He held the wheel lightly and only the fact that he was chewing the gum at a slower rate betrayed his reaction. ‘Think I see what they’re trying to do. No, don’t shoot. But it wouldn’t hurt to show them the piece.’
I half-turned, cocked an arm and levelled the gun at the windscreen a few feet away using the arm as a rest. The grey car was inches away, crowding us right. Ahead I saw a ramp running off to the right down from the elevated road into a grey, misty sea of streets and buildings.
‘He’s going to hit us!’ I yelled.
The driver sucked on his top lip. ‘Nah,’ he said. ‘I think he’s through.’ A wave of power seemed to run through the car and it surged forward until we were a few yards ahead by the time we reached the ramp. January was quiet; Gary was muttering what might have been a prayer.
‘They’re dropping back.’ I pulled my wet gun and damp arm inside and wound up the window. ‘Will they have a go at the other car?’
‘Have a go,’ the driver said. ‘That’s nice. No, I don’t think they’ll have a go at it. I’m not even sure they were having a go at us.’
‘Would you mind telling me what the hell that was all about?’ January’s voice was firm but a tone or two higher than normal.
I touched the driver on the shoulder. ‘This man saved our lives, that’s what happened.’
‘Thank you,’ January said.
‘Nothing, Mr January.’
‘I was asking you who you worked for,’ I said. ‘I suppose it isn’t the ACME limousine company?’
He laughed. ‘No, sir. Mr Hardy, is that right?’
‘Cliff,’ I said.
‘Billy Spinoza. I liked what you didn’t do with the gun, Cliff. I guess they were pretty good but if they weren’t a gunshot at the wrong time could’ve killed us all. Did you get a look at them?’
I tried to remember. ‘Just a flash. Two men; the driver was young and fair. The other one was heavier, older probably.’
‘You know this trick? Close your eyes and try to sort of print their picture inside your head. Might want you to look at some photographs later.’
I’d done it before, more or less automatically, but I did it deliberately now. ‘Long fair hair,’ I said.
Spinoza nodded. ‘Good.’
‘What were they trying to do?’ Gary asked.
‘They were trying to run us down the west ramp back there.’ Spinoza was chewing rhythmically again. ‘If they’d succeeded there’s no telling what might have happened. It’s rough down there.’
I coughed. ‘You still haven’t told me…’
Spinoza laughed. ‘Cliff, you could say I work for the Australian Government.’
14
Billy Spinoza slowed the limousine until the other car caught up and we went on our stately way into the city. He explained that he was a ‘sort of government man’ on loan to the branch of the Australian security service that protected the diplomats.
‘You’ve got a couple of good men,’ he said, ‘but they’re stretched thin and they get called away to other places. Job like this needs local knowledge or something like it.’
‘A job like what?’
‘Like you, Mr January. I don’t know how long it is since you’ve been here but things are changing every day. The crazies are coming out of the woods. Should see it when the President travels, it’s like a red alert.’
‘I see,’ January said quietly. ‘Well, that was quite a reception.’
‘I hear you had bombing,’ Spinoza said.
‘You think these things could be related?’ January sounded interested rather than alarmed. It was almost as if he was working out how to profit from the idea.
‘We’ll look at it. Cliff here and me. We’ve got most kinds of trouble here but not many bombers. I don’t really know why. You’d think this would be a good breeding ground.’
We were passing through a poor section of the city. The pavements were dirty and the rubbish overflowed into the gutters, or maybe it was flowing the other way. There were shops on the corners with boards and broken signs. I could see the scars of break and entry on doors to the shops and other buildings. Water cascaded from cracked, sagging guttering and the walls were covered with ripped, defaced posters advertising everything from soap to string quartet recitals. The people hurrying along the wet streets were mostly black. Groups of youths huddled in the doorways as if body heat was their only protection from the cold.
‘Christ,’ Gray said, ‘how far away’s the White House?’
Spinoza laughed. ‘Oh, just a few blocks.’
I looked down a side street as we slowed for a light. Rusting, burnt-out cars were parked bumper to bumper along both sides of the road for as far as I could see. In a couple of places they spilled over onto the pavement and there was even one wreck sitting high up on top of another. Spinoza saw me looking.
‘That’s the street where cars go to die. There’s some streets where you don’t walk around after dark but that’s a street where you don’t walk, ever!’
I heard Gary expel a long, harsh breath. January was silent. If he was anything at all like me he was experiencing the old-soldier feeling of moving into a battle zone. He’d also be needing a drink.
‘Would everyone in Washington know about those roadworks?’ I was wondering what was the right thing to do with my gum.
‘Could find out if anyone was specially interested in the routes and such. You’re thinking, I see.’ Spinoza turned and slowed down at an intersection. ‘We’ll be out of this stuff in a minute. Into the parks and bridges. Of course, folks sleep in the parks and under the bridges, but you can’t see ‘em from the road.’
‘You don’t sound like a government man,’ I said.
He drove for a while, then he wound down his window and dropped his gum out. I did the same.
He grinned. ‘Speaking my mind? That’s just my cover. Your journey’s end, folks. The Lincoln Hotel.’
I don’t spend a lot of time hanging around fancy hotels, but I’ve taken the odd gambler back to the Hilton in Sydney so I know what they look like. I’ve even had a drink in the bar of the Wentworth. The lobby of the Lincoln reminded me of Government House-all deep, dusty carpet, heavy furniture and too many surfaces to keep polished.
Spinoza and the other driver opened the trunks but the hotel staff unloaded the bags. Trudi and the others joined us in the lobby. She was looking tired and she kept shooting glances at Gary who was looking frightened.
‘What do you think of it?’ she said.
I shuffled my feet. ‘Let’s do the time warp again,’ I said.
‘They say Malcolm liked it because he could see the White House from his window.’
‘That’ll be Peter’s room,’ I said. ‘We’ll get to see the winos in the park. Oh, Billy Spinoza, this is Trudi Bell. She keeps score for our boss.’
‘Ma’am,’ Spinoza said. ‘Look, Cliff, you get your boy settled in and do what you have to do and give me a call.’ He handed me a card. ‘Anytime and the sooner the better.’
‘It could be late.’
‘We never sleep. Glad to have met you, Ms Bell.’
‘Who’s that?’ Trudi responded to January’s impatient wave and we went up floral-carpeted steps to the reception desk.
‘The Feds,’ I said.
We had five rooms at the end of a corridor on the fifth floor. Martin and Bolton shared, Gary, Trudi and I had separate rooms and January had a suite. The hotel looked out across Lafayette Square to the White House. That is to say, January’s rooms on the west side did. He could also choose to look at the inspirational sights of the Washington Monument and the Capitol, if that was his pleasure. The rest of us had grey government buildings to look at. Trudi came into my room and stood with me at the window. The day was clearing and blue patches were spreading across the sky.
‘That’s Georgetown,’ she said. ‘Where the rich folks live.’
I squinted. ‘And I do believe I can see a freeway in the distance.’
She snorted. ‘You’re a Sydneysider, you should be looking for water. See it through there?’