Paradise Burns

by J. P. Sumner

  He was unarmed, though he had little reason to be when he was surrounded by his own army. He looked at Natalia, then spoke to her in Russian. I have no idea what he said, but it made her lower her weapon.

  ‘I have heard a great deal about you, Adrian Hell,’ he said. ‘It is an honor to meet such an accomplished soldier.’

  Normally, this would be the point where I’d wind him up, but under the circumstances even I recognize that would be a stupid idea.

  ‘Thanks,’ I replied. ‘Can’t say I’ve ever heard of you.’

  He smiled.

  ‘That’s okay, Adrian Hell. Soon, the whole world will have heard of me.’

  ‘Yeah, about that... I’m not sure I can allow you guys to carry on with your crazy plan for world domination, or whatever. Sorry.’

  He laughed loudly. I frowned.

  ‘I’m sensing you’re not taking me seriously?’ I said.

  ‘We have partnership with your military. Our “crazy” plan will happen regardless of what you do,’ he said.

  ‘Your liaison with them is dead and they never finalized the deal to sell you this land. So your plan is dead in the water.’

  Ketranovich’s smile faded.

  ‘That was... unfortunate, but no matter. We will begin mining here in a couple days regardless.’

  Natalia took a step forward, raised her gun at me and began shouting at me in Russian. She was spitting and, presumably, cursing at me, and had a wild, dark look in her eyes.

  I took a step back and lifted my arms a bit higher, to emphasize I was unarmed. Ketranovich turned to the other guy stood with them and nodded at Natalia. The guy let go of his rifle so it hung by its strap and walked over to her.

  He was a little shorter than Ketranovich, but similar in build. He had buzz-cut blonde hair and blue eyes. He shouted something at Natalia, and she turned to him - the anger still present on her face. He placed his hands on her shoulders and began talking to her in Russian.

  I noticed the soldiers at the back were looking at each other and shifting nervously back and forth, watching and muttering between themselves. Ketranovich himself looked on, but with far less concern than the rest.

  The blonde guy was calming her down, but it was so weird how she went from zero to psycho in the blink of an eye. Natalia has issues, and she’s definitely not the type of person I’d trust with an automatic weapon. But, hey - that’s just me.

  ‘Forgive me,’ said Ketranovich. ‘Little Natalia sometimes gets wound too tight. Her brother relaxes her.’

  ‘Hey, I’m passing no judgment,’ I said. ‘I kill people for a living.’

  He laughed again.

  ‘You are funny man, Adrian Hell. I like you. Would you consider joining our cause, maybe? We could use a soldier like you.’

  ‘Thanks for the offer, Roman, my old friend, but I’m not a terrorist. I’m not going to let you profit from this land, and I’m not going to let you manufacture nuclear weapons. I will stop you.’

  ‘I’m afraid you are, how you say, pissing in the wind, my friend. No-one can stop what is already in motion. It’s a shame you won’t be around to see my plan come to fruition. It will be a whole new world.’

  He pointed at me, and everyone raised their rifles once more and aimed at me.

  I breathed out heavily and closed my eyes tight. Content that whatever small plan I had hadn’t worked, I prepared for a shower of bullets to rain into me.

  Seconds passed, and still I lived. I opened one eye and looked around.

  I don’t know if I heard it first, or they did, but the sound was unmistakable. There was a helicopter coming. More than one as well. I looked up to the sky, and saw the faint lights in the distance.

  Ketranovich looked up as well, in time to see all three black helicopters approach and hover above us, forming a triangle over our little showdown. The noise was deafening, and everyone had to shield their eyes against the dust that was being thrown around by the rotor blades.

  Inside the helicopters were soldiers, all dressed in black and red, aiming guns at Dark Rain. Each helicopter also had a mounted mini-gun on one side, which was manned and again, aimed at Dark Rain.

  The helicopter nearest to me dropped lower, and a rope ladder came down and stopped next to me. I had no idea who they were, but I didn’t need much convincing to think I was better off with them than where I was. I stepped onto the ladder and hooked my left arm through the rungs.

  I shouted over to Ketranovich.

  ‘Hey, Colonel,’ I said. ‘You know what they say about people who piss into the wind: they always get their own back!’

  I flipped him my middle finger.

  ‘Be seeing you soon, you commie bastard!’ I yelled with a smile as the helicopter ascended and flew off in formation with the other two. I carefully climbed up the ladder, making sure I didn’t look down - I’m not too big on heights.

  I wonder who my new friends are?

  Back

  Sin City

  THIRTY-THREE

  The chopper ride was short and silent. After I’d climbed into the back, I was ushered into a seat, flanked by two men with guns. Their uniforms were devoid of markings, so I couldn’t identify them. I’m working on the assumption they were friendly, otherwise I’d have been left to fend for myself against Dark Rain. Which wouldn’t have ended well for me.

  After what felt like only a few minutes, the other two choppers peeled away and flew off in different directions. I watched the one on my right fly off in the moonlight until it was out of sight.

  We carried on straight for another minute before setting down on the roof of a building. It was late, easily after midnight. I couldn’t tell what building we’d landed on at first, but as we jumped out of the chopper and entered the fire door, I realized we were in a hospital.

  Keeping pace, I followed my rescuers as they descended down three flights of stairs, with two men in front of me and three behind. We came out on the fourth floor. The armed men moved into a formation which meant I had a guy either side of me, two behind and one in front. I was completely surrounded.

  I could smell the disinfectant that you only ever smell in a hospital - that sickeningly clean smell that reminds you being ill. I hate that smell! It was also eerily quiet, the only sound being our footfalls on the permanently-waxed tiled floor. Nobody had offered any conversation, and I had complied with their non-verbal requests of when and where to move.

  We turned a corner and came to the front desk, which had two nurses stationed there. They looked up curiously, but they said nothing.

  ‘Wait here,’ said the guy in front. He walked off, leaving me surrounded by the other four.

  After a few minutes, the guy re-appeared with another man I’d not seen before. He was dressed in a nice navy blue suit, with his white shirt un-tucked and no tie. He had thick, dark hair parted to the side and was clean shaven. I reckon he was in his early forties. He headed straight for me, smiling. He extended his hand, which I made an exception and shook.

  ‘Adrian,’ he said. ‘I’m glad you could make it.’

  ‘Not as glad as I am,’ I replied. ‘If it weren’t for your boys, I’d have been cut to shreds back there. I owe you my life.’

  ‘Don’t mention it. I’m actually hoping you can do us a favor? Look at it as paying us back for earlier.’

  ‘And who exactly are you?’

  ‘Forgive me. My name’s Robert Clark. As of yesterday, I’m now Head of Finance and Development for GlobaTech Industries.’

  I hadn’t expected that.

  I quickly assessed my options. There were five men with guns surrounding me, and I was in a hospital, probably on CCTV. There were nurses nearby who were witnesses. I had my guns at my back, but there was zero chance of success if I pulled them.

  So, violence wasn’t the answer. What a strange concept. I’ll have to settle for talking. For now.

  ‘GlobaTech? As in the same GlobaTech who are funding Dark Rain and selling land to them so they can mine uran
ium to make nuclear weapons?’

  Clark smiled.

  ‘That’s the one, yes.’

  ‘You’ll have to forgive my hostility. It’s just I’ve spent the last few days getting my ass kicked all over this city by pretty much everyone I’ve come into contact with. I came here on business and I ended up being shot at and tortured by seemingly everyone I meet.’

  ‘Yes, I’m well aware of what your “business” is, Adrian,’ said Clark. ‘I appreciate you’ve certainly had a rough couple of days. I’d like to thank you for disposing of Ted Jackson, by the way. I’ve been promoted to his old job, which pays a lot more than my old position did.’

  ‘You’re welcome, I guess?’ I said.

  The nurses who were looking at us suddenly found something to do elsewhere, and left hurriedly.

  ‘Listen, Adrian, you obviously have a lot of questions. I completely respect everything you’ve done so far, and you absolutely deserve some answers. But before we get to that, I want to show you something.’

  ‘Well, you certainly seem nicer than Ted was, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but that’s a little forward, don’t you think? Maybe a drink first?’

  Clark smiled.

  ‘I see you’re a fan of using humor as a defense mechanism. It’s nice to see that the money we spent compiling a psychological profile of you was well spent.’

  ‘You spent money on what?

  ‘I like to know everything I can about the people I do business with. I’m sure you of all people can appreciate that? What with your history of paranoia and borderline O.C.D. when it comes to research.’

  ‘Okay, stop talking like you know me – it’s freaking me out.’

  He smiled and held his hands up, as if to convey his apology and explain he meant no harm, then turned and walked back the way he’d come. When I didn’t follow, he looked over his shoulder at me.

  ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘It’s fine. You can trust me. If I wanted you dead, you already would be.’

  While trusting him was a little optimistic on his part, he had a point about me not being dead. I’d not even been disarmed. So I followed him.

  We walked down the corridor to the end and turned right. Ahead were a set of double doors that were locked, with a keypad on the wall for access. Clark produced a card from his pocket, swiped it then entered a code. The doors swung open and we walked through.

  This corridor wasn’t as brightly lit as the others had been. It was a dead end, with three doors on either side. We walked to the second one along on the left. He knocked and opened the door, holding it as an invitation for me to go through.

  I stood in the doorway and looked around the room. It had no windows, but a nice air conditioning unit that was keeping it nice and cool. There was a TV mounted on the wall to my right as I looked in. There was a couch against the wall facing the door, and chairs just to the left of where I was stood. Against the left wall was the bed.

  I raised an eyebrow in surprise.

  ‘Hey,’ said Clara.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  ‘I’ll give you two a minute,’ said Clark, as he backed out of the room and closed the door, leaving me alone with Clara.

  She looked good, considering. She was a bit out of it, but for the most part she seemed to be doing well.

  ‘You alright?’ she asked.

  ‘Never mind me,’ I said, fighting to keep the surprise and confusion out of my voice. ‘What happened to you?’

  She took a deep breath and closed her eyes momentarily. I pulled up a chair and sat by her bedside. She looked at me and smiled. She looked happy to see me. I’ve not seen anyone happy to see me in a long time. It was nice. Not being that great in situations like this, I hesitated a moment before grabbing her hand and squeezing it gently, as a gesture to acknowledge that I was glad she was alright. She squeezed back in appreciation, then told me what happened.

  ‘After I left through the cellar in the bar, I climbed out of the loading dock around the other side just as Natalia started shooting at the police. I took a quick peek, and saw them split up and come after you. I ran, but the guy who came after me was quick and he soon caught me. Long story short, I shot him a couple of times and he died.’

  I smiled. Clara and I had bonded very well in a short space of time, and she had a very similar approach to conflict as I did. It was refreshing. She continued.

  ‘I avoided the YouTube vultures on the main street out front and made my way to your hotel. I got there, and there were two guys in suits I’d never seen before searching your room. I was tired and completely unprepared and they got the drop on me. One of them shot me and I went down. I must’ve blacked out, but the last I thing I remember seeing was one of them lifting your mattress. I’m sorry, Adrian, but whoever they were took the deeds.’

  I took her right hand in my left and squeezed gently.

  ‘It’s okay, Clara,’ I said, reaching into my back pocket. ‘I got the deeds back.’

  I waved them at her, smiling. She breathed out a heavy sigh of relief, wincing slightly as she did.

  ‘How’d you manage that?’ she asked.

  ‘It was Pellaggio’s men who raided my room. I had another run-in with Jimmy Manhattan.’ I pointed to the cut running down my cheek. ‘We had a disagreement.’

  ‘Is he dead?’

  ‘He’s not, no. I left him unconscious on the floor of a portable cabin, on the construction site above our favorite uranium mine.’

  ‘Oh, fair enough.’

  ‘So, come on - what happened after the hotel? I asked Josh to search for you, and you weren’t registered as being admitted to any hospital nearby.’

  ‘Yeah, I came round in the ambulance. There were two nurses patching me up, a guy dressed in black with a gun and Bob.’

  ‘Bob?’

  ‘Yeah, the GlobaTech guy.’

  ‘You mean Robert Clark.’

  ‘He said to call him Bob.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  She sat up a bit in her bed and started laughing.

  ‘Adrian, do I detect a hint of jealousy in your voice?’ she said, mocking me.

  ‘Me? Jealous?’ I scoffed. ‘Of course not!’

  She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

  ‘I’m just highly skeptical of the new, overly-friendly Ted Jackson replacement who works for the people funding the terrorist organization who’s been trying to kill us both all day.’

  Clara rolled her eyes.

  ‘Well, when you put it like that...’ she said, pulling a face and smiling.

  I shook my head in comical disbelief.

  ‘Anyway, you were saying?’

  ‘Yeah, so I woke up surrounded by these guys, and Bob. . . Robert, said he was going to make sure I received the best medical care available. I’ve been resting up here since then.’

  ‘You spoken to this guy since you woke up?’

  ‘Not really. He came in to see how I was about an hour ago, but that’s been it.’

  She shifted in her bed again, trying to get comfortable.

  ‘How did you get here anyway?’ she asked.

  ‘After we got to the uranium site, Dark Rain showed up in force. Ketranovich and Salikov were there, and some other guy with blonde hair who seemed to calm Natalia down after she came over all psycho.’

  ‘That’d be Gene, her twin brother.’

  ‘Yeah, Ketranovich said her brother was the only one who can calm her down when she goes a bit psycho. That’s a family in need of therapy.’

  ‘You don’t know the half of it.’

  ‘I bet. So, The Colonel and I had words, which didn’t go very well.’

  ‘Let me guess, he offered you a job and you opening antagonized him?’

  ‘I’m hurt you would even think such a thing,’ I said, innocently.

  She raised an eyebrow and stared at me for a moment.

  ‘Okay, yes, I might have poked a little fun at him,’ I conceded, prompting her to smile.

  ‘Anyway, just as I wa
s about to be gunned down by fifteen armed soldiers, three blacked out helicopters showed up out of nowhere and gave me a lift out of trouble. Dark Rain didn’t try and stop them either, they just stood there as stunned as I was.’

  She shook her head, laughing.

  ‘You’re one lucky bastard, do you know that?’

  I smiled.

  ‘I’d hardly call myself lucky, given how my visit to this city has gone so far.’

  She laughed and the conversation died down. We sat in silence for a few moments. I was glad she was alright. Despite what Josh had said earlier about me doing the right thing, I’d have struggled to forgive myself if anything had happened to her because of me.

  Just then, the door opened and Robert Clark came in.

  ‘You guys all caught up?’ he asked, pulling up a chair next to me and sitting down.

  ‘Yeah, we’re good,’ I replied, smiling at Clara.

  ‘Excellent. Now, down to business.’

  THIRTY-FIVE

  ‘I need your help, Adrian.’

  Robert Clark, not for the first time since I met him a couple of hours ago, took me by surprise.

  I looked at Clara, then back at him.

  ‘You want my help?’ I asked.

  ‘That’s right,’ he replied.

  ‘I don’t know if you’ve been keeping score, Bob, but Dark Rain have been trying to kill me all week. Why would I help the guys giving them money?’

  Clark smiled, clearly detecting the irony in the situation and in his request.

  ‘I understand how you feel and I’m sorry about what’s happened in the past. Let me explain a few things.’

  He stood and began pacing around the room. His hands were in his pockets and he was looking at the floor, seemingly lost in thought. After a few moments, he spoke again.

  ‘Between you, I think you both have a good understanding of the situation as it stands. Would you say that was a fair assessment?’