Michael Dibdin - End games

‘The essential is to keep them in balance.’

And so it went on. They continued to make pleasant small talk, but the conversation refused to get hot. The place itself didn’t help — it had by now been invaded by a gang of languid adolescents wearing baggy jeans with the crotch down by their knees — but Tom also sensed an inner reticence in Mirella, a desire to avoid moving towards intimacy. That was typically Calabrian, of course, and for that matter he himself had been parsimonious with the truth, but it perhaps explained why he found himself being rather more frank than he had intended when she asked her next question, as if to show her the way, to demonstrate that he was prepared to risk trusting her.

‘But I’ve also heard that this movie you’re talking about is not going to happen. Didn’t you see that interview on television with Luciano Aldobrandini? He claimed the whole thing was a fraud!’

Tom sighed theatrically.

‘He may be right. Listen, Mirella. This is in the strictest confidence, but there’s another project involved.’

By now she had finished eating, in her graceful, dedicated, methodical way, and was all attention.

‘What’s that?’

‘They think they’ve found Alaric’s tomb.’

She laughed then, for the first time.

‘You’re joking!’

Tom shrugged urbanely.

‘I doubt that they are. There’s a lot of money involved, and these people are heavyweights when it comes to business. The head of the whole outfit flew in today by private jet and they’re planning to…’

He stopped himself just in time, and covered up by reaching for his cigarettes, then dolefully replacing them.

‘I forgot, no smoking now!’

Mirella regarded him in a way he wished to prolong for the rest of his earthly existence.

‘There’s a bar next door,’ she said. ‘Let’s have our coffees there and smoke outside.’

He was about to answer when his mobile woke like a colicky baby. It was Martin Nguyen and he didn’t sound happy.

‘Where the fuck are you? I called your room and there was no answer.’

‘Slipped out to buy some cigarettes, Mr Nguyen. I’ll be there in a few minutes.’

He threw much too much money on the table and, when they were both standing, grasped Mirella’s arm for a moment, just above the elbow, and pulled her towards him.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he said. ‘My boss wants me back right away. But listen…’

He tried to meet her eyes, but they were averted. It was then that, for the first time, he smelt her skin, a faint caprine odour like mild goat’s cheese, earthy and creamy. But this smell wasn’t about food.

‘ Grazie per la bella serata,’ Mirella said, disentangling herself effortlessly.

‘May I call you again?’ Tom found himself saying.

She smiled vaguely, and was gone.

Jake was woken by a call from Madrona, wanting to know if he’d got there okay. She’d been worried about him, she said. Madrona worried about everything — getting pregnant, not getting pregnant, global warming, bird flu, you name it. It was one of the many things Jake found cute about her, although he sometimes kind of sensed, like a chill draught on the back of the neck, that it might turn out to be a real ball-buster later on.

He calmed her down and then jack-knifed out of bed. The clock said some crazy-ass time, but Jake had already figured that the way to handle this trip was like some gaming environment you’re unfamiliar with. He knew he would need to accumulate a lot more experience points before he was fully up to speed, but one key factor was that the time on the clocks here was game time. Not real time, which Madrona had said was like midday, but the right time in the game. Same with everything else. This hotel Martin had booked him into wouldn’t have made the cut as a second-class casino in Reno, but in the game scenario it was hot shit. That was okay. Jake could flex with the best.

He dug out his laptop, got online and slipped effortlessly into various roles, doing damage, saving the world, getting killed a couple of times. Then he checked out Madrona’s blog — bunch of bitching about how she was having a really heavy period this month — sent a chatroom up in flames, cruised a few porno sites till he found one that rang his bells, jerked off, took a shower and got dressed. Round about ten, game time, he rode the marble-floored lift down to the lobby, feeling totally mellowed out. Martin Nguyen was in the bar nursing a glass of what looked like iced tea but probably wasn’t. Jake was tempted to make an edgy remark about him needing something to settle his delicate stomach. He himself didn’t either drink or smoke. Hell, he didn’t even smoke.

‘Dude,’ said Jake.

Martin grunted. He still didn’t look that hot, but Jake had to admire the way, when he’d got nauseous in the car on those bends, he’d just held the puke in his mouth and then swallowed it down again long enough to tell the driver to pull over.

‘Where can I get a menu?’

Martin took another gulp of whisky.

‘Kitchen’s closed.’

‘You’re kidding.’

‘Place is run like a mom and pop corner store. Dinner’s seven till nine-thirty, then fuck you till breakfast.’

‘Damn. I could really use some foie gras with PBJ.’

Martin grabbed his mouth real fast.

‘Got invited to the opening of this new place in Belltown couple of days back,’ Jake went on. ‘That’s their signature dish. Pan-seared foie gras with peanut butter and jelly. Awesome combo. What’s the food like here?’

‘Kind of an Italian feel,’ Martin replied in a highly stressed tone. ‘I’ll have Tom get them to fix you a sandwich or something just as soon as the little shit shows up.’

‘Tom?’

‘Pete Newman’s boy. I hired him to be my mouthpiece. He claims to be out buying smokes, but I heard him on the phone earlier schmoozing some bimbo. I’ll fire him once we’ve figured out what the deal is on this tomb site.’

He signalled the waiter to freshen up his drink. Then he caught Jake’s disapproving look.

‘Inappropriate, huh? Yeah, I guess you’re right. But what we’re going to be doing later on tonight is even more inappropriate. Smashing our way into a world heritage site and stealing priceless historic artefacts which are government property?’

He waved largely at their bleak, bedazzled surroundings.

‘You think Italian hotels suck? Imagine what their jails are like.’

‘What’s the deal with those Iraqis?’

‘I’ll call them in once we get there. My biggest challenge has been getting the equipment to the site. It’s not like the towelheads don’t know how to operate the machines. They’re Halliburton trained, for God’s sake. But the rules of the road over in Iraq are basically down to what size gun you carry, so I couldn’t just turn them loose in the traffic over here. Apart from anything else, the poor fucks would be scared shitless. They still haven’t gotten over being told that they can’t even carry side arms. In the end, I fixed to have the hardware delivered by truck to a disused quarry near the site. Don’t worry, it’ll all come together just fine, unless — ’

‘Here I am, Mr Nguyen!’

It was Tom, breathless and superficially solicitous, but looking way more pleased with himself than the purchase of a pack of smokes warranted. Martin slipped him a fifty and told him to pass it on to the right people and get Jake fed.

‘I read that material you emailed me,’ Martin said to Jake when they were alone again. ‘Let’s just see if I’ve got the story straight. I mean, if we get arrested, then I want to know what it is I’m supposed to lie about.’

‘You mean like talk me through it? Might challenge my attention span. Can’t you do me a PowerPoint presentation?’