Hurry up!
I turned and looked outside, but couldn’t see Kelly. Fuck, I hoped Mr Honest Citizen wasn’t about to storm in demanding to know who’d left a little girl all alone in the rain. I quickly walked to the door and stuck my head outside. She was still there, standing where I’d asked her to.
I came back to the reception desk just as Dad appeared from the back office. The girl was on the telephone, taking a booking.
‘Just making sure our car isn’t blocking the way.’ I grinned.
‘I hear you have a problem?’ Dad had a vacant smile on his face. I knew we were OK.
‘Yes,’ I sighed, ‘we’ve been to the police and contacted the card companies. We’re just waiting for it to get sorted. Until then, all I’ve got is cash. I’ll pay for the next three days in advance.’
‘That’s no problem.’
I was sure it wasn’t. There was no way our little cash transaction would be finding its way onto the books. What some people call white trash, Kev used to call ‘children of the corn’; they might take a while to understand things, but an earner’s an earner in any language.
He smiled. ‘We’ll keep the telephone on for you.’
I played the grateful Brit and booked in, then Kelly and I traipsed up two flights of concrete and breeze-block stairs.
Kelly hesitated outside the room, then looked at me and said, ‘Nick, I want to see Mommy. When can I go home?’
Shit, not that again. I wished more than anything that she could go and see Mummy. It would be one less problem. ‘Not long now, Kelly,’ I said. ‘I’ll get some food in a minute, OK?’
‘OK.’
I lay down on the bed and thought out the priorities.
‘Nick?’
‘Yes?’ I was looking at the ceiling.
‘Can I watch TV?’
Thank God for that.
I reached over to the remote and quickly flicked the channels, checking I wasn’t going to catch us both on the news. I found Nickelodeon and stuck with it.
I’d made a decision. ‘I’m going out now to buy us something to eat,’ I said, my mind on the one option that hadn’t yet been closed. ‘You stay here, the same as before. I’ll put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and you make sure that you don’t open it for anybody. Do you understand?’
She nodded.
The call box was next to a Korean food store. It was still drizzling; I could hear the noise of car tyres on wet tarmac as I crossed the road.
I pushed in a couple of quarters and dialled.
I got: ‘Good evening. British Embassy. How may I help you?’
‘I’d like to speak to the defence attaché, please.’
‘May I say who’s calling?’
‘My name is Stamford.’ Fuck it, I had nothing to lose.
‘Thank you. One moment, please.’
Almost immediately, a no-nonsense voice came on the line. ‘Stamford?’
‘Yes.’
‘Wait.’
There was a long continuous tone, and I was starting to think I’d been cut off again. Then, thirty seconds later, I heard Simmonds. My call must have been patched through to London. Unflappable as ever, he said, ‘It seems you’re in a spot of trouble.’
‘Trouble’s not the word.’
In veiled speech I told him everything that had happened since my last call.
Simmonds listened without interruption, then said, ‘There’s not really a lot I can do. Obviously you understand the situation I’m in?’ I could tell he was pissed off with me big-style. ‘You were told to return immediately. You disobeyed an order. You should not have gone to see him, you know that.’ He was still cool about it all, but under the veneer I knew he was boiling.
I could just picture him behind his desk in his crumpled shirt and baggy cords, with the family photo and maybe Easter eggs for his family on his desk, next to a pile of red-hot faxes from Washington that had to be attended to.
‘It’s got nothing on the situation I can put you in,’ I said. ‘I’ve got stuff that would make your lot look not very British at all. I’ll blow it to whoever wants to listen. It’s not a bluff. I need help to get out of this shit and I want it now.’
There was a pause; the patient parent waiting for a child to stop its tantrum.
He said, ‘Your position is pretty delicate, I’m afraid. There is nothing I can do unless you have some form of proof that you’re not implicated. I suggest you make every effort to discover what has happened and why, then we can talk and I might be able to help. How does that sound to you? You can carry out your threat, but I wouldn’t recommend it.’
I could feel his hand tighten around my balls. Whether they complied or called my bluff, I’d be spending the rest of my life on the run. The Firm does not like being strong-armed.
‘I’ve got no choice really, have I?’
‘I’m glad you see it like that. Bring what you find.’
The phone went dead.
My mind racing, I wandered into the shop. I bought a bottle of hair tint – one wash in, twelve washes out – and a hair-trimmer gadget. I also bought a full washing and shaving kit because we couldn’t look like a couple of scruffies at large in Washington. Then I filled the basket with bottles of Coca-Cola from the chiller and some apples and candy.
I couldn’t find a Micky D’s and ended up in a Burger King. I bought two mega-deals, then went back to the hotel.
I knocked on the door as I opened it. ‘Guess what I’ve got? Burgers, fries, apple pies, hot chocolate . . .’
By the wall next to the window was a little circular table. The carrier bags went on the bed, and I dumped the burgers on the table with a flourish, like a returning hunter. Ripping the bags open to make a tablecloth, I tipped the chips out, opened the sauce, and we both dived in. She must have been starving.
I waited until she had a mouthful of burger. ‘Listen, Kelly, you know how grown-up girls are always dyeing their hair and cutting it and all sorts of stuff? I thought you might like to try.’
She didn’t look fussed.
‘What do you fancy – a really dark brown?’
She shrugged.
I wanted to get it done before she understood too much of what was happening. The moment she’d finished her hot apple pie, I led her to the bathroom and got her to take off her shirt and vest. I tested the shower temperature and leaned her over the bath, quickly wet her hair, then towelled and brushed it. I got the trimmer going, but I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing. I realized it was for beards really, and by the time I’d got the hang of it her hair looked shit. The more I tried to sort it, the shorter it was getting. Soon it was up around her collar.
As I studied the bottle of dye, trying to read the instructions, she said, ‘Nick?’
I was still reading the bottle and hoping I wasn’t about to turn her hair into a ginger fuzzball.
‘What?’
‘Do you know the men who were chasing you?’
I was the one who should have been asking questions.
‘No, I don’t, Kelly, but I will find out.’ I thought about it and put down the hair dye. I was standing behind her and both of us were looking at each other in the mirror. Her eyes were now not so red around the edges. That only made mine even more dark and tired-looking. I looked at her a while longer. Finally, I said, ‘Kelly, why did you go to the hidey-hole?’
She said nothing. I could see that her eyes were starting to question my hairdressing skills.
‘Did Daddy shout “Disneyland”?’
‘No.’
‘Then why did you go?’ Already this was getting too intense for me. I needed to do something. I picked up the dye.
‘Because of the noise.’
I started to comb the dye in.
‘Oh, what noise was that?’
She looked at me in the mirror. ‘I was in the kitchen but I heard a bad noise in the living room and I went and looked.’
‘What did you see?’
‘Daddy was shouting at the men and they were hitting him.’
‘Did they see you?’
‘I don’t know, I didn’t go into the room. I just wanted to shout to Mommy to come and help Daddy.’
‘And what did you do?’
Her eyes went down. ‘I couldn’t help him, I’m too little.’ When she looked up again, I saw her face was burning with shame. Her bottom lip started to quiver. ‘I ran to the hidey-hole. I wanted to go to Mommy, but she was upstairs with Aida, and Daddy was shouting at the men.’
‘You ran to the hidey-hole?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you stay there?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did Mummy come and call for you?’
‘No. You did.’
‘So you didn’t see Mummy and Aida?’
‘No.’
The picture of the two of them dead flashed into my mind.
I put my arms around her as she sobbed. ‘Kelly, you couldn’t have helped Daddy. Those men were too big and strong. Probably I couldn’t have helped him, and I’m a grown-up. It’s not your fault Daddy got hurt. But he is OK and wants me to look after you until he is better. Mummy and Aida had to go with Daddy. There just wasn’t the time to collect you.’
I let her cry a bit, then said, ‘Did you see any of the men who were chasing us today?’
She shook her head.
‘Did the men who were with Daddy have suits on?’
‘I suppose so, but they had like painting things on top.’
I guessed what she meant. ‘The sort Daddy would wear to paint the house?’ I did the actions of putting on a pair of DIY coveralls.
She nodded.
‘So do you mean they had suits on, but had the painting things over the top?’
She nodded again.
I knew it; these boys were good, they were players. They hadn’t wanted to get nasty red stuff all over their nice suits.
I asked her how many men there were and what they looked like. She was confused and scared. Her lip started to quiver again. ‘Can I go home soon?’ She was fighting back the tears.
‘Yes, very soon, very soon. When Daddy is better. Until then, I’m looking after you. Come on, Kelly, let’s make you look like a big girl.’
After a rinse I combed her wet hair and got her dressed straight away in her new clothes. If we had to move, I needed her dressed, so I told her that the only things she could keep off were her hat, coat and shoes.
She inspected herself in the mirror. The new clothes were much too big and her hair was – well, she didn’t seem too sure.
We watched Nickelodeon and eventually she fell asleep. I lay staring at the ceiling, going through the options or, rather, trying to kid myself that I had some.
What about Slack Pat? He would certainly help if he could, as long as he hadn’t turned into some drugged-up New Age hippy. But the only way I could think of contacting him was through the restaurant he used to rave about. The way he described it, he practically lived there. The problem was I couldn’t remember the name of it, just that it was on a hill on the edge of Georgetown.
What about Euan? He was no good yet because he’d still be operating in Ulster and there was no way I could make contact with him until he was back on the mainland.
I looked over at Kelly. That was how she would have to live for the next little while, always dressed, ready to run at a moment’s notice. I put the eiderdown over her.
I piled all the rubbish together and put it in the bin, then checked the sign was still on the door and her shoes were in her pockets. I checked chamber in both weapons – the 9mm in Kev’s jacket and the Sig in my waistband. No doubt Kelly was going to be in all of tomorrow’s papers, but at least, if the shit hit the fan, we were ready to go. I knew my escape route and would not hesitate to shoot my way out.
I got my new clothes out of the bag and took them into the bathroom. I had a shave, then undressed. I stank; Kev’s things were stained on the inside with blood. The sweat had thinned it, spreading it right up the back and shoulders of his shirt and the legs of his jeans. Everything went into a plastic laundry bag, which I’d throw away in the morning. I had a long hot shower and washed my hair. Then I got dressed, checked the door lock and lay on the bed.
I woke up at about five thirty in the morning, after a terrible night’s sleep. I wasn’t sure if all the bad stuff was a dream.
I thought again about money. I definitely couldn’t use credit cards because I had to assume they’d either been frozen or would be used as a trace. It was cash or nothing – not easy in the West nowadays. Pat, if I got to him, would fund me, but I knew I’d have to take advantage of any spare time to get hold of more. Kelly was snoring big-time. I picked up the key card, gently closed the door behind me, checked the sign was up and went looking for a fire extinguisher.
12
As I passed the open door to the cleaners’ store room I spotted half a dozen wedge-shaped doorstops on a shelf. I helped myself to a couple.