The Mountain Shadow

I was glad she couldn’t see my face, and glad she didn’t pull away.

‘Look, you’re probably on a most-wanted list, Karla. And I’m definitely most-wanted. We’re who we are, and who we are has no place in lives of public ambition. It’s bad for them, and it’s a lot worse for us if it falls down, and they’re looking for someone to blame for it.’

‘I’m okay,’ she murmured. ‘I know exactly what I’m doing.’

‘I don’t want to think of something happening to you, Karla. Ranjit’s making me think of it. A lot. I don’t like him for it. One way or another, this guy puts himself on everybody’s hurt list. Have mercy. Send me a postcard from London, and give me some peace of mind.’

‘Mercy,’ she said softly. ‘My favourite inessential virtue. I think you’ve done this motorcycle talk before.’

‘I was right about this, wasn’t I? It’s damn cool.’

‘It’s okay,’ she murmured. ‘Is it my turn now?’

‘Your turn?’

‘Yeah.’

‘For motorcycle talk?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Sure, talk away,’ I said confidently, not careful what I wished for.

She nestled in tighter, her lips close.

‘Are you ready?’

‘Ready for what?’

‘You don’t need coffee, or a joint?’

‘I’m good. I’m so good.’

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Gimme a dramatic pause.’

‘But –’

‘Shut up! You’re dramatic pausing.’

There was a dramatic pause.

‘That . . . truly . . . fucking . . . transcendent ride home,’ she said at last, murmuring the words onto my skin, ‘was a rip through space and time, baby. When you crashed down two gears and gunned it, passing between the passenger bus and the water tanker, my soul left my body. When we slid the closing gap and roared through, a voice in my head said Oh yeah . . . Oh yeah . . . Oh God . . . Oh God . . . all the way home.’

She stopped, and stopped my heart.

‘How am I doin’ here, Shantaram, without all of my queens?’

Fine. She was doing fine. I turned in the saddle until I could see a corner of her face.

‘I thought you didn’t believe in God, Karla,’ I smiled.

‘Who are we to believe in God?’ she said, her lips only lashes from my face. ‘It should be enough for anyone that God believes in us.’

We could’ve kissed. We should’ve kissed.

‘I’m thinking that I have to talk to Lisa,’ I said, words cutting my own throat. ‘Are you thinking that you have to talk to Ranjit?’

She drew away slowly, until shadows took her face. I turned to the front again. She didn’t say anything, so I spoke.

‘I have to talk to her.’

‘Well, you can do that here,’ she said quietly.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Lisa’s here, at the hotel. Gemini and Scorpio are throwing a party, in the penthouse suite. They’ve taken the whole floor, in fact. Tonight’s the official housewarming. Everyone in town is up there. That’s why the limos are prowling. That’s why I asked you to drop me here.’

‘But . . . why didn’t you mention this before?’

‘Why didn’t you know?’

It was a good question. I couldn’t answer it.

‘Are you going?’ I asked her, still staring ahead.

‘I was going to ask you to be my door date.’

‘Ranjit isn’t here?’

‘Ranjit is otherwise detained, this evening. A monthly meeting with the City Council. Didier agreed days ago to walk me out, and have a drink with me at home. But I’d like you to walk me in. Are you up for it?’

I wanted to see Lisa, and know that she was safe. I wanted to see Didier for a report about the fallout from the shooting at Leopold’s. Good reasons to go. But I was afraid of spending more time with Karla. I hadn’t seen her for two years, but she’d been as close to me on the ride home to the Island City as wings on my back. And it was Karla, so there wasn’t an easy way to anything. She wanted to keep her husband alive for at least a few months more: it was cold-blooded, but I didn’t care. She’d been hurt, and she hurt back, but I knew there was nothing bad in her, just as I knew that she wouldn’t harm Ranjit or anyone else without reason. She was too strong for the world she knew, and I loved that about her, and I thought that if I looked at her again, I wouldn’t have the courage to leave her side.

‘I’d be honoured to escort you to the party, Karla,’ I said, staring straight ahead.

‘I’d be honoured to accompany you, Shantaram. Let’s get moving. I wanna see if you dance like you ride, or ride like you dance.’

Chapter Thirty-One

I parked the bike under the shelter at the entrance to the hotel, and when I turned to look at her all sixteen queens stared back at me. I froze.

‘Are you okay?’

‘Sure, why?’

‘You look like somebody stood on your foot,’ she said.

‘No, I’m fine.’

‘Sure?’

‘Yeah,’ I said, glancing away from checkmate. ‘I’m good.’

‘Okay, let’s go to the party. There’ll be plenty of people to stand on our feet there.’

We crossed the lobby, found a lucky elevator, and pressed for the penthouse.

‘Every time an elevator door closes on me,’ she said, as the elevator doors closed, ‘I want a drink.’

The doors opened on a drinking party, already bumpy happy. Guests had spilled from crowded suites into the corridor, where they sat in groups or stumbled back and forth, laughing and shouting.