My driver’s brakes and his friend’s had definitely failed. I could see it in their eyes.
When I woke up the driver’s friend took his hand away from my face. He even gave a crooked smile as he said:
‘We’re here, sister.’
‘It doesn’t look like Artek, brother,’ I replied.
‘It’s the Angarsky pass. The motor’s overheated,’ said the driver, licking his lips. ‘We have to wait. You can get out for a breath of fresh air.’
If he was still trying to make lame excuses, he was obviously far more nervous than the other guy, who screwed up his courage and said:
‘You can have a piss …’
‘Thanks, I don’t need one.’ I carried on sitting there, watching the pair of them curiously, wondering what they’d try. Would they try to drag me out of the car? Or try to rape me where I was?
And afterwards?
It would be too dangerous to let me go. They’d probably throw me off a cliff. And probably into the sea – the murderer’s best friend throughout the ages. The land preserves clues for a long time, but the sea has a short memory.
‘We were starting to wonder,’ the driver declared, ‘if you really have the money … young pioneer.’
‘Since I hired you,’ I said, emphasising the word ‘hired’, ‘it means I have.’
‘Show us,’ the driver demanded.
Oh, how stupid you are … you little people …
I took the wad of dollars out of my purse, peeled off a fifty and held it out, as if I hadn’t noticed the greedy eyes devouring the money Well, now I was certainly done for.
But they still seemed to need some kind of justification. If only for themselves.
‘It’s counterfeit!’ the driver squealed, carefully hiding the fifty in his pocket. ‘You bitch, you were trying to …’
I looked at them imperturbably as I listened to him swearing obscenely. I felt something inside me tense up, but even so, I didn’t have the normal Other powers that would have let me turn these two runts into obedient puppets.
‘Hoping your friend can help, are you?’ the driver’s friend asked. ‘Is that it? Going to skin us alive, is he? We’ll skin him, you bitch!’
I laughed as I imagined the million and one amusing things Zabulon would have done to these pups. Just for saying that.
The driver grabbed hold of my arm. His young face was basically rather handsome – I wouldn’t have minded having a resort romance with an attractive young man like that – but now it was contorted by a mixture of anger, fear and lust.
‘You’re going to pay in kind, you bitch.’
Ugh. In kind. And with all my things, and a brief flight through the air down an almost vertical incline …
No, I didn’t want my acquaintance with the warm water of the Black Sea to start that way.
The other young guy reached out towards me, clearly intending to rip my blouse. The bastard, it cost two hundred and fifty bucks!
His hands had almost reached me when I pressed the barrel of my pistol against his forehead.
There was a brief pause.
‘My, what tough kids you are,’ I purred. ‘All right, get your hands off, and get out of the car.’
The pistol had really stunned them. Maybe because I’d come out of the airport, so there was no way they could have expected me to be carrying a gun. Or maybe because their little pup’s instincts told them it would be a pleasure for me to blow their brains out.
They jumped out of the car and I followed them. They hesitated for a few seconds and then tried to make a run for it. But that didn’t suit me now.
I put the first bullet into the ankle of the driver’s friend. His legs were less important, he didn’t have to work the pedals. It was a trivial glancing scrape, more like a skin burn than a bullet wound, but it was more than enough. The friend fell to the ground with a howl and the driver stopped dead in his tracks with his hands in the air. I wondered who they thought I was. A Federal Security Service agent on holiday?
‘I understand your greed perfectly,’ I said. ‘The economy’s in ruins, people aren’t getting paid … And the lust too. After all, you still have a young sexual hyper-drive seething inside you. So do I, as it happens!’
Even the wounded one stopped making a noise. They listened to me without saying a word – as night came on the road had emptied and there was just one set of headlights approaching in the distance. It was an enchanting, still night, with the sky covered in stars – a warm Crimean night; and down at the bottom of the cliff, the sea was murmuring.
‘You’re both very good-looking boys,’ I said. ‘The only trouble is, I’m not in the mood for sex now. You’ve behaved too badly. But – ’ I raised one finger and they stared at it as if they were hypnotised – ‘we can find a way round that.’
Judging from the expressions on their faces, they were expecting the worst. But they needn’t have. I’m not a murderer, after all.
‘Since there are two of you, and you’re clearly good friends,’ I explained, ‘it won’t be any problem for you to pleasure each other. And after that we’ll go on to the camp, calmly, with no more adventures.’
‘Why you – ’ The driver took a step towards me, but the pistol barrel aimed at his crotch had the desired effect.
‘There is another possibility,’ I agreed. ‘I could relieve you of certain unnecessary body parts. And I bet you three to one I can do it with the first shot.’
‘You …’ hissed the wounded one. ‘For us they’ll—’
‘They wouldn’t give a bent kopeck for you,’ I told him. ‘Get your trousers down and get on with it.’
I didn’t have the power that allows any Other to break a human being’s will. But my voice probably still carried the old conviction.
They obeyed me. Or they tried to obey me.
We sometimes watch gay porn in our department – it’s very amusing. And the vampires and magicians often show lesbian films in the duty room.
In the films the actors always go to it with enthusiastic skill, but these two halfwits were obviously upset by this sudden turn of events, and they lacked the necessary experience. So I just basically admired the night view of the sea and kept an eye on the boys to make sure they weren’t slacking.
‘Never mind,’ I comforted them when I thought they’d been humiliated enough. ‘Like the man said – the first time doesn’t count. You can practise a bit more in your spare time. Get in the car!’
‘What for?’ the driver asked when he’d finished spitting. He probably thought I wanted to shoot them in their fancy car and push them over the cliff into the sea.
‘Well, you agreed to take me to Artek, didn’t you?’ I said in an astonished voice. ‘And you’ve already got the money.’
We drove the rest of the way without any more adventures. Except that halfway there the driver started howling that he couldn’t live with himself, he had nothing left to live for and he was going to turn the wheel and drive off the cliff.
‘Go on, go on!’ I encouraged him. ‘With a bullet in the back of your head you won’t even feel the landing!’
That shut him up.
I kept the pistol in my hands all the way to the gates of the Artek camp.
After I opened the door, I leaned back and said:
‘Ah, there’s just one more thing, guys …’
They looked at me with hate in their eyes. All that power I could have drained off if only I’d been in good shape!
‘Better not even to try to find me again. Or this night will seem like paradise. Get it?’
No answer.
‘Silence signifies agreement,’ I said decisively, putting the little Astra Cub back in my purse. The ideal weapon for a frail woman … although Pavel had had to carry it through customs.