First Light (36 page)

Inside, Laith joined us again, his eyes fixed on the mobile phone I’d left lying on the counter. I cringed. Kal hadn’t asked me to keep it a secret, but while I’d had enough sense not to mention it, I didn’t have enough sense to hide it.

‘Whose is this?’ Laith asked, holding it up.

‘Mine,’ I lied.

He lifted one white-blond eyebrow with a look that cut through my façade and made my cheeks burn. I couldn’t lie to any of them even if I wanted to.

Kalen interjected immediately. ‘It’s mine,’ he said, looking directly at his teammate.

Laith instantly looked appalled. ‘Why do you have a phone?’

The boys glanced between one another.

‘I have one so Ronnie can contact me, Laith. You have a problem with that?’ The question was directed at everyone in the room. He’d obviously broken their pact, but I knew he wouldn’t apologise, so it was a standoff. Eventually, Laith shook his head and stalked out.

‘It’s just for Ronnie,’ Kal explained to the others.

‘Leave him,’ said Nash. ‘We’ll go sit outside. He’ll come to us when he’s bored.’

We made a batch of ham and cheese sandwiches and headed back out. Eventually, as Nash predicted, Laith joined us – at a distance. He began throwing knives at a nearby tree, just as they’d been doing earlier.

Nash was retelling a story of when he first visited Thailand. He didn’t mention anything about the job he had been sent on, but he did recall it was his favourite country.

‘You can just be yourself, you know? Hell, you can be anyone you like in Thailand and nobody cares. Awesome place, seriously.’

The sound was like the humming of a bee or a tiny mosquito too close to my ear, followed by a thump. Had it not been for the look on the faces of Kal and Denver, I might not have reacted to it. Their expressions caused me to turn to my right. Directly in front of my eyes, an inch or so from my nose was a long shiny throwing knife embedded into the tree I was leaning against. I jumped away in fright. A delayed reaction, but the only one appropriate when finding someone has thrown a knife at your head. I looked over at Laith who was staring back, his face void of any emotion.

‘Laith!’ roared Kal, jumping up from the rock he’d been perched on and stepping in front of me. ‘What the hell are you doing?’

‘Chill out, mate, I was just playing,’ Laith had continued to use a British accent despite the fact that I knew about them. It was unsettling.

‘It’s not funny, you could have killed her.’

‘Only if I’d wanted to,’ he responded, his eyes narrowing.

‘K, leave it,’ Denver warned from where he sat. Though clearly as shocked as the rest of us, I could tell he was trying to prevent a blowout. ‘It’s not worth it.’

‘What if he’d missed, D, huh? What then?’

‘He wouldn’t have missed man, you know that.’

Kal opened him mouth to yell something towards Laith, but seemed to think better of it. Instead he walked to me, taking my face in his hands.

'Are you okay?'

I nodded.

‘I'm taking you home,’ he said, looking back over his shoulder towards Laith. But Laith had already turned away. I watched as Kal fought with himself, pulled between his relationship with his friend and me.

I waved goodbye to Ace, Nash and Denver, who all wore matching expressions of guilt for Laith's behaviour. Ace more than any of them looked desperate to say something to make it better. I smiled at him and then Kalen took my hand and led me down towards the driveway.

Before we got in the car, I glanced over in Laith's direction. He was throwing knives at the tree again and though he had his back to me, I felt he knew I was watching. He threw each knife with perfect precision, lined up at exactly the same height only a centimeter apart. But before I looked away one of the knives slipped, its handle hit the bark and it fell clumsily to the ground.

I gulped and slid into my seat. I didn’t look back again; I wouldn’t give Laith the satisfaction.

Gaza Strip – June 2005

‘Mineral.’

‘Is it man-made?’

‘Yup.’

‘Does it have a purpose?’

‘Yes.’

‘Is it bigger than a tank?’

‘No.’

‘Is it smaller than a tank?’

‘
No.’

‘Is it a tank?’

‘Yeah.’ Laith stared out in front of them at the dusty street. His muscles aching from the fever he’d only just recovered from.

‘You know, you could try to make this more interesting.’

‘Why?’

‘I dunno, man – why not?’ K couldn’t be bothered to play either, but it seemed better than sitting and waiting in silence, and a lot less conspicuous. ‘You pick the first thing you see, you make the game more boring than necessary.’

‘I’m sick, I can’t deal with this shit.’

‘I thought you didn’t get sick?’

‘Well, obviously this hideous country has worn me down. How long have we been here now?’

‘Five weeks, four days and,’ Kalen glanced at his watch, ‘fourteen hours.’

Laith made a hmmm sound and toyed with the brim of his cap, pulling it down over his eyes to prevent glare from the sun that seemed to come from every direction, even bouncing up off of the sidewalk. ‘I’m so sick of this heat,’ he muttered.

‘Please stop complaining, we don’t have much longer.’

‘What if we die out here? Our bodies will rot in this godless country for ever.’

‘It’s not godless, dude.’

‘I’m telling you, man, this country is devoid of God. Look around us – killing is all they know. ’

‘Yeah, and what more do we know?’

‘Hey,’ Laith said with a serious tone ‘we fight evil! We’re like, superheroes or something, we only kill the bad guys.’

K gave a short, mirthless laugh. ‘Whatever helps you sleep at night, L.’

‘Hello you two, where is your father today?’ the voice of the café owner sounded from behind them in broken English. The boys both turned in their seats to look at him.

‘He’s teaching at the university,’ K replied amiably.

‘Ah, you tell him next time, I have some fresh pastries for him. Okay?’

‘Thank you, Isaac.’

The man walked back to his kitchen and they were by themselves again.

K took a sip of the tea that had gone cold in front of him. ‘You know, it doesn’t matter where we die; here, back home, what difference will it make? The things we’ve done, we’ll all end up in the same damned place anyhow.’

Laith didn’t reply and they both stared out at the sand-swept sidewalks, waiting for the call that would send them on their way to kill.

39 – Too Comfortable

The rain woke me with a start.
It pounded my window and the deck outside. Usually I liked the sound; being inside my warm house while the weather went crazy around it. But right now I had a strange feeling – something in the house didn’t feel right. I thought about calling Kalen, just to hear his voice, but stopped myself. After Laith’s outburst he’d dropped me home and I could tell he was furious. I figured they probably needed some time alone without me bothering them. I looked at the clock – seven a.m.

I got out of bed and walked down the hall to Rachel’s old room to check if she’d stayed the night. It was empty and the bed was made. No big surprise there. My stomach was growling so I pulled on my dressing gown and made my way down to the kitchen, peering into each room I passed. I’d never felt unsafe in my house, it was big and kind of in the middle of nowhere, but I’d always felt secure. Right now, however, even though every room was empty, my uneasy feeling refused to go.

I glanced around my kitchen: everything was as it should be. Nothing out of place and no sound apart from the rain. Pulling at the fridge door, I took out a carton of milk. Drinking straight from it, I pictured Dad telling me to use a glass, like he always did. The memory was cut short by cool steel pressed against my temple, followed by a noise I’d heard in a thousand movies: a gun being cocked.

It was like all the air got sucked from the room. My body turned to sponge, threatening to collapse in on me. The carton dropped from my grasp. Milk leaked between my toes, across the floor.

‘Don’t scream,’ said the owner of the gun, his voice eerily calm. ‘Do you understand?’

I nodded carefully, momentarily remembering the alarm I’d been given – the alarm I’d chosen not to use, even though Kalen had asked me to.

‘I’m not going to hurt you and I’m going to lower my weapon. Don’t run and don’t scream if you value your life. Nod if you comply.’

I tipped my head again, conscious of the gun and not wanting to give it a reason to go off. Slowly, the intruder stepped away from me. I blinked. My body was rigid with fear so I could barely move, but I steadied myself on the kitchen counter and forced myself to face him.

The man wasn’t what I expected. He was older for a start, old enough to be my father and smartly dressed: he wore jeans and a suit jacket – and leather gloves. I wasn’t happy about the gloves, that part was more disconcerting than anything, perhaps even more than the gun. I met his blue eyes and tried to think of what Kalen would tell me to do.

‘Who are you and what do you want?’ I asked, trying unsuccessfully to hold my voice steady.

‘You can call me Andrews.’ He slid the gun inside his jacket and I found myself eyeing the block of knives on the counter.

‘Please don’t even think about it, Veronica. Just listen and I’ll be out of your life very quickly.’

‘What do you want?’

‘Kalen,’ he said simply.

I regarded him contemptuously. ‘Is that a name? It’s stupid,’ I answered.

‘Don’t play games with me, child, there isn’t time. Just hear me out. I know K, tell him Andrews was here and he won’t be angry with you for talking to me. I’m fond of him. More than you can imagine. It was because of me that he escaped, but he should not have taken the others, it’s caused untold problems. If K hands over those he’s still in contact with, his life will be spared.’

I pictured Ace being led by the person he loved most, into the hands of people who wanted him dead. It made me want to gag. I had a strong desire to hit the man giving me such an option, but I wasn’t that foolish. I waited, hoping he had nothing else to say. I had never really hated anyone before, until today.

‘I don’t know who or what you’re talking about, you sound crazy to me.’

‘Ms Rose, while I understand your loyalty, I don’t care for it. Just know this. I’ve been here long enough to know that K is here because of you. I believe in his own warped way, he thinks he loves you and now you have the chance to save his life. Don’t you want that?’

I swallowed as something very sinister came into my mind. I had been so blind not to see it before. ‘You!’ I blurted. ‘You’ve been following me. I’ve seen your car – you’ve been watching me for months!’

He stared back at me blackly. ‘I needed to know what you meant to him. Kalen won’t talk to me, he won’t entertain anything I have to say. If he gets even the slightest inkling I’m here, he’ll flee. I had no idea this opportunity would present itself with you, but it has. Convince him to turn himself in, Veronica, because I believe there’s no one else who can. He must do this to save his life, and the lives of the others must be the forfeit. Don’t delude yourself – these boys do not have any bond save that of habit. They have not been brought up to care about one another, only the mission. His loyalty to them will only be his own pride; he hates to fail. You must convince him otherwise.’

I swallowed. I had to be careful not to say too much. ‘You don’t think he cares for his friends?’ I asked.

‘They are not friends, they don’t know the meaning of the word. They’re a unit.’