The Mountain Shadow (123 page)

India. Time measured in coincidence, and the logic of contradiction. Jagat pushed me off a perch of equilibrium I thought I’d claimed in India. But that shock happened almost every day, and shook the branch every time. The world I was living in, and not born into, rained strange flowers from every tree that gave me shelter.

‘That’s a lovely story, Jagat,’ Karla said.

‘It is?’ he asked, shyness hiding in a frown.

‘Yes. Thank you for sharing it.’

Jagat, whose name means
The World
, blushed and looked away, instinctively reaching for the handle of the knife in his belt.

‘Hey, listen, man,’ he said, turning back to me, his scarred young face telling the same stories every time someone looked at him. ‘I don’t feel right, taking all the money from your operation.’

‘You’re doing all the work,’ I said. ‘Why shouldn’t you take all the money? I’m the one who’s in your debt, for keeping it running. I owe you significant on this, Jagat-dude.’

‘Fuck you, man,’ he laughed. ‘I’m putting twenty-five per cent aside for you, every week, whether you like it or not, okay?’

‘Cool,
jawan
,’ I said, using the Hindi word for
soldier
. ‘I accept.’

‘When you get back from this spooky place full of tigers and holy men, there’ll be something there for you.’

‘When I get back to your spooky place full of businessmen and cops,’ I said. ‘I’ll be damn glad to get it.’

‘Let’s ride with Jagat to the highway and back,’ Karla suggested.

‘Good idea. Want some company, Jagat, or you wanna go fast?’

‘Let’s glide all the way down, baba-dude.’

‘
Kruto!
’ Karla said.

‘What’s this? Has Oleg been teaching you Russian?’ I asked, taking my bike off the stand.

‘
Sprosite yego
,’ she laughed.

‘Which means?’

‘Ask him.’

‘I will,’ I said, and she laughed harder.

A motorcycle is jealous metal. A motorcycle that loves you always knows when you even think about another motorcycle. And when she knows, she won’t start. And because I’d looked at Jagat’s bike, my bike didn’t start for me, even after three kicks.

Jagat thumped his bike into slow staccato motorcycle music, the 350cc single-piston engine like a drum that gets you from place to place, so long as you let it play its own tune.

I tried the kick-starter again, but all I got was a derisory cough.

Karla leaned over, hugging the tank of my bike, her arms around one of the handlebars.

‘A trip down the mountain and back again will be so good for you, baby,’ she said to the bike. ‘Let’s go for a ride.’

I kicked, and she started, jamming the throttle for a second, showing off.

We rode with Jagat, coasting downhill side by side on the deserted forest road, to the beginning of the fiercely determined highway. We waved him away, and turned back.

We rode through an evening forest, shifting from daytime daring to nighttime cunning. Birds were returning to roosts, insects were rising from slumber and bats as wide as eagles were waking for the feast.

We rode the long road to the caves as slowly as the bike would allow. We rode through soft wind in shadows, hiding and revealing the sky. The young night was clear. The first stars woke, rubbing their eyes. A leaf-fire somewhere sent earth perfumes into the air. And we were two happy fugitives, together and free.

Chapter Eighty-Two

W
E REACHED THE SUMMIT CAR PARK,
happy and free, and found Concannon waiting for us. He was sitting on the trunk of the red Pontiac Laurentian, and wearing a white shirt. I wanted it to match the car.

‘Hold on, baby,’ I said to Karla, sloping the bike to a stop.

I spun the bike around, and sped down the hill a few hundred metres before stopping again.

‘What are you doing?’

‘There’s a hollow tree just through there,’ I said. ‘Wait for me.’

‘Hide?’ she asked, as if I’d asked her to give blood to Madame Zhou.

‘Just wait. Until I get back.’

‘Are you crazy?’

‘That’s Concannon, back there.’

‘
That’s
Concannon?’ she said, intrigued by intriguing people.

‘Wait here, Karla,’ I said. ‘I’ll be back soon.’

‘I repeat, are you crazy? I’m the one with the gun, remember? And I’m a better shot. And I thought you said we were in this together, never apart.’

It was a tough call. When your enemy is ruthless, losing begins where mercy ends. But she was brave, and probably be the last woman standing in any fight.

‘Alright,’ I said reluctantly. ‘But don’t take any chances with this guy. He talks as good as he fights.’

‘Now I
have
to meet him,’ she said. ‘Let’s make an entrance, Shantaram.’

We rode back to the car park, and I slugged the bike onto the side-stand. Karla and I walked away while the bike was still breathing, the steps between Concannon and me shrinking at a motivated clip. I ran the last step hard, and hit him on the jump.

‘What the fuck?’ he said, holding the side of his head.

He rolled off the back of the car, and danced around me, feigning a few jabs. I rolled with him, but he covered up, breaking away fast.

He was dancing me away from Karla. He might’ve had friends somewhere. I stepped back slowly until I was beside her.

‘What are you doing up here, Concannon? Where are your goons?’

‘I came here alone, boyo,’ he said. ‘Which is more than I can say for you.’

He grinned at Karla, waving a hand.

‘Hello,’ he said.

Karla slid the gun from her bag, and pointed it at him.

‘If you’re carrying a gun,’ she said, ‘throw it away.’

‘I never carry a gun, miss,’ Concannon replied.

‘Good, because I always do. If you make a move, I’ll hit you twice before you get halfway.’

‘Understood,’ he grinned.

‘It’s not very smart, coming up here,’ she said. ‘There are tigers in this forest. That’s a good way to get rid of a body.’

‘If I thought I could bend my knee,’ Concannon grinned, ‘without your boyfriend kickin’ me in the undefended head, I’d do it, Miss Karla. It’s an honour. Concannon’s the name.’

‘My boyfriend got pretty upset,’ she said, ‘when I burned your letter, and I wouldn’t tell him what it said. I’ve been waiting for this chance, and I’m glad you gave it to me. Say it out loud, now, in front of him, if you’ve got the guts.’

‘Well, so it’s the
letter
that’s got you so upset, is it? No, no, I’ll decline your invitation to repeat my indecent proposals in front of this convict. I don’t think that would be wise.’

‘Like I thought,’ she smiled. ‘You wrote it, but you haven’t got the guts to say it.’

‘Did you not enjoy my little innuendos, then?’ Concannon asked. ‘I thought they were quite inventive, myself.’

‘Shut up,’ I said.

‘You see what I have to deal with?’ Concannon appealed to Karla.

‘Shut up,’ Karla replied. ‘Right now, you’re dealing with both of us. And not doing so good. What do you want here?’

‘I came to tell your boyfriend somethin’,’ Concannon said. ‘If I sit up there on the car, like I was before, will you not let me speak?’

‘I’d prefer you in the trunk, Concannon,’ I said. ‘With the car going over the cliff.’

Concannon smiled, and shook his head.

‘Hostility is ageing, you know,’ he said. ‘It adds
years
to your face. Can I sit peacefully on the fuckin’ car and talk to you like a fellow Christian, or can’t I?’

‘Sit,’ Karla said. ‘Christian hands where I can see them.’

Concannon sat on the trunk of the car, his feet resting on the bumper.

‘This would be a good time to talk your way out of this,’ Karla said.

Concannon laughed, looking Karla up and down, and then looked at me, blue eyes still bright in the faint light of the car park.

‘I didn’t have nothin’ to do with Lisa,’ he said quickly. ‘I never touched her. I only met her the once, well, the twice, I suppose you could say, but I liked her. She was a sweet thing. I’d never do anything like that. I only said it to get a rise out of you. I never touched her. And I never would’ve. It’s not my way.’

I wanted to stop him. I wanted to lift the curse that someone had put on me with the mention of his name. It was bad: everything connected to him was bad.

‘Keep talking,’ Karla said.

‘If I’d known what a sick thing Ranjit was, I’d have stopped him,’ Concannon said. ‘I swear it. I would’ve killed him myself, if I’d known what he was.’

His head was down. His guard was down. I wanted to run at him, and push him backwards through whatever malevolent window he’d jemmied open. But Karla wanted to know everything.

‘Keep talking,’ Karla continued. ‘Tell us everything you know.’

‘I didn’t find out until later,’ Concannon said. ‘If I’d known before, there wouldn’t have been any later.’

‘We got that. Go on,’ Karla said.

‘I met that maniac, Ranjit, through the drugs. The high and mighty don’t hesitate to come callin’ on my kind, when they need drugs. When he told me he was buying stuff to put Lisa to sleep, that night, I wanted to come along.’

‘Ranjit wanted the stuff, so he could put her to sleep?’ Karla asked, too gently, it seemed to me.

‘He did. Rohypnol tablets, he bought. I thought it was just a prank. He told me they were friends, and they were havin’ a private party.’

‘But why did you tag along with him?’

‘To torment your boyfriend,’ Concannon said, pointing at me. ‘That’s why I sent the dirty little letter to you, and put my filthy mind in yours for a while, to torment this berserk convict motherfucker.’

‘Shut up,’ we both said.

‘Well, you’re a fine pair of holy hooligans. A perfect match.’

‘Why were you there, Concannon?’ Karla asked, the mention of his name pulling his blue eyes to her.

‘I told you,’ he smiled. ‘I knew that if Lin, here, knew that I’d been in his home with his girl, while he was away, he’d be wilder than a stallion.’

‘Why did you want him wild?’

‘I did it to hurt him, because I knew that it would hurt that Iranian.’

‘Abdullah?’ Karla asked.

I hadn’t told her. I couldn’t betray the glory that Abdullah was, by speaking the truth of what he’d allowed himself to become that night, with Concannon.

‘We killed a few people together,’ Concannon replied casually. ‘No big deal. But he went native on me, and it became a war between us. Your boyfriend here was just collateral damage.’

‘Okay, that’s enough for me,’ I said.

‘Have you ever tried anger management?’ Concannon asked.

‘Go away, Concannon. I just ran out of shut-up.’

‘Before you go, if we let you go,’ Karla said. ‘Tell us what you know about Ranjit.’

I couldn’t understand it. I didn’t care about Ranjit, and I didn’t want Lisa’s name to slither from Concannon’s serpent lips again, ever. Knowing what Concannon was capable of inflicting, knowing that his pedigree was approved by the Tuareg, I wanted him unconscious or gone.

‘Don’t play games with us, Concannon,’ I said. ‘If you’ve got something to tell us, spit it out.’

‘I ran across Ranjit at a party, in Goa. He was wearing a wig, as a disguise, but I knew it was him right away. Seein’ as how he was a millionaire on the run and all, I thought he must have some money stashed away, so I got him wasted on cocaine and heroin, and persuaded him to take me back to his digs.’

‘Ranjit had a house in Goa?’ Karla asked.

‘He was rentin’ it, I think. A fine big place it was, though. A grand place. And all the while, I’m edgin’ him toward the safe, wantin’ him to open it for me, when he suddenly opens it himself, and says
Would you like to see a movie?
’

Karla put her hand on my arm gently.

‘What kind of movie?’

‘Sex tapes, it was,’ Concannon laughed. ‘Although it was very one-sided sex. The girls were all drugged senseless, you see. He wore a shower cap, and rubber gloves, leaving no trace of his sinfulness. He cleaned them and dressed them again, when he was done with them, and left them on his couch with a cosy blanket over their knees, so they woke up, and never even knew it happened.’

‘Ranjit did that?’

‘Yes, that he did,’ Concannon said. ‘You didn’t know?’

I just got back another
shut up
,
but Karla squeezed my arm.

‘Did he tell you why he did it?’