Gregory Roberts - The Mountain Shadow

A waiter approached us immediately, but I smiled him away. Ranjit hung his head for a time, staring at the carpet, but then shrugged himself together.

‘You know, I’ve been pretty deep in the political stuff lately. Running some important campaigns. People have been getting at me, in any press that I don’t own. I suppose you’ve heard.’

‘I heard you’ve been buying vote banks,’ I said. ‘That’s making people nervous. Back to Karla.’

‘Have you… have you talked to Karla?’

‘Why do you ask that?’

‘Have you?’

‘We’re done, Ranjit.’

I began to stand, but he pressed me to stay.

‘Look, let me get this out. I’ve been running a strong press campaign against the Spear of Karma.’

‘A spear that’ll hit Karla, if you don’t stop provoking people into throwing it.’

‘That’s… that’s just what I wanted to talk to you about. You see… I know that you’re still in love with her.’

‘Goodbye,’ I said, standing to leave again, but he grasped at my wrist.

I looked at his hand.

‘That’s not advised.’

He pulled his hand away.

‘Please, wait. Please, just sit down, and hear what I’ve got to say.’

I sat down. My brow was all fault lines, and it was Ranjit’s fault.

‘I know you’re going to think I’m really out of line,’ he said quickly, ‘but I think you’d want to know, if Karla was in danger.’

‘ You’re the threat to her, and you should back off. Soon.’

‘Are you threatening me?’

‘Yes. So glad we had this talk.’

We stared at one another, across the space that hovers between predator and prey: hot, imminent and driven.

Karla. My first sight of her, on my first day in Bombay, years before, had put my heart like a hunting bird on her wrist.

She’d used me. She’d loved me, until I loved her. She’d recruited me to work for Khaderbhai. When the blood was washed from floors of love, and hate, and vengeance, and the wounds had healed to a braille of scars, she’d married the handsome, smiling millionaire staring into my eyes. Karla.

I glanced around at Lisa, beautiful and bright, in the company of her artist friends. My mouth tasted sour, and my heartbeat was rising. I hadn’t spoken to Karla for two years, but I felt like a traitor to Lisa, sitting there while Ranjit talked about Karla. I looked back to Ranjit. I wasn’t happy.

‘I can see it in you,’ he said. ‘You still love her.’

‘Do you want me to slap you, Ranjit? Because if that’s it, you’re mostly there.’

‘No, of course not. I’m sure you still love her,’ he said honestly and earnestly, it seemed, ‘because, you know, if I was you, I’d still love her, even if she left me to marry another man. There’s only one Karla. There’s only one crazy way for any man to love her. We both know that.’

The best thing about a business suit is that there’s always plenty to hang on to, if need be. I grabbed at his suit, and shirt, and tie.

‘Stop talking about Karla,’ I said. ‘Quit while you’re behind.’

He opened his mouth to shout, I think, but thought better of it. He was a powerful man, peering through a political window at more power, and couldn’t make a scene.

‘Please, please, I’m not trying to upset you,’ he pleaded. ‘I want you to help Karla. If something happens to me, will you promise -’

I let him go, and he pulled away quickly, sitting back in his chair and adjusting his suit.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘There was an attempt on my life last week,’ he said sorrowfully.

‘You’re an attempt on your own life, Ranjit, every time you open your mouth.’

‘There was a bomb in my car.’

‘Tell me about the bomb.’

‘My driver was away from the car for only a few minutes, buying paan . Luckily, he noticed a trailing wire when he returned, and he found the bomb. We called the police, and they took it away. It wasn’t a real bomb, but the note said that the next one would be. I managed to keep it from the press. I have a certain amount of influence, as you know.’

‘Change your driver.’

He laughed weakly.

‘Change your driver,’ I said again.

‘My driver?’

‘He’s your weak link. Odds are, he found the bomb there, because he put it there. He was paid. It was done to scare you.’

‘I… you’re joking, of course. He’s been with me for three years… ’

‘Good. Give him a nice severance package. But get rid of him.’

‘He’s such a loyal man… ’

‘Does Karla know about this?’

‘No. And I don’t want her to know.’

It was my turn to laugh.

‘Karla’s a big girl. And she’s smart. You shouldn’t be keeping this from her.’

‘Still… ’

‘You’re wasting your best resource, if you don’t tell her. She’s smarter than you are. She’s smarter than anybody.’

‘But -’

‘Tell her.’

‘Maybe. Maybe you’re right. But I just want to try to get a handle on this thing, you know? I think it’ll be okay. I have good security. But I worry for her . That’s my only real worry.’

‘I told you before, back off,’ I said. ‘Lay off the politics, for a while. They say the fish starts to stink at the head. I say if it stinks anywhere, you’ve been there too long.’

‘I won’t stop, Lin. These guys, these fanatics, that’s how they win. They scare everybody into silence.’

‘You’re gonna teach me politics now?’

He smiled: the first smile of his that I almost liked, because it was sewn at the edges by something kinder than bright victory.

‘I… I think we’re on the edge of a truly big change in the way we think, and act, and maybe even the way we dream in this country. If better minds win, if India becomes a truly modern, secular democracy, with rights and freedoms for all, the next century will be the Indian century, and we’ll lead the world.’

He looked into my eyes and saw the scepticism. He was right about India’s future, everyone in Bombay knew it and felt it in those years, but what he’d given me was a speech, and one he’d delivered before.

‘You know,’ I said, ‘every guy on every side makes the same speech.’

He opened his mouth to protest, but I stopped him with a raised palm.

‘I don’t do politics, but I know hatred when I see it, and I know that poking hatred with a stick will get you bit.’

‘I’m glad you understand,’ he sighed, letting his shoulders sag.

‘I’m not the one who has to understand.’

His back straightened again.

‘I’m not afraid of them, you know?’

‘It was a bomb, Ranjit. Of course you’re afraid. I’m afraid just talking to you. I’ll prefer it when you’re far away.’

‘If I knew you’d be there for her, with your… your friends , I’d be able to face this situation with a quiet heart.’

I frowned at him, wondering if he understood all the ironies that were packed into his request. I decided to throw one back.

‘Couple weeks back, your afternoon newspaper carried a pretty rough article about the Bombay mafia. One of those friends of mine was mentioned by name. The article called for him to be arrested, or banned from the city. And he’s a man who hasn’t been charged with anything. What happened to innocent before guilty? What happened to journalism?’

‘I know.’

‘And as I recall, some other articles in your newspaper called for the death penalty to be applied, in a case involving another one of my friends .’

‘Yes -’

‘And now you’re asking me -’

‘For protection for Karla, you’re right, from the same men. I know it’s hypocritical. The fact is, I’ve got nowhere else to turn. These fanatics have got people everywhere. The cops, the army, teachers, the unions, government services. The only people in Bombay not contaminated by them are… ’