Apocalypse Now Now (32 page)

‘On a ship?’ Ronin says.

I nod.

‘Bingo bango,’ he says, clapping his hands together.

Gredok takes a slurp of coffee. ‘We need more weapons,’ he says. ‘My lads only have handguns and we’re almost out of ammo. We’re going to need a shitload more firepower if we’re going to do a marine assault.’

‘I may be able to get some,’ I say.

They turn to look at me. ‘We’re also going to need to make fire, household solvents, petrol, things to make Molotov cocktails.’ Ronin says.

‘It happens I know just the guy,’ I say with a smile.

‘I can’t say that I wasn’t a little surprised by your phone call,’ Anwar says. He’s alone in Central, sprawled on the couch and watching us curiously. ‘You’re keeping strange company these days, Zevcenko.’

He casts a lazy eye over us. Kyle, Zikhona and the Inhalant Kid had met us at Central, with Rafe in tow. I’d arrived with Ronin, Tone and Katinka. Gredok and the other dwarves had stayed behind to organise our little trip up the coast.

‘I know your crew of degenerates,’ Anwar says, waving a hand at the Spider, ‘but who are these three? That one looks like an escaped mental patient.’

‘And you look like you have rabies, kid,’ Ronin growls. ‘Maybe I should put you down.’

‘You better tell your friend to play by my rules,’ Anwar says, shifting nervously in his chair. It’s the first time I’ve seen him this uneasy and I won’t lie, it’s quite gratifying.

‘Why are the Spider arming themselves, anyway?’ he says. ‘I thought you were pacifists.’

‘This has nothing to do with Westridge,’ I say.

He shrugs. ‘You can understand how I might be reluctant to arm a competing faction with my own weapons. So tell me, what’s in it for me?’

‘A cut of porn profits,’ I say. ‘Thirty per cent of everything. That’s including our new deal with Dirkie Venter.’

Anwar laughs. ‘I think you may have mistaken me for one of the actors in your porn, Zevcenko. I have no desire to get fucked in the ass.’ He strokes his chin. ‘I want it all. You give me the infrastructure and contacts to control the porn at Westridge and convince Dirkie Venter to deal with me. Then you can have as many guns as you can carry.’

‘All of it?’ I say.

‘With a non-compete clause, of course,’ Anwar says with a smile. ‘If you do this you’re done with porn. The Spider ceases to exist.’

‘Fuck you,’ Kyle shouts at him.

‘Oh, Baxter’s little dog barks,’ Anwar says.

‘I need to discuss it with my people,’ I say.

Anwar shrugs. ‘Go ahead.’

I retreat into a corner with my friends. Rafe follows us and hangs around on the edge of the circle we’ve formed. ‘Last time I checked, you weren’t a member of the Spider,’ I say to him.

He stares at me.

‘Why the hell did you come along anyway?’

He shrugs once.

‘Perfect,’ I say.

‘You’re not going to do this, are you, Bax?’ Kyle says. ‘We’ve worked so hard. You’ve worked so damn hard for this.’

I sigh and look at them. ‘The Spider is the best thing that has ever happened to me,’ I say. ‘And this fucker, this guy we’re after, tried to convince me that you guys didn’t exist.’

Kyle is peering intently at me, Zikhona is chewing gum loudly and watching me, the Kid is sniffing, his eyes darting from side to side.

‘But even with the most powerful drugs he had, he couldn’t make me forget you miscreants. He couldn’t make me believe. You’re right. We’ve all worked damn hard to make the Spider what it is. Giving it away just like that is not something I would ever want to do. But the thing is, we’re not just a corporation, we’re best friends, and Anwar can’t take that away from us. This guy, Mirth, is going to come for me at some stage. I’d rather go for him first.’ I rub my eyes with the backs of my hands. ‘I’m going to fucking end this one way or another.’

‘Give it to him,’ Kyle says without hesitation. Zikhona nods. The Inhalant Kid takes a moment and then nods too.

‘Are you sure?’ I say.

‘You created the Spider,’ Kyle says. ‘And you gave me a place in it. That was always more important than business for me. Besides, selling porn was ruining the experience of watching it for me.’

The Inhalant Kid nods. ‘I’ll do whatever you guys do. You’re the only people who don’t think I’m weird.’

‘Ha, you
are
weird,’ Zikhona says, punching him on the arm.

‘Give him the porn, Baxter,’ Kyle says.

I turn, walk back over, and nod to Anwar. He smiles.

‘To the end of the Spider,’ he says. ‘And the growth of the NTK.’ He gets up to key in a pin on the keypad on the wall. There’s the sound of a lock clicking. He pulls one of the Masonic banners off the wall to reveal a huge safe.

‘Combat shotguns, assault rifles, Glocks,’ Anwar says. ‘A gun for every occasion.’

If I ever had any doubt about who would win should the gangs go at it, it was instantly quashed.

‘Damn,’ I say. ‘Where the hell did you get all this?’

‘My brother and I have a little deal. I funnel drugs into schools in the area, and he provides me with guns.’

‘A flame-thrower,’ Ronin says gleefully, picking up the pack and strapping it to his back.

‘There’s enough weaponry for a small army here,’ Tone says, his eyes wide with disbelief.

‘Welcome to the education system,’ Anwar says, spreading his arms. ‘And to the death of the Spider and the end of an era at Westridge.’

I sigh. ‘At least I’ll have time to join the choir.’

‘Giant Crows?’ Zikhona says through her gum. ‘That’s some serious sci-fi shit right there.’

‘Tell me about it,’ I say.

‘I can’t believe this stuff is actually out there,’ Kyle says. ‘I mean, it makes you wonder, doesn’t it? If that’s been kept from us all this time, what other stuff is real? UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, who built the pyramids …’

‘Slaves,’ says Tone. ‘Slaves built the pyramids.’

‘Oh, sure,’ Kyle says. ‘I bet that’s exactly what you government types want us to believe.’

‘Trust me,’ Ronin growls. ‘The less you know about what really goes on the better. That stuff will give you nightmares.’

We’ve piled our load of weapons and the flammables, courtesy of the Inhalant Kid, into the back of Pat’s VW. Gredok and the dwarves are strapping equipment onto fat black motorbikes and checking the weapons from Anwar.

‘The sooner we leave the better.’ Ronin climbs into the driver’s seat. ‘So say your goodbyes to your little buddies.’

‘I’m coming with you.’ Kyle gets into the back and crosses his arms across his chest like a little kid.

‘There’s no way I’m having the computer geek club coming to raid a ship with us,’ Ronin says.

‘Hey, I’m coming too,’ Zikhona says.

‘Me too,’ the Inhalant Kid pipes up.

‘Maybe I didn’t make myself clear,’ Ronin shouts. ‘You’re not coming with us.’

‘Guess you don’t want the schematic of the Russian
Titan
destroyer then,’ Kyle says, holding up his phone. ‘From what Bax described that’s what you’re attacking.’

‘How about I crush your testicles and take your phone from you?’ Ronin replies.

Rafe taps me on the shoulder. I turn around. He scribbles something on a notepad and holds it in front of my face.
Take me with you or I’ll tell Mom where you’re going
, it says.

‘Oh for fuck’s sake, Rafe,’ I sigh. ‘Do you have to do this every single minute of every single day?’

He nods.

‘How about they come with us until we find a boat?’ I say. ‘They can take the bus back to Cape Town.’

‘If they get killed I’m not being held responsible,’ Ronin says.

‘Deal,’ Kyle says.

‘But call your folks. The last thing I need is a soccer mom shooting me for kidnapping her darling,’ Ronin says.

They make the calls to their parentbots. Rafe texts my mom to tell her that he’s OK. She’s probably having a nervous breakdown but there’s nothing I can do about that now.

Ronin starts the engine and we reverse out of the Haven. Truth be told, a bright yellow VW van doesn’t really make one feel very bad ass. But the gym bags filled with semi-automatic weapons and incendiaries definitely help. So does the crack platoon of Dwarven
mercenaries on custom bikes behind us. I swap places with Tone and squeeze in next to Kyle. Katinka slams the door shut.

‘Road trip!’ Kyle shouts.

I doze off for a while into a blissful dreamless territory. When I wake up it’s dark outside. I peek over the seat in front and see the sangoma at the wheel and Ronin smoking in the passenger seat with his boots up on the dash.

‘Are we there yet?’ I say.

‘Go back to sleep,’ Tone murmurs.

We’re watched uninterestedly by locals with hangovers when we stop off in small towns for food and to stretch our legs. Apparently not even heavily armed dwarves on bikes are noteworthy when you’ve got a cheap-wine hangover.

Back on the road and I’m suddenly incredibly uncomfortable, shifting positions every couple of minutes, Kyle’s head lolling onto my shoulder. ‘Dude,’ I hiss, pushing him off me as drool begins to soak into my T-shirt.

Ronin takes over driving duty and I convince Tone to swap seats with me. Sucker. I climb into the passenger seat and sigh with relief as I stretch my legs onto the dashboard. I look in the rear-view mirror and see that Tone has created a sonic shield between him and Kyle, and is lying back comfortably. Asshole.

‘What’s bothering you, sparky?’ Ronin says through the cigarette clamped between his teeth.

‘Does it ever get easier?’ I say. ‘Knowing that there are these monsters out there. Actually scratch that. Knowing that you’re one of the monsters.’

‘The whole “you’re part Crow thing”?’ he says. ‘Yeah, that’s gotta suck.’

‘Thanks for all your wisdom, Yoda.’

He shrugs. ‘You’re part Crow. You’re related to Mirth, your girlfriend dumped you. Not exactly sure how you want me to sweeten that.’

I sigh. ‘I don’t know.’

‘I once saw an agent suck on an assault rifle and pull the trigger,’ Ronin says. ‘Splat. At the time I thought he was an idiot, but I wonder daily whether he was, in fact, the smart one.’ He blows smoke out through his nose. ‘The Hidden are a bunch of fucking problem children that the government wants nothing to do with unless it’s to exploit them. We’re like Nazi concentration camp guards overseeing the genocide. I find a particular blend of drugs and Jack Daniel’s helps.’