The Solitary Man (24 page)

She opened her eyes. There was a face looking down at her, a face contorted into a grimace of pain. It was a man, with two gold teeth at the front of his mouth. His eyes were closed and his nostrils flared as he snorted. For the first time she became aware of his breath, rancid and stale like old cheese. She turned her face away. There was another man there, holding her arm. And behind him another man, bare chested and smoking a cigarette. The man on top of her went suddenly still, then laughed. It was a bark of triumph. The room seemed to spin and she closed her eyes. The man rolled off her and she tried to close her legs. Something was stopping her. She opened her eyes and looked down towards her feet. Bird was there, grinning and holding her left leg. The barman was gripping her other ankle with both hands.

The barman said something to Bird and they both looked at her. Bird let go of her leg and walked out of her vision. The man with the withered arm sat down on the bed. He reached out with his good arm and stroked her breast. Jennifer was aware of what he was doing but she couldn't feel anything. It was as if it was happening to someone else.

Bird appeared at her side. He was holding a bottle in one hand, and a cloth in the other. 'What are you doing?' she tried to ask, but she was unable to form the words and all that came out was a low moan. Bird said something to her but his voice sounded a million miles away.

Another man, big with rippling forearms, stood next to Bird, unzipping his jeans. Jennifer shook her head, but even as she did she knew she was powerless to resist. Her stomach lurched. There were a dozen Thai men in the room, maybe more. They were all around her, laughing at her, pointing at her. The big man climbed on top of her and this time she felt a sharp pain between her legs. Tears sprang to her eyes, tears of frustration. The feeling was starting to return to her left leg and she tried to kick him away but she was too weak and he was too strong. He moaned as he pushed himself deeper inside her. He arched his back and grunted, and then it was over and he lifted himself off her.

Bird thrust the cloth over her face and she breathed in sickly sweet fumes. She threw her head to the side but Bird's fingers gripped her cheeks and forced her back on to the bed. She tried 190 STEPHEN LEATHER holding her breath but it was futile. Bird waited until she'd taken half a dozen breaths before taking the cloth away. She gasped for fresh air but she could feel consciousness slipping away. Bird took off his trousers and stood at the end of the bed, holding his erection and laughing at her. He said something in Thai and she felt herself being rolled over on to her stomach. She realised what Bird was going to do and she tried to beg him not to but the words wouldn't come. Her head was twisted to the side and all she could see was the man with the withered arm, grinning at her. Bird climbed on to the bed. She was suddenly embarrassed. No man had ever done that to her before. Ever. She'd never let a man even touch her there. She felt Bird lie on top of her and then force himself inside. There was surprisingly little pain, she realised, and then she passed out again.

HUTCH WOKE TO THE sound of the cell door being opened. Four uniformed police threw a man in and then clanged the door shut. They watched him through the bars as he got unsteadily to his feet. It was the second Nigerian.

Joshua was lying next to Hutch, fast asleep. Hutch shook him by the arm. Joshua opened his eyes and grunted. When he saw his friend he began to laugh. It was a deep, booming sound that echoed around the cell. The two men embraced and slapped each other's back. They spoke to each other in their own language and Joshua laughed even louder.

'You won't believe what Julian did,' said Joshua.

The policemen went back down the corridor. Hutch sat on the floor and the two Nigerians followed his example.

'They gave him the same stuff they gave me,'Joshua continued. 'But the Thais didn't watch him closely enough. The condoms kept coming out, and Julian kept swallowing them. The Thais couldn't work out what was going on.'

Julian grinned. He looked around for a sleeping mat. When he realised there was none to be had, he lay down on the bare floor, seemingly unconcerned by his surroundings.

'Why?' asked Hutch. 'Why did he bother? They'd get the stuff eventually.'

Joshua shrugged. 'I don't know. He's crazy.'

Julian's eyes were closed and he appeared to be asleep already.

'He said we're going to be in court tomorrow.'

Hutch sat up straight. 'How does he know?'

'We have a lawyer. The lawyer told him.'

Hutch's heart began to race. If the Nigerians were going to court, maybe they'd be taking him, too. He'd been arrested at the same time as them. Maybe Winter's plan would work after all. If he was transferred to Klong Prem prison tomorrow, he might still have a chance of getting to Harrigan and finding a way out before the police discovered that he wasn't carrying drugs and he was released.

THERE WAS SOMETHING PRESSING against Jennifer's knees, something hard and unyielding. She tried to open her eyes but it felt as if the lids had been sewn shut. In the distance she heard a deep growling noise, like some huge prehistoric animal proclaiming its dominance. She swallowed but her mouth was painfully dry and her tongue seemed to have swollen to twice its normal size. She heard voices, and an engine being revved. Her neck was sore and she tried to arch her back but there was something hard behind her, something that prevented her from moving. Images flashed through her mind: Bird in the bar; the men in the room; the cloth against her face. The horror and the shame flooded over her and she opened her eyes. Eighteen inches from her face was a curved metal surface. She turned her head and felt the bones in her neck grind together. She was rammed in a circular metal container, with her knees up against her chest. She closed her eyes again. It was a dream, a horrible dream. Maybe it had all been a nightmare, right from the start. Maybe she was still in her hotel room, asleep in the queensize bed. Maybe the American was even in bed beside her.

The growling roar intensified and she felt its vibrations come 192 STEPHEN LEATHER up through her backside. She opened her eyes again. It was no dream. She tried to move her arms but they were jammed against the metal. She forced her head back as far as it would go. There was sky above her head, grey clouds moving slowly against a black background, and to the right was the towering skeleton of a building under construction: girders and scaffolding and concrete beams.

Jennifer opened her mouth to call for help. Maybe she'd been in an accident. A car crash, perhaps. She was okay, she was alive, somebody would come and rescue her eventually, she just had to stay calm.

A man appeared above her, his head silhouetted against the clouds. She shook her head, clearing the hair that had fallen across her face, and peered upwards.

'Help me,' she said. Her voice was little more than a croak. The head disappeared. Jennifer groaned and tried to move her hands again. She was naked, she realised. Totally naked. It didn't make any sense, she thought. What had happened to her clothes? Where was she?

She looked up again. High overhead flew an airliner, a red light flashing from one wing. Another head appeared. She recognised the face. It was Bird. He was grinning.

'Help me, please,' she gasped.

Bird turned away and gestured with his hand, motioning for someone to come closer. The roaring noise wasn't an animal, she realised, it was machinery. An engine, and tyres crunching across gravel.

There was a bad taste in her mouth and she tried to clear her throat. Her whole body ached, and she felt a searing pain deep inside her, as if the flesh there had been torn apart. Something warm and liquid dribbled from between her legs and she had no way of telling if it was blood or urine. She began to cry, more from helplessness than from the pain.

Bird shouted and the engine noise reduced to a low throb, then there was a rattle of metal and a two-foot-wide chute appeared above Jennifer's head. Bird held it steady with one hand as he peered down at her.

'Please, don't,' she begged through her tears. 'Please.' The man had drugged her, raped her, done God knows what else to her, but THE SOLITARY MAN 193 he was the only hope she had. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and fearful. 'I'll do anything,' she said. 'Anything.'

Bird's grin widened. 'You already have done,' he said. 'And you weren't that good. Too old.'

He turned away and waved at someone she couldn't see. The unseen engine roared and the chute began to tremble in Bird's hand. Something cold and wet spewed out, spraying over her. She closed her eyes and clamped her mouth shut and tried to breathe through her nose as the gritty cement coated her hair and ran thickly down her neck. She felt it pool around her backside and rise up around her waist. The deluge intensified, and the sheer weight of it forced her head down. It poured into her nostrils and she began to choke. Cement began to seep into her mouth and she coughed and spluttered. Her lungs ached for air but she resisted the urge to breathe, knowing that her next breath would be her last, wanting to cling on to life until the last possible moment. The cement clogged her ears but she could still hear the roar of the engine and Bird's laughter. Her lungs began to burn, and as she opened her mouth and it filled with cement, the last thought that passed through her mind was that she didn't even know why she was being killed.

HUTCH SAT ON THE hard wooden bench and stared straight ahead. Through the bars in front of him he could see a raised podium on which were three desks. To his right were the two Nigerians; to his left was a young Thai man in a torn T-shirt and cut-off jeans. Behind him were more benches, with more than twenty prisoners in all, including the American. They'd been handcuffed and herded into a coach by armed police early in the morning and driven out of the city. Hutch had been given his wallet and his watch but they hadn't allowed him to take his sleeping mat, and when he'd asked what had happened to his other belongings he'd been met with blank faces. The guards hadn't said where they were going, but Hutch was certain he was in the Criminal Court for his first appearance before a judge.

Hutch looked over his shoulder. There were half a dozen uniformed guards holding shotguns, their fingers on the triggers. There were more guards inside the court itself, their backs against the walls.

There was no air-conditioning and Hutch was drenched with sweat. The mosquito bites on his body now numbered more than twenty and the itching was almost unbearable. He wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.

'Warren?' said a trembling voice.

Hutch looked up sharply. There were two people standing on the other side of the bars: an Oriental girl and a Thai man. For a second he couldn't place their faces. When he did recognise Chauling, he felt suddenly embarrassed by his dishevelled appearance. She was wearing a dark blue two-piece suit and matching high heels, a far cry from the sweatshirts and faded jeans she favoured while working at the kennels, and she wore a thin gold necklace that he'd never seen before.

'Warren,' she said. 'You look terrible.'

She stepped forward and held the bars as if it was she who was the prisoner. Behind her was Khun Kriengsak, the highly paid lawyer employed by her father.

Hutch glared at her through the bars. 'What the hell are you doing here?' he asked. *

She was surprised by the intensity of his anger. 'I've come to help you,' she said, her voice trembling.

'Chau-ling, if I'd wanted your help, I'd have asked for it.'

'Warren, you're in trouble and I want--'

'I can take care of it,' he said. 'I'd rather you stayed and looked after my business.'

'The kennels are fine,' said Chau-ling earnestly. 'Naomi and Man-ying are there, they can handle it.'

'I left you in charge,' said Hutch. He turned on the lawyer. 'And I already told you that I don't need a lawyer. Do you have a problem with English?'

Kriengsak's eyes hardened. 'No, Mr Hastings, my English is perfectly adequate. Miss Tsang has come a long way to see you, and if I were you I'd be more grateful for her concern. A friendship such as hers does not come along too THE SOLITARY MAN 195 often. And your attitude so far suggests to me that you are not worthy of it.'

Hutch felt his cheeks redden as he realised that the lawyer was right. 'I'm sorry, Chau-ling,' he said. 'I just want to take care of this myself.'

'Warren, to be honest you don't seem to be doing too good a job right now.'

Hutch stood up and went over to the bars. She saw him glance down at his chained hands and his shame deepened. 'It's going to be all right,' he said. 'The best thing you can do is to go back to Hong Kong. Look, this has all been a terrible mistake, and once the police realise that, I'll be on the next plane home. How are Mickey and Minnie?'

'Pining,' she said. 'They send their love.'

Hutch smiled. 'Thanks,' he said. 'You look great, by the way.'

She returned his smile, albeit hesitantly. She reached up to brush a strand of hair from her eyes. There was a gold Carrier watch on her wrist. Chau-ling had been working at the kennels for almost a year before Hutch had discovered who her father was and that she was sole heir to one of the biggest fortunes in Hong Kong. She drove a six-year-old Suzuki Jeep and the only jewellery he'd ever seen her wearing was a Swatch wristwatch. Hutch was genuinely surprised by her sudden exhibition of wealth and good taste.

'Is it bad, where they're holding you?' asked Chauling.

'It's not exactly a four-star hotel,' Hutch replied. He looked at Kriengsak. 'I go from here to the prison, right?'

'Yes. They will hold you there until the trial.'

Hutch shook his head emphatically. 'There isn't going to be a trial,' he said.

Kriengsak and Chau-ling exchanged looks. Something unspoken passed between them. Kriengsak narrowed his eyes and stared at Hutch. 'Mr Hastings, is there something you want to tell me?'

'You sound more like a psychiatrist than a lawyer,' said Hutch.

'Warren, we're only trying to help,' said Chau-ling. 'We have to prepare your case before you go to trial.'