Peccadillo - A Katla Novel (Amsterdam Assassin Series Book 2) (23 page)

“Which almost worked,” Nicky said. “If I hadn’t given Thooft an old business card…”

Zhang pursed his lips. “Even a new card would’ve been circumstantial evidence, since the killer planted the card in Thooft’s mouth.”

Ri nodded. “The message was not for the police, but for us.”

“Anyway,” Lau said. “He didn’t kill Eric to protect Sieltjes.”

“Maybe he was assessing our strength. And to take one of our amulets, to identify his opposition.”

“He must’ve come by water,” Nicky said. “I interviewed the guards, but he didn’t enter through the gate and there was no breach in the fence.”

“The fog helped too,” Lau said. “Eric wasn’t that easy to surprise.”

The phone on the desk rang and Zhang answered, listened for a minute, thanked the caller and put down the phone.

“Bernie’s at AMC. Second degree burns on his legs and a broken arm from tumbling from the Lexus. The fire was extinguished by other motorists.”

Nicky lit a cigarette. “And the gun strapped to the incendiary device? It looked like Bernie’s.”

Zhang shook his head. “I have no idea. I’ll probably be questioned by the police again, I’ll find out then.”

“Bernie will also be questioned,” Lau said. “What will we do about that?”

“I’ll leave that up to you,” Zhang said. “Make sure he doesn’t become a liability.”

Lau nodded. “Free hand?”

Zhang nodded and looked away. Lau motioned at Nicky to follow him and they left the office.

-o-

A police officer stood by the nurses station of the burn unit, when Bernie was wheeled in after receiving casts for his hands and his elbow fracture. The nurse pushing his wheel chair spoke briefly with the policeman and proceeded to take Bernie to a six-bed ward. The police officer remained at the nurses station, speaking to the nurse on duty, while Nicky watched through the open sliding door how the other nurse put Bernie’s swaddled legs in traction. She looked at her watch, jotted something in the stats hanging at the foot of his bed and left the ward.

Wearing a white lab coat two sizes too large over his leather jacket, Nicky walked into the ward and pulled the curtains around Bernie’s bed.

“Hey, Nicky,” Bernie mumbled. “Where did you go?”

“I’m sorry I had to leave you, Bernie. Did the police give you a hard time?”

“They tried, but I was in pain. The ambulance took me away. They’ll come by later.”

Nicky couldn’t believe his luck.

“Are you still in pain?”

“No,” Bernie rubbed the back of his head against his pillow. “Sedated. I burned my legs, Nicky.”

“Yes, you should’ve tossed the package back out the window.”

“Was Loki,” Bernie mumbled. “Cold blue eyes.”

“Wait,” Nicky said. “Your pillow is sliding.”

He pulled the pillow from behind his back and fluffed it, then put it over Bernie’s face and leaned on the bed with his full weight. Bernie bucked and screamed into the pillow, but Nicky whacked him in the groin, the pain accelerating his exhalations. He lost consciousness pretty quick and Nicky felt his neck. No pulse.

Nicky slipped from the bed and pulled Bernie forward, put the pillow back in position and leaned Bernie back, positioning him so he looked asleep. He left the curtains around the bed and checked the hallway before he left the ward, making sure to keep his back to the policeman chatting up the nurse at the nurses station.

He breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he entered the stairwell and moved down two flights of stairs. Balling up the white coat, Nicky entered the first floor corridor, tossed the coat under a stretcher and took the elevator down to the ground floor. A minute later he walked out without the alarm being raised.

After he passed CCTV security cameras, Nicky signalled Lau, who picked him up at the curb.

“Is he dead?”

“Of course. Bernie hadn’t spoken to the police yet, so I think we’re in the clear.”

Lau smiled. “I like to be sure. I want to visit my psychic again, but this time without witnesses.”

“If that’s your way to be sure.”

Lau glared at him.

“What?” Nicky held up his hands. “You know how I think about her, Elder Brother.”

“One day,” Lau said. “One day, you’ll find there’s more to this world than what can be measured by science.”

-o-

Nicky and Lau waited in the shadows, noticing how the man at the door refused the next customer. Nicky looked at his watch. A blond woman had been the last to enter, the waiting room held about five people, ten minutes each. He pulled up his collar against the rain and said, “Are you sure you want to do this, Elder Brother?”

“I need to know,” Lau said, lighting another cigarette. “Only two more weeks until the next new moon.”

Nicky shrugged. “She will just pour more poison in your ear.”

“I knew a psychic in Macao.” Lau kept the cigarette in his palm to hide the glowing tip. “She gave me her address.”

“They’re all part of the same union?”

“The real ones know each other.”

Nicky chuckled. “The Psychic Connection?”

The man at the door went inside, but came outside a moment later and crossed the street, heading straight in their direction. He halted before them and said, “My mistress wishes for you to join her now.”

Lau stepped out of the shadows and crossed the street and Nicky followed, the man trailing in their wake. The living room was empty.

“We sent everybody home through the back door.” The man spoke behind them, a gun in his hand. “Your guns, please. My mistress does not relish being abducted or other people getting caught in the crossfire.”

“Well, well.” Nicky fished his nine millimeter from under his jacket. “Maybe she really has psychic abilities.”

“I knew you doubted me.” The psychic stood in the doorway, leaning on her cane. She followed Nicky’s gaze and said, “I had to sacrifice my limbs and my looks for my gift, but I feel it was a small price to pay.”

She turned to Lau. “I’m disappointed in you. I thought you were a true believer. I knew you were surrounded by cynics, but I expected you to show more mettle.”

Lau appeared chastened. “I’m really sorry.”

She turned away before he finished speaking, and wobbled away through the narrow corridor to the room where she did her readings. Lau sighed and followed the psychic. Nicky glanced over his shoulder at the placid face of the psychic’s helper, and followed Lau into the corridor. The psychic sat at her usual table and motioned for Lau to sit down before her. He put his hands down at the table and she put her hands on top of his. The withered claw that used to be her right hand rested on top of his left hand, opening and closing like some primordial beast gasping for air.
 

Her good eye was fixed on Lau’s face. “Part of my prediction has come true and caused you to doubt my integrity.” Lau opened his mouth, but she shook her head. “It wasn’t a question. My sole connection to the dark that circles you is the connection you made.”

“I’m sorry.”

She nodded. “You’re a man of violence, simple and direct. Like a soldier, following orders. You’re good at it, because you like it. Cruelty is in your nature and you relish the fear you strike in the hearts of others.”

“True.”

“You challenged the dark because your fear didn’t warn you. Dormant for so many years, your fear is awake now. Too late to help you now. The dark is much more skilled at cruelty and violence than you are.”

“So, is there anything I can do?”

“I told you. Change your life. Your attempts to thwart Death only feeds its appetite.”

“What attempts?”

“Killing the blind from the east was a mistake that brings the long arm of Death within striking distance.”

“Do I still have time?”

“You’re moving in the wrong direction. You have to get back to the crossroads and take the righteous path.” She lifted her hands. “Let me speak to your younger brother now.”

She lifted her chin and motioned Nicky to take the seat Lau vacated. Nicky smirked and sat down, put his hands flat down on the table. The claw descending on his left hand creeped him out, but he didn’t show his disgust, although the left corner of the psychic’s mouth curled up in a reflection of his smirk.

“Disfigurement abhors you,” the psychic said. “You think I chose being a psychic, because it suits my appearance. In fact, I had no choice. When I told people what was in their heart of hearts, I was propelled into this calling. You think it’s easy money. Being able to see in the heart of man isn’t easy. Touching most hearts is like sticking your hand in a rotting carcass, with the maggots crawling up your arm and defecating all over you.”

“So the money is to compensate the icky feelings, I get it.”

“Actually, I’m amazed how little you get. You’re more intelligent and perceptive than your older brother, but your cynicism had infected your capabilities.” She shrugged. “I guess that’s why you’re a criminal, instead of using your considerable faculties for nobler purposes.”

“Thanks for the psychobabble.”
 

Nicky pulled back his hands, but her good left hand seized his wrist and she closed her eyes. “The dark scares you too, and with reason. The trickster has seen you and rarely forgets a face. You’re marked, just like your brother. You’ll get one chance to defeat the dark, but your arrogance will lead you astray.”

Nicky snorted. “Astray?”

“You should be afraid, but your machismo prevents you from acknowledging your fear.”

“You keep telling us that we should live by our fear, as if fear is a good thing. Fear makes people stupid.”

“Fear makes people cautious,” the psychic corrected. “And in the face of real danger, caution can save your life.”

“Maybe in your world,” Nicky said. “I think I heard enough. And I’m not convinced that your intel is spiritual. I think you’re working with Loki to undermine our resolve.”

“Just because your mother abandoned you doesn’t mean all women are suspect.”

“My mother didn’t abandon me.”

“No, but you do regard her death as a betrayal. And you rage against the impotent anger. I pity you.”

Nicky lashed out, punching her in the disfigured side of her face and sending her sprawling on the floor. Behind him, her servant aimed his gun at Nicky’s head, but Lau whirled around, his extended leg connecting hard with the servant’s face. The servant crashed into the wall and the gun discharged, filling the room with an echoing thunderclap that seemed to shake the plaster from the ceiling. Nicky advanced on the fallen servant with his chair, but the man was unconscious, his nose pulped and bleeding all over the man’s shirt. Lau moved in as well, black eyes flat as usual before a killing blow. Nicky changed direction and used the chair to stop Lau from killing the servant. Lau looked like a cat whose mouse was taken away, but he blinked and both of them turned to the psychic, slumped on the floor.

She shook her head and spoke, but her words didn’t penetrate the ringing in their ears. Lau took his sleeve and Nicky allowed himself to be pulled into the corridor. They collected their guns and left the apartment, making no effort to hide as they walked to Lau’s Audi and drove away.

A twinge in his kidneys announced the onset of cold turkey. Chang put down his paperback novel, ordered a bottle of mineral water from the friendly blonde stewardess, and dug the arthritis pills from his carry-on bag. According to the pharmacy label, the pills contained three percent morphine and twenty percent codeine, while the actual amount of morphine was closer to sixty-five percent and the codeine content virtually non-existent. Two would sustain him until he arrived in Amsterdam and put his hands on some brown heroin.

The stewardess returned with a bottle of Sourcy and a plastic cup.

Chang swallowed the pills and picked up his novel again, searching the page for the last paragraph he’d read. Bought in a bookshop at Hong Kong Airport, the ‘critically acclaimed blockbuster’ was not half as interesting as the drawing on the cover. After struggling through four more excruciatingly dull and unimaginative pages, he gave up and stuffed the novel in the pouch with the security pamphlet and airsick bag.

Waiting for the morphine pills to do their work, Chang cranked back his seat, his gaze taking in the inflight movie. He didn’t bother donning the headphones. Through half-closed eyes, he watched a silent argument unfold between the main character and the female lead, and wondered if the actors themselves considered their expressions natural and realistic. To Chang the whole frantic cast appeared in dire need of sedatives. The dialogue would most likely be stuffed with snappy one-liners, rapid fire ripostes more irritating than funny.

Despite the ventilation, the cabin air had a stilted quality composed of sour breath, body odour, sweat and that faint fragrance Chang always associated with the low-level panic that imbued cramped spaces filled with too many people. He closed his eyes, ignoring the slumbering ache spreading through his abdomen, and sifted through his memories for pleasant recollections.
 

A child started bawling behind the tourist class curtain and his mind sent him the soldier, splashing awkwardly through a Cambodian rice paddy towards the safety of the lush forest, holding a bawling infant over his head as a shield against sniper fire. Chang sat in a tree, tracking the soldier in the crosshairs. Near the edge of the paddy, in the shade of the trees, the soldier lowered the child against his chest, exposing his head. The crack of the rifle followed a second after the 7.62mm bullet tore into the soldier’s brow and the back of his head exploded in a cloud of torn brain tissue and skull fragments. Not much blood, like with a neck shot, but a spasmodic twisting of limbs as the soldier fell headlong into the swampy waters, crushing the infant under him. The shot echoed against the green hills while the child drowned under the weight of the dead soldier.

Chang opened his eyes. That one had been counted as one confirmed kill.

-o-

The effect of the pills was wearing off by the time the Boeing was in a holding pattern over Schiphol Airport, but Chang resisted the urge to take more. He would suffer the withdrawal symptoms, not just to avoid appearing drowsy or otherwise impaired to the customs officers, but high quality heroin wouldn’t be hard to find in Amsterdam and he didn’t want his senses dulled when he’d be chasing the dragon.