My stomach lurched as Ryan stepped down and Charlie took his place. I’d lost sight of Grace and Holly but had a clear view of Gwen and Orlando standing arm in arm by the bar.
Glasses shake and rattle on the shelves – a small earth tremor, a warning. Bottles crash to the floor, the mirror cracks.
Charlie stood on the chair and took off his mask. For a split second I saw him as I’d seen him that first time in Central Park – the angular jawline, the cheekbones: overwhelmingly handsome. Then his face and figure morphed. They melted and reformed as Weller, my stalker in the park then as wolf man Jarrold and finally Daniel, god of the underworld – all in less time than it took me to take a sharp breath. I reeled, closed my eyes then forced them open again. Charlie was back to his human self, smiling across at Gwen and Orlando, beckoning them forward.
‘OK, guys, I hope you won’t mind me holding up the party for a couple more minutes,’ he began, as if embarrassed but quickly gaining confidence. ‘I have an announcement. You all know my little sister Gwen through her great work in the make-up department. What you may not realize is that one of those really neat, story-book things has happened during the shoot.’
‘Yeah!’ Someone gave a shout of approval and a couple of people clapped.
‘So Orlando Nolan is a newcomer to our team – he’s a design student in Dallas. But during a visit to Manhattan he came on set as an intern. That’s where he met Gwen. What can I say? It was love at first sight.’
There were more whoops and cheers as the crowd eased aside to let Gwen and Orlando through. Some people patted them on the back, others took off their masks to say hi and congratulate them. The walk across the room went on for ever. My face ran with cold sweat. I struggled for air so badly that I had to rip off my mask and hat and throw them to the floor.
‘It’s a romantic story of true love in a tough, hard world,’ Charlie continued, smiling broadly and enjoying every moment of his dark angel victory. ‘So, to cut a long story short, I persuaded my little sister that this party was the perfect opportunity to set the seal on their romance and announce their engagement.’
Yeah! All around me guests were clapping and cheering. Party time.
I try to deny it. It can’t be true. Then suddenly I’m under attack. Masked creatures crowd in on me. They are misshapen and cruel. Their bird beaks peck at me. They thrust flaming torches into my face.
They morph from human into beast, fall on all fours and prowl out of the light into darkness. They are lean hounds herding me into a forest, they are wolves stalking me between ancient trees, driving me into more danger.
I fought them off and returned to the moment when Gwen and Orlando reached the centre of the room and took off their masks. Her pretty, porcelain face shone with triumph. His was void of emotion.
One step more and he’ll be gone, I realized. He was at hell’s gate.
Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! A demand went up – one or two voices, then more until there was a general shout for action. They wanted the Kodak moment, the Romeo and Juliet balcony kiss when the loved-up couple seals the deal.
Gwen turned to Orlando and drew him to her. She put her arms around his neck, pursed her lips and tilted her head.
No way! I wouldn’t let this happen. With the ghost of an idea taking shape inside my head, I pushed people aside, waiting for the dogs and wolves to pounce.
I didn’t notice Jack at first – not until after Charlie had spotted him from his vantage point on the chair and signalled for Daniel and Jarrold to move in and stop him entering the room. Startled, Gwen let her arms drop to her sides.
Jack came in and it was like the waves of the sea had parted – people gasped and fell away to either side as he advanced unsteadily towards Charlie, one arm heavily strapped, hair dishevelled, his face whiter than the masks worn by Ryan’s guests.
Charlie himself was skewered and wriggling under the point of his own dagger.
‘Hey, man.’ Jarrold minus his mask, was the first to step across Jack’s path. ‘Whatever it is you’re planning to do, wait until the party’s over – OK?’
Jack paused, muttered under his breath then with his free hand he shoved Jarrold sideways against the bar.
The wolf man roars. His jaws open and snap shut. He is ready to pounce.
‘This won’t wait,’ Jack told the whole room. Unsteady but dead set on achieving his goal, he walked on towards Charlie. ‘It’s between me and you, buddy. We have unfinished business.’
As Jarrold fell to one side, Daniel stepped in. ‘Later,’ he challenged Jack, ready to manhandle him back the way he came.
Placing the flat of his hand over Daniel’s face, Jack used all his strength to push him away.
Zoran Brancusi’s god of the underworld falls to the floor then rises. He hovers with his hawk-like beak, a black shadow above our heads.
Again without stopping to think, I fought my way through the throng of people until I reached Jack. ‘What are you even doing here? You nearly died up there on the mountain!’
‘But I didn’t,’ he muttered, shoving me away too. ‘Unlucky for you – huh, Charlie, you sack of shit!’
‘Jack,’ Charlie began as he stepped down from the chair. ‘I don’t know what’s happening inside your head—’
‘Sure you do,’ Jack argued.
It was weird to see them – mirror images, except that pain racked and twisted Jack’s features while Charlie’s face was cold as steel. I noticed Gwen grasp Orlando’s hand and back away from the action towards the giant screen.
‘You had your turn, Charlie. Now shut up and guess what announcement I’m going to make! No, on second thoughts don’t say anything – let me do the talking.’ With the help of the nearest bystander, who turned out to be Rocky minus his mask, Jack struggled to stand on the chair that his rival had vacated. ‘This is it, people. I’m back from the dead to tell you the truth about Charlie Speke.’
As Charlie lunged forward to topple Jack, Rocky stopped him with a swinging punch to his jaw, bone against bone. Charlie staggered against Ryan, who put him back on his feet.
Jack grimaced then gave a short groan as he raised the injured arm. ‘Back from the dead to point the finger – watch closely, Ryan – at the guy who did this to me. Yeah, that’s right – it was Charlie. Who else?’
In the chaos that followed, Gwen abandoned Orlando at the bar and rushed to join her brother while Grace and Holly struggled towards me.
‘He’s out of his head.’
‘The guy doesn’t know what he’s saying.’
‘Charlie? No way!’
‘Tania!’ Holly was the first to reach me. She had to yell above the chorus of dissent. ‘This is our last chance!’
‘I know it!’ And suddenly I also knew what to do. I took the lead, with Holly then Grace hard on my heels, shoving people aside in our desperate push to reach Orlando, who seemed totally out of it, leaning against the bar for support.
‘What happened?’ he mumbled. ‘Where’s Gwen?’
‘It’s OK. You’re OK,’ I told him. ‘We’re here for you now.’
In the centre of the room, Charlie had recovered and was protesting his innocence. Gwen was there to back him up, gesticulating and shaking her head. Rocky had helped Jack down from the chair then had taken on Daniel, Weller and Jarrold single-handed.
‘We’re getting you out of here,’ Holly promised.
Orlando shook his head. ‘No. I’m not going anywhere.’
‘Yes,’ Grace pleaded. ‘Orlando, come with us!’
While they argued with him, I snatched a bottle of water from the bar and popped out three tablets from the foil wrapper, at the same time quickly reading the label: ‘One to be taken three times daily.’
‘Listen to me,’ I told him, uncurling his fingers and making him hold out his hand. ‘You have to swallow these.’
I don’t know what made him obey – maybe the sound of my voice stirred up memories of the time we were together, or maybe his brain was only programmed
for the engagement, the slow romantic dance and the moment of crossing over to the dark side. Now that the plan had suddenly veered off course he had no direction and was thrown into confusion. Anyway, Orlando hardly looked at the three tablets in the palm of his hand before he threw them into his mouth and swallowed them down.
I didn’t know what triple the recommended dosage would do to him but we quickly found out. As Daniel and the others launched themselves at Rocky, I watched Orlando’s head tilt back then slump heavily forward. One hand went to his head while his legs buckled and Grace and Holly stepped in to support him.
‘What the hell was that?’ Holly grunted.
‘Tranquillizers.’ No time for explanations so I shrugged an apology instead.
‘Jeez,’ Grace sighed. She sagged under Orlando’s dead weight. ‘What now?’
‘Get him out. Hide him in a safe place.’
‘Like where?’ Holly wanted to know. But she and Grace began to drag Orlando towards the door.
Fine, I told myself. No one except a dark angel is going to stop them – a guy who looks like he’s had too much to drink and two good buddies taking care of him.
Charlie, Gwen and the other dark angels were still occupied in trying to control Rocky and convince Ryan that Jack had finally lost the plot.
All good. This was going to work out. I’d reached the door and sent Grace and Holly ahead with Orlando, turning one last time to make sure.
Old Venice is back on the screen. Monks in black cloaks and hoods file into church. The candles that surround the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus flicker and die; smoke rises in thin grey wisps. The monks throw back their hoods to reveal domed skulls, black eye sockets, grinning jaws.
I flee into the street, into a procession of fire-eaters, jugglers and masked revellers. I feel the heat of a flaming torch close to my face. Masked men surround me. I push through them and run again over a narrow bridge. Jesters and jugglers block my way. I climb on to the parapet of the ancient bridge, look down into the grey canal water, prepare to jump.
Across the lobby the doors of the elevator slid open and Natalia stepped out with Adam. He ran towards me, arms outstretched.
‘Jack disappeared,’ Natalia told me hurriedly. ‘He pulled out his drip feed when the nurse left the room. Adam saw him stagger towards the lift.’
‘He’s in the bar.’ I said, crouching to hug Adam and feeling a surge of energy as he flung his arms around me. ‘Go with Mommy,’ I whispered.
They hurried on and I ran after Orlando, Holly and Grace.
‘Where’s safe?’ Grace wanted to know. ‘Come on, Tania, what are you thinking?’
‘Not in the hotel.’ Charlie and Gwen would find us. They would send Daniel and the others to search us out.
‘Ski-lift terminal?’ Holly suggested as she shifted Orlando’s weight and hooked his arm more firmly over her shoulder.
I shook my head for the same reason as before.
‘Where then?’
I led the way out of the lobby on to the driveway festooned with silver Christmas lights. I glanced at the cars in the parking lot, all still submerged under half a metre of snow. Then I looked to my right and spotted the chopper parked on the floodlit helipad. ‘Over there,’ I decided.
We crossed the frozen lawn to moans and slurred words from Orlando. ‘No way,’ he protested. ‘Not leaving. Gwen … not leaving.’
My heart sank, and for a moment I despaired.
‘God, I hope we don’t have to tranq him again,’ Holly groaned.
‘And who’s going to fly this thing?’ Grace wanted to know.
‘The pilot’s right there, look.’ I pointed to the figure leaning over the instrument panel, checking data then setting the giant blades in motion. ‘It looks like he received the all-clear to fly out.’
‘Finally we got lucky,’ Holly sighed.
A black eagle flies over Carlsbad. The sky is crystal clear, the sun is high. The bird circles then hovers directly overhead.
‘Let’s hope,’ Grace added.
Together we manhandled Orlando towards the helicopter.
‘No, not leaving. New life,’ Orlando muttered then opened his eyes but failed to focus. The chopper blades had raised a flurry of snow that blew straight into our faces.
‘You’re safe with us,’ Grace explained as I hurried ahead, afraid that the pilot would raise the ladder before we got there.
Icy snow stung my cheeks as I stepped on the bottom rung and the blast from the chopper blades almost flung me back down. But I made it up the ladder, yelling at Grace and Holly to hurry after me with Orlando.
‘He’s a dead weight – we can’t lift him,’ Grace called back.
‘Wait. I’ll get the pilot to help,’ I promised.
I saw him from the back, hunched over the instruments, pressing buttons, consulting an array of small screens. The ladder started to telescope up into the body of the machine and the door to slide shut. ‘No, wait!’ I protested.
I heard Holly yell my name from below, saw her, Grace and Orlando disappear in a cloud of whirling snow.
The door closed. The pilot raised the chopper from the ground.
‘Wait!’ I rushed forward and put my hand on the pilot’s shoulder. ‘Wait for my buddies. We all need to get out of here.’
He shook his head. The chopper swayed as it rose to roof level and turned away from Evelyn Pass directly towards the summit of Carlsbad.
I looked down on the parking lot, the line of twinkling trees and ahead at the yellow light of the ski-lift terminal. And I knew without having to see the pilot’s face: Charlie.
‘Hey, Tania,’ he replied. ‘Your time is up. This is the final deal – just you and me.’
My dark angel flew over Carlsbad. There was nothing I could do or say, nowhere I could go.
Through the glass roof of the chopper I could make out constellations of stars – Aquarius and Pegasus, Orion with his chariot.
‘You never truly believed you would beat me,’ Charlie mocked. ‘Not this third and final time.’
We rose high up the mountain into the dark night.
I still believe! Don’t let go of the last thread of hope.
‘I couldn’t let you do that, Tania. There was too much to lose.’
‘You haven’t won – not yet,’ I told him. Not while I had breath.
‘Think about it.’ Enjoying being at the controls, he flew straight at a sheer rock face, only pulling away at the last second, tilting the machine at a crazy angle and climbing again. ‘What did we leave back there? Jack sounding off about me trying to kill him, but who’s going to believe a burned-out movie star with a drink problem? No one. And people won’t listen to Holly and Grace either. Who are they? Just two deranged girls trying to hijack a guy to stop him marrying a talented make-up artist. And for what reason? Because the guy fell out of love with his childhood sweetheart, who happens to be their best friend. A case of misguided loyalty, obviously. Talking of which, the childhood sweetheart went missing. People are going to find her frozen corpse and say she lost her mind and threw herself off the mountain.’
Again I had nothing to say. Let him enjoy the moment because what difference did it make?
‘You’re quiet, Tania.’ He wheeled the machine back towards another rock face in a second game of chicken. ‘Scared?’ he laughed.
‘Holly and Grace won’t hand Orlando back to Gwen.’ This was me, hanging on to that last thread.
‘They won’t have a choice. What are they going to do – unwire his brain and reprogramme him? Forget it – you don’t know my sister!’
‘Gwen is Carrie Hall. You don’t have a sister.’
The laugh changed. It grew higher and childlike, and when I steeled myself to look at Charlie at the controls he was transformed into a fragile, golden-haired girl. I groaned and looked away.
‘But who is she? Who am I?’ he taunted.
My stomach lurched as we flew straight at the cliff. To die like this, crashing into the frozen
mountain, to be found months later in a pile of mangled wreckage …
He pulled back and steered into a deep crevasse with white cliffs to either side. The cliffs closed in. Charlie steered the helicopter through the narrowest of gaps and came through the other side.
‘You see?’ he smiled. ‘This was your last attempt to defeat me and you failed.’
Still I had to hope.
‘You know the problem?’ Charlie said, as if he was an accountant called in to run through details of a failed business venture. ‘This time your good angel didn’t come through. He didn’t deliver.’
‘It’s not ended,’ I argued, looking up through the roof at the stars.
‘What do you expect when goodness shows up in the shape of a five-year-old child? Oh yeah, and the dove – what was her name: Zenida, Zenaida? And before that we’re talking about a grieving mother and a baby, an infant.’
‘Aimee.’ My twin, my own alter ego. Saying her name out loud gave me the strength to argue back. ‘You don’t understand goodness. Not the first thing.’ I was talking about the pure spirit of a newborn baby, the freedom of a dove, the blazing, blinding light of a child who died and was reborn.
Charlie raised us high above the snowy cliffs, straight towards the moon. ‘Convince me,’ he sneered.
‘Goodness is love, pure and simple. You, Gwen, Daniel, all of you – you live without love in total darkness.’
‘Where life is more interesting. Come on, Tania – you have to admit that. Wouldn’t you rather be out on the campaign trail with me, scouting for innocent souls. lusting for power? Like now – nothing in your bland, boring world beats the way I feel.’
‘No way,’ I groaned. ‘You can’t seduce me and God knows you’ve tried. So what do you do instead? You target the only guy I ever loved. You steal him from me but it’s me and my psychic power that you still really want.’