Paradise Burns (10 page)

TWENTY-ONE

I woke up on my
hotel room floor. I don’t remember getting here, and I had no idea I’d been out
for so long until I’d checked my phone and saw it was turned two p.m.

I stood up and sat on the edge of the
bed. I felt like I had the worst hangover in history. And I’ve had some real
stinkers in my time, let me tell you.

I tried to stretch, forgetting for a
moment about my broken ribs. The shooting pain that ripped through my torso
soon reminded me.

I massaged my temples with my right
hand, then groggily looked around the room. It took me a moment to realize I
could hear the shower running in the bathroom, and the door was pushed to.

Had I left it on last night when I got
back here? I really didn’t remember. My concussion was pretty bad. I suppose
getting thrown through a window will do that to you.

I staggered over to the bathroom door.
As I reached for the handle, I heard the shower turn off. Then the door opened
and Clara Fox stood there, wearing a towel.

I didn’t understand. And I couldn’t
think of anything intelligent to say at that moment. All I could come up with was:

‘Huh?’

It ain’t Shakespeare, I’ll admit.

‘Morning sunshine,’ said Clara. ‘You
look like shit.’

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘You look like you’re
wearing a towel.’

‘I am.’

‘Oh, okay. Any particular reason?’

‘I just got out of the shower,’ she said
as she padded, barefoot and dripping, across the room toward the mirror on the
wall.

She picked up a hairbrush, which I’m
guessing she brought with her, and began combing through her long, wet, dyed
blonde hair.

I massaged my temples again, in the hope
it would stimulate my brain enough to form actual sentences and questions.

‘Yeah, what I mean is, why are you
showering and walking around in a towel in my hotel room?’ I asked, still a bit
dumbstruck.

She turned to look at me.

‘You got your ass kicked last night, you
know that, right?’ she asked.

‘You should see the other guy,’ I
replied.

‘I followed you to the club last night.
Thought you might need some help.’

‘So where were you when Pick Axe threw
me through a window?’

‘Who?’

‘The other guy.’

‘Ah, right. Strange name.’

‘He carried a pick-axe with him. He
liked to throw at people.’

‘Oh, that makes more sense.’

‘So, wait - why did you follow me? Why
would you care if I needed help?’

‘Well, forgetting for a moment that I
pulled a gun on you, then you elbowed me in the face and pulled a gun on me -
more than once, I might add - yesterday in the hotel suite was somewhat of an
eye-opener.’

‘Now there’s an understatement,’ I said,
remembering the uranium mine and the reason I went to the club last night in
the first place.

‘Why did you offer me that money?’

I sat back down on the bed.

‘Honestly? I felt sorry for you.’

‘Do I look like I need your pity?’ she
said, with a hint of hostility in her voice.

‘You look like you need to get dressed.’

She glared at me, clearly pissed about
what I’d said.

‘Look,’ I began. ‘I meant no offence,
alright? While I’m sure you are an extremely capable and highly experienced
assassin, I could tell yesterday that you had no idea how bad this situation
with Dark Rain was. You looked out of your depth, and you looked mad at
yourself for letting it get away from you like this.’

Her expression softened and she looked
away. I continued.

‘As soon as I realized that you had no
idea how bad this whole thing was, I admit I kinda felt bad beating on you the
way I did.’

She looked back at me and pulled a face,
but remained silent.

‘I don’t need the money, and I didn’t
want you getting caught up in this any further. Easiest way to leave a
situation like this is quickly, and with a boat-load of cash. I thought it was the
right thing to do.’

She let the smile she was trying hard to
hide slip just a little.

‘My hero,’ she said.

‘I think of it more like your big
brother.’

She smiled again, this time without
trying to hide it.

‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘I think I should be thanking you,’ I
replied. ‘I’m guessing I got back here because of you last night?’

‘I was keeping watch on the club. I saw
you enter, and when I saw everyone running out screaming, I guessed the mob
didn’t take your news too well.’

‘I didn’t tell them about the deeds. I
just said I killed Jackson and he didn’t have them on him.’

‘And they bought that?’

‘They seemed to. They were certainly mad
enough to suggest they did.’

‘That was simpler than I thought.’

‘Yeah, sometimes the best lies are the
most straightforward ones.’

‘So, what now?’

‘Not sure. I definitely need to shower
and change. Are you sticking around then?’

She stood up. Her towel wasn’t anywhere
near long enough. I made a point of keeping eye contact with her.

‘I can’t just walk away from Dark Rain,
they’ll find me,’ she said. ‘I don’t care how much money I have. I’ve seen too
much of their operation for them to allow me to leave.’

‘I could use some help finding them,’ I
replied.

‘Are you as good as the stories say you
are?’

‘Stories?’

‘Come on, you must know what I’m talking
about? You’re
Adrian Hell
!’

I swear to God, she air-quoted when she
said my name.

I said nothing. I knew what she meant. I
knew why there were stories about me. Maybe I’ll tell you about them some day.
For now, let’s just say I’ve managed to remain in control of my emotions since
I came to Heaven’s Valley, which is something I’ve not always managed to do in
the past.

I looked at Clara, my blue eyes fixed on
her green ones.

‘I’ll burn them to the ground,’ I said. ‘Every
last one of them.’

She stood quiet for a moment before she
spoke.

‘Good,’ she said. Then she smiled. ‘Now
go have a shower. I know exactly how we can start.’

TWENTY-TWO

After I’d
showered and changed, we left the hotel and took a short walk to where Clara
had parked her car. I didn’t really give much thought to what someone like her
would drive, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to find a bright red Dodge Viper
GTS with a vertical, white double stripe down the middle.

‘I’m impressed,’ I said. ‘That’s a nice
set of wheels.’

‘Sure is,’ she replied. ‘It’s a classic
– a V10 engine pumping out four hundred and fifty brake horse power. Zero to
sixty in four seconds.’

I looked her up and down, admiringly.
Not in a physical way as such, I was just impressed that someone who looked as
good as she did, and was as capable as she was, was also a car enthusiast. She’s
most guys’ perfect woman.

She saw my surprised and impressed look.

‘What can I say?’ she replied. ‘We all
have our toys. You have your guns, I have Princess here.’

I raised my eyebrow, questioningly.

‘Princess?’

‘What?’ she replied, with a shrug and a
smile.

I shook my head, smiling, and got in.
She climbed in next to me and fired up the engine.

‘So, where are we going?’ I asked.

‘I clearly don’t know as much as I thought
about Dark Rain, and we need to be prepared if we’re going to go up against
them. I figured we could do some recon, ask around, see what we can find out. I
know a good place to start.’

I must admit, I liked the way she was
talking as if we were a team. I’ve never had a partner. Well, not out in the
field anyway. Josh is my go-to guy – always has been. But Clara was operating
on the same wavelength as me, and it felt good.

‘Okay, let’s go.’

As we drove, I took in the surroundings
that flew by. I’d only seen a small amount of Heaven’s Valley so far, and
wherever we were heading was taking us all round the center of the city. We
passed briefly through the business district, where I’d first seen Clara with
Ted Jackson. We went past the large fountain where I’d sat. We took a left turn
and hit the freeway. We cruised at a steady eighty miles per hour for a few
minutes before she spoke.

‘There’s a courier service that has a
depot on the other side of town. Dark Rain has a guy on the inside who helps
them transport weapons and money around when they need it.’

‘They seem pretty well organized,’ I
said.

‘They really are. GlobaTech has given
them a lot of money, and they’ve used it well. The Colonel is a smart man, and
they’re well rooted in the city. They’ve got contacts and safe houses all over.
It’s strange to think that the people who live here have no idea that their
entire city is being used to organize a military operation like this.’

‘Yeah, it’s not a pleasant thought. When
I spoke to Jimmy Manhattan yesterday, I told him then that he was in way over
his head and had no idea who he was dealing with. I’m starting to think I don’t,
either.’

‘We just need to know exactly what their
plan is, and how they’re carrying it out. Then we can figure out how to stop them.
Simple.’

I had to smile.

‘Your optimism is encouraging, I’ll give
you that.’

‘I feel better now that I’m doing
something positive. I felt so bad the other day when I realized what I’d gotten
mixed up in. I’ve done some questionable things in the past, don’t get me
wrong, but for the most part I have no regrets. But this is off the scale. I
mean, uranium? We could be talking about black market nuclear weapons. It’s
insane.’

‘I completely agree. What’s worse is we
don’t know their end game. That’s why I’ve been running interference with the
mob. Pellaggio’s outfit pretty much owns this city. I’m surprised Dark Rain has
been able to do what they have without Pellaggio finding out to be honest. But
the mob isn’t military, and if they got their hands on nuclear weapons, or the
stuff used to make them, that just wouldn’t end well.’

Clara navigated the traffic with ease,
and took the next exit.

‘My idea is to scope out the courier’s
place, hope to get lucky and see our guy making a delivery. We can then tail him
and see what we find,’ she said.

‘Or we could just go and talk to him?’ I
suggested.

‘Seriously? You don’t do subtle, do you?’

‘She says in a bright red Dodge Viper!’

‘Touché,’ she laughed. ‘But he won’t say
anything. Ketranovich has everyone wound up tight. They’d die for his cause, so
there’s no way you’d get anything out of him.’

I looked at her.

‘He’ll talk to me.’

Her jaw tightened and she bit her bottom
lip, thinking. She knew better than to doubt me, but I think right then she was
worried about how this whole thing was going to play out.

We turned a corner and she forgot her
concerns as quickly as she thought about them.

‘We’re here,’ she said as we pulled up.

She pointed to a building over the road.

‘That’s the place.’

It was a generic two story building with
a yard on its left that had six trucks parked in it. The sign across the
building above the main entrance said EXPRESS COURIER SERVICES. There was lots
of activity, as you’d expect.

‘What’s this guy’s name?’ I asked.

‘Marcus Jones,’ she said.

‘Right, come on then,’ I said, opening
the door to get out.

‘You’re insane,’ she said.

We crossed the road and entered the
building through the main entrance. Inside was a small lobby with a worn, blue
carpet underfoot. There were a couple of seats on the left and a large plant on
the right that was long overdue some water.

The desk in front of us was manned by a
short, portly guy with dark hair and a large moustache – both mottled with
flecks of gray. His stomach was disproportionately large for the rest of his
body and hung low over his belt. I reckon it had been close to a decade since
he last saw his own feet while standing up.

‘Can I help you folks?’ he asked, in a
thick, southern accent.

‘I hope so,’ I said. ‘I’m looking for
Marcus, if he’s around?’

‘Jonesy? He’s out on a job at the
moment. Due back soon though. Can I ask why you want to see him? Bit irregular
for folks to come in and ask for a specific driver.’

‘We’re old friends. We’re passing
through town and wanted to say hello is all.’

‘Well now, ain’t that something?’

He stood and gestured to the chairs.

‘Grab a seat folks,’ he said. ‘Let me
get you a drink while you wait. You know, Jones is a quiet sort-a fella - keeps
himself to himself. He’ll be glad to see some old friends.’

I looked at Clara and smiled. She rolled
her eyes at me.

‘We’re alright for drinks, thanks,’ I
said. ‘But we appreciate being allowed to wait. I promise we won’t take up much
of his time.’

He laughed again.

‘No problem. You’re nice folks, you know
that?’

Clara spoke. ‘That’s kind of you to say,
thank you.’

We sat down and she looked at me.

‘You make things look really easy,’ she
said.

‘Thanks,’ I said.

‘It’s really annoying.’

‘Ah, don’t gimme that. You love it.’

We both smiled.

We were lucky, in that we didn’t have to
wait long. After ten minutes or so, the door opened and a man walked in. Clara
tapped my leg with her foot.

Marcus Jones.

He was average height, with dark skin
and a shaved head. He had a few days’ growth on his face, but I wouldn’t have
called it a beard. He was wearing a short sleeve navy blue shirt with a yellow
logo over the breast pocket that said ECS, then jeans and boots.

As he walked in, he saw the guy behind
the desk smiling at him and pointing at us. He turned and looked at me,
confused. Then he saw Clara, and his eyes went wide. I couldn’t tell whether it
was fear or surprise. Whatever it was, he bolted for the door.

I was straight out of the doors after
him. I got outside just in time to see him climbing into his truck and setting
off like a bullet from a gun.

Clara appeared behind me and we both ran
over to the car.

‘Well, that went well,’ she said as we
got in and she started the engine. ‘Did he tell you everything you wanted to
know?’

We sped off in pursuit, narrowly
avoiding a car coming from behind us.

‘Can you please just focus on trying not
to get us killed?’ I replied.