Майкл Ридпат - The Predator

‘I’ll do what I can,’ Chris said.

‘Thank you,’ said Lenka. ‘Because I’ve had enough. Someone has to get the message through to him.’

Chris decided to try to talk to Duncan about Lenka the next day. They had lunch together in the cafeteria on the twelfth floor, and Chris suggested a quick walk down to Battery Park. They left their jackets behind and strolled the couple of blocks to the park. It was another hot, humid day. Tourists drifted lazily amongst the souvenir sellers and the office workers eating their sandwiches. Only the seagulls were active, investigating every piece of picnic debris as it hit the ground. The city dust hung hot and heavy in the air. Out in the harbour the Statue of Liberty pointed upwards into the shimmering haze.

‘I spoke to Lenka yesterday,’ Chris began.

‘Oh, yes?’ Duncan’s interest quickened.

‘She says there’s no chance of you two getting back together. She says she doesn’t want a committed relationship with anyone.’

The glimmer of hope in Duncan’s eye disappeared instantly, to be replaced with bitterness. ‘So what?’

His response confused Chris. ‘So, there isn’t much point in chasing her.’

‘I know that’s what she says,’ said Duncan, sounding frustrated. ‘That’s the whole point. But she’s wrong, and I have to show her that. If I stop chasing her, that’s hardly going to work, is it? I need to show her how much I love her, and make her admit to herself that she loves me. I know she does, whatever she says. I just know it.’ He glared at Chris, defying him to say otherwise.

‘Did she tell you about the guy she was engaged to in Czechoslovakia? About how she broke away from him? She didn’t want to be tied down then, and she doesn’t want to be tied down now.’

‘That was different,’ said Duncan. ‘He wanted her to give up everything for him. I want to give up everything for her .’

Chris held his tongue. He had known it would be useless to attempt to persuade Duncan. He shouldn’t have even tried. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw two figures he recognized. They were walking towards Chris and Duncan from the direction of the War Memorial, deep in conversation. Lenka and Alex.

‘All right, do what you want,’ said Chris, grabbing hold of Duncan’s arm. ‘Let’s go back to the office.’

But Duncan had seen them too.

‘Jesus. Look over there.’

‘Duncan,’ Chris said, tugging his sleeve.

Duncan shook him off. ‘I can’t believe it. Look what they’re doing.’

‘They’re talking, that’s all. They’re friends. They’re our friends.’

‘Yes, but look at the way they’re talking,’ said Duncan as he walked rapidly towards them.

Lenka saw him. She frowned, and stopped still, facing him.

‘What are you doing?’ demanded Duncan.

‘Talking to Alex,’ said Lenka quietly.

‘How can you do that? Why can’t you talk to me?’

‘Duncan.’ Chris had a hold of his sleeve and was pulling him backwards.

Lenka exploded. ‘I can talk to whoever I want to, Duncan. I can walk with whoever I want to. I can sleep with whoever I want to.’ She took a step towards Duncan and jabbed a finger in his chest. ‘I used to like you, Duncan. We had a good time together. But I don’t have to put up with all this shit. You can’t tell me what to do, do you understand me? We’re finished, Duncan. Finished!’

Duncan was so taken aback by this outburst that he was speechless. Chris finally managed to pull him away. Duncan looked over his shoulder. ‘Bitch!’ he cried.

‘Bastard!’ came the reply from Lenka. Chris and Alex exchanged glances, and then Chris pushed Duncan firmly back in the direction of Bloomfield Weiss.

During a break in class that afternoon, Chris grabbed Lenka. She still looked angry.

‘That was pretty unpleasant,’ he said.

‘Did you talk to him?’

‘Yes.’

‘And is he going to give up?’

‘No.’

Lenka sighed. ‘I thought so. But do you see what I mean when I say he acts like he owns me? The fact is, he doesn’t, and I have to make him see that. I do like him, despite all this stupidity, but if the only way he can get it through his skull that we’re finished is by me calling him a bastard, then that’s the way it’s going to be.’

‘He’s jealous. He thinks there’s something between you and Alex.’

‘Maybe that’s a good thing. At least then he’ll realize it’s over.’ Lenka saw the doubt in Chris’s face. ‘Have you got any other ideas?’

With that she stalked off back to the classroom.

The week before the final exam was hell. Everyone was tense. They all knew that Waldern would set a tough one. It was a four-hour paper on Capital Markets, although Waldern promised he would throw in strands of everything else they had learned on the course as well. So they had to revise everything. Fear of coming in the bottom quartile had grabbed the majority of the trainees. The rest were worried about coming top. Rudy Moss was still in first position, with Eric second. Latasha James was third; Lenka had slipped to tenth after her disastrous Ethics exam. Duncan was just above the cut-off line, Alex just below it. Even Chris, at twenty-six, felt that the bottom quartile was in his reach if he panicked. So, as Ian put it, he panicked about panicking.

Alex worked hard, with a lot of help from Lenka. The others were all determined that he would make it. They had more or less given up hope on Duncan, though. Chris tried everything: encouragement, scolding, nagging, sarcasm, but to no effect. Duncan was bent on self-destruction.

The exam was a bastard. It was about a fictitious US cable television company with dodgy accounts that wanted to issue junk bonds to finance an acquisition in France. Chris had to admit that it was clever: you needed to understand accounting, credit, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and of course, capital markets to structure the deal and describe how it might be sold. The case took three-quarters of an hour just to read.

Chris slogged through it, and after three hours he had the bulk of it cracked. His head buzzed with fatigue and adrenaline. One more hour. He would make it. He reached the end of a page, and sat up and stretched. The classroom was silent except for the rustle of paper and the scratching of pens. Abby Hollis was staring dully at the class from her position in the centre.

He was just about to get back to work when Eric, who was sitting next to him, gathered up his papers and marched down the aisle to Abby Hollis. He’d finished already! Abby looked as surprised as Chris and began a murmured conversation with Eric.

Chris heard a whisper from behind. He stiffened.

‘Chris.’

It was Duncan, who was sitting right behind him.

‘Chris. Nod if you can hear me.’

Chris’s eyes darted to Abby, whose head was bent next to Eric’s.

He nodded.

‘Let me see your paper.’

Chris remained motionless.

‘Push it to one side.’

Chris didn’t move.

‘Oh, come on Chris. I need the help. Please.’

Chris felt a rush of anger. He was going to pass this exam now. He knew it. And he had worked hard to pass it. Why should he let Duncan have a look at his paper? Duncan knew that Denny and Roger had been kicked out for doing just that. If Duncan was in a mess, it was entirely his own fault.

‘Come on Chris. Let’s see the first page.’

Slowly and deliberately, Chris picked up his pen and hunched over his paper. Duncan could fend for himself. He had an exam to finish.

‘Chris! You bastard!’

This time Duncan’s whispering was too loud. Abby heard, and snapped her head towards Duncan. Chris dropped his eyes to his own paper.