Paradise Burns

by J. P. Sumner

  I rang Josh.

  ‘It’s me,’ I said.

  ‘How’d it all go?’ he asked.

  ‘Exactly as planned. They might not make much stick long-term, but for the foreseeable future, Jimmy Manhattan is no longer a problem.’

  ‘Nice. Well, to add to your good news, I’ve got some of my own.’

  ‘Oh yeah?’

  ‘I’ve just been speaking to Robert Clark from GlobaTech.’

  ‘And that’s good news, how?’

  ‘They contacted me and said they’ve spoken to you and Clara about a plan of action for Dark Rain, and wanted to know if they could rely on me for logistical support.’

  I wasn’t happy at how easily people seemed to trust Clark. I’m the first to admit I’m a sociopathic, paranoid cynic who hates most things and most people, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong for being skeptical of the company who was funding the people who have been trying to kill me all week. I take more convincing than most.

  ‘And what did you say?’ I asked.

  ‘I asked what they were planning, and what my involvement would entail. At the end of the day, I work with you, Adrian.’

  ‘Thanks. So what’s their plan? I know they’re handing the land over to the U.S. government, so at least that’s no longer a factor. But Dark Rain have the numbers and have had the funds. I can’t take on an entire army on my own.’

  ‘You don’t have to take them on at all. Their plan is to mount a two-pronged attack on the ground and in the air. They’re a private military, which typically works out of Afghanistan and Korea, sub-contracting for the U.S. government. With their resources, it’ll be like a hot knife through butter.’

  ‘Sounds good to me. So where do you fit in?’

  ‘Given our contribution to the situation so far, plus the information I have already, they’ve asked if I’ll help co-ordinate their attack. They’re giving me temporary access to their satellite network.’

  ‘Which means...’

  ‘Which means I’ll be giving myself permanent access to their satellite network.’

  We both laughed.

  ‘I’m sure that’ll come in handy somewhere down the line,’ I said. ‘I’ll just be happy when I can walk away from this. I don’t even care that I didn’t get paid for taking out Jackson. This has been a nightmare from start to finish. I can’t wait to leave Heaven’s Valley once and for all.’

  ‘How come you’ve not left already?’

  ‘I’m just waiting to get an update on Clara’s condition. Once I know she’s okay and safe, I’ll leave town.’

  ‘Sounds good. Let me know how she’s doing, yeah?’

  ‘Will do, thanks.’

  I hung up and sat there for a few moments, thinking about everything. Was that it? Am I done here now? Dark Rain are about to be wiped off the face of the earth by GlobaTech Industries, Jimmy Manhattan has been arrested for the murder of Ted Jackson, which will keep Pellaggio’s mafia off my back long enough to disappear, and the uranium mine is now the property of the U.S. government - which may or may not be a good thing. Aside from Clara being in hospital and me not finding Jonathan Webster in time, I’d say that’s a decent outcome, under the circumstances. As much as I wanted to see things through to the end, realistically, I think I’ve done all I can here now.

  My phone rang, interrupting my train of thought. I looked at the screen, but it was a withheld number.

  Very strange.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Adrian Hell. This is Roberto Pellaggio. I think me and you need to talk, kid.’

  Oh, for fuck’s sake…

  FORTY-ONE

  ‘I’m assuming that Jimmy’s recent issue with the police is your doing?’ asked Pellaggio.

  ‘Don’t know what you’re talking about,’ I replied.

  ‘Sure you don’t, kid. As things stand, I figure you owe me. Big.’

  ‘Really? See, the way I figure it, you need to piss off. Now.’

  ‘That mouth of yours is gonna get you into trouble one day.’

  ‘I thought I told you to leave this whole thing well alone?’

  ‘I want my goddamn land back!’

  ‘Oh, well seeing as you asked so nicely...’

  ‘Don’t fuck with me, kid - I don’t care who you are, I’ll see to it they find pieces of your body in all fifty states!’

  I failed to suppress a chuckle at that last threat, which I could tell did nothing to improve his already sour mood.

  ‘Listen, I don’t have the deeds any more. I gave them away. Sorry.’

  ‘You can’t possibly be that stupid, kid.’

  While I had nothing in particular to hurry to, I still couldn’t be bothered arguing with this guy. I get that he’s the head of a large and powerful mafia family. And yes, I appreciate there are many, many ways in which he can come after me. But after the week I’ve had, I just didn’t care.

  I figured at this stage it was irrelevant how much I told him. What’s he going to do? Threaten the U.S. government?

  I said, ‘You’re right, I’m not that stupid. In fact, I’m probably one of the smartest people you’ll ever meet. But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have the deeds any more.’

  ‘So get them back. They’re mine,’ said Pellaggio.

  ‘Actually, that land is now property of the United States Government. I spoke to the Secretary of Defense, and he persuaded me to hand the deeds over to a private military contractor called GlobaTech - who Ted Jackson worked for, in case you’d forgotten. They’re handling the legalities of it all, but the bottom line is this: let it go - you’ve lost.’

  There was silence on the other end of the line for a few moments.

  ‘Bullshit,’ he said.

  ‘I’m afraid not, sorry. See, it turns out that underneath that little plot of land lies the only natural uranium deposit in North America. I couldn’t let you keep it once I found out, and since then, lots of things have happened that culminated in the Secretary of Defense ordering me to hand the deeds over.’

  ‘You’ve cost me millions of dollars.’

  There was an icy calm in his voice, that I suspected meant that he was so angry right now, he didn’t know how to express it.

  ‘If you’d known about the uranium and started selling that as well, you could argue I’ve probably cost you billions, being honest. If it’s any consolation, you did manage to get away without paying me for the Ted Jackson hit. Although, I did kinda screw you over and frame Jimmy for that, so we’ll call that even, yeah?’

  ‘You’re a fucking dead man, you hear me, kid?’ said Pellaggio. ‘Dead!’

  ‘I think not, actually, Bobby old buddy. See, you’re now a member of an exclusive club that consists of people who I’ve warned more than once. There are two members. One of them has just been arrested for a murder we all know he had nothing to do with. His nose is broken, his pride is hurt and he’s fully aware that if I see him again, I’ll put a bullet in his head. The other is you. So listen up and listen good: if you ever see me again, you run. If I catch you, the last thing you will ever see will be the image of my gun pointing at your face. I’m not threatening you, I’m simply stating an irrefutable fact.’

  ‘You talk a lot, kid. And you seem to forget exactly who the fuck I am. You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, and there are countless bodies buried in the desert that can vouch for the fact that I don’t take too kindly to people fucking with my business. You’re one man, and you’re soon to be a dead one.’

  He hung up before I had chance to say any more. I looked at the phone for a moment and sighed. To be fair, I’ve probably said enough. He’ll be on the phone to everyone he knows, rallying his troops and showing them my picture. I suspect things will get interesting real soon. So much for getting out of Heaven’s Valley.

  I sat in silence, thinking things over for a moment, then re-dialed Josh.

  ‘Hey, quick question - you got a number for Robert Clark?’ I asked.

  ‘Yeah, I’ll text it you n
ow,’ he replied. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘I need a favor from our new best friend.’

  I heard Josh sigh on the other end of the phone.

  ‘What have you done, Adrian?’

  ‘Josh, I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  Silence.

  ‘Okay, fine. Pellaggio just rang me and demanded I give him the deeds. I told him about the uranium mine and that the U.S. Secretary of Defense, ordered me to give them to GlobaTech. He advised me I won’t be alive for long, apparently.’

  ‘And you said?’

  ‘I may have suggested that I was going to shoot him in the head if I ever saw him again.’

  ‘So, not only did you essentially commit treason by divulging classified military information, you succeeded in pissing off one of the biggest mob bosses on the West Coast?’

  ‘He was already pissed at me.’

  ‘Yes, but now he’s going to be pooling his vast array of resources and dedicating his every waking moment to killing you.’

  ‘Well, there is that, I suppose.’

  ‘You did it on purpose, didn’t you?’

  I paused. ‘Maybe.’

  ‘I swear, sometimes I think you’re suicidal.’

  ‘Oh, it’ll be fine, stop being such an old woman about it. We’ve dealt with worse.’

  ‘So what are you going to do?’

  ‘Can you get me his address?’

  ‘Pellaggio’s? Why? Do you intend knocking on his door and saying Hi?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘Can I have all your guns and money when you die?’

  ‘Knock yourself out, but I’m being buried with my Berettas.’

  ‘That’s fine. Where you’ll be heading, you’ll need all the help you can get.’

  FORTY-TWO

  I decided to go back to the hospital and check on Clara one last time. Josh had sent me Robert Clark’s number, as well as the details of where Pellaggio’s house is. I figured I’d pop over and see if we can’t sort this whole thing out like gentleman.

  As I drove in Clara’s car, I turned the radio on to find some suitable music. This car was one of the best I’ve ever driven. The roar of the engine, the speed of acceleration: it felt like someone had tried to tame nature itself - and struggled. For a true sports car like this one, you had to drive it straight, drive it fast and have a helluva soundtrack in the background.

  I found a couple of local radio stations playing up-to-date chart music, which was no good at all. After some fine-tuning, I stumbled across a station that had an older-sounding guy talking, introducing three tracks played back to back, all classic rock.

  That’ll do nicely.

  I cranked it up just as the introduction to the first song came on. "Since You’ve Been Gone" by Rainbow. Now you’re talking! I blasted down the street, windows down, music loud.

  For the first time in what felt like ages, albeit for just under ten minutes, I felt relaxed and free. Away from all the burdens and bullets that this city has thrown at me. Just me and the music and the open road.

  I almost didn’t want to get out of the car, but as the saying goes: there’s no rest for the wicked. I pulled into the hospital parking lot and turned the volume down to a reasonable, boring level. There weren’t many cars parked nearby, considering it’s a hospital.

  I walked in through the main entrance and took the elevator up to the fourth floor. As I walked through the waiting area, one of the nurses behind the desk looked up and smiled. I recognized her from when I first came here in the early hours and met with Clark. I smiled back as I headed to the right and down the corridor toward Clara’s room. The doors with the keypad were propped open, which was a result, so carried on until I reached her room. I knocked on the door and entered.

  The bed was empty.

  I wish she’d stop doing that. The woman can’t stay still for more than a couple of minutes, it would appear. She definitely can’t be trusted to seek medical attention when she needs it. I walked back out to the waiting area and spoke to the nurse who smiled at me.

  I said, ‘Excuse me, can you tell me where Clara Fox is? She was in Room Five down the corridor.’

  She checked the computer in front of her for a moment.

  ‘I can see she checked herself out a couple of hours after she came in,’ she said, apologetically. ‘We cleaned the wound and stitched it back up, then she insisted on leaving almost immediately afterward.’

  I took a deep breath.

  ‘Okay, thanks for your help.’

  I got back into the elevator and headed back down to the ground floor. Where the hell was she? Why would she check herself out?

  There’s nothing left for her to do. Dark Rain will be handled by GlobaTech. Pellaggio was never her problem to start with - that was my issue. Where would she have gone?

  As I got outside, I took out my phone and called Clark.

  ‘It’s Adrian,’ I said as he answered. ‘You got a minute?’

  ‘I don’t know where she is either, if that’s what you’re calling to ask?’ he said.

  ‘How do you know she’s not in the hospital?’

  ‘I came by a couple of hours ago, hoping to run into you, funnily enough. I went to check on her while I was there and the nurse said she’d checked herself out.’

  ‘Well, with a bit of luck, she’s left town with Jackson’s money, like I told her to.’

  ‘Ah, I did wonder where his briefcase was. Technically, you should return that to me, y’know?’

  ‘Sorry. I gave it to Clara not long after taking out Jackson. She was scared of trying to leave Dark Rain, so I told her to take the money and run. I think she’s resourceful enough to disappear for a while.’

  ‘How noble of you. Well, I’ll consider it an investment for the future.’

  ‘How diplomatic of you. What did you want me for, anyway?’

  ‘I wanted to thank you again for giving up the deeds to the uranium deposit earlier today. Thanks to you, GlobaTech have strengthened their delicate relationship with the U.S. military. Moving forward, we’ll be working closely with them on a number of projects both domestic and overseas.’

  ‘Glad I could help.’

  ‘Did you want me for something?’

  ‘Yeah, I was going to ask you for a favor. But seeing as though I’ve just helped you secure lots of business and money, look at it as more of a commission payment.’

  Clark laughed.

  ‘Go on, what do you need?’

  I proceeded to give him a list of things I wanted, as well as details of what I intended to do with them. I figured he deserved full disclosure, under the circumstances.

  He was silent for a few moments. Then he said:

  ‘Well, you’re officially certifiable. You do realize that, right? I mean, I wouldn’t send an entire unit to do that.’

  ‘So, can you help me?’ I asked.

  ‘For what it’s worth, yeah, I can get you what you need. I’ll text you an address to go and pick it up. I can get it ready for you in a few hours.’

  ‘I appreciate that, thank you.’

  ‘Adrian, are you serious about this?’

  ‘Completely.’

  ‘And you think you can pull it off?’

  ‘No doubt at all.’

  ‘If you ever want a job, you call me, okay? I could use someone as clinically insane as you.’

  ‘I’ve got a job, but thanks for the offer.’

  I hung up and headed over to the parking lot. It still wasn’t very busy, with only a couple more cars in it from when I first arrived.

  I got within twenty five feet of Clara’s Dodge Viper, then it exploded.

  Back

  Live Wire

  FORTY-THREE

  I woke up close to the entrance of the hospital, which was a good eighty feet away from where I last remember standing. I was flat on my back staring up at the sky, which was dark gray with smoke. My entire body felt so hot, I was sure I was on fire. I looked dow
n quickly to check I wasn’t. I had a painfully loud ringing in my ears; any noise I could hear sounded hollow and miles away.

  My brain was just about functioning, even if my body wasn’t. I cautiously tried to move my arms, one at a time. When I was confident I could, I checked the rest of my body for damage. There were no protruding bones, which was always a bonus. My chest was wet. I felt around and realized I was bleeding from my mouth and it had been dripping down my front. I used my tongue to feel inside, which sent a blinding white pain through my face. I must’ve bit my tongue when the initial blast sent me flying backward.

  I tried to move my legs, one at a time. They worked, so I went all in and tried to stand up. That was a bit too much. I got up into a crouch before falling over onto my side again - my equilibrium was fried, so I couldn’t focus on specific directions or objects. I settled for sitting up, which I just about managed.

  The cracked ribs from a couple of days ago were hurting with renewed vigor. I felt sick, which I figured was caused primarily by my second concussion of the week.

  In the distance, I could hear a lot of commotion: sirens wailing, people screaming and running in all directions. But as I looked around me, I realized all that wasn’t happening in the distance, it was all around me.

  I was fortunate, in a way, because I got blown up in a hospital parking lot. At least I didn’t have far to travel!

  I felt hands on my shoulders, which I immediately tried to fight off. Who tried to kill me? Have they come back to finish the job? I felt like I was thrashing my arms and twisting my body violently to escape their grasp, but in reality I was hardly moving.

  I quickly gave in and allowed myself to guided back to the ground. As I lay there, gazing skyward, a face loomed over me. I recognized it as the nurse from the fourth floor who smiled at me. She was saying something I couldn’t make out.

  I gave up the fight a few minutes later and closed my eyes. I just needed a little bit of peace and quiet.

  I opened my eyes and saw long lights rushing past above me. I tried to look around and saw a person either side of me, walking quickly and looking ahead. My head felt like it had been split in two.