Casanova (27 page)

We ate on the bed, which was a huge square box with a carved wooden headboard.

Xing paused with the chopsticks in her hand and asked, ‘What did Meriwether say?’

‘He’s given the go ahead to proceed.’

She nodded. ‘We must begin.’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Tomorrow, we’ll start the preparations. Jemima and the ducklings will help us.’

I felt her hesitation.

‘You must work with him,’ I said.

The chopsticks resumed their motion.

‘Don’t let me down on this,’ I warned. I got one of her looks but no promise.

We finished the meal and then finished the sex. I was asleep in seconds. I dreamt of the girl in Missouri’s house, and I wondered who she was.

Xing’s K106 jolted me from my dream. She answered it with a sleepy voice and then passed it to me. It was Charlotte.

‘Did I wake you?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

She sounded sorry.

‘I’ve just finished talking to Bazzer. He’s brought me up to date with everything. He told me that you asked why I hadn’t gotten involved. Well, it was because I didn’t trust myself to make unemotional decisions. I had to leave it to him. You do understand, don’t you?’

I didn’t understand.

‘Charlotte, it’s the middle of the night. It doesn’t matter, it’s over and now I need to sleep.’

‘You’re sleeping with her,’ she said.

‘We were talking until late, I was tired and I just fell asleep on the bed.’

Charlotte didn’t believe me.

‘I’m happy you’re safe,’ she said, and then ended the call.

I heard Xing’s muffled voice.

‘What did she want?’

‘...to find out how I felt about her.’

‘...and did she?’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘she did.’

24

MONDAY, 09:00—20:00

The following morning I thought I was feeling better. The mirror in the bathroom made me think again. The bruise from the rubber bullet had turned ugly. It looked like I’d been rubber stamped by a rainbow. I took more painkillers.

Xing wanted to have breakfast in the room. She was even more security conscious after what had happened.

I called Jemima.

‘Yes, I had a call last night informing me of the decision,’ he said. He paused, unsure of what to say next.

‘If you’re not happy about it, tell me now. We can make other arrangements.’

‘No, no, it’s fine,’ he said.

‘If you agree, then I’m going to need your total commitment.’

‘Yes, of course, I understand,’ he said.

‘Good, and what about the ducklings, will any of them have a problem with it?’

‘I don’t know yet. I’ll have to give then a free vote, as it were. I’ll let you know what they decide.’

‘Okay, call me later.’

I watched Xing disembowel a Magdalena.

‘We still don’t know it’s definitely him,’ she said.

‘No, it’s a risk, but a risk we’ll have to take. I don’t know who else it can be, do you?’

She put a piece of the torn sponge cake into her mouth, and then shrugged. There was a pause. ‘I want to see the place again,’ she said.

‘There’s a lot of organising and planning to do,’ I said.

‘Jemima can take care of that. The only important thing is what
we
have to do. That’s the bit we need to plan, and that’s the bit we have to get right, and to do that I need to see the place again.’

We took great care leaving the hotel, but it was all clear and we were soon on the bus heading south. We rode most of the way in silence. It gave me time to think. It probably wasn’t a good idea. I found myself thinking about Billy Bradshaw. Did he have the answer? Did I have the question?

We left the bus at the same stop as before and then walked the same route. When we reached the house, Xing slowed to an almost stop and embraced me. Her arms encircled my chest and I could feel their strength. I wrapped my own arm around her shoulders and pulled her tight. A few seconds passed while she studied the house and then she whispered, ‘Camera time.’

We broke our embrace and she pulled the camera from her bag. I smiled like a tourist while she moved to get the angles and took the photos. Then we reversed the position and I did the same. With the street and house pictures successfully taken we left, with just a final glance back, and went to the cafe.

‘It will all depend on the timing,’ Xing said between mouthfuls of seaweed. I didn’t respond. She pushed the chopsticks into the bowl so they stuck up at an angle and then her eyes found mine.

‘None of it will be easy,’ I said.

‘One of us will be the taxi fare, the other a strolling tourist, approaching together from opposite sides but how will we know when.’

‘The only way that works,’ I said, ‘is if we fire our weapons. Outside, like that, we’ll have to take decisive action.’

Xing nodded and then reclaimed her chopsticks. She raised a mouthful of the green seaweed but paused before it reached her lips. ‘You know we’ll have to kill them, yes?’ she questioned.

I nodded.

The seaweed entered her mouth and I watched her wet lips slide along the chopsticks as she slowly pulled them out. I didn’t like the prospect of killing. It wasn’t the killing itself rather my concern over where it might lead. Our primary objective was serious enough without leaving corpses behind in the street.

Xing was still working her chopsticks. I finished my Coke and said, ‘We should get back to the hotel before it gets dark.’

Her eyes lifted and she asked, ‘Is everything okay?’

‘Come on, let’s go,’ I said.

She put the chopsticks down on the sloping table and one of them rolled away. Instinctively, we both made a grab for it. We were lightening fast, both as quick as the other and our hands bumped together. The chopstick continued to roll and dropped from the table. Xing’s hand followed it down. Her reaction was rapid, faster than the strike of a snake. I watched her catch the chopstick before it hit the ground. She brought it back up and balanced it on the bowl to stop it rolling off again.

‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

Meriwether’s words were still in my head.
Be careful, my boy, if it were to change then killing you would be as easy to her as blinking.
Bradshaw’s words were there too, alongside.
It’s possible you’re being set-up. Espionage is a grubby business.

‘Nothing’s wrong,’ I replied.

‘Is it Charlotte?’ she asked.

I hadn’t even considered Charlotte. I realised it was finished between us and wondered what that meant. ‘No,’ I said, ‘it’s not Charlotte.’

Xing smiled. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘Come on then, let’s go.’

We caught the bus back. It rattled and wheezed like an athlete running with a heavy cold. Despite the affliction, it soon returned us to the Square. We got off and tried to look like tourists. Senate Square was crowded as usual and we took our time. The hotel was only a short walk away and we strolled with Xing holding my arm.

‘Is there any way the hotel could be compromised?’ I whispered.

‘I don’t know,’ she replied. ‘We’ll have to be extra careful. I wish I could have five minutes alone with Erico.’

‘...why?’

‘...because he knows a lot of useful things.’

‘Yes,’ I agreed gently rubbing my abdomen. I would quite like to have five minutes alone with him myself, I thought.

Being a small hotel made it easier to check the outside but it also meant that if anyone were watching then seeing us enter would be more likely. We separated, then scanned the area and performed two walk-bys. The street was busy and overlooked by many other buildings.

‘Well, do you see anything?’

‘No, nothing, do you?’

‘No.’

We entered separately. Xing went in first while I watched from a doorway across the street. She disappeared through the entrance and I continued to watch. I was just about to step out when I saw him. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have caught my attention. He was a small man with black hair and the Southeast Asian narrow hips. He could have been anyone. He didn’t have anything obvious to make him stand out. However, my soldier’s eye saw it immediately. His head and body moved in that particular way. I was certain he had had military training. My concern level jumped when I saw his hand feel inside his open jacket as he disappeared through the entrance. I rushed across the street, darting between the moving traffic. At the door, I controlled my haste and entered without drawing attention to myself. Inside, the lobby was small and the lighting was concentrated at the desk and the staircase. I focused instantly and then it all happened in less than sixty seconds.

First, the receptionist’s face grabbed my attention. She was scared. It was in her eyes. I only caught them for a split second but they screamed fear. Next, the man I had followed in was stopped part way towards the desk. He had begun to turn and his eyes lifted to the staircase. At the same time, he started to pull something from inside his open jacket. My own eyes darted up. I saw Xing on the fourth or fifth stair. She had turned up the collar on her jacket and her ponytail swung across her back. She began to look over her shoulder. I went instantly for my Glock. The man’s hand reappeared from inside his jacket and I saw he held a gun. His arm began to raise and target the gun at Xing. I yelled a warning and brought my own weapon level with the man’s body. My voice inside the small, quiet lobby was loud and everyone heard it clearly. The speed amazed me. Although I had seen it before, this time it seemed somehow even faster. On hearing my shout, the man had hesitated but only for a fraction of a second. Xing’s body completed a full turn and dropped into a forward roll while her hand found the Glock in her waistband. She tucked and dived, going over her shoulder and down the stairs. I refocused on the man. He had ignored my shout and instead he concentrated fully on aiming at his now moving target. He was going to shoot. My decision had to be immediate. The angle at which he stood gave me a wide view of his shoulder and upper arm. I aimed the Glock and fired. The bullet kicked into him hard, he dropped at the waist and then continued down onto one knee. Xing came out of her roll, balanced and concentrated. Her eyes, arm and gun joined in fixed alignment. It was instantaneous. She fired. The blood splatter threw up a red spray. The man’s head jolted and his body softened. He slumped down onto his side and his face rested against the marble floor. The receptionist was screaming; loud piercing cries. It was then that I saw him. A second man appeared rapidly on the staircase. The elevation concealed his head but I could see his outstretched arms. In his hands, he held a gun and he was pointing it at Xing. I only had a fraction of a second in which to make the shot. A shouted warning was pointless. He would have already fired. I snatched up my hand and aimed with nothing more than instinct and judgement. In exactly the same moment as my hand steadied, I pulled the trigger. The bullet must have hit him because he didn’t fire his own gun and instead spun and dropped low on one side. He staggered forward and I could see his head. In almost the precise same moment, Xing threw herself into a turning dive. She landed on her back on the marble floor with both hands already raised. Then, with that innate aiming which I’d seen her do before, she fired. Again, just like the first man before, this man’s head jolted, there was the red spray and then his lifeless body slumped. The receptionist screamed again and then she fainted. There was silence.

My experience as a combat soldier meant I was able to react quickly and clearly. Despite the racing adrenalin, I was unaffected by the shooting and killing. My mind worked on our situation without a pause. I rushed over to Xing who was already up and on her feet.

‘We need to get away fast. Give me the key card for the room, I’ll get our rucksacks; stay here, I’ll only be a minute.’

‘Shall I kill the receptionist?’

‘No, she’s not important. We just need to get away before anyone comes.’

I grabbed the key card from Xing’s hand and sprinted up the stairs. Inside the room, I hurriedly collected our things.

Back in the lobby, Xing had a middle-aged eastern European couple on their knees with their hands on their heads facing the outside wall beside the entrance. She was pointing her Glock at them. They were scared.

‘Guests,’ she said by way of explanation, ‘they just walked in.’

‘Leave them,’ I said and passed over her rucksack. ‘Let’s go.’

Outside, the street was busy. We joined the pavement horde and put distance between the hotel and us.

We reached Senate Square and stopped near the fountain.

‘How did they know where we were staying?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Who were they?’

‘...hired killers, it doesn’t matter.’

‘Yes, but who hired them?’

‘Now we have to find a new hotel.’

‘My identity is compromised. We can’t use it again.’

‘I’ll use one of mine and pay with cash.’

I nodded.

‘Do you know a hotel?’

She nodded.

‘Thanks for having my back,’ she said, ‘as the Americans say.’