Sirens, page 3
Don't do this to yourself, she thought. ' been down that road before and
you know where it . She shivered. I'm close to the edge. Marion's
pushing qo new depths is scary enough without Mark blowing up
relationship in my face. God damn him! She felt cut off, laced, the
opulent houses rushing by her could be no more 25
He had a wide mouth over which arched a perfectly groomed, dark red,
pencil-thin moustache. He had a hard, aggressive chin; overall, his head
was rather squarish. Slimhipped, he moved with the grace of a dancer but
with absolutely no effeminacy. ' you from the islands? ' took a shot.
His skin crinkled as he smiled. Lines scored his face as if they were
direct evidence of the ravages of time upon human flesh. His teeth stood
out startlingly yellow against the sunburnished skin. ' island, cara.
Cubap The smile disappeared like clouds racing before a dying sun.
"I escaped from Morro Castle twenty years ago; took three others with me
and left Fidel behind ... also my family: my brothers, my sister. ' .
..' He stood before her, his hands balled into fists on his hips. They
stood in the centre of the vast room. A pair of enormous skylights
brought a diffuse, smoothly constant light to all parts of the room,
even the comers. Along one wall was a polished wooden dancer's barre
above which hung a long mirror and, beyond that, a webbed network to
create shadows. The floor was wood, covered in part by plain grey mats.
Otherwise, the room was bare. ' this it?' Daina said, looking around.
"What were you expecting?' He sniffed archly. ' a bit more exotic,
perhaps. Stripped from the pages of a James Bond novel.' She smiled back
at him, relaxing at last. ',' he said, gesturing. ''s see your hands.'
She put them up in front of her. ' things first," he said seriously and
produced a manicurist's scissors. ' can accomplish nothing with these.'
He went deftly to work on her nails, paring away all the excess until
they were man-cut. He ran his fingertips over their semicircular edges
one by one, nodding to himself, satisfied. Then he stepped away from
her. ' understand why you are here?' '. James, my husband in the film,
has taught me to be an accomplished hunter.' ' right.' His voice was
clipped but still, as he had put it, 28 onia. ' specialized training is
for a film, yes, but will teach you over the course of the next three
weeks This must be made crystal clear to you. It is no You are to learn
the real thing: the lore of guns - how them, recognize them, load them,
fire them. How to Y rself with your hands, with a knife and so on.' He
OU ' directors, they don't care too much ... so it looks good when they
do the take they are satisfied, hese people I do not handle. I send them
elsewhere. I , afford to waste my time.' He raised a long forefinger.
and I have spent many pleasant evenings with - he rum - and the sugar
cane. We drink, we chew, we talk. ows what he wants, this man, so he
comes to me. "It onger," I tell him, "but when your people are through
ime., they will know what they must know."' clapped his hands together.
' right. We begin.' looked again. ' there's nothing here except those
encia," jean-Carlos said. ' you will need is right here room.' From out
of nowhere, he produced a pistol, it at her. She caught it clumsily. 0,
no, no,' he said easily. ' it this way.' And he showed 1AThis is an
automatic,' he said. He turned the pistol over w her the underside of
the butt. ', a clip of bullets ced.' He turned the weapon back over.
"You see, it has mider.' He raised his forefinger again. ' trust your an
automatic. They jam much too often for comfort. @'a revolver.
Here' - from the same nowhere he produced gun - ' this Police Special.
It's a heavier pistol, t you, but it has its compensations.
Heavier calibre greater stopping power, very accurate. As a huntress,
factors are important to you. a, this way.' His strong, capable fingers
guided hers. hands, that's right. Does it seem heavy? Yes? All He took a
pair of weighted strips, wrapped them around sts, securing them with the
Velcro pads. ' this is the we'll practise for the first two weeks.
After that, the t of the pistol will feel like nothing at all. And like
any marksman, y u will forget about it entirely.' 29 True to his word
he worked her hard, driving her until she could recognize a dozen
different handguns, a score of rifles from across the room, until she
could shoot confidently and accurately, use a knife to skin an animal
torso, crack through bone joints - all in the space of the three weeks
before the cast's departure for Nice. ' will be more later,' he told
her. ' for now - you are ready.' ' - hello.' She looked up now over her
shoulder, saw Rubens standing at her side. He was tall and
broad-shouldered. He had flat black eyes in a bold, hawklike face made
even more so by his deep tan. He was of that handsome Mediterranean type
that could as easily have its origins in Greece as in Spain. He had a
strong, determined mouth, longish hair as black as his eyes. But all
this physical detail was merely icing. Rubens had only to walk into a
room for others to feel his formidable presence. He radiated power as if
he were some newly designed mobile nuclear reactor. And, perhaps
inevitably, because of this, rumours followed him around like chips from
a comet's tail. It was said, for instance, that he had never lost a
boardroom fight - and there had been plenty of those; that he was not
content with victory but was driven to grind his opponents into the
ground. It was said, too, that he had divorced his wife - a beautiful
and talented woman - because she would not touch him in public. In a sea
full of sharks, Rubens was known as a shark cater, a reputation he
continually sought to further. And for that he was greatly admired,
sought after, cajoled and stroked by a populace used to twisting their
backbones out of shape. '.' Daina, lifting her Bacardi and lime,
thought, The absolute last person in the world I want to see tonight.
Because everyone else deferred to him, she had made up her mind not to
the moment they first met: he had been represented as the cold heart of
LA, the high-gloss mainstream all the fame-junkies lusted after; a
symbol rather than a man. He put one hand on the back of the wicker and
chrome chair opposite hers. ' you mind?' 30 '" was terrified and,
finding herself shaking, clasped her '@in her lap below the tabletop.
But she was dismayed to another, stronger emotion inside her. The
aloneness shook and now, looking up at this man, she could not help g of
the other, fleeing into the night with that little girl, Ftaut backside
winking as she ran easily, laughing. Mark. was on the verge of tears
again and only her training ed her from looking like a complete fool in
front of him. did not want to be with Rubens but his company was now to
being alone with herself. cleared her throat. ' all means.' Her voice
did not like her own. W, odka and tonic, Frank,' he said to the hovering
maitre d' sat down. '.' tolichriaya. Yes, sir. Miss. Witney?
Another Bacardi?' ure.' She lifted her empty glass. ' not?' nodded, took
it from her. bens waited until the drinks came and they were alone The
barflies were buzzing, their raucous, brittle laughter rp contrast with
the carefully controlled movements of hands and heads. In short, they
were just like the in any bar in any quarter of the world. 9 nothing
I've said?' t?, ..our blue mood.' sipped at her drink, wondered what his
angle was. At r time, it might have been a challenge but now .
.. ' day.' rything all right on the set?' was suspicious now. ' know
everything that goes on set. You know it's not that. What are you
getting at?' spread his hands. '. I walk in, see that look on ace ...'
Ile lifted his glass, took a drink. ' don't want to stars unhappy. I
thought I could help.' p me right into bed.' It was out before she knew
it and ought, Oh, Christ, now I've done it. I leave then.' He took hold
of his glass. watched his face' her mind whirling.
Even if you are a rd, she thought, you're all I have tonight. Lucky me.
"No, 31 don't go,' she said halfheartedly. ''m just in a shitty mood.
It's nothing to do with you.' He stood up, gave her a rueful smile. ''m
afraid it does have to do with me. You have every right to say what you
did.' He spread his hands again, a characteristic gesture. ''s true.
You know it. I know it. I've wanted to get you into bed ever since I was
first introduced to you a year and a half ago. But you'd just met that
crazy black director - what's his name? Mark something -' '," she said
quickly. He snapped his fingers. ', right. Nassiter.' He seemed to stir
the name about with his tongue. He shrugged. ', who's faithful around
here.' He looked around them conspiratorially.
"Everyone's screwing everyone else. And I thought ' don't,' she said
tautly, ' that.' ',' he said. ' don't.' She thought he looked a bit sad.
' unfortunately it took me eighteen months to discover that fact, ' He
lifted his glass to her in a toast. ' you around.' And she thought that
perhaps she had been all wrong about him. That all along she had been
seeing him in just one way, judging him on the equivalent, of a screen
image; that she had let others shape the way she reached to him - all
those stories, rumours, excited whispers: lust of the fame mainliners.
No, no, no. Daina Whitney would have no part of that. She almost laughed
at herself then for being such a seriousminded bitch, always looking
under the rug for hidden motives. But, simultaneously, she recognized a
deeper, darker motive for her pushing hin@ away. Rubens was, -they said,
heartless and as hard as diamond dust. But he was also power; he was LA.
Is that why she felt drawn to him? What could he be, ever, to her? He
was dangerous and she knew it and she began to sweat with the knowledge.
Now she saw abruptly how the events in her life had led her quite
directly to this moment.. Yes.
Trauma had fixed her even before she left the house tonight. But she
knew now with a growing certainty that had it not been this way, it
would have been another. She felt deep inside her a stirring: his heat,
her friction; 32 tion that she had not allowed herself to acknowledge. y
she put her hand over his. ',' was all she said, up into his face.
She felt his fingers hard, callused hers and, unaccountably, she thought
of jean-Carlos. too, had that tough animal grace: great power held in
check. Sparks flew off the surface of him. the first time, Rubens seemed
unsure and she said, ', You've been a bastard and I've been a bitch.
Doesn't ' can't spend a couple of hours together. Could be it a
misunderstanding.' -'sat down again, took a long pull at his drink. She
took d away, watched him staring at her. at are you looking at?' know
you are really the most extraordinarily beautiful I've ever Christ,
Rubens P no.' He lifted a palm towards her. ' mean it. I've this sounds
so odd - I don't think I've ever really before. You were the new girl
trophy! ilty.' But. there seemed little apology in his voice. ' You get
so used to the assembly line. It's like any other except here we deal in
human flesh.' He waved away words. ', it gets hypnotic after a while.
The girls and they go ... speaking of Michelangelo! He laughed e did
too, intrigued by his reference to T.S. Eliot. ''s damnably easy that
sometimes it makes you want to ema e a wry face. ' mean it's not every
man's y of paradise?' I tell you something,' he said seriously, leaning
forward the table. ' is a place fit only for a dream. It 0ot fit
comfortably into the real world. And d'you know There's no danger in
paradise. We' - he gestured with hand - ' of us - need danger in order
to survive. "free ive and to do ... the things we have to do to get one
notch er each year.' He was carefully monitoring her expression. ou
think you're any different than the rest of us, Daina?' 33 He shook his
head. ''re not, you know.' He pushed his empty glass aside so that there
was nothing between them on the tabletop. ' Heather Duell as an example.
Are you going to be happy if the film doesn't turn out to be the
blockbuster we all believe it is?
Of course not. You won't be happy until you're number one. But without
that drive, that confidence in your own ability to do it, you wouldn't
survive out here ... or anywhere. ' have a certain quality that I can't
place. It's almost as if YOU $re a displaced person from another time,
another place.' He cocked his head to one side. ' don't know.
You'll think it a line if I tell you there's something different about
you.' ',' she said. ' wouldn't.' Now she was really intrigued. He
couldn't know, of course, she knew that. Yet he saw it in her. Would he
guess? She thought there was a chance. cit's almost -2 And there was
that distinctive gesture again, the edge of his hand brushing away at
the air. ' no' - he shook his head -'it can't be! ''t be what?" Now it
was she who was leaning across the table. He smiled, almost shyly, and
for just an instant she thought she had caught a glimpse of him as a
little boy. She found herself smiling back at him. ', well, you'll
probably be offended! He waited a moment as if deciding. ' I didn't know
better, I'd swear you came in off the streets. But I've read your
background: upper-middleclass family in a fashionable section of the
Bronx. Then, not now, he amended. ' could the streets of New York mean
to you? Movies, books .. Baba, she thought, shutting her secret heart
away, away. But she was surprised and pleased that he had guessed,
though she would never tell him that. ' was New York? she said. ', you
know. just the same. The garbage is piling up, everyone hates the mayor
and the Mets are still losing! ' it's spring there," she said wistfully.
''m afraid I'm forgetting what the different seasons are like. It's like
being in a land without time! 34 s just why I like it here,' Rubens
said. you miss the East Coast?' ",shrugged. ', well. My company's got
offices in New so I go back there at least once a month. I like it but I
really think I miss it.' He took a sip of his drink. ' like 9 at the
Park Lane when I'm there. I really do enjoy view north out over Central
Park up into Harlem. i@s interesting, looking out over where the poor
live.' business made you come out here.' nodded.
"Eventually. But it was reading Raymond er that began it all. I fell in
love with LA through ou know, it's funny,' Daina said, looking out at
the water. All the other cities of the world I've been to - Rome, on,
Paris, Geneva, Florence, all of them - mornings in- y hold the most
magic; a kind of virginity that is almost ndent when all the
mechanization is stilled enough to the heart to soften.' She shook her
head. ' not here. city, it's the onrush of night. That's because LA has
no ty to lose each day. It was born a whore! words for a town you've
chosen to live in,' Rubens ed. a dipped a fingertip into the last of her
drink, swirled lf-melted ice cubes around and around. ', there are
qualities to this place.' She looked at him through her . ''s the most
luxurious city on earth, filled with nt sighs and platinum bracelets."
you love the nights so much, w@ should be doing somenow. what?' ryl
Martin's throwing a party. You ever meet her?' ' only met the studio's
publicity people! ell, Beryl's the best of the independents. She can be
a bit but when you get to know her you appreciate just how nt she can
be.' don't know.' ell, we can leave whenever you want. And I promise
I'll good care of you.' ' got the Merc here.' 35 'Give me the keys.
I'll have Tony drop it off home for you. I don't need him to drive the
Lincoln now.' Rubens avoided Sunset, preferring dark streets to the neon
glitter and crawl of the Boulevard. Gradually, the sprawling
mock-Spanish houses gave way to chrome-and-glass-fronted banks, brightly
lit used-car lots with coloured pennants fluttering. Beside him on the
Lincoln's plush crushed-velvet seat, Daina reached forward, flipped on
the radio, spinning the dial until she caught radio station KHJ. It was
only moments before the Heartbeats' current single, '', came on.
