Gene Wolfe - The Land Across

The young guy—Ferenc—did not speak, so I caught both wrists and twisted his arms behind him like Naala told me. He started gasping, and at first I thought it was because I was hurting his arms and backed off a little. As soon as I did, I saw it was not me at all. The hand was just getting a good grip on his throat. I let go of his arms then and clapped my right hand over his mouth. As quick as I could, I grabbed the hand with my left and jerked it away from his throat.

“You do not like,” Naala told him. “Tell us, and you will not see that again.”

After that he said, “She wouldn’t sign. Everything I say to her, it is still no. She wants the police.” There was a lot more after that. That was just the beginning.

Finally we took him downstairs and flagged a car with two cops in it. They put the cuffs on him and one cop got out to make more room.

So it was back to JAKA headquarters. The cop marched him inside, and Naala and I tagged along with me wondering when I would ever get out. And whether.

Next was Baldy’s waiting room, only I did not know it was Baldy’s until we went into his office. We had been parked outside for about an hour.

“Last night there is a death at the Harktay,” Naala told Baldy. “Already it is report a natural death, saying in a young woman the heart fails. This report is what the warden believes.”

“You do not,” Baldy murmured. He had a desk as big as a boat, and a high-backed leather chair that looked like a throne.

“Better we know. It is murder. She is murdered by a youth of the Unholy Way.”

Baldy sat up straighter. “You have identified him?”

Naala nodded. “He is Ferenc Narkatsos.”

“You have proof?”

“He has confessed. To Grafton,” a wave of her hand showed who she meant, “and to me. Intelligence have him now. He will confess to them, also.”

Baldy put his fingertips together. “Tell me of the murder.”

“I have learned from Grafton. I will let him speak.”

I said, “We were interested in a young woman named Rosalee. Blond and quite attractive. She had been a prisoner in the Harktay but had escaped. Naala sent me there to investigate. I was told that a man had entered the building where they sleep in the middle of the night. Everybody else had been asleep, but the woman I spoke to was awake and saw him. He went from bed to bed looking at faces. When he came to a young woman named Yelena, he looked like he was stabbing her in the chest. Naturally, I went to the warden to ask why we had not been informed of the stabbing.”

Baldy nodded.

“She told me there had been no stabbing, but Yelena had collapsed about noon and been taken to the infirmary. I went there to question her. She was weak and couldn’t tell me much, but when I asked whether anybody had it in for her she named Ferenc Narkatsos. He’d had the hots for her and she had turned him down. That was all she was able to tell me before she died.”

Naala started to say something, but Baldy motioned for her to keep quiet and said, “Had she been stabbed? Did you look at her for a stab wound?”

I nodded. “Yes, sir, after she was dead. There was no knife wound in her chest, but there was a little speck of dried blood between her breasts. It looked to me like somebody had stuck a needle in there.”

Naala said, “This concerns the Unholy Way, sir. In them Grafton and I are most interested. Grafton found a shop where many suspicious things are sold. He searched this shop and to me reported much I found of interest. The owner’s name is Abderos Narkatsos.”

“Ah! I see.”

“This morning we go there. Abderos Narkatsos is not present, but his son Ferenc watch the shop. We identify ourselves, and I say you think you kill and escape the law? We have found you most quick. Soon he breaks down, weeps, and confesses, as I have said. In the shop are many poisons. He showed us the one he used and told us how he made a paste of this poison and smeared it on a hat pin. In my purse I have a sample.”

She opened it and got out the little glass vial I had found for her back at the shop. “Here is it, sir. What need have I to tell you be most careful?”

That one made Baldy smile. “I will not open before I turn over to Chem. What about the Unholy Way? Might this man’s father be their Undead Dragon?”

Naala shook her head. “He is not so high, I am sure. We must watch him. He will know his son is of a sudden gone. Perhaps even he learns his son is arrested. He will be most careful or perhaps run. If he runs, where? To whom does he speak? To these the answers will be of much interest.”

Baldy nodded, I think mostly to himself. “You will receive cooperation, operator. I will see to it. This foreigner is useful to you?”

“As you have heard.” Naala smiled. “That, and much more besides. He is of talent.”

Baldy spoke to me. “Already you are working for our JAKA. This you must know.”

I nodded and said I did.

“Now you join us formally. You will be paid, which is always important. More important, you will know we trust you.” He got up and went into a little storeroom or walk-in closet that opened off his office, and came back with a badge in a black leather flip-case and a gun in a black cardboard box. Of course I had to swear and so on, and my fingerprints were taken again, just like they had been at the prison, and there was another mug shot. But I am going to skip all that. It was not very interesting.

There was something else first that was interesting to me. It still is, but I can only tell you about it. If you can explain it, I would like to hear from you.

About the time Baldy handed me the badge case and the box, the door of his office opened and somebody else came in. I wanted to look around at him, but I did not. Only when we left to go get me fingerprinted, I saw him. It was the man who looked a little like my father, I mean the third border guard, who was the man I had seen sometimes riding next to the driver in police cars. He was not in uniform this time, and he looked more than ever like the man on the posters. He was sort of short, and had a round face like my father’s and a stiff black mustache with a little gray in it like his. After that, I saw him pretty often. I will not always mention him, because it would get boring. Once or twice I asked Naala about him, but she did not know what I was talking about.

So anyway, when we got back to Naala’s apartment I opened the badge case first. I wanted to open the black box and have a look at the gun, but I had the feeling it would piss her off, so I did not. My badge was silver instead of gold, and she explained it meant I was a plain operator and not a senior operator. She also showed me the little slot where my ID card would go when it came. It would come by messenger, she said. I put my badge case in the side pocket of my jacket, along with the hand.

After that I got to open the box. My new gun was in there, and it was brand new and very cool. It looked a lot like Naala’s, but not exactly, and I ought to say that. With it was a small box of ammo. I counted them, and it was twenty rounds. There were two holsters, too: a belt holster and an ankle holster that I never did use. I loaded the gun, put it in the belt holster, and put it on.

After that, Naala wanted to know if I was hungry. I said I was not; what I wanted to do was go someplace where I could shoot my new gun enough to get used to it.

“You are thrill.” She grinned at me.

“Yeah, I guess I am. I’ve fired guns before, but I’ve never owned one til now.”

“You do not own that one. It belongs to JAKA, which will take it back when you return to Amerika.”

I nodded. “Sure. They’ll have to, because they’re not allowed on the plane. That’s okay, because it’s mine for as long as I’m here.”