Drought (38 page)

‘I know where there's water, Halford. Lots of water. Maybe not enough to supply the whole state, but enough to make you a hero.'

There was a very long silence. Then Halford said, ‘Where? What are you talking about?'

Saskia spoke slowly and carefully. ‘I know where you can find water, Halford. That's where Martin Makepeace and his family are now.'

‘You're serious?'

‘Have you ever known me
not
to be serious? Just because you've always been a clown.'

‘Well, OK, if you're serious, where is it?'

‘Halford – do you think I came down in the last shower of rain? Come to that, the last shower of rain was so long ago that maybe I did.'

‘Where is it, Saskia? Have you told Joseph where it is?'

‘Of course not. Not before you and I have been able to discuss terms, and Mr Joseph Wrack has given me his solemn and binding assurance that he'll stay off my back.'

‘What terms are you talking about, Saskia?'

‘I think you know what terms. But I'm not going to discuss them over the phone. It has to be face to face, in private.'

‘All right. So come up to Sacramento. Joseph will arrange a flight for you. What's the time now? You could be here by three.'

‘No, Halford.'

‘So how the fuck are we going to discuss these terms of yours face to face unless you come here and meet me face to face?'

‘Don't lose your cool, Halford. There's nothing so ridiculous as a clown stamping his foot.
You
are going to come
here
. It's going to be you and me, that's all. No entourage. No PAs. We're going to go someplace private together and have a little discussion and I don't want any security men with their hands folded over their cocks or anybody asking what we're talking about or why we're talking at all.'

‘You're shooting me a line here, Saskia. What the hell are you after?'

‘Come here and find out, Halford.'

‘I can't! How can I? I have a million people screaming questions at me that I don't know the answer to. I have a strategy meeting with the National Guard and the Highway Patrol in two hours' time. We're having an emergency hearing in the Capitol at nine o'clock. I haven't even eaten breakfast yet.'

‘You have a Lieutenant Governor, don't you? Kenneth Korven? What's he doing, sitting on his hands? Have him fill in for you, while you're away.'

‘Kenneth Korven is an asshole. Worse than that, he's a Democrat.'

Saskia said, ‘OK, Halford, if I can't persuade you to come, then I can't. But I'm not lying to you about the water.'

Halford was silent for a long time. Saskia stayed silent, too. Joseph Wrack sat at his desk, tilted back in his chair, smoking. He was beginning to look amused. The smoke shuddered up toward the air-conditioning vents, hovered for a moment, and then was suddenly sucked away. Through the double-glazed windows they could faintly hear shouting and sirens in the streets below.

Halford must have been talking to somebody, with his hand over the receiver, because Saskia heard him say, ‘No – like, now! What's the ramp-to-ramp time, that's what I want to know!'

‘Does that mean you're coming?' she asked him.

‘Yes, you bitch, it does. In actual fact, you've probably done me a favor. Kenneth Korven can stand there and fail to answer all of those millions of questions that I don't know the answer to, which won't do his political reputation any good at all.'

‘Good,' said Saskia. ‘So when can I expect you?'

‘Four thirty, thereabouts.'

‘And you know what to bring with you, don't you?'

‘Saskia, whatever you think of me, I'm not totally dumb. Nobody in this world gives you anything for nothing, especially you.'

‘OK,' Saskia. ‘I'm going back to my hotel, but I'll meet you back here at Empire Security Services.'

She stood up and handed the phone back to Joseph Wrack.

‘You're not looking for a job, are you?' he asked her. ‘I could use a woman like you.'

‘A job? With you? I'd rather go and work for the sanitation department. But if you have a car I could borrow, I'd appreciate it. I drove here in a somewhat battered pickup.'

Joseph Wrack opened his desk drawer, took out a car key on a leather fob and tossed it over to her. ‘Silver Buick Lacrosse, if that's not beneath your dignity. Second level, left of the elevators as you come out of them.'

Saskia leaned across his desk, took the key, and blew him a kiss.

S
antos said, ‘When I die, you will make sure to burn my body, won't you?'

Martin looked across at him in surprise. ‘Santos, you're not going to die on my watch. This drought can't go on for ever and by the time you die we'll be back in the city and you'll have a regular cremation at a regular crematorium. Is there a special ritual for Yuhaviatam funerals? Any gods we need to invoke?'

Santos looked back at him from under the shadow of his Panama hat and Martin could see by his eyes that he was in pain. ‘Just ask the Great Spirit to take me to my Juanita, that's all. She was my wife.'

‘Santos—'

Santos raised his hand to stop him, whatever he was going to say. ‘I have nearly had my time, Wasicu. Now it is the children's time. I think we did the right thing, bringing them here. They will get to know their real mother now, which is the earth. They will get to know the land that is rightly theirs.'

In the shade that they had erected outside one of the tents, Nathan and George and little Mina were sitting cross-legged on the ground while Ella was singing their alphabet to them. ‘
G is for gorilla … guh-guh-guh gorilla
!'

Somewhere in the distance, they heard the beating of a helicopter. Martin listened for a while. It didn't sound as if it were coming any closer, but all the same he reached across for his sub-machine gun.

‘I told you that woman had a dark shadow around her,' said Santos.

Martin didn't answer, but continued to strain his ears. After a few minutes, the sound of the helicopter faded, and then there was nothing but Ella singing, ‘
M is for
monkey … muh-muh-muh monkey
!' and the endless chirruping of insects.

‘OK, maybe you were right,' Martin admitted. ‘But they haven't come after us yet, have they? Every hour that goes by, I trust her a little more.'

‘There is only one person you need to trust,' said Santos. ‘That is yourself. The day that you can do that, on
that
day you will begin to be healed.'

Martin laid his sub-machine gun down.

‘I'll burn you, OK, if it comes to that. I promise. I'll burn you, and I'll ask the Great Spirit to reunite you with Juanita. I won't even charge you. Not like your usual mortician.'

Saskia was waiting in the parking lot of Ontario International Airport when Halford appeared. The sun was reflected so brightly from the glass roof of the terminal entrance that she was almost dazzled, but she could see that he was accompanied by two security men in light gray suits and sunglasses and a girl in a pale blue suit who looked like one of his personal assistants.

The parking lot was almost deserted because all scheduled flights had been canceled, and only private jets were flying in and out. Because she had been able to park so close to the terminal, Saskia could clearly see that Halford was arguing with his security men. She guessed that they were deeply reluctant to let him out of their sight, especially since he wouldn't have told them why he needed to come here to San Bernardino so urgently, and what he was going to be doing when he got here.

She couldn't help smiling to herself as she watched him shouting and gesticulating, although she couldn't hear what he was saying. She had always enjoyed dominating other people, but she could understand now why real power was so addictive. She had called him, and Halford had been obliged to come, whether he really wanted to or not. She actually found that she was aroused.

After a while, the security men went back inside the terminal building. Halford spoke to the girl in the pale blue suit for a moment. He kissed her on the cheek and then she went back inside, too. Halford was now standing alone on the sidewalk in his cream linen suit and his canary yellow shirt, impatiently looking right and left, waiting for Saskia to make an appearance. Saskia let him wait there for over a minute. She was almost tempted to drive away and leave him stranded, but she wanted to do more than humiliate him.

She blew the Buick's horn and flashed its lights. Halford lifted his arm to acknowledge that he had seen her, and came hurrying over the pedestrian crossing to the parking lot. He climbed into the passenger seat, slammed the door and said, ‘Hallo, Saskia. I can't say it's great to see you.'

Saskia started the engine and backed out of her parking space. ‘One day, Halford, the people of California will thank you for this. Like I said, you're going to be a hero.'

‘So where's this water?'

‘All in good time, Halford. I'm going to take you to Joseph Wrack's office and then I can show you both where it is. First, though—' she said, and held out her hand, palm upward.

‘Oh, no,' Halford told her. ‘You don't get the DVDs till I know where this water is.'

‘You swear on your mother's life that you're going to give me every single copy? Because if I find out that you haven't, Halford, I'm going to have your balls for Rocky Mountain oysters, with Tabasco sauce.'

‘When did you get so aggressive, Saskia?' said Halford.

‘When I found out what a self-indulgent, pompous, unfeeling sack of shit you really are. That's when.'

Halford laid his hand on her thigh. ‘You shouldn't talk dirty like that. It gets me horny.'

They were driving over the high concrete curve where the San Bernardino Freeway met the Riverside Freeway, and turned northward into the city. Saskia said, ‘How about I drive right off the ramp here and kill us both? Because I will if you don't take your hand off me.'

Halford was not at all happy about Saskia driving him through the downtown area to the Empire Security building. As she steered her way around the burned-out vehicles and tipped-over trashcans, he shrank down in the passenger seat and held up his right hand to blinker his face. The streets were mostly empty, but every now and then a small gang of looters would come running past, whooping and shouting, and as they reached East 4th Street, some of them ran alongside them, and banged on the roof of the car with their fists. It was only when they heard the wail of a police siren that they all scattered.

‘Jesus, Saskia. Supposing one of them recognizes me?'

‘Then they'll probably tear your door open and kill you. Look at this city, Halford. You did this. You and your rotational hiatuses. You hypocrite.'

‘You were prepared to promote them for me.'

‘I wasn't happy at all. I had no choice, and you know it.'

She opened the electric gate outside the Empire Security building and drove down into the underground parking structure. Halford said, ‘This won't take long, will it? As soon as this is a done deal, I need to get back to the airport.'

Saskia didn't answer, but climbed out of the Buick and walked briskly toward the elevator. Halford heaved himself out and followed her. He wasn't used to being treated like this, opening his own car door and having to run after people. As they went up to Joseph Wrack's office in the elevator car, he made an effort to stand up very straight, so that he looked taller, and much more in command, but Saskia's high-heeled ankle-boots made her just as tall as he was.

‘God, you're a bitch,' he said, under his breath, but all she did was smile at him.

Joseph Wrack was on the phone when Jim Broader showed them through to his office. Jim Broader was deeply impressed by meeting the governor of California, and kept smacking his hands together and letting out little girlish giggles. ‘Can I get your honor anything to drink? Coffee, soda, something stronger?'

‘Do you have water?'

‘Sure. Sure we have water.'

‘Then you're better off than most of the poor fuckers in this Godforsaken state. I don't want anything, thanks. I just want to get this done and get the hell out of here. I have a plane waiting.'

‘OK, your honor. Fine. Sure. Sorry.'

‘I'll have a vodka tonic with a twist,' said Saskia. ‘Plenty of ice.'

Joseph Wrack put down the phone. ‘There's a major riot at Riverside Plaza. Chief Delgado wants to know if I can send him some reinforcements for crowd control, but regrettably we don't have any more men to spare. None at all. Not one. Not even retirees.'

He paused and then he smiled and held out his hand. ‘Anyhow, how are you, your honor? Good to see you, if a little unexpected. You got here real quick. What kind of plane are you flying these days?'

‘Let's just get this over with, shall we?' said Halford. ‘I have a disaster to take care of.'

Saskia said, ‘Switch on the TV, would you, Mr Wrack, and click it on to maps? We're looking for a satellite picture of Joshua Tree National Park.'

The park appeared on the screen, dry and rugged. Saskia took the remote control from Joseph Wrack and enlarged the image, and then she gradually followed the trail along which Santos had led them. She could have focused on the valley immediately, but she wanted to build some suspense.

‘How the
hell
did you drive all the way out there?' asked Halford. ‘I can't see even a jackrabbit track.'

‘We had a Native American to guide us. Most Native Americans still know this country a whole lot better than we do, Halford. They're good for more than running casinos.'

She shifted the satellite picture further and further north-eastward, until at last she reached the valley. She magnified the image as far as it would go. Although it was blurred, she could distinctly make out the thick bushy undergrowth and the triangular area of open ground where they had pitched their tents.