Paradise Burns (16 page)

THIRTY-FOUR

‘I’ll give you
two a minute,’ said Clark, as he backed out of the room and closed the door,
leaving me alone with Clara.

She looked good, considering. She was a
bit out of it, but for the most part she seemed to be doing well.

‘You alright?’ she asked.

‘Never mind me,’ I said, fighting to
keep the surprise and confusion out of my voice. ‘What happened to you?’

She took a deep breath and closed her
eyes momentarily. I pulled up a chair and sat by her bedside. She looked at me
and smiled. She looked happy to see me. I’ve not seen anyone happy to see me in
a long time. It was nice. Not being that great in situations like this, I
hesitated a moment before grabbing her hand and squeezing it gently, as a
gesture to acknowledge that I was glad she was alright. She squeezed back in
appreciation, then told me what happened.

‘After I left through the cellar in the
bar, I climbed out of the loading dock around the other side just as Natalia
started shooting at the police. I took a quick peek, and saw them split up and
come after you. I ran, but the guy who came after me was quick and he soon
caught me. Long story short, I shot him a couple of times and he died.’

I smiled. Clara and I had bonded very
well in a short space of time, and she had a very similar approach to conflict
as I did. It was refreshing. She continued.

‘I avoided the YouTube vultures on the
main street out front and made my way to your hotel. I got there, and there
were two guys in suits I’d never seen before searching your room. I was tired
and completely unprepared and they got the drop on me. One of them shot me and
I went down. I must’ve blacked out, but the last I thing I remember seeing was
one of them lifting your mattress. I’m sorry, Adrian, but whoever they were
took the deeds.’

I took her right hand in my left and
squeezed gently.

‘It’s okay, Clara,’ I said, reaching
into my back pocket. ‘I got the deeds back.’

I waved them at her, smiling. She
breathed out a heavy sigh of relief, wincing slightly as she did.

‘How’d you manage that?’ she asked.

‘It was Pellaggio’s men who raided my
room. I had another run-in with Jimmy Manhattan.’ I pointed to the cut running
down my cheek. ‘We had a disagreement.’

‘Is he dead?’

‘He’s not, no. I left him unconscious on
the floor of a portable cabin, on the construction site above our favorite uranium
mine.’

‘Oh, fair enough.’

‘So, come on - what happened after the
hotel? I asked Josh to search for you, and you weren’t registered as being
admitted to any hospital nearby.’

‘Yeah, I came round in the ambulance.
There were two nurses patching me up, a guy dressed in black with a gun and
Bob.’

‘Bob?’

‘Yeah, the GlobaTech guy.’

‘You mean Robert Clark.’

‘He said to call him Bob.’

‘Uh-huh.’

She sat up a bit in her bed and started
laughing.

‘Adrian, do I detect a hint of jealousy
in your voice?’ she said, mocking me.

‘Me? Jealous?’ I scoffed. ‘Of course
not!’

She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

‘I’m just highly skeptical of the new,
overly-friendly Ted Jackson replacement who works for the people funding the
terrorist organization who’s been trying to kill us both all day.’

Clara rolled her eyes.

‘Well, when you put it like that...’ she
said, pulling a face and smiling.

I shook my head in comical disbelief.

‘Anyway, you were saying?’

‘Yeah, so I woke up surrounded by these
guys, and Bob. . . Robert, said he was going to make sure I received the best
medical care available. I’ve been resting up here since then.’

‘You spoken to this guy since you woke
up?’

‘Not really. He came in to see how I was
about an hour ago, but that’s been it.’

She shifted in her bed again, trying to
get comfortable.

‘How did you get here anyway?’ she
asked.

‘After we got to the uranium site, Dark
Rain showed up in force. Ketranovich and Salikov were there, and some other guy
with blonde hair who seemed to calm Natalia down after she came over all
psycho.’

‘That’d be Gene, her twin brother.’

‘Yeah, Ketranovich said her brother was
the only one who can calm her down when she goes a bit psycho. That’s a family
in need of therapy.’

‘You don’t know the half of it.’

‘I bet. So, The Colonel and I had words,
which didn’t go very well.’

‘Let me guess, he offered you a job and
you opening antagonized him?’

‘I’m hurt you would even think such a
thing,’ I said, innocently.

She raised an eyebrow and stared at me
for a moment.

‘Okay, yes, I might have poked a little
fun at him,’ I conceded, prompting her to smile.

‘Anyway, just as I was about to be
gunned down by fifteen armed soldiers, three blacked out helicopters showed up
out of nowhere and gave me a lift out of trouble. Dark Rain didn’t try and stop
them either, they just stood there as stunned as I was.’

She shook her head, laughing.

‘You’re one lucky bastard, do you know
that?’

I smiled.

‘I’d hardly call myself lucky, given how
my visit to this city has gone so far.’

She laughed and the conversation died
down. We sat in silence for a few moments. I was glad she was alright. Despite
what Josh had said earlier about me doing the right thing, I’d have struggled
to forgive myself if anything had happened to her because of me.

Just then, the door opened and Robert
Clark came in.

‘You guys all caught up?’ he asked,
pulling up a chair next to me and sitting down.

‘Yeah, we’re good,’ I replied, smiling
at Clara.

‘Excellent. Now, down to business.’

THIRTY-FIVE

‘I need your
help, Adrian.’

Robert Clark, not for the first time
since I met him a couple of hours ago, took me by surprise.

I looked at Clara, then back at him.

‘You want
my
help?’ I asked.

‘That’s right,’ he replied.

‘I don’t know if you’ve been keeping
score,
Bob
, but Dark Rain have been trying to kill me all week. Why
would I help the guys giving them money?’

Clark smiled, clearly detecting the
irony in the situation and in his request.

‘I understand how you feel and I’m sorry
about what’s happened in the past. Let me explain a few things.’

He stood and began pacing around the
room. His hands were in his pockets and he was looking at the floor, seemingly
lost in thought. After a few moments, he spoke again.

‘Between you, I think you both have a
good understanding of the situation as it stands. Would you say that was a fair
assessment?’

Both myself and Clara nodded. Neither of
us spoke. Clark looked at me.

‘Adrian, after you killed Jackson and
took the deeds to the land, why didn’t you take them straight to Pellaggio?’

I shrugged.

‘I couldn’t allow the mafia to have
access to that land, knowing what it was. It would be just as dangerous as if I’d
allowed Dark Rain to keep it.’

Clark nodded, like he was thinking about
what I’d just said. He turned to Clara.

‘And you, Clara, why did you turn your
back on Dark Rain after the years you’ve spent fighting for them?’

She looked at me, then at Clark.

‘Same reason Adrian kept the deeds. I
had no idea their end game involved selling uranium, and I wanted no part of
it. It’s just difficult walking away from someone like Ketranovich.’

‘You’re right,’ said Clark. ‘It’s not. I
have the same problem that you do.’

‘You do?’ I asked.

‘Yes. An investigation took place in the
aftermath of Jackson’s demise,’ he began, briefly glancing at me as he
mentioned Jackson’s name. ‘I work for GlobaTech Industries, and I’m proud to do
so. The investigation revealed that Jackson was also on the payroll of a small
group of individuals working to their own agendas from within my organization.
It was these gentlemen who were working to fund Dark Rain, and to ultimately
use them to shift liability for the uranium while mining weapons-grade
material. The board of directors have ordered an immediate halt to all
activities undertaken by this group, and have seized all assets relating to
their operation.’

‘So you expect us to believe that you’ve
pulled your funding from Dark Rain and screwed them the way Jackson screwed
Pellaggio?’ I asked. ‘And that’s supposed to immediately absolve you of any
accountability and make you the good guys?’

‘Adrian, I think we both know that in
this world, things are too gray to simply have good guys and bad guys. But yes,
whatever ties my company had with Dark Rain have been severed. And we’re
actively looking to clean up the mess Jackson made, which is why I’m asking for
your help. I also think Jackson was a greedy little prick for trying to go
behind everybody’s backs and do a deal with the mob, and he got what he
deserved.’

He smiled.

‘But that’s purely my opinion.’

‘So what happens now?’ asked Clara.

‘Dark Rain needs to be stopped. They’re
heavily armed, well prepared and have roughly three thousand men tucked away at
their compound, ready to fight for them, according to the last status report
from Jackson.’

‘I’m assuming nobody’s informed
Ketranovich of these recent developments yet?’ I asked.

Clark smiled.

‘Don’t worry, we’re working on a
strategy to neutralize Dark Rain as we speak. They’ll get the message soon
enough. For now, you’re part in this is officially over.’

‘Just like that? After everything we’ve
been through?’

‘Just like that. Adrian, you can’t take
on an army be yourself. You need to get your affairs in order, then get out of
town. You’re done here.’ He paused a moment. ‘Well, almost.’

‘Why, what else do I have to do?’

‘Just one last thing, I promise. I want
you to give me the deeds to the land. I will personally sign them over on
GlobaTech Industries’ behalf to the U.S. government, who will ensure the land
is mined clean and the uranium disposed of safely.’

‘That’s a big ask, under the
circumstances,’ I said. ‘I appreciate you saved my life, but that doesn’t mean
I trust you.’

Clark smiled.

‘Fair enough,’ he said. ‘Perhaps this
will convince you.’

He pulled out his phone, dialed a number
and put it on speakerphone as it dialed. He placed it on the edge of Clara’s
bed, so it was in the middle of the three of us. He smiled at us both as the
phone was answered.

‘Schultz,’ said the voice on the other
end of the phone.

‘Sir,’ Clark said. ‘It’s Robert Clark,
GlobaTech Industries. I’m sorry to disturb you at this hour, but I have you on
speaker with Adrian Hell and Clara Fox. We spoke of the situation in Heaven’s
Valley yesterday.’

‘Ah, Bob, good to hear from you,’ said
the voice. It then spoke slightly louder, so as to address the whole room.

‘This is Ryan Schultz. I’m the Secretary
of Defense for the United States.’

Holy shit!

I’m on the phone with the Secretary of Defense.
I mean, short of speaking to the President himself, it doesn’t get much bigger
than that. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I was star-struck or anything, I
just couldn’t believe how high up the proverbial food chain this whole thing
has gone.

Schultz continued.

‘Adrian, I’ll make no secret that I
dislike what you do for a living, son. But I cannot deny you’re a resourceful
sonofabitch. In getting us the information you have, you’ve done your country a
great service.’

‘Well, Mr. Secretary,’ I said. ‘I didn’t
do it for my country. Everything I’ve done, I’ve done to stay alive. But I
appreciate you calling and thanking me - that means a lot. I just did what
anyone else would have, I guess.’

‘Well, whatever your motivation, the
information has proved invaluable to our efforts,’ said Schultz. ‘But if you
ain’t doin’ it for your country, you need to help us now as a service to your
fellow man. I need you to hand what paperwork you have pertaining to the uranium
site in Heaven’s Valley over to Bob Clark. GlobaTech are one of our biggest
contractors, and we trust them implicitly in this matter.’

‘With respect, sir, how can you trust an
organization that funded an underground militia and attempted to supply them
with uranium?’

‘That was a deal brokered by a
clandestine group of individuals operating inside a much larger company. Those
individuals have ceased all activities relating to the project, and management
of the resources have been given to Bob Clark. Bob here is one of us, do you
understand?’

‘I do.’

‘Good man. I read your file, Adrian. You
were a helluva soldier. You’re wasting your life as a hired gun.’

‘I appreciate the sentiment, sir, but
this is what I do and I’m exceptionally good at it.’

‘That’s as maybe, but you’re still a
goddamn killer. I don’t condone it, but this once I’ll overlook it.’

‘Very kind of you.’

‘Obviously, it should go without saying
that details of what’s happening here are classified at the highest level. I
would hate to think there’s any risk of information getting out about such
things.’

‘You have my word, Mr. Schultz – the
moment I’m outta this city, the whole thing will be completely forgotten.’

‘We appreciate your co-operation on the
matter, son.’

Clark picked up the phone and took it
off speaker. He had a quick, one-sided conversation, during which he agreed a
lot, then he hung up.

He reached into his pocket and pulled
out a pen. He clicked the top of it and held it out to me.

‘So, shall we?’