He saw Katie was standing, leaving Cooper seated in the grass. She tucked into her belt one of the other Russians’ pistols. Much to Billy’s astonishment, a few dozen wildebeest appeared about a hundred yards away and were grazing rather placidly. They didn’t seem to care that a few minutes ago their world had exploded with gunfire. His sister walked over to him slowly and stood beside him for a long moment, and the siblings watched the animals, though Billy kept glancing back at Cooper. Or whatever the fuck his name was.
“Well, this safari sure as hell went to pot,” she said dryly. “Remind me never to use that travel agent again.”
She had said it to elicit at least a small smile from him, and so he obliged. He wiped at the sweat that was dribbling down the temples on both sides of his skull. He understood why she was capable of making a joke, bad as it was: they were no longer in danger from their kidnappers. At least immediate danger. Imminent danger. He didn’t know where the other Russians were, but they weren’t here now, and so he felt as well his sister’s relief.
“Can I ask you something?” he said.
“Of course.”
“You and Terrance. Before David moved out to L.A. and you two reconnected, were you and Terrance ever lovers? I mean, I know you weren’t publicly. But the two of you—”
“I know. There was a chemistry. Off-screen, too.”
“But…”
“But we never wanted to screw up our friendship. And, in some ways, the fact there was always a slow burn between us made us even closer. And…” She gazed for a moment into the Land Rover.
“Go on.”
“A romance? It would have cost him work. We all know that.”
“You, too.”
She turned away from the vehicle and slapped ferociously at a mosquito on her arm. Then she flicked the dead insect into the grass. “But it was mostly just the idea that we were better as friends.”
“I’m really sorry, Katie,” he mumbled.
“It’s not your fault. If this nightmare is anyone’s fault, it’s mine. I’m the one who brought you all here.”
“You know that’s ridiculous. It’s not your fault at all.”
“We should have stayed in Paris. All of us. Just continued the party there.”
He thought of the airport outside Paris where they had mustered, which immediately made him think of planes. God, if a fortune teller had told him two weeks ago how much death loomed in his life, he would have nodded and thought to himself, “Fucking Pan Am clipper crashing into the ocean.” We know nothing of what’s coming. Just…nothing.
“David wants giraffes at the ranch,” she was saying. “I mean, not really. But I think they’re his new favorite animal.”
David wants…
The two words made him cringe. Present tense. He considered whether he was making a mistake not telling her the truth right now. Perhaps he was overestimating her fragility and he should just rip off the Band-Aid. But before he could decide, she was asking, “How long do you think it will be until someone finds us?”
He understood it was a rhetorical question. “You’re supposing someone knows we’re missing,” he replied.
She motioned with her head toward Cooper. “I know they put in their ransom demands.”
“How?”
“This morning he took that picture of me. The Polaroid. Someone’s driving it to…wherever. He said that whoever he was dealing with was…he said the negotiations were getting contentious.”
“Well, in that case, let’s find out who knows we’re out here.”
“Think he’ll tell us?”
“At this point? I don’t see why he wouldn’t.”
Together they walked back to him. He was seated in the shade of their shadows, and Billy felt unexpectedly powerful as they stood over him. It was the combination of his height and the fact they both had guns.
“Your name isn’t really Cooper,” he began. “Obviously.”
The fellow was sweating, and Billy couldn’t decide whether it was more from the sun or the pain. There had been some aspirin in the medical kit and Katie had given him a couple tablets, but Billy assumed it barely took the edge off the agony that accompanied getting a sizable part of your hand shot away. Nevertheless, Billy didn’t let down his guard: the guy was dangerous. How many stories had Charlie Patton told them about wounded animals charging well-armed humans the moment they relaxed?
“No,” he said, and he winced. “Obviously.”