Her Fugitive Heart Page 17

  Then the blessing of the marriage, and final prayer, then the dismissal.

  This was a full-on Church of England wedding, since Julia’s parents took this awfully seriously. We even kneeled for the proclamation and everything. It took a lot longer than you might expect. Or it felt longer because everyone was standing or sitting in the same place through the whole ceremony. It was actually a relief that Julia and I didn’t have to write our own vows. We were too knackered and stressed out anyway. I’d recently nearly been murdered and Julia helped save me, so we were not worried about our devotion to each other.

  Julia’s friends and family were all weepy and happy. My relatives were enjoying the ritual of it all.

  Reception dinner in the hotel ballroom.

  As best man, David got to make the speech totally taking the piss out of me.

  “Back when we were friends at university, Ravi was always the mad one. We had some wild times didn’t we, mate? Ravi’s had his ups and downs, he’s been around the block a few times, but if I ever get into deep trouble, he’s the one I’m going to call, if only because he’s going to make things even worse by doing the right thing. Because he can’t help himself. He’s what our boss Roger would call a mensch. He’s the most ridiculously straight-up bloke I’ve ever met, and I’m a lawyer, all right? I meet all kinds of people who are morally less than pure. Not Ravi. He has his code and he sticks to it. Therefore, it’s a bit of a mystery how Ravi could have landed someone as fabulous as Julia. It’s as if she’s tamed the wild lion that’s our Mr. Singh here. Seriously though, the two of you make a great team. It’s like you complete him in a way I never thought would happen. Here’s to you both.”

  He raised his glass in a toast. All in all, it was very politic, more gentle than I’d expected or deserved, no talk of my seeing gods or possible insanity. No way was David going to even hint at the types of things Julia and I got up to at Golden Sentinels.

  “A speech written by a lawyer,” I said. “That’s going to serve you really well when you run for office.”

  “Piss off,” David laughed.

  We cut the cake. Of course there was a large cake. They saved us the top tier for the christening of our future firstborn. We tried not to wince. Catering for the reception was esoteric, to say the least, a surreal combination of English roasts, hors d’oeuvres and Indian dishes. Our mothers had made sure both families were catered to. My mother told me that Mrs. Dhewan had gotten them a discount on the food.

  The night ended with dancing. Ken and Clive smoked at their table and traded stories about serving in the military with Julia’s uncle. Mark rolled a spliff. Marcie mingled with our parents, which made me wary, but what could I do? Julia held me close as we slow-danced together.

  As we held each other, we observed our friends and families intermingling. Ken and Clive were too old-school to dance with each other, but danced with nearly all our aunts through the evening. Olivia had to teach an extremely uncoordinated Benjamin. Marcie went from table to table socializing and trading gossip, or rather gathering intel, as she always did. Roger didn’t show up though he sent a gift. I hadn’t expected him to show up, somehow. Cheryl, however, did. She wore a yellow floral dress and hat, and smiled and projected a warmth we rarely saw in the office as she spoke to our parents and congratulated them. Julia’s mother and mine were new best friends. Somehow, the arguments about the wedding plans had brought them closer. Mrs. Dhewan gossiped and played grande dame with my relatives, catching up on news from India. Mark was a hit with my female cousins. Ariel was being hit on by nearly all the single men, especially amongst Julia’s guests, which I’d sort of expected. It was her playing with all the kids that I found disturbing. Perhaps that was her way of passing for human?

  “Look at that,” I said. “I never would have expected our work and home lives would cross over like this.”

  “Let’s just be happy tonight, Ravi,” Julia said. “Accept everyone’s kindness while we can. We can go back to dealing with the chaotic evils of the world later.”

  Who was I to disagree?

  Finally, the end. The departure. Barrage of confetti. David and the guys had tied cans and old sneakers to the back of the BMW Julia and I usually drove to cases.

  Before we left, Julia turned around and tossed the bouquet at the outstretched arms of the bridesmaids and guests, and who should happen to catch it?

  Ariel. Of course it was Ariel.

  She held up the bouquet like a trophy and winked at us.

  As we drove away, Julia and I both breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Glad that’s over with,” she said.

  “I’m so glad Laird Collins didn’t show up like he did at my sister’s wedding,” I said.

  “You know, I think Ariel might be more turned on by us being married than us not being married.”

  “Oh God. We’re never going to be rid of her, are we?” I said. “It’s like Kali sent her to mess with our lives.”

  “Or keep you on your toes,” Kali said from the backseat, sipping champagne with Louise. When the other gods went off, Kali and Louise always stuck with us, probably because they were our patron gods.

  “Now it’s official. We’re stuck with each other,” Julia said.

  “Until death do us part,” I said. “Are you okay with that?”

  “Ravi,” Julia put her hand over mine on the steering wheel, “after everything we’ve been through and everything we know, who can replace either of us if the other goes first? You and I know each other better than anyone else on earth. I don’t want anyone else. If and when death comes, we’re not parting. We’re going together.”

  “Agreed,” I said, and squeezed her hand.

  That night, we made our own heaven. And we didn’t need the gods to do that.

  THE DEIFICATION OF KAREENA MAHFOUZ

  ONE

  When the world you know falls apart, it can happen very quickly, suddenly, when you’re least expecting it. You might have seen the signs and portents, but you didn’t know what they meant.

  “Things fall apart, the center cannot hold,” Julia liked to quote. “And mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”

  “Yeats,” I said. I used to teach that poem. “Curse your talent for choosing the most appropriate literary quote when the shit hits the fan.”

  “Stress relief,” Julia said.

  It was a damn sight better than jumping on the first bloke she laid eyes on and bonking him senseless, which she told me she used to do. That would have been a serious relapse in her sex addiction. And stress was certainly what we were experiencing that morning.

  Anyway, life proceeded normally enough. We were at my parents’ for Sunday dinner as usual.

  “So where are you going for your honeymoon?” Vivek asked.

  “More to the point, when are you going on your honeymoon?” Anjita asked.

  “We haven’t quite decided yet,” I said. “We haven’t even had a chance to unwrap all the gifts yet.”

  “Or decide which ones to return,” Julia said.

  “Come on, Ravi,” Anji said. “It’s up to the groom to pick the honeymoon. It’s been a week since the wedding and you’re still here.”

  “Well,” I said. “We still have some work to finish off at the firm.”

  “We’re probably going to go to a beach resort somewhere,” Julia said.

  “Didn’t we say that was a bit of a cliché?” I said.

  “Sun, sea, and sex,” Vivek said. “Don’t knock it, mate.”

  “You’re always working,” Mum said. “You’re such a workaholic. You haven’t taken a holiday for ages. You owe it to your wife to take one with her.”

  “I know, I know. We’ll pick a place and go off and do nothing.”

  Why were the gods so interested in what my answer would be? They stood by the dinner table listening very intently. Did they know something I didn’t? Even Louise looked impatient and a bit annoyed.

  “Do your duty as a newlywed,” she said. “Take my
sister someplace fun and bonk her brains out.”

  My wife’s late sister became a goddess so she could come back and nag me. In truth, Julia and I really couldn’t decide where to go. Her fugitive heart was too restless to just chill out on a beach somewhere. I was afraid we might wind up in the type of place where we got into some insane situation. I’d already been nearly murdered by would-be terrorists just a few weeks ago, and I wasn’t in a hurry to rush into another insane scenario. Julia was being very patient with me.

  “Do you remember the old house our family owned in Mumbai?” Dad asked.

  “You told us about it,” I said. “Anjita and I have never seen it.”

  “I thought Granddad lost it gambling or something,” Anji said.

  “Well, it was left with your great-aunt after we left for London, and she just passed away,” Dad said. “She left it to us in her will.”

  “That’s great!” Vivek said.

  “With the money we saved from not having to pay for Ravi and Julia’s wedding,” Mum said, “we thought we’d fly over there to look at the place.”

  “It’s been a long time since your mother and I have been back in India,” Dad said.

  “It’s changed a lot,” Vivek said.

  Vivek and Anji’s baby cooed. Louise was fussing over her as she sat in her baby chair. I could swear my niece could see her and was reacting to her smile and funny faces. The gods were milling around us, as usual.

  “Great-aunt Aparna’s husband wasn’t the most responsible man in the world,” Dad said. “And the lawyer warned us the house was in disrepair for years.”

  “Sounds like a fixer-upper,” Vivek said.

  “What do you reckon?” Anjita said. “Thinking about making it a second home? Maybe retire there when you get sick of London?”

  “The thought did occur to us,” Dad said.

  “So we’ll be off this week,” Mum said.

  “That’s quick,” I said. “Where are you staying?”

  “At my brother’s,” Dad said. “Since everyone already saw us when they came for your wedding, we don’t need to do a big song and dance about visiting. It should be nice and leisurely.”

  “And Mrs. Dhewan asked me to deliver some gifts to her sister,” Mum said.

  Dad and I both stiffened.

  “Mum, no!”

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” Mum said. “It’s just some presents from Fortnum & Mason’s and Selfridges. It’s not drugs or contraband. It’s jam, biscuits, scarves. I went shopping with her to pick them. I helped wrap them. I’m not smuggling drugs, for heaven’s sake.”

  “I just don’t want you getting involved in any schemes that woman is cooking up,” Dad grumbled.

  “She’s not cooking up anything,” Mum said. “It’s all completely innocent.”

  “Nothing is ever completely innocent with that gangster,” Dad said.

  “Don’t be so melodramatic,” Mum said.

  The rest of the dinner was the usual bickering.

  “I’m calling our office in Mumbai,” I said as Julia and I drove back from my parents’ house. “Have them keep an eye on Mum and Dad.”

  “Good idea!” Lord Shiva said from the backseat.

  My phone rang. I put it on the hands-free.

  “Grab your passports,” Marcie said.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Get your asses to Heathrow. Cheryl’s booked tickets for you two on the next flight to JFK tonight.”

  “New York? Why?”

  “Golden Sentinels in New York knows you,” Marcie said. “They’ll put you guys in a safe house in Manhattan. Once you get there, we can figure stuff out. Dump your phones. You can get fresh phones and laptops when you get there.”

  “Wait, what’s going on?” I asked.

  “I got word that Roger’s getting busted first thing in the morning.”

  “For what?” Julia asked.

  “It’s going to be all over the news, but I might as well tell you now. Two days ago, a plane full of mercenaries, trained by Interzone, got intercepted by government troops leaving Nigeria. The mercs were on their way to Niger, one of the smaller resource-rich African countries, to overthrow the government and install a new puppet regime in the pocket of one Roger Golden.”

  “What the fuck?!”

  “It was like if the Keystone Kops were mercenaries, from what I heard,” Marcie said. “They had problems with the plane they chartered to fly them out. It wouldn’t take off the runway. And a bunch of white guys with guns on a plane whose engine nearly fell off was kind of conspicuous. You can’t blame the local cops and military for surrounding it with their guns drawn.”

  Kali and Shiva whooped and clapped from the backseat.

  “Roger tried to finance a coup to take over a third world country,” Marcie said. “That was what that weekend party at Alfie Beam’s mansion was about all along. Roger didn’t tell us about his ‘business plan’ so we’d have deniability. He probably wanted to make sure none of us would rat him out.”

  “Well, someone’s grassed on him anyway,” Julia said.

  “He had us collect dirt on his partners for leverage,” I said. “That makes us complicit, even if we didn’t know what was going on.”

  “I’ll tell you something else,” Marcie said. “Two weeks ago, Roger had David draw up some papers to sign ownership and control of Golden Sentinels over to Cheryl.”

  “For what?” I asked.

  “To separate the firm from whatever company he formed to front the coup,” Julia said. “That way Golden Sentinels wouldn’t be caught in the net if the coup went pear-shaped.”

  “What about the others?” I asked. “Mark, Olivia, Benjamin, Ken, Clive, David? Cheryl?”

  “Everybody’s fine,” Marcie said. “They’re in the wind like you.”

  “What about the office?”

  “Cheryl is holding down the fort, but she’s kind of expecting Special Branch to show up and take away the computers and files. Benjamin already triggered the kill switch on the computers. All the hard drives are toast. They’re not going to get shit.”

  A wave of déjà vu washed over me—I suddenly remembered a dream I’d had a year ago where we blew up all the computers after Roger was taken and the world was ending. Was that a prophetic dream the gods sent me? Suddenly it all seemed to fit.

  “Marcie, are the police or Special Branch coming for us?” I asked.

  “Not yet. Right now, they’re looking at Roger’s shell company. They might decide to look into his other companies, like Golden Sentinels. And you don’t want to be around when they decide to.”

  “We’re going on the run? Honestly?” Julia asked.

  “You know what would have been worse?” Marcie said. “If those mercs made it into Niger and launched their attack thinking they had a chance when the locals were waiting for them. It would have been a massacre. The failed coup would have been a lot messier, and Roger would probably be in even deeper shit.”

  “Marcie, where are you now?” I asked.

  “At the US Embassy. We’re having an emergency meeting about this whole mess.”

  “Are you in trouble, considering Roger’s your asset?”

  “Don’t worry about me.” Marcie said. “I got your back. Now get your asses on that plane.”

  TWO

  Julia and I got home, grabbed our passports, and each packed a small bag with basics, mainly clothes. Best to travel clean.

  “Do you see anyone watching the flat?” I asked.

  “Not a soul outside,” Julia said, peering out the window.

  We took a taxi to Heathrow so the company car couldn’t be traced. Our tickets were waiting for us at the British Airways desk.

  It was the middle of the night and we had two hours before we boarded our flight. We watched the news on the screens in the empty departure lounge. Roger and the failed coup were the big topic. “LONDON BUSINESSMAN ARRESTED FOR PLOTTING COUP IN AFRICA” ran the chyron. Roger had been ar
rested as the mastermind behind the attempted coup in Niger. The British authorities were cooperating with the government in Niger to determine how deep the plot was to overthrow them. Arrests had already been made there, and investigations into the shell company that financed the failed coup had been traced to London businessman and former private investigator Roger Golden. Authorities were investigating who his partners and co-conspirators were.

  When our plane took off, we could finally relax.

  It wasn’t a full flight, so there was plenty of room for the gods to kick back in first class. Louise was right at home with them, looking every bit the glamorous world traveler.

  I managed to fall asleep, but it wasn’t peaceful.

  “Wake up, mate,” Mark said. “You’ll want to see this.”

  I opened my eyes. Mark was shaking me.

  “Mark? What are you doing here?”

  “I’ve always been here, Rav,” he said. “David’s going mental. Everything’s gone pear-shaped.”

  I sat up on the office sofa.

  “What’s happened?” I asked.

  “We happened. Chickens come home to roost.”

  “Finally pissed off the wrong people,” David said, walking in and gathering up another batch of files. “I knew this would happen one day. Bloody Roger.”

  “Roger said this day would come,” Julia said.

  The office was a mess. Cheryl was busy pushing papers and files into a shredder, as fast as Ken and Clive could pass them to her. David added his to the pile. Benjamin was whacking away at the computers with a fire axe, a manic grin on his face.

  “Wa-hey!” he said. “Nice of you to join us, Ravi!”

  “Honestly, Benjamin,” Olivia said, irritated. “I told you, the best way to get rid of evidence on a computer was thermite or C-4.”

  With that, she pushed the button on a detonator and all the computers in the office exploded in puffs of smoke.

  “Let’s see them try to recover the data,” Olivia said, satisfied.

  “What the hell did we do?” I asked.

  Mark chuckled.