances people either became introverted and withdrew from everything or they clung to self-imposed routines and tasks. She was the latter sort and she had
measured the width of her tiny cell, then paced it so many times a day until eventually she had walked the distance between her prison and Paris. She walked to Paris three times during her
sentence.

He had seen the interview on television in England. It was curious how little he and Sally missed television. They had not bothered to get one while in South America and noticed the lack not at
all. He could not imagine how they would find time to watch it, anyway. People must do nothing else in England. The capacity for adapting to what was new and strange was disconcertingly strong.
Things so quickly became normal that there was a danger of losing all perspective. One could easily cease to judge or, rather, one’s criteria for judging shifted with the ice-floe one
happened to be stuck on.

The door opened and closed behind him. Theresa was brisk and businesslike. ‘You should keep it locked. Where is Arthur?’

‘Downstairs in the bar, waiting for me to give him the signal. Shall I tell him?’

‘No, it will be some time yet. We have to wait until they are at their most helpless. Probably about an hour.’

‘Is that how long a massage takes?’

She looked at him for some moments before replying. Her manner changed. She became less busy, more sympathetic. ‘I will show you. I will give you one.’

‘Me?’

She laughed. ‘Why not? You will like it. You have to wait, anyway.’

‘What about Carlos?’

‘I have left him in his room. We haven’t started. We are waiting to see if everything is all right. I told him Arthur said I had to keep coming out to check. He is very keen to have
his massage before the arrests but I think he is a small bit frightened of Arthur.’ She went to the bath, turned on the taps and sprinkled something in the water. ‘Take off your
clothes,’ she called over her shoulder.

William was wearing his usual corduroys, tweed jacket, veldtskoen, which he polished daily, shirt and tie. The corduroys, jacket and shoes were old and he was therefore fond of them. Undressing
was to him more than a matter of taking off his clothes; it was divesting himself of an important part of himself. He did not feel more essential when naked – rather the opposite. He was also
ashamed of his body.

‘All my clothes?’

She was kneeling by the bath and looked round, laughing. ‘Yes, all. Even your tie.’

He took off his jacket and folded it on the chair, then began taking off his tie. ‘I’m rather fat, you know.’

‘Not so very fat. Anyway, fat can be nice. It is better to cuddle fat people than thin ones. They are more comfortable in bed. Could you switch on the air-conditioning, please?’

William did so. The machine made a lot of noise and at first was icy cold. He took off his shoes and socks, pushing the socks into the shoes and shoving them under the chair in case they
smelled.

She dried her hands on the red towel. ‘I must go back to Carlos and start with him. When the bath is ready, you can get in and wait. But you must lock the door and you’ll have to get
out to let me in.’ She put her right arm through his and smiled. ‘William, don’t be so serious. It is not a terrible thing, a massage. It is quite nice – really.’

‘I was thinking about our plan,’ he lied. ‘Are you sure they’re all being massaged?’

‘Now I am, yes. At first Manuel and Ines were left behind. I don’t know why. She was to go with him, he must have known that, and I thought it wasn’t going to work, you know,
because he wouldn’t come with the others, but when I came out from Carlos I heard Ines laughing in the room next to mine so it is all right. She laughs very loudly. I don’t know what he
was doing to her.’

‘You are fond of Ines, aren’t you?’

‘She is my friend.’

He glanced along the corridor when he let her out. All the doors were closed. The only sounds were the hum of the air-conditioners and the noise of water running through the pipes. She signalled
to him to go back and walked quickly towards the room at the end.

He finished undressing. The water was very hot beneath the bubble bath and he ran some cold. It was the first time for years that he had been in a bath without reading. He lay back. The water
soothed and comforted him. He moved his hands gently through it, shaping mountain ranges of foam. The pleasant sensation added to his growing sense of unreality. Even the small thought that perhaps
it was he who was being set up and not the generals, that perhaps the security police were going to burst in upon him and drag him dripping and slipping from the building, did no more than ripple
his composure. If it would happen, it would happen; probably it wouldn’t. If it did it would be because Theresa had betrayed him. And if she betrayed him – well, then anyone was capable
of anything and there was no longer any hope. One may as well give up.

The tap on the door, just audible above the air-conditioner, was unlikely to be the security police. He wrapped the towel around himself, keeping it as high as possible so as to cover more of
his stomach. He also scooped up foam and put it on his chest, hoping it would distract attention. She was now in a thin white dressing gown of silk or some imitation, with black underwear beneath
it. Her hair was still up.

‘I’ve started him off,’ she said. ‘He’s in the bath. It is extraordinary. What is going on, you would think it would put him off, but not at all. He is not
interested, he wants only one thing. It is very irresponsible.’ She rubbed her arms and looked at the air-conditioner. ‘That thing is so cold but we have to have it on because of the
condensation. Can we put something over it?’

‘I’m sure we can.’ He looked around for something.

‘Your towel. Why are you wearing it, anyway? Were you expecting someone else?’ She smiled.

He gave her the towel. She moved one of the chairs and stood on it to fasten the towel over the air-conditioner. She was unable to manage both corners of the towel simultaneously so he got up on
the chair beside her.

‘Can’t the air-conditioner be adjusted?’ he asked.

‘No, they are cheap ones.’

Twice they thought they had fastened it and it blew back over their heads. They laughed and once, when the chair nearly tipped, she clung to him. Eventually the towel stayed in place and they
climbed down.

‘Get in the bath,’ she said. ‘We must be quick. I cannot leave him long.’ She took off her dressing-gown and stood in her underwear, stockings and suspenders. ‘He
insists on this,’ she said apologetically. ‘He likes me to do it with him in all this. I would rather be naked.’

William got into the bath. She seemed not to notice his body. Probably she had seen so many. She took off her underclothes and joined him, sitting between his legs and facing him. With a quick
expert movement she slid her legs behind his back, then pulled his head forward and wet his hair with a sponge. She put soap on the sponge and began gently washing his arms, shoulders and
chest.

He closed his eyes while she squeezed more warm water over his head. ‘I haven’t been bathed since childhood.’

‘It’s a nice thing to do for someone.’

‘Nice to have it done.’

‘Better with people you like. Lie back.’ She washed the rest of him.

‘How many of these do you have to do in a week?’ he asked.

‘It depends. Not so many recently and now, since Carlos, none. I can keep myself for him. But when I first started, I had to do it for whoever wanted, like the new girls now. It’s
quite hard work if you have several in an evening.’

‘It must be.’

‘It’s better when you can choose. Sit up.’ She climbed behind and knelt against him, her thighs supporting his back.

‘Close your eyes.’ She washed his hair, her fingers splaying across his scalp.

‘I wish I could do something as pleasant as this for you,’ he said.

‘I like to do it. Women get pleasure from pleasing men. Provided they like them.’

‘Some women wouldn’t like to hear that.’

‘They are
bobos, estupido.
Prudes. They have no pleasure in being women.’ She kneaded his shoulders with her thumbs and knuckles, pressing hard into the loosening muscle.
‘Stand up. I must be quick.’

She unhooked the shower attachment, tested the temperature and held it above his head. Water and shampoo streamed down his face.

‘Wait,’ she said. ‘Can you hold me?’ She put one hand on his shoulder and got upon the sides of the bath, a foot on either edge. He held her by the hips. She swayed
against him a little, laughing. Once she nearly slipped and he had to grip her wet hips tightly. When she had finished she got nimbly down. ‘I must go to Carlos. Can you prepare for the next
part? Empty the bath and put the lilo on the floor here, where I am, and cover it in hot water and soap so it is all slippery.’ She began drying herself.

‘Right.’ He wanted to be businesslike. ‘Both sides or one?’

‘You can only lie on one.’

‘And me?’

‘You?’

‘What should I do about myself?’

‘Don’t do anything. Stay as you are.’ She put on her underclothes. ‘But lock the door.’

‘Why are you so worried about the door if they’re all doing this? They won’t want to come out.’

‘Sometimes they want more than one girl or they want to see what the others are doing. They are generals, remember. But it is unlikely today. They are very full and lazy. They will just
lie there and the girls will have to work very hard.’ She opened the door carefully and looked round it before slipping away.

Being alone and naked in a windowless room was even more like how he imagined prison to be. He wondered how long the generals would be imprisoned, what Carlos would have done with them.
Presumably nothing too unpleasant. There was no need for firing-squads or anything like that, though he could imagine that Carlos might have a vicious streak. He cleaned the bath thoroughly and got
to work on the lilo. Twice he slipped on the wet tiled floor when the lilo moved as he scrubbed it. He wasn’t sure whether he was supposed simply to cover it with hot soapy water so that it
would be welcoming, or whether there was also a cleansing function. He opted for the latter, not knowing who might have been there before.