* * *
—
She sat shell-shocked in the passenger seat as he returned to her car and pushed it to the side of the road. Then he fetched her things, swept the seats, turned off the lights, locked it. He returned to the SUV, climbed in, and began to drive away. She just watched him. She couldn’t find any words. He had hurt those men badly, but his face seemed perfectly composed.
“What just happened?”
He didn’t reply.
“Ajay,” she said.
His name on her lips seemed to startle him.
“What just happened?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
“They were going to hurt me.”
“I wouldn’t let them.”
“I need my car,” she said.
“Don’t worry, madam,” he replied.
He seemed to catch himself.
He dialed a number. Began to talk into the phone in a low voice.
“Is that Sunny?”
Ajay spoke in a quiet voice.
“Is that Sunny?” she cried. “Give me the phone.”
She reached for it, but he hung up and clicked it off.
* * *
—
He drove her a short distance into Sarita Vihar. Eased the SUV into a narrow lane with shuttered travel agent offices and small warehouses. There was only one light glowing, inside a glass front with a faded painted sign: Hotel Ottoman. He stopped and climbed out, ran to the passenger side, guided her by the shoulder around the SUV and into the hotel. The bright white light was glaring and harsh. There was an elevator, and Ajay pressed the call button while the clerk at reception asked in an irritated voice what was going on. Ajay pulled out his money clip, peeled off a round of notes, and put them down, placating the clerk, saying something inaudible before returning.
As they rode up in the elevator, she braced herself.
“He’s here?”
“Yes,” he said.
She didn’t know what else to say.
* * *
—
The elevator opened to a windowless corridor with wallpaper like green gemstones and a dirty marble floor. At the third room on the right, number 406, Ajay knocked three times, equally spaced, coded. She felt a surge of rage and began pounding on the door. Another door in the corridor jerked open and a paunchy man in undershirt and pants came out to scratch his ear and stare. A moment later the door to room 406 was thrown open, and there was Sunny, haunted and puffy and disheveled. He looked down the corridor at the man. Looked to Ajay. “Deal with him.” Then he grabbed Neda by the wrist, pulled her inside, and slammed the door.
* * *
—
She almost fell onto the floor. “Hey! What the fuck?!”
The room was small, stuffy. Fluorescent lights gave it a sickly hue. There was a single bed with pillows in the shape of hearts, a synthetic bedspread with lace trills, a table at the side with a flask of water, a pack of cigarettes, a tumbler, and a plastic bottle of cheap liquor. A decrepit AC unit rattled in the wall. She got up ready to confront him, but then she saw his face. How ashen and pathetic, how diminished he looked. He grabbed her by the arms.
“What happened?”
A new kind of fear seeped into the anger and shock she already felt.
“They were trying to kill me.” She stood rigid, her mind trapped in the memory of violence. “But Ajay . . .” She went on. “He hurt them. Oh God, he really hurt them.” She frowned and looked up in a kind of concussed wonder. “But what was he doing there?”
“Are you fucking serious?” he replied.
His incredulous tone brought her back to the room. She pulled herself out of his grip, paced the floor. “Yes, I’m serious. What was he doing there, what are you doing here, where the fuck have you been!? What the FUCK is going on? I came to see you. You called me!” She froze, held her hands to her head. “You didn’t call me. It wasn’t you, was it? Oh God, I’m so stupid.”
“Who called you?”
“But fuck you, Sunny. You vanished. You just vanished on me.”
He approached, tried to corner her. “It’s very important you answer me. Who called you?”
She was shivering. “I want to go home.”
“And then?”
“And then nothing, forget I ever met you. Seriously!”
“You can’t just go home.”
“I can go where I want!”
“You have to tell me who called you.”
“I DON’T KNOW! All right? I DON’T KNOW. I’m so fucking stupid. What’s wrong with me?”
Tears started welling in her eyes. The adrenaline was wearing off, shock was fast approaching. She needed something from him, but there was nothing he could give, not like this.