The Devil’s Punchbowl

Taking my cell phone from my pocket, I check its memory for the number of Kelly’s employer in Houston, then enter it into the cordless landline. The phone rings twice, then a cool female voice answers, ‘Blackhawk Risk Management.’ She’s wide-awake at two thirty in the morning, and this gives me some confidence.

‘This is Penn Cage calling. I was given this number by Daniel Kelly. He’s a personal friend.’

‘Yes, thank you. Did Mr Kelly give you a code word?’

I close my eyes in silent thanks to Kelly. ‘It’s been some time, but he once told me to say Spartacus if I had an emergency and couldn’t reach him.’

‘Thank you, transferring you now. Please remain on the line.’

There’s no hold music, only a hiss cut short by a squawk. A male voice says, ‘Call me Bill, Mr Cage. Dan Kelly is on assignment at this time. What is the nature of your emergency?’

‘It’s life or death. I wouldn’t call otherwise.’

Bill seems unfazed by this; he continues speaking with the practiced calm of a fighter pilot. ‘Are you in danger now?’

‘Yes, but I can talk.’

‘How can we help?’

‘I’m in Natchez, Mississippi. Five fifty Washington Street, a residence. My family has been threatened by men who committed murder tonight. I’m not sure I can trust the police. I need someone to take my mother and daughter to a safe location. Can you do that?’

The pause is brief. ‘We can do that. We have some operators arriving for Stateside rotation, and we can send a team. What’s the time frame?’

‘How soon can they be here?’

‘Seven hours by road. Our company planes are committed at this time. If danger is imminent, I can charter a jet, but cost may become a factor to you at that point.’

I think quickly. If Jonathan Sands has somehow overheard this call, he can retaliate even before a jet gets here. Annie’s safety lies in my getting back to my house unseen and playing out my bluff. ‘Cost is no object, but seven hours will work fine.’

‘You’ll have a team at your front door in seven hours or less. Have the packages ready.’

‘I will.’

‘Should we expect opposition?’

‘I think the opposition will be too surprised to act quickly. But your men should be ready just in case.’

‘Understood. Mr Cage, while we were talking, I messaged Dan Kelly via secure digital link. His reply says that if you can remain at your present number, he will call you within thirty minutes.’

I stand and pace the floor of the guesthouse in the dark. ‘I can do that. But under no circumstances should Kelly try to call my cell phone or home phones. Those are compromised. It’s this line or nothing.’

‘Understood. We’ll see you in seven hours. Six, if we can manage it. Stay well.’

I feel a rush of relief so powerful that my face goes hot. ‘Thank you.’

Waiting in the dark with my hand on the phone, I sense the fragility of those who matter most to me, as though they’re barely clinging to the planet as it spins through its orbit: my mother and daughter sleeping across the street with only my aging father to protect them; my sister in England, going through her day without even a hint that she could be in danger; Julia Jessup hiding in or near the city, or running for her life with a fatherless child to protect. Swirling around them are people whose paths I can neither control nor predict: the men watching my house, who may realize I’m gone and call their master; Caitlin, who might return at any moment and discover me; Sands himself, who might decide he can’t trust me after all and consign me and mine to Tim Jessup’s fate.

The half hour I must wait for Kelly’s call is measured in clenching heartbeats, rapid-fire eyeblinks, startle reflexes, sudden bowel constrictions, and drops of sweat. When I don’t see the ghostly white dog peering at me through the guesthouse window, I see images of my friend’s brutalized body, or his wife and young son hiding in terror and grief. Strangest of all is my memory of last night’s dream of Tim on the ice sheet, and the white wolf watching me. How did I dream of an animal I’d never seen before? Or have I seen that white dog around town somewhere, perhaps even with Sands, and stored the memory in some reptilian neurons, where they waited to be triggered by Tim’s twisted tale?

When the phone rings, I jerk it to my ear so fast the chirp fades almost before it’s begun.

‘Hello? Hello!’

There’s only silence at first. Then Kelly’s voice comes into the receiver as though it’s being transmitted from a distant spacecraft. ‘What’s happening, man? Somebody threatened Annie?’

‘Jesus, Kelly, it’s great to hear your voice. We’re in trouble here. They threatened Annie, my parents, my sister, everybody. They already killed a friend of mine tonight. A guy I went to school with.’

‘Slow down. Are you safe where you are?’

‘Yeah, but I don’t have much time. Are you still in Afghanistan?’

‘Yeah. The mountains. Look, talk to me. Who’s your problem?’

‘The main guy is Irish. He runs one of the casinos here. He pretends to be English, but that’s just a front. He goes by the name of Jonathan Sands. I have no idea who he really is. Paramilitary type, but hiding it in a suit.’

‘I don’t like the sound of that,’ Kelly says reflectively. ‘Ex-IRA, maybe?’

‘He definitely knows how to handle weapons.’

‘What the hell have you got into?’

‘I’m not sure. But I didn’t take it seriously enough at first, and a friend died because of it. According to him, I can’t use conventional law enforcement. Sands has got a lot of people on his payroll.’

There’s a long silence. Then Kelly says, ‘It could take forty-eight hours.’

‘What could?’

‘Me getting there. The company will get Annie and your mother sorted out, but it could take me two days to get back to the States.’

‘Dan…are you sure?’

‘Hey, it’s only money.’

‘You know I’ll—’

‘Shut the fuck up, okay? Before you embarrass both of us. And try to keep breathing for the next forty-eight hours.’

‘I’ll do my best. Look, you can’t call me, okay?’

‘Understood. The Blackhawk team is going to bring you a secure telephone. A satellite phone. You’ll have to decide when it’s safe to use it. Update the company when you can. Just keep using Spartacus as your code. They’re also going to bring a gear bag. That’s for me. I’ll have them stash it somewhere in town, and you can pick it up if you’re not being tailed.’

‘Okay. Daniel—’

‘Hold up. If you get in a really tight spot after the team leaves and before I get there, there’s couple of guys in your area I trust. They’re from Athens Point, down the river.’

‘Who are they?’

‘One’s a young guy, ex-marine. Carl Sims. Met him at the range there. He’s a black guy, a sniper. I don’t care what you’re mixed up in, use my name, you can trust him.’