The Mountain Shadow

I thought of several men I knew, a couple of friends, in fact, who’d happily kill me for nothing, if it occurred to them, just because they liked killing people.

‘Thanks, guys,’ I said.

‘What do you want to do?’ Abdullah asked me.

‘I’ve gotta stay away from Karla,’ I said. ‘Don’t want any crossfire.’

‘Wise. Do you need anything from your home?’

Do I need anything, for being hunted to death?

I worked the street. I was always ready. I had good boots, good jeans, clean T-shirt, lucky sleeveless vest with inner pockets, American money, Indian money, two knives at my back, and a motorcycle that never let me down.

I didn’t have a gun, but I knew where to find one.

‘No, I’m good, until the clock runs down. It’s gonna be an interesting night. Thanks for the warning. I’ll see you in twenty-four hours. Allah hafiz.’

I straightened my bike from the side-stand, and prepared to kick-start.

‘Whoa, whoa!’ Tall Tony said.

‘Where the fuck you goin’?’ Ravi asked.

‘I know a place,’ I said.

‘A place?’ Abdullah frowned.

‘A place,’ I said. ‘Allah hafiz.’

‘Whoa, whoa!’ Tall Tony said.

‘What place?’ Ravi asked.

‘There’s a place I know with a way in, that everybody knows, and a way out that only I know.’

‘What the fuck?’ Comanche asked.

‘I’ll get my gun,’ I said, ‘some fruit, and a couple of beers, and retire there for twenty-four. I’ll see you guys later. I’m good.’

‘Not gonna happen,’ Ravi said, shaking his head.

‘We are forbidden by Sanjay from helping you,’ Abdullah said. ‘But in a time of crisis like this, with a Council member like Fardeen killed, many young men from outside the Company are riding the streets with Company men, patrolling the whole boundary of the south with us. Comanche has joined us, and he is retired from the Company.’

‘Damn right,’ Ravi said.

‘There is nothing to stop you riding with us,’ Abdullah continued, ‘while we make patrols. And nothing to stop you resting with us, for the next twenty-four hours, as a gesture of your support for the Sanjay Company.’

‘And if you choose to do that –’ Tall Tony said.

‘– we can’t stop you,’ Ravi finished.

‘So, come, Lin, and ride the boundary of South Bombay with us for the next twenty-four hours,’ Abdullah said, clapping me on the shoulder. ‘And offer us your protection, in this time of attacks on the Company.’

It was a nice offer, one you remember, but I didn’t feel right accepting it.

‘And suppose one of you takes a bullet for me?’ I asked. ‘How am I gonna feel about that?’

‘Suppose you take a bullet saving one of us?’ Abdullah replied, starting his bike. ‘How will you feel about that?’

The others started their bikes and we rode off together, settling into a slow speed after the bikes were warm, and cruising the streets and boulevards, two in front, three behind.

Men block things out. Men are driven by duty, and block out anything that stands in the way of their duty.

There was a new price on my head, and I had no idea who put it there, but I blocked it out, thinking only of survival. Maybe the fact that I already had a bounty on my head, offered by my own government, made it easier to block, and give myself to the boundary ride with Abdullah and the others, patrolling for surprise attacks by Scorpion Company killers.

It wasn’t the first time I’d ridden a patrol in South Bombay. Other gangs had tried to take territory in the tourist-rich peninsula. We’d ridden patrols through the night in anticipation of attacks, which sometimes came: attacks that would’ve been worse, if we hadn’t been able to respond with mobile patrols in less than thirty seconds, anywhere in the south.

Two teams of four men patrolled a four-hour shift, which was the polite limit for the motorcycles.

The dragon’s mouth of the Island City is roughly the same size as Manhattan. We cruised dozens of circuits in those hours. Fortunately, South Bombay is ravined with tiny walkways, wide enough for motorcycles. They provided a network of short cuts that shaved minutes of traffic, and offered endlessly surprising entries and exits to major arterial routes.

The times that we stopped patrolling and talked to people were as important as the time in the saddle. Every helpful whisper is a way to strike the enemy. Home ground advantage is the ace of spades, in turf wars. Attention to detail is the ace of hearts. A supportive community that likes and trusts you at least as much as they like and trust the police is the royal flush.

In fact, the cops joined in with the Sanjay Company, after Fardeen’s murder, allowing a limited amnesty for Company men to carry weapons.

The Scorpions, Didier’s sources assured him, were trying to force their way into the south with a combination of violence and religious nationalism. They felt that the cops should support their control of South Bombay, because they saw themselves as patriots, and the Sanjay Company as traitors.