Ian Hamilton - The wild beast of Wuhan

“Who’s there?” she asked.

“Nina.”

Ava got up and opened the door. Nina stood there with a bottle of cognac in one hand and two glasses in the other. “My nerves are rattled. I need a drink.”

“I thought that was illegal here,” Ava said.

“The Russians are good for some things.”

“How are they taking this?”

“The captain was furious with those men,” Nina said, walking past Ava into the room. “He will discipline them in his own way. He is a good man. He has been coming here for at least ten years.”

Nina put the glasses on the dresser and filled them. Ava closed the door and turned the lock, then walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Nina joined her. “ Skol,” she said, taking a slug.

Ava took a small sip. Cognac wasn’t her kind of drink.

“Look at me,” Nina said, holding out a hand. “I’m still trembling.”

“It was a shock.”

“Not to you, evidently. Just how did you do that, take out those men?”

“I’ve been training in martial arts since I was a teenager. It was no big deal.”

“I’ve never seen martial arts like that.”

“It’s called bak mei. It’s a very old discipline.”

“And effective.”

“I probably overreacted,” Ava said. “I mean, the three of them were pretty drunk, and not exactly tough guys. But he shouldn’t have reached for my breast.”

“No, I think you were perfect,” Nina said, her cheeks slightly flushed. “I think you are perfect.”

She’s coming on to me, Ava thought. “Nina, I’m tired and I really need to go to sleep.”

“Oh, sure, I am sorry for disturbing you,” she said, now flustered as well as flushed. She rolled her glass between her palms, downed the last of the cognac, and looked awkwardly at Ava.

Ava found the awkwardness endearing. “Do you want to join me?” she asked.

Nina, looking down at her glass, slowly nodded.

“Then take off your clothes, turn off the light, and get into bed.”

Ava wasn’t sure what time it was when she woke. Nina was perched on the side of the bed, already clothed. She leaned down to kiss Ava on the forehead. “I have to go. There’s a meeting in Torshavn that I have to be at, which ends with a dinner tonight.”

“I may not be here when you get back. If things go well this morning, I’ll be leaving later today,” Ava said.

“I left my phone number, my email, and my home address on a piece of paper. It’s on the dresser. If you want to keep in touch — ”

“I just might.”

Ava checked her watch as Nina closed the door. It was seven o’clock. She hauled herself out of bed and went over to the window. If the sun was up it was doing a good job of keeping out of sight; the sky was so grey it verged on black. She felt like a run — there was nothing like a run after good sex. Then she remembered that her running gear was out of action, and at almost that exact moment the sky opened and the rain began to pelt. It just wasn’t meant to be, she thought.

There was a kettle and two sachets of instant coffee in the room. She boiled the water while she showered and then sat on the bed with a towel wrapped around her and drank two cups in quick succession. She thought about the Sorensens. If there was going to be a deal with them, it would have to be papered, however roughly. If they were going to tell her who had orchestrated the fraud, she wanted it in writing, signed and sealed. She called the front desk and a man answered.

“Nina said I could use the hotel computer,” Ava said. “Can I come down in about fifteen minutes?”

“I don’t see why not. It’s in the back office here.”

She dressed, the second Steinum sweater going over the black Brooks Brothers shirt. Mimi teased her constantly about her almost monochromatic taste in clothes. If it wasn’t black, grey, white, or a muted blue or pink then it wasn’t for Ava. But as she looked at herself in the mirror, all lit up like a Christmas tree, she thought the bright colours suited her and the tight fit showed off her curves.

The man at the desk looked to be about the same age as Nina, and Ava had a passing thought that he might be her husband. He pointed to a door behind the desk and she walked into an office that was only large enough to hold a metal filing cabinet and desk, a photocopier, and a swivel chair. Ava figured four people might be able to squeeze into it if three of them were standing. The walls were bare and there were no pictures on the desk or the cabinet. She sat at the computer and began to type. Twenty minutes later, she printed three copies of a document that left spaces for the dates and names to be filled in.

She walked into the lobby and looked out onto the harbour. It was set in a cove, three sides surrounded by mountains of bare rock split here and there by streams of water tumbling into the sea. The mountaintops were shrouded in mist, and in the distance she could see a faint rainbow.

“The Faeroe Islands: nothing but mountains, rain, and sheep,” a voice said behind her.

She turned and saw a burly man with a thick black beard; he was wearing a heavy black sweater. “I am the captain of the fishing boat out there,” he said. “My name is Mikhail.”

“I’m Ava Lee.”

“I have been coming here for years and I never get used to how barren and isolated it is,” he said. “When we could catch all the cod and haddock we wanted, it wasn’t so bad. But now all we get is some perch and bluefish, and I am beginning to wonder if I’m not long for this place.”

“Does it always rain like this?”

“No. Sometimes it rains harder, sometimes it just drizzles.”

“I’m a sunshine girl.”

“Then this isn’t the place for you.”

“I’m leaving today,” she said. “You can have your room back.”

“I am sorry about last night,” he said.

“Me too.”

“Those three men will not crew with me again. I have been at sea for twenty-five years, and I have always been aware that people think fisherman, think Russian, and then think animal. That is not me, and it won’t be any man who signs on with me. So they will be gone.”

“That’s not necessary on my account.”

“It is on mine.”

“And I probably overreacted. I could have handled it better.”

“The nose will mend, the other two will live. What will be worse for them is that the crew will taunt them for the rest of the trip about being beaten up by a hundred-pound girl. And then word will get around to the rest of our fleet and they will be joked about for years.”

“I overreacted,” Ava repeated.

“They are sitting in the restaurant. They would like to apologize to you.”

Ava looked out again at the harbour. The rain was finally letting up and she figured she could make it to the Sorensens’ without getting soaked. “No, that’s not necessary,” she said. “And now I really have to go; I have a meeting. But thank you.”

Before the Russian could say a word she was gone out the door, making a hard right turn, and heading up the hill.

Helga Sorensen greeted her at the door. She was wearing a nicer dress, pantyhose, and a layer of makeup, and her hair was brushed back and coiled in a bun. Ava knew which one she would be negotiating with. “Where is Mr. Sorensen?” she asked.

“Upstairs. We do not need him.”

“No, I do. There are questions I need answered, papers I need signed.”

“Let us settle the money first,” Helga said.

“I need to know that he’ll answer my questions.”

“As best he can.”

“And that he will sign the papers.”

“You said he would be kept out of this.”

“I can’t go to the person or people who organized this fraud with only his word. I’ve prepared a statement that I would like Mr. Sorensen to sign. It isn’t perfect and it isn’t meant to be legal. It’s just an admission that he painted some of the artwork in question. I need to know what he painted, when, for whom, and how much he was paid. It won’t go any further than me.”