Hollow Dolls, The (39 page)

“Winnie SHOOT THE IV BAG—NOW!!” yelled Kim Li.

Winnie shot the bag of hemlock. It evaporated
sending the stand flying and pulling the needle from the back of Mel’s hand,
all in a microsecond.

Total time of intravenous flow: 2.2 minutes.

Possible indications: nausea, vomiting and cursing.

Winnie pulled a pocket knife and untied her. Mel
stood, doubled over in pain.

“Jesus,” she said, “Now I know how Socrates felt.”

“Here,” said Mel reaching for Winnie’s knife. She stepped
over to Georgy who was curled on the floor holding his ankle.

“Wai—”

Before he could utter another syllable, Mel sliced Georgy’s
neck wide open. Blood pulsed onto the floor.

“Winnie on your six fire now!” said Kim Li.

Winnie turned and fired three rounds into a guard
who had managed to raise his weapon from the floor.

“Targets secured,” said Winnie.

“Christ Win, how’d you learn to shoot like that?”
said Kim Li.

“Call of Duty,” said Winnie. “Black Ops baby.”

CEO Kim Li rounded up security and soon discovered
the two official Li front desk employees were tied up in a closet on the main
floor.

Georgy had only the three men with empty pizza boxes
on the main floor who were quickly apprehended. Georgy had acted alone without
the sanction of the Russian mafia. His coup attempt of the Li operations had
been foiled.

The following day, after recovering from the Georgy ordeal, the
girls continued on with business. All four together with Huáng. They  headed up
to the penthouse at Boutique Jade in the elevator.

 “Where’d you hook up with Phoenia?” said Mel.

“We met in Kunlong,” said Kim Li. “We’re like sisters now.”

Phoenia held Pia in her arms. Mel watched her. Fiona was gone. It
wasn’t that long ago she’d been with Fiona and Winnie role playing. Mel being Alejandra
in the stable. Mel couldn’t feel it anymore. Her intense desire to be like
them, to be one of them; Cara or Alejandra.

Each of them had become someone else now. Fiona was Phoenia.
Winnie was the true dark princess. Kim Li was Dragon Master. And Mel herself,
she was...

Kim Li watched the numbers light up one by one and Mel watched her
watch the numbers. She knew that Kim Li was a little distant now. In a strange
and impossible way, she wished they could do a jamais vu, start over. Winnie
did one of her hip bumps to distract Mel. She looked over at Winnie.

“What?” said Mel.

In the suite, Huáng got busy ordering food and Phoenia poured
drinks while the girls sat at the center couch and reminisced.

“I knew Jack and the Man-Rabbit was real. All the time, in the
back of my mind” said Mel. “But if he hadn’t come to me right when he did, I’d 
have lost it completely.”

“Where is he now?” said Kim Li.

“He’s back undercover. Long story,” said Mel.

Kim Li reached around and poured refills.

“You don’t even know the half of it Kim Li. Wait until you read
the memoir,” said Winnie. “You were so
owned
.”

“And you were so perfect? What about your Dodson adventures?” said
Kim Li. “Plus, Alejandra broke you baby doll.”

Kim Li shook her head trying to aggravate Winnie.

“She broke me
and
made me,” said Winnie grabbing Kim Li’s
leg under the table. “Both of us,” she said.

Kim Li looked at her. “Truce,” she said.

“Dude, that shit was like MKUltra sometimes,” said Winnie.

“Win! Alejandra made MKUltra look like grade school blunts behind
the bleachers.”

“Ok, you guys, enough,” said Mel.

Winnie got a kick from Mel under the table.

“What?” whispered Winnie. She made a face.

Mel whispered back, “You’re going to have to write the parts about
Scott.” Winnie tucked her hand between Mel’s legs and Mel’s eyes brimmed a
little with tears.

“You guys both on your meds?” said Winnie.

“Yeah,” said Kim Li. Lie.

“Absolutely,” said Mel.  Lie.

“No more goin’ off the reservation right?” said Mel.

“Right,” said Winnie. Lie.

 
“For sure,” said Kim Li. Lie.

 “I’ll have to change his name,” said Winnie.

Mel looked at her.

“You know, Scott,” said Winnie.

“We can’t ever publish our memoir Win,” said Mel.

“Why not?” said Winnie.

“Moonfleet! There, gotcha back,” said Mel.

Winnie grinned.

“What does that mean anyway, besides a safeword?” said Mel.

“I’ll never tell,” said Winnie.

“If you publish it...” Kim Li lowered her voice to all
seriousness. “We’ll get caught for a bunch of things obviously you turkey.” She
glared at Winnie.

“Turkey?” Winnie grabbed the handle of her Glock17 on the table
and stared Kim Li down.

Kim Li made a ‘pfft’, mocked Winnie brushing her away with her
hand. “I got your little clues too Winnie,” said Kim Li.

“Good for you. Won’t matter now if we’re the only ones reading
it.”

“Oh! And Winifred,” said Kim Li, looking at her with stern eyes
and brow knitted, “That Domme scene with me? Next time you know who’ll be
subbing”

“Yes Mistress,” said Winnie. She stuck her tongue out at Kim Li.
She didn’t realize Kim Li had already read it.

Mel kicked Winnie under the table again.

“What?” said Winnie.

“I could work on that little tongue,” said Kim Li. “Say please.”

Winnie the sub was having too much fun. “Please Mistress.”

Kim Li put her foot up on Winnie’s chair between her legs and
wiggled against her.

“Ok you guys. Enough!” said Mel. “Win, you’d have to change more of
the names to publish it,” she said. “Actually,” she continued, “Someone would
still pick up on things—the cops—so forget it altogether.”

“I don’t care. I really only did it for you Mel,” said Winnie. “Now
it’s finished I just thought, well, never mind.”

“No! Say it Winnie. I hate it when you do that,” said Kim Li.

“It was a sod fucking great story!” said Winnie.

 “You and your mutant swears,” said Kim Li. “Fuckin’ Brit expat!”

Mel lifted her glass and the three clinked and nodded with shifty
looks and evil smiles all round.

“It
is
a good story,” said Kim Li.

“Here,” said Kim Li. She dropped a folder in front of Mel that had
a Myanmar label on it.

“I’ll see you guys at the Guangdong office in two days,” she said.

“Make it a week,” said Mel.

“What?” said Kim Li.

“I have to go take care of some things. The apartment and some
other stuff.”

Winnie looked across at Mel. They both had that knowing look. Whatever
it was. It was like Moonfleet or jamais vu. All their stuff was nutty and they
knew it. And it didn’t matter what it meant, it was theirs. They were beginning
again.

“Huáng, prep the jet for Mel to go back to Vancouver.”

“Let me come with,” whispered Winnie, clutching Mel’s hand.

“I’ll be back in a few days,” she said. Mel felt her heart tug. Chemicals
flooded her. She knew it was real feelings that were devastating her and snuggled
closer to Winnie so only they could hear. “I love you.”

Winnie looked in her eyes and curled her corners. Her body shook,
she ruffled her feathers excitedly.

“I’ll get that apartment on the market take the car back to the
dealer too.”

Winnie had her fingers locked so tight in Mel’s hand against the
small of her back. It felt like she wasn’t going to let her go.

“Stay here. Get us a place set up. I’ll be back in two days.”

Winnie painted a smile.

“My dark princess,” whispered Mel.

She painted one too.

They kissed.

 “Hi Claire.”

“Hey you! Where the heck did you disappear to? Get in here.”

“Just been busy as hell.”

“I went by your place. Nobody’s ever home.”

“We went out of town for a few days.”

“You look different, what’s happened?”

“Claire, the reason I came by is... I wanted to tell you the
truth.”

“Oh boy. Sounds like I’m going to have to dig into the hard
stuff,” said Claire.

She brought out some single malt. They sipped. Mel told her
everything.

“Man-Rabbit? I fucking wondered about that dream you had. You were
delirious.”

Claire was shocked, surprised, and they had some laughs. It felt
good to come clean. Mel was pretty sure Claire didn’t really understand the
whole thing. Who would?

“How do you know they’re not still after you, the Russians?”

“Jack is still on an undercover op in the Russian mob. He’d give
me a heads up for sure.”  

“And your gal is in China. Winnie? That’s the one you talked about
last time. I knew you got snagged.”

“We go way back actually.”

“That’s okay, I’m happy for you,” said Claire.“ You said you still
need to list your place?”

“Uh-huh, I’ll do that later today I guess.”

“That’s strange, because I saw a woman going in, more than once. I
assumed she was a realtor and you guys had already moved. Now you say you’re
getting a realtor. What’s that thing you were just talking about, a déjà vu in
reverse?”

“A jamais vu,” said Mel.

“I didn’t really get what you meant by that.”

“It’s just a silly game I play with Winnie. When things get all
fubar  we start over and just pretend things never happened.”

“Christ, you guys really are in love.”

“We made that up too.”

“What?”

“Love.”

“You’re quirky Mel. I like that in a girl."

“I better head out,” said Mel. I’ve got a drive ahead of me.”

“I’ll keep a light on for you Mel. You know you’re always welcome.”

“Thanks.”

As they parted Mel wondered what might have happened if they’d met
another time. Claire didn’t bother trying to kiss her.

Mel walked back to the apartment. Not through the alley. She
called Claudia to find out where Jack was. Claudia explained that Jack had gone
‘off book’. He was off the grid and the only reason she was even speaking to
her, blah, blah, blah.... Claudia told her,
insisted
that she go back to
Lilly pronto to work undercover helping to solidify the existing detente
between the Russians and the CIA. Like that was really her job—feeding the CIA
intel! She played along with her to find out more about Jack.

“I’m in Vancouver right now putting my apartment on the market. You
must know where he is Claudia. Don’t tell me he can just disappear from you
guys. If you want me back in London, tell me where Jack is.”

“Mel, Jack has been burned by the agency. That means he’s never
existed as far as we’re concerned.”

“Well, thanks. I guess I’ll see you in London.” Lie.

Claudia covered the phone and yelled something just as Mel was
about to hang up.

Mel heard her muffled yell even though she’d covered the receiver:

“The package is in Vancouver...Yes NOW!” She was yelling loud.

Claudia came back on.

 “That’s good Mel,” she said. “We’ll be waiting for you. You’re
doing a great service as an asset.”

After Mel hung up she wondered if ‘the package’ was Jack and that
Claudia had lied. Could Jack be in Vancouver? Claudia was playing her, she knew
that. But who could figure out what she was up to. The only chance she had as
seeing Jack was to go check the safe house. Maybe she could even warn him that
Claudia was planning something. It was only a few hours drive and it was her
last shot at saying goodbye to him. Who knew with these fucking Jack-Rabbit CIA
men?

Tweetie’s throaty purr barrelhoused down 264
^th
Street
south to the border. Mel had one hand on the steering wheel and a Marlboro in
the other. Both windows down and the tunes were at nine. The smoke whipped away
from her lips out the window. She didn’t want to think. With the music nice and
loud and if she drove fast enough, she could just pull it off without breaking
down. She pushed herself into that mode that people get into often on the way to
work. Go see Jack.  Get the house on the market and then back over the pond.

She crossed the tracks into Lynden, Washington and pulled into the
lot at The Blue Motel. Parked by the room they’d stayed in she cut the engine
and lights. Every unit was stone cold dark. Even the office. She stepped out
onto the blacktop parking lot. As she stepped her way to the office, she looked
around. It felt spooky, like the ground floor at Georgy’s. Dark and delicious.
A few raps on the door. Nobody there.

 “It was a long shot.” She mumbled to herself as she let go of the
aluminum screen door. It slammed against the office entrance and the sound
seemed like it would crack the whole reality around her. She looked around the
lot. Unit after unit. Nobody. The flatlands in the distance offered nothing but
more dark and few cricket chirps. She felt a deep vacant space inside herself.
It was what it was. She was who she was.

“He’ll be in pieces by now, scattered like Osiris.” Georgy’s words
echoed inside. She shook her head to cancel Georgy. To make it wrong with a
line through it. Suddenly she wanted out of there, to be flying back north to
Canada and just get away. She grabbed Tweetie’s door handle.

“I’m gonna miss you Jack,” she said.

“How could you miss at this range?”

Mel turned...

There he was! His one arm wrapped around a giant bucket of KFC and
a bottle of JD in the other hand.

“Two Jacks for the price of one,” he said.

Mel jumped on him koala bear style and sent the KFC flying. He did
manage to hold onto the bottle. They sat on the motel steps eating five second
rule drumsticks and sipped bourbon from the bottle.

“Did you know I was coming?”

“I have my methods,” he said.

“What the fuck Jack. Are you working over here?”

“I’ve gone private,” he said. “Remember The Ball? Well I’m working
for the badger,” he said. Jack smiled like it was all a big game.

“What?” said Mel, urging him to spill.

“All
I can tell you is The Ball is a secret society event. It’s all the top leaders
of the one percent. When you saw me there, I was in an undercover op—now I’ve
made some new alliances. At the highest level. And yes, before you ask me,
Talia is still  involved.”

“How
can I find her?”

“She’s
not on my radar Mel. There’s a lot going on at that level and it’s all strictly
need to know.”

“I’m
going to find out one way or another.”

Jack
was silent.
Mel let it go. There was still Claudia.
She could go to her in London and start searching.

Jack got up. “Come on in. It’s getting chilly out here.”

She followed him into the safe house room. Memories of this very
motel all the way back to the beach on Greece and her visions, dreams, whatever
they were... Everything flashed through her mind about her and Jack.

They settled in and Jack turned the heat up.

 “Nice job on Georgy,” he said. “That whack job was further gone
than anyone knew.”

“We’re going to be in China for a while.” Mel was evading the
topic. She was afraid that even thinking of Georgy might make this all
disappear and Jack would suddenly be gone.

“I shouldn’t tell you this, so keep it in the vault,” said Jack.

“Okay.”

“That impostor you killed at
The No.5
Orange was a Russian
lackey. I tried to tell you that night Mel, only things just got pushed along
too quickly. Alejandra exchanged a double for Scott. The guy you knew as Scott,
was Jacob, an undercover CIA operative.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jacob had been working the Downtown Eastside in an international gang
operation for a few years. His cover was Scott the manager. Alejandra scooped
him for collateral against the CIA. Once Alejandra was out of the picture and
the agency began dealing with Kutha, Scott was released and put back into play.

“So Scott is still alive?” said Mel.

“Yeah, he’s back at the club, and nobody is the wiser.”

“Wow, that is such good news!”

She felt a tingle in her heart, then thought of Walter.

 “Jack... I was pretty screwed up before with what Georgy was
doing to me and—”

“You held it together pretty well, considering,” said Jack.

Jack leaned in to kiss her and before she could say anything she
was kissing him back
.
She wanted to let him keep going. All of her desire rushed to the right places.

She
pulled away. Her mind was on Winnie.

“Jack, what we had before in London and—”

“Mel. C’mon, I’m a big boy. I just wanted to come say hello.”

After she met with Jack that last time, the Man-Rabbit was gone. She
tried to summon him in various states of mind, but he would not come to her. She
never saw him again in real life, in dreams, nothing. There was always her
memories of Jack.

Mel had to go see Scott again, just to prove that he was there in
the flesh. He was. She had a fond memory of him. She wasn’t really sure how
much he’d helped crack her heart open, but it was a pretty good hit.

She’d never get her father back. He’d opened her heart too and
she’d brought everything down on Walter, a complete innocent angel of a man.
She would never forgive herself. There wouldn’t even be a marked grave for him.
It was a CIA cover up. Everything was wiped. All records.

She plodded through the apartment getting any personal possessions
that had been left around. She called a cleaning company and then arranged to
have the place listed. After, she sat at the butcher block and sipped some
scotch, no water this time.

“God, I can’t wait to head back.”

The sound of her voice made something click. Something shifted in
the room. Mel set her empty glass down. She stood and looked around. It felt
surreal. Did all of it really happen? She dialled the airport to arrange a time
for the Li company jet to take her home.

That was when Mel met Kutha. She was dressed in a smart grey
business suit and walked right in the door while Mel stood in the center of the
room, phone in hand talking to the pilot at the airport.

“Sorry, I’ll call you right back,” she said.

“Hello Mel. So we finally meet. I’m Kutha.”

She went over to Mel and shook her hand. Mel was stunned by her presence,
examining the nuances of her likeness and similarities to Alejandra, Cara and
even herself.

Kara walked over to where Mel had been sitting and poured herself
a drink. She sat down.

“You’re Alejandra’s older sister? I mean was...were...” Mel walked
over to her.

“I live in Russia and I visit London occasionally. We’ve just
never met. I have to say I’m sorry about us never getting to know each other.
You’re very beautiful.”

“What are you doing? How did you even know I was here?”

Kutha reached over to Mel and stroked her arm, then touched her
cheek.

She was disarming. Like Cara, like Alejandra. Mel’s mind and body
flooded with her fantasy of being connected, being one of them. As soon as
Kutha touched her, it was as though nothing had changed since London.

“Mel. We’ve always known where you were. Lilly wants it that way.
It’s a family matter.”

Mel felt a tremble inside at the touch of her skin. It was sexual.
What was it with these Russian women, they made her melt inside.

“You just had a little run, that’s all. It’s wake-up time,” said
Kutha. She smiled at Mel. “Just think of me as your alarm clock. Only, no more
snooze button for you!”

She said it with a refined Russian accent that was so charming. That
of an elite business woman. And very friendly, almost caring, loving. Mel
thought maybe she was mixing things up with her new heart. She thought of
Dorothy and the Tin Man, his quest for a heart, while Kutha took out an iPad
and set it on a stand. How silly her mind worked some times. Kutha spoke in
Russian and the screen lit up. It showed Winnie in a room with Kim Li and
Phoenia.

Mel’s heart clutched and she held her breath.

“She won’t be hurt, not as long as you cooperate,” said Kutha.

Kutha said something else in Russian and the screen zoomed in on
Winnie to an extreme close up on her head. There was a red sniper dot on her. Then
two of them. Then three. Mel grabbed the iPad off of the table.

“Winnie! Look out!” She yelled it into the iPad like Winnie would
hear.

Then Kutha spoke again and the dots disappeared one by one in
reverse. Mel gripped the tablet watching Winnie walk around the room talking with
Kim Li and Phoenia.

“You’ll need to come back to London. Lilly is waiting. Mel, she loves
you dearly. She is family and you
will
come back with me. End of story.”

“But Winnie is—”

Mel stopped herself. She was going to say. Winnie is my family. The
inevitability of the truth held the words against her lips. Her lips. Winnie’s
lips might never be again. Something sunk inside her whole body. She knew it
didn’t matter what she tried at this point. She couldn’t fight them anymore. Any
of them. But she wasn’t going to expose herself. How deeply she loved Winnie.
Not to Kutha.  

“Alejandra was—” Kutha stopped herself too, feeling the pain of Mel’s
loss. She could see it plainly on her face as she gazed into the tablet at her
love. Kutha knew what Mel was going through. All of it. But Mel had no idea
what Kutha was really thinking or feeling. She couldn’t possibly know. Not yet.

“Look Mel, our sister was insane.

“You mean Alejandra, and you and Cara.”

“I mean Alejandra... there’s no simple explanation for what she
did. Her time in the army and then those Spetsnaz contracts. Afterward with
Phillip, all the crazy pathological shit. But she was a genius. It’s not
difficult to see how the fire was started in her.”

 Mel was numb. Raw. Tangled in too many webs.

“Winnie will be charged with an offence against the state and lose
her citizenship. She will never return to London.”

 Mel’s mind didn’t want to race any more. It stepped out. Her
heart was pierced by the worst dagger of all, and the blood was draining to her
feet. She wanted to cut herself and die now. She just wanted it to end.

“You are forbidden to see either her or Kim Li again. If you try
to contact either of them, Winnie will be killed.”

Stabbed. Deeper. “But why?” she cried.

“Lilly will explain everything.”

Kutha reached to take the iPad.

“Wait!” Mel gripped it close. “Just another minute?”

Kutha had her hand firmly on it.