Bulletproof Mascara: A Novel (41 page)

Nikki looked back and saw Val running toward her. She stepped off the bike in time to receive a diving tackle that threw them both into traffic. Nikki hit the pavement and heard the squeal of brakes around them. She took the momentum of Val’s tackle and continued the roll, flipping Val over and landing on her chest. Val shoved upward at Nikki’s jaw with an open-handed strike that made Nikki’s teeth click together and her head reel back. The sudden shock loosened Nikki’s grip, and Val wriggled free. Around them, cars were stopped, their drivers honking and yelling, but above the noise Nikki felt the steady rhythm of air being pushed out of the way—a helicopter was coming. Nikki ducked a punch and kneed Val in the stomach. Val elbowed her in the ear, and Nikki stepped back.

“You are so full of shit,” Nikki yelled. “You are doing this for your boyfriend!”

“I’m doing this for me,” screamed Val, and punched her. Nikki staggered under the blow, but swung back and added a front kick straight up the middle. She planted her foot on Val’s chest and shoved. This time it was Val who moved.

She had no idea where her gun was. They had traversed the width of the bridge now, and Val leaned against the railing that separated them from the long drop to the muddy, brown river below.

“I tried to tell you,” said Val, “you can’t save them.” Nikki opened her mouth to argue, but Val cut her off. “There’s no point. You can’t save any of them.”

“I hung up on my mother,” said Nikki. “People can change.”
And just for a moment, she thought she saw the real Val. The thumping blades of the helicopter were close now, and Nikki glanced over her shoulder. The helicopter was holding steady at road level, with Ellen leaning in its open door. Her gray hair fluttered in the wind. As Nikki watched, Ellen picked up a rifle and aimed it at Val.

“Val,” screamed Nikki, one hand flying out, following her instinct to warn her. She stopped in mid-gesture. Val, as poised as ever, had found Nikki’s gun and was pointing it directly at her. Time seemed to stretch out for an eternity, and Nikki could only notice the striking depth of Val’s brown eyes. She didn’t hear the gunshot, but she saw Val jerk and fall over the railing. Nikki ran forward, catching her hand as it slipped from the edge of the bridge.

“Val!” yelled Nikki. Val’s hand was sliding from her grasp; it was wet with blood. Nikki leaned farther over the railing, feeling a precarious shift in balance. Val looked up, her naturally pale face even paler. Behind her, Nikki heard the helicopter settling onto the bridge.

“I take it back, Nikki.”

“What? Val, hold on!” Nikki wished Val would focus on the problem at hand.

“I take it back. I’m not sorry I bought you shoes.”

“I lost those shoes! It doesn’t matter! None of it matters!” Nikki was screaming now. “Just hold on to my hand!”

Val looked down at the water. Nikki heard the pounding of feet behind her. Val looked up into Nikki’s face and smiled. Then she let go.

“Val!” Nikki screamed as her friend tumbled into the turgid water of the Chao Phraya.

A moment later Ellen was standing at the railing, looking criti
cally into the water. Jenny was only a step behind her, gun drawn. Nikki looked at Ellen in disbelief. She had no idea what to say or do.

“Come on, let’s go,” Ellen said.

Nikki shook her head. Her eyes were glued to the water. “She might not be dead.”

“It was a solid, center-mass hit, and there’s blood spatter,” she said, pointing to the railing. “And the cops are coming. Even if she isn’t, we’re out of time.”

Nikki stared at Ellen, unwilling to accept reality.

“Nikki, come on. We have to go. The cops are coming.” She pointed to the edge of the bridge, where the traffic jam had stopped the police cars and SUVs.

Nikki shook her head again.

“Nikki, we’ve gotta go,” Jenny said, touching her lightly on the shoulder. Nikki flinched. “Nikki,” Jenny said, and took a firmer grip on her arm. “Come on.” She pulled Nikki toward the helicopter. “Are you OK?” Jenny asked as the helicopter began to lift away from the bridge.

Nikki shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. She felt sick to her stomach. The helicopter rose and pivoted along a steep arc over the long line of black SUVs. Nikki turned her head away. She didn’t want to see Thailand anymore.

THAILAND XVII

Cleanup Crew

Nikki sat next to Ellen and tried not to shift in her chair. Between her bruises, cuts, and lack of sleep, she was finding it difficult to concentrate on Lawan’s speech. It seemed to be going well. The other conference delegates were nodding along, and Lawan was impassioned, but Nikki had reached the point of weariness where she couldn’t track the words.

“You got this?” Nikki asked, leaning toward Ellen.

“Sure, sweetie. What’s up?”

“I just need to stretch my legs a bit,” Nikki whispered, before ducking out of the conference hall. She reached the front lobby, where booths had been set up and a sparse crowd still milled around. She found a pillar and leaned against it.

“Nikki?” said Laura, sounding confused.

Nikki looked around the pillar and saw Laura Daniels standing in front of the doors, her head swiveling this way and that.

“Over here,” Nikki said, stepping out to be seen.

Laura smiled radiantly. She was dressed in a powder blue suit of dupioni silk that offset her blond hair and blue eyes. She looked, Nikki thought, exactly how an ambassador’s wife should look.

“Nikki, I have to go back in, but I wanted to take a minute to thank you for everything you’ve done.”

“No,” Nikki said, feeling uncomfortable, as usual, with praise. “I didn’t really do anything.”

“Didn’t do anything? Nikki, it’s not just Lawan and Lindawati you helped. Every woman in that warehouse owes her life to you.”

“What about next time?” Nikki asked, voicing Val’s doubts. “What if some other scumbag comes along and tries to do the same thing?”

“We can’t predict that,” said Laura, shaking her head. “But what matters is that today they were saved. Today you made a difference. Today we are all at this conference standing up for the rights of women. Maybe all of those girls in the warehouse won’t go on to live happily ever after, but they got the opportunity to do so because of you. That’s what life is—an opportunity and a gift. You risked yours to help others, and I appreciate it.”

Laura stepped forward and embraced Nikki in a breathtaking hug and then, covering sniffs of tears, dashed back into the conference room. Nikki leaned back against the pillar and shook her head in astonishment. She felt as if she were thinking through a cotton ball. Taking off her dark sunglasses, she rubbed one eye tiredly and then carefully felt around the edges of her Val-induced black eye. That one was going to hurt for a while.

“Nice black eye,” said a gravelly voice.

“It goes so well with yours,” Nikki said, looking up at Z’ev and slipping her glasses back on.

“Mine isn’t as puffy,” he replied, pulling her glasses back down her nose with one finger and scrutinizing her face.

“True,” she conceded, then reached up to turn his head for a better view, “but at least mine didn’t require stitches.”

“You know,” he said, looking around the convention center lobby, “I didn’t think I’d actually find you here.”

“I came here for the conference,” she said.

“You kept saying that,” he said musingly. “I just didn’t believe you.”

“What did you think I was doing here, then?” Nikki said.

“I thought you were a foreign agent working on breaking the smuggling ring,” he said with a shrug.

“A foreign agent who works for a cosmetics company? That’s just silly,” said Nikki, forcing a laugh.

“I didn’t think you were actually working for a cosmetics company,” he protested. “I thought that was just a cover!”

“But now you believe me?” asked Nikki, relieved but still nervous.

“My . . . uh . . . friends did a background check.” He looked a little embarrassed.

“And did your ‘uh . . . friends’ arrest Sarkassian and get those girls out of the warehouse?”

“Yeah, they did. They’re running into a little trouble with the encryption system on his computer, but they’ll get it figured out. It’s not like they have to have it done right here and now.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Nikki said.

“You know, even if you are really a Carrie Mae girl, there are still a few things that could use explanation,” he said. “What were you even doing there?”

“I came with Lawan,” she said, extemporizing. “I’d been working with Laura Daniels, and she said Lawan needed help. When
she told me about her daughter I had to do what I could. I suppose it was stupid to think we could do it ourselves, but I couldn’t let Lawan go by herself.”

“Yeah, do me a favor and next time . . .” He stopped and shook his head. “You know what? Just promise me that there won’t be a next time.”

“How can I do that?” Nikki asked, flipping her hair a little, as much as her sore neck would let her. “‘Helping women everywhere’—it’s not just a company slogan.”

“You are trouble,” he said. “I should have seen that the first time I met you.”

“Oh, you mean when you asked me to marry you? Seems to me that I wouldn’t have been in this mess if it weren’t for you.”

“And good grades in math,” he recalled. “You really should have married Billy Hollis and popped out six or seven kids.”

“I didn’t think you were listening to that,” she said, blushing.

“I listen to everything you say,” he answered.

“Right, I forgot,” she said, laughing.

“I don’t suppose you’re going to be in Thailand much longer?” he asked.

“I fly out tonight,” she said. “I don’t suppose you’ll be Stateside anytime soon? Maybe go on a sort of vacation or something?”

“You mean like an extended period of time where we could use our real names and not get in any fights?”

“And no one would shoot at us,” Nikki added. “And there wouldn’t be any riots. And we could go on a real date. And nobody has to lie . . .”

“Yeah, no,” he said, cutting her off. “My company doesn’t really believe in vacation time. I mean, theoretically it exists, but no one’s ever seen it.”

“Shoot,” said Nikki, trying to keep things lighthearted, but unable to manage more than a weak smile.

“Ah, what the hell,” said Z’ev, and kissed her.

She knew that she should have been uncomfortable. He had put his arm around her waist, and her ribs were bruised and possibly cracked and her back was laced with cuts and road rash, but she didn’t feel any of it. She couldn’t even feel her feet. It was as if all sensation were wrapped up in his lips.

“Right,” Nikki said, stepping away and bumping into the pole behind her.

“Exactly,” he agreed, shaking his head slightly.

“Um,” she said, looking over his shoulder. “I think your friends are here. Why are your friends here?”

“For Lawan,” he said, turning to glance at the three out-of-place men in suits. “We need her testimony.”

“Right,” Nikki said again. There was the sound of thunderous applause from behind the doors to the auditorium. “That’s your cue,” she said.

“Time to go back to work. “Goodbye, wife.”

The doors sprang open and Lawan walked out, surrounded by throngs of conference delegates all trying to talk to her at once.

“He is cute,” said Ellen, appearing beside Nikki.

“Too cute,” granted Nikki, pushing her glasses farther up her nose and folding her arms across her chest.

“Too bad it couldn’t work out. Sometimes I guess all you get is the moment.”

“Just the here and now,” Nikki agreed, and then stopped and slapped her forehead with her open palm. “Ah, son of a . . .”

“What?” Ellen asked, looking concerned.

“Here and now,” Nikki repeated to Ellen’s blank expression. “Oh, never mind. Here, lend me a pen.”

Taking Ellen’s pen and a brochure from a nearby booth, Nikki wrote
HIC ET NUNC
on the piece of paper in bold letters. Then she began to force her way through the crowd toward Z’ev.

“Hey,” she yelled, tugging on his sleeve. He made a questioning face, and she shoved the paper at him.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Sarkassian’s password,” she said.

“How do you know?” he asked, raising his voice above the chattering voices of the conference-goers.

“I saw it in Canada,” she began, then stopped as a woman pushed between them. “It’s Latin. It means ‘here and now.’” Another woman bumped her from behind and Nikki stopped again. The story was just too long. “I’m a linguist,” she said, grabbing him by the lapel and kissing him. “It’s what I do.” Then she let go and let the crowd push them apart.

LOS ANGELES I

So Fancy Free

“Hey there, little lady,” Mr. Merrivel said as Nikki stepped out of customs.

Nikki smiled involuntarily. “Mr. Merrivel! What are you doing here?”

She had left Jenny and Ellen in Thailand to return to their original assignments and hadn’t expected to see another friendly face until Dr. Hastings fired her.

“What am I doing here?” Mr. M looked puzzled by the question. “I came to pick you up, of course.”

“You didn’t have to pick me up.” Nikki was moved by his thoughtfulness.

“Well, I heard you had a bit of a rough time at your convention. Nice shiner,” he said, pointing at her purple and yellow “black” eye. Nikki blushed and quickly put on her sunglasses. “I figured maybe you wouldn’t want to take a taxi.”

“No, not really,” said Nikki, smiling again. “About the taxi, I mean.” She wondered a little at his ability to say things like “con
vention” with a straight face. She shouldered her bag and winced as it hit a sore spot. Mr. M took it away with a slight smile and together they walked in comfortable silence to the car.

“How’d it go, by the way?” he asked, when he had tucked her into the car and they were cruising down the highway.

“I think I kind of blew it,” she said.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“Well, my partner was a double agent, Lawan wasn’t missing—she had the situation pretty well figured out—and I managed to get almost killed. Oh, and I also managed to blow the CIA guy’s cover. Not really such a good first outing. I’m pretty sure Dr. Hastings is going to fire me.”