Roachville

As a principle, I try to not associate bad shit with new music. So Tricky’s Maxinquaye was a perfect match for the current atmosphere of danger and tension, combined with anger and the unknown.

A day and a half had elapsed since I had lost it over a fat translucent cockroach and Ely had reappeared on my doorstep. Now we were in his car, driving into town where Tann and Sommai were staying according to Kalaroo, who had kept as close an eye on them as possible. Like I said, it was just a big game of cat and mouse played all over the city and beyond. I tried to figure out what day of the week it was, but my brain refused to think about such trivial matters as the passing of time according to Western standards. I squinted at the city night lights, turning them into arrows of colours.

Kalaroo was in the back of the car, humming along to Tricky’s dark words, as if they were a lullaby. Ely drove, concentrating on the soft tarmac ahead. He followed the empty motorway that ended in the centre of the city and the car crossed town like a shark through a silent sea. Kenneth Tann’s hotel was one of the shiny new buildings near Temple Meads train station, just across the even newer edifices on the other side of the dual carriageway. We parked fifty metres away from the main entrance, in a dark spot between two lamp posts. Ely turned the headlights off, along with the music and the engine. The 4 am silence settled down, punctuated by an occasional car speeding down the empty avenue. We all knew what we had to do and after twenty minutes of silence, my heartbeats settled down, my eyes became heavy and before I knew it, they were both closed and I was off to doze-land.

‘That’s him,’ Ely whispered, grabbing my left thigh and squeezing it a little too hard. My whole body shuddered.

‘Wake up, Annika,’ he said, squeezing my thigh again.

‘I’m awake.’ I sat up. ‘Come on, let’s do it!’

We got out of the car as one, closing the doors with care and moving like a single-minded organism towards the building. Before Sommai reached the steps to the hotel entrance we intercepted him. Ely and Kalaroo took one arm each.

‘Hey, how is it going Sommai?’ Kalaroo whispered in his right ear.

‘It’s great to see you again! We’ve got so much to talk about!’ Ely said in his left ear.

Before Sommai could react, Kalaroo deftly tied a thin rope around one of Sommai’s wrists and pulled it tight; then he did the same with the other wrist. He sure could have been an excellent pickpocket.

‘Don’t struggle and don’t make a noise or I’ll break your arm,’ Kalaroo hissed. I glanced back at the security guard in the lobby but he was barely awake, staring glassy-eyed at a random square screen.

Sommai glared at Ely and Kalaroo, but he didn’t say anything. The two men had each locked one of his arms.

It wouldn’t be long before thousands of clouds spread their dirty shadows on the ground, so there was no time to waste; the plan was to take Sommai underground. A few side-streets later we neared the slow-moving river. Ely led the way into an abandoned tobacco warehouse. Earlier on, as Kalaroo had recalled that Sommai liked to go to the special massage parlours in Stokes Croft in the early hours of the night, Ely had come up with the idea and we’d agreed that it would suit our purpose. We followed him up the narrow iron stairs and through a broken windowpane, letting ourselves onto the first floor. Sommai tried to pull free before going up the stairs, but Ely punched him in the face. Sommai gave out a groan and I bit my lower lip. My boys got a couple of torches out and found some more stairs, leading down this time. Down, down we went, until it was wet and slimy. The beam searched the floor for a while and Ely exclaimed, ‘Here. Open it!’

Kalaroo untied one of Sommai’s wrists and shoved him towards a trapdoor. Silently, Sommai struggled with the opening hook for a bit, but managed to pull it open. None of us helped.

Ely climbed down the ladder first and landed below with a glum sound. Kalaroo motioned to Sommai to follow. Instead he lurched towards the darkness, but Kalaroo was ready for him, tripping Sommai, who landed heavily on the ground. Kalaroo shoved him back towards the ladder.

‘Just don’t try that again,’ he said.

Squelchy noises echoed around me as I, in turn, stepped down the ladder. At the end of the sixteen rungs, the bottom was soft, like moss that had grown for years on smooth underwater stones. In the darkness, Kalaroo tied our prisoner’s hands again. Now the only light came from the two torches pointing at Sommai’s closed face.

‘Sit down,’ I ordered.

‘It’s wet,’ he moaned.

‘Do you think I give a shit?’ I pushed him as hard as I could.

Sommai took a step back, gave me a vicious look and plopped himself to the floor. Ely and Kalaroo were very close and I could almost make out their fingers holding the torches. An intense feeling of loneliness hit me. I closed my eyes and let it wash over me.

‘You’re down here,’ I started in a shaky voice, ‘because there are a few things you need to know. To be more precise, there are a few things that your boss Kenneth Tann needs to know. But first, you must talk. I want to know who Tann works for?’

I took a few steps back and observed Sommai. When I started again, my voice wasn’t shaking any more.

‘I didn’t think you would volunteer any information, so let me share a few personal thoughts. And you should know that I have never told anybody before.’

I searched for inspiration into Sommai’s black eyes.

’I have often wondered what it would be like to plunge a knife into somebody’s heart. I once read this line in a book: “the blade went inside his flesh like a knife through butter”. I can’t at all remember the rest of the story or who the author was, but that sentence made a big impression on me; it’s always been with me. I don’t think I’m a psychopath by any stretch of the imagination, but for some reason it has a certain resonance in me. I’ve been very curious about it for as long as I remember… And now you’re providing me with the perfect opportunity to verify if it’s true: can a blade go through flesh like a knife through butter?’ Sommai’s expression remained stubborn. ‘I mean, surely,’ I carried on, moving closer to him, ‘it can’t be that easy. Maybe it depends on how sharp the knife is, or if you bump into a rib on your way to the heart… I’m sure you of all people must be able to relate to this... thirst for knowledge.’ I paused once again and coaxed, ‘Now it’s your turn to talk. Who is Tann’s boss?’

The combined glare of the torches showed me a face that didn’t take me seriously. I counted to five in my head. Properly. One second, two second, three, four, five…

Nothing.

‘The suspense is killing me, isn’t it you?’ I felt more and more detached. I reached inside my pocket, where I had previously put Ely’s old secateurs. ‘Could you please hold him tight?’ I asked Kalaroo, who had become invisible in the darkness. I sensed a movement and Sommai couldn’t hide his discomfort as he was squeezed hard around his arms and body. ‘Yep, you ain’t going nowhere,’ I said to myself. I brought the shears next to his face and Ely shone the torch on it for all to see.

‘I could cut off your nose,’ I pondered, ’or your ears, like that psycho in Reservoir Dogs… that would probably be easier than the nose and at least you wouldn’t be disfigured. You’d just have to grow your hair. You realise that unlike you, this is all new to me. I’m not used to torturing people, but my opinion is that human beings are, like, super adaptable…’ I let the words trail off and realized that part of me really did want to know what it would be like to carve out a piece of his flesh. I had managed to arouse my own sick curiosity. But Sommai only looked bored, and he shrugged and mumbled that he didn’t have a clue.

‘That’s the fucking last straw!’ I slammed his face as hard as I could with the secateurs. I felt my face distorting with rage and there was a nasty crunchy kind of noise as the metal contacted with his already bruised cheekbone. I smacked him again on the same spot. At last I had his full attention.

‘I would have made a bad teacher because I hate to repeat things,’ I said quickly. ‘I told you I wanted information and I can’t be bothered if you do not cooperate. Do-you-understand?’ I stared into his eyes and gripped him around the neck, while still clutching the secateurs s in my right hand. I knew that if I dropped them, my new-found violent tendencies would be neutralised, so I held on tight. ‘Are you going to make me use this thing again?’ I hissed, pressing the tip of the blade so hard against his bloody cheek that he recoiled violently. He averted his gaze several times. I looked up towards Ely and met his eyes shining in the dark.

‘Hold him,’ I ordered.

Ely put Sommai’s head in a lock so that he couldn’t avert his gaze from me anymore.

’Don’t you understand Tann doesn’t care about you? He doesn’t care about anybody. Why are you still with him?

A slight spasm crossed Sommai’s face. Ely felt it too and he tightened his grip.

‘Do you really think you’re part of his plan? The naga has shown me what’s to come if Tann succeeds and you were nowhere. I think he will get rid of you!’ I shouted and then nodded at Ely who released him.

Sommai’s head fell forward.

‘I don’t know who Tann works for,’ he whispered. ‘He used to have meetings, then we would travel somewhere else, but for the last three years we’ve only been after the naga. He didn’t use to tell me much about the organisation, just the mission, but now he’s not in contact with them anymore. The only thing that matters is the naga.’

Drops of water tick-tocked for a bit, as if trying to make stalagmites in record time. I shivered.

‘What happened to Phuong’s husband?’

‘Who?’ Sommai said, the side of his face looking raw under the harsh light. ‘Ah yeah, that stupid fucker.’ I let his comment pass and he carried on in his nasal voice. ‘He gave us bits of info about the naga and that his wife had it, but that’s about it.’

‘Is he still alive?’

Excitement crossed his face and he couldn’t help to smile.

‘Unless he managed to survive a fall from a hundred-metre cliff, no.’

‘Shut up, you psycho!’ I hissed, staring into his mocking eyes. ‘And don’t you dare get near me or my friends ever again.’ I kept staring for a moment more and I brought my forehead down on his nose as hard as I could. As I made contact with the bridge of his nose, there was a sound of cartilage exploding, followed very closely by a proper scream. I took a quick step back. No way was I going to get splattered by the blood escaping upward. Sommai looked scared and pitiful. I rubbed my forehead with my finger where my skin had touched his and put the secateurs back in my pocket.

‘Crawl back to your boss and tell him that Ely is back, but he never had the naga. When Tann played his liquid nitrogen tricks on me and you searched everywhere in my house, I had the naga. You fucking fools! And tell him that I’m Alice’s granddaughter, he’ll know who I’m talking about. And just to make sure, tell him I’m his niece.’

Sommai opened his eyes wide at me and grimaced. ‘You’re going to end up just like him,’ he jeered.

‘Well, who knows? I got my first taste of blood. Maybe it runs in the family. So he’d better watch out, because I won’t be as nice with him as I was with you.’

I stepped back, still rubbing my forehead. Ely and Kalaroo untied Sommai and shoved him hard towards the darkness. Let him scramble a bit, too; he might feel closer to a cockroach that way. As we retraced our steps and left the way we had come from, Ely held my shivering shoulders and Kalaroo led the way out.

‘Are you okay?’ Ely whispered.

‘I think so.’

‘You enjoyed this a little bit.’

‘A bit too much, you mean?’ I glanced sideways.

‘He pushed you to the limit. I would have done the same.’

‘Would you?’ Kalaroo joined in.

‘Yeah, we all have a bit of violence in us,’ Ely said.

‘Look,’ I said, ‘I’m not going to turn into a new Tann. I admit it, part of me felt a big release at hitting him back, but it’s not like I want to do this on a regular basis.’

Outside, we marched away from the derelict warehouse. The sky was turning milky blue and the city was waking up. Humans were still few and far between at this early hour and we stopped in Victoria Street. A maelstrom of leaves and plastic confetti swirled around our feet and I turned to Kalaroo.

‘You know I’m keeping the naga for just a little while longer, don’t you?’

‘Thought you might,’ he answered.

‘I will be done with Tann soon, but just to make sure, could you keep an eye on him and Sommai for the next few days?’

Kalaroo nodded, and then he walked away and dematerialized in the dirty street leading to the train station.

‘How about breakfast?’ Ely asked, squeezing my shoulder.

‘Good idea! There’s a place just round the corner that sells the most heavenly blueberry muffins.’

‘Okay, let’s go, I’m starving.’

It was 6.47 am by the time we sat down in a dark corner and ordered a pot of tea with the aforesaid muffins. Save from the scruffy owner, we were alone.

‘We need to get back to your garden and stay put,’ I said in a low voice.

‘Why, what’s next?’ Ely asked, demolishing his muffin.

‘Tann still doesn’t know about Macondo’s Garden. I mean, it’s still intact and if he knew about it, it would be destroyed by now.’

‘You’re right. And after all, there was nothing to link you to me before the naga... But do you think we’re done with Tann?’

I looked into his grey and blue eyes; it would have been so easy to drown in there.

‘When Sommai gets back to Tann and he learns we’re related and that I had the naga all along, it will be a huge blow for him.’ I shook my head. ‘But I don’t think he’ll give up yet. There’s more to come and I need to be in a safe place until then.’

Ely reached for my hand.

‘So is it okay if I stay at your place for a bit?’

‘You don’t really need to ask that,’ he said with a warm smile. ‘You and I have to finish what we started.’