The Prone Gunman (2 page)

3

The Rue de Varenne apartment was a duplex located in the rear of an old town house, on a paved courtyard, above stables that had been transformed into private garages. In the courtyard, the name “Lionel Perdrix” appeared on a framed visiting card above the doorbell. A few seconds before nine, Terrier rang the doorbell seven short times, pushed open the gate, and climbed the flight of outside stairs. The remote-control lock of the white-lacquered entryway door buzzed and clicked, and Terrier opened the door, closed it behind him, and climbed another flight of stairs, these covered in gray carpet. He emerged into the vast gray-and-white duplex full of ultramodern furniture and Pop, Op, and kinetic art.

Cox was seated on the edge of a gigantic white leather sofa, his back to a windowless wall with a balcony overhead. A short guy with black eyes, his hands in the pockets of a gray overcoat, leaned out with his belly against the balcony railing; his eyes never left Terrier.

Bent over a low, openwork white-lacquered table, Cox was eating a copious brunch of eggs, bacon, grilled sausages, thick little pancakes, and maple syrup, accompanied by black coffee.

“I didn't have time to eat this morning,” he said as Terrier came in. “Nor to sleep much, either. I had to discuss your case, Christian.”

His lips were sticky with syrup; he patted them with a paper napkin and glanced at Terrier with a look of embarrassment. Tall and fleshy, he had a large pink face, a small nose, and a pouty little mouth. His short dull-blond hair was impeccably trimmed. He had not taken off his camel's-hair overcoat. Beside him on the sofa lay a twisted blue-and-yellow plaid scarf. Terrier opened his brown leather coat, but he didn't take it off. He sat down across from Cox in an enormous armchair that matched the sofa.

“He's armed,” said the short guy on the balcony without taking his eyes off Terrier.

Cox directed a friendly grimace at Terrier.

“Why did you kill the girl, too?” he asked.

“Is that a problem?”

“Not at all. She was his mistress. Not at all important. I'm just asking. You've never killed anyone who was not a target.”

“I was in a hurry.”

“I see,” said Cox. “You're saying it jokingly, but it probably is the reason.”

“I'm not joking,” said Terrier.

Cox gulped down a bit of pancake dripping with melted butter and syrup, then shook his head with his eyelids lowered. As he ate, he leaned over and sighed and opened a leather briefcase at the foot of the sofa. Unhurriedly, he withdrew a brown package that could have been a ream of paper and pushed it across the table in Terrier's direction. Terrier weighed the package in his hands. He looked at Cox.

“There's a bonus,” said Cox. Linguistic details betrayed the fact that French was not his mother tongue. But he had no trace of an accent.

“Thanks.”

“There's a rumor that you're going to get out, Christian.”

“A rumor? That would surprise me.”

“You've sold your car, you've bought another one, you've given notice on your apartment. Various other things.”

“Okay,” said Martin Terrier. “I'm getting out.”

“It seems that you're not going to work for someone else. You're simply going to get out. I can easily understand that. Still, you should have talked to me about it. You can't just disappear without warning.”

“But that's just what I'm going to do.”

“We're not in agreement,” said Cox. “Obviously, no one can force you, not with the kind of work you do.”

“That's what I thought.” Terrier smiled.

“The company has an important project in preparation,” said Cox. “Just one, as far as you're concerned. You can get out afterward. I daresay we'll even make things easier for you. You know we can make things easier. On the other hand, we can make a lot of difficulties for you.”

“I'd advise against trying to fuck with me.” Terrier smiled again.

“For this project you can name your price. What if we said one hundred and fifty thousand French francs?”

Terrier shook his head.

“Two hundred thousand,” said Cox.

Terrier stood up, the brown package under his arm.

“Sorry. Not at any price. I'm going now.”

At a nonchalant pace, he withdrew as far as the staircase, the package under his left arm, his right arm partially bent. His blue eyes darted from Cox to the short guy on the balcony.

“Too bad,” said Cox. “Drive safely. If you ever want to get in contact with me, run an ad in
Le Monde
in the public announcements section. Never try to get in contact through other channels.”

“Goodbye,” said Terrier.

He went downstairs, crossed the paved courtyard, and left through a covered passage and a porte cochere. He headed toward the Seine, hailed a Mercedes taxi that was going by, had himself taken to Barbès, took the metro, changed lines two or three times, and found himself back in the open air at the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette station. He had an eleven o'clock appointment with his financial adviser. He was early, so he waited at a café counter with an espresso that tasted like leather.

Faulques, the financial adviser, lived in a ground-floor apartment on Rue de la Victoire, at the back of the courtyard, in two cramped rooms, one of which functioned as an office. He sometimes left the communicating door ajar, exposing a badly made-up bed with grayish sheets in the other room. Faulques was short, ugly, and bald, and he had two blackheads and a dirty, idiotic little mustache. Winter and summer he answered the door in shirtsleeves, his striped pants held up by tight elastic suspenders that crossed in the back. He was voluble and nervous and smoked hard-as-rock Toscanellis that were always going out.

“I don't inspire confidence,” he had once said to Terrier. “People mistrust me because I look seedy. Oh, yes! I look seedy, Monsieur Charles. I look like a swindler!” He was shouting, even though Terrier had not tried to contradict him. “A good financial adviser should look prosperous. That's what people think. But I don't have the time. Do you want to know why?”

“Yes,” Terrier said patiently.

“Because I spend all my time taking care of money,” said Faulques triumphantly. “I make it move. I like that. Nothing else interests me. Neither food nor fucking nor dressing a little better: nothing. Do you understand what it means to have only one thing on your mind?”

“Maybe.”

Faulques had shaken his head skeptically and proceeded to show Terrier a photograph of his two adolescent girls, whom he saw once a month (he was divorced).

At eleven o'clock Terrier rang at Faulques's door. He handed over the brown package and gave him detailed instructions. Faulques took notes and ventured a few comments. Then Terrier left.

A light sleet had begun to fall, turning to water as it landed. Terrier took the metro back to the Opéra station and returned home in a taxi.

Reaching his landing, Terrier saw that the door to his apartment was slightly ajar. He dropped to one knee as he drew his HK4 from under his jacket. Holding the weapon in both hands and pointing it at the doorjamb, he froze. He breathed slowly through the mouth in order to hear better. He heard nothing but the distant sounds of the street and the piano on the third floor on which someone was vainly and obstinately attempting to get the first twelve measures of the supposedly
Pathetic Sonata
right.

Suddenly, Terrier jumped forward, pushed the door open with his shoulder, and tumbled into the middle of the studio apartment. As he lay on his back, and after his eyes and the barrel of his automatic had quickly swept the room in all directions, the man slowly relaxed and lowered his arms. His joined hands and his weapon came to rest on his thighs. There was no one in the apartment. The pianist on the third floor had given up, and not even the tick-tock of the alarm clock could be heard. Actually, the alarm clock was busted up. The furniture was busted up, too—the armchairs gutted, the bedding torn up, the record player demolished. Terrier's luggage had been slashed open with a knife and his things—now torn and filthy—scattered all over the studio. In the kitchenette, the cupboard doors had been pulled off and the dishes smashed.

Terrier got back up, returned the HK4 to its cloth shoulder holster, and closed the door. It had not been forced. He went into the kitchenette. On the linoleum was a filthy magma of mustard, flour, sugar, spices, liquor, broken dishes, and garbage.

“Sudan!” Terrier called softly.

He made little sounds with his mouth to entice the tomcat to come out. He frowned. He went to look under the bed, then went back to the kitchenette, swearing through his teeth.

On top of the refrigerator was a small key ring on a sheet of squared paper. Terrier examined the keys and the message on the piece of paper, which read: “I'm taking Sudan. Fuck you.” Alex had even signed it.

Terrier put the keys in his pocket and shook his head. His frown vanished. He laughed silently, then shook his head again and gloomily considered the mess.

It took him almost three hours to clean up and rearrange everything. He put to one side those of his things that were intact. Everything else was put into the gutted luggage, which Terrier tied up with string and took down to the garbage along with the rest of the mess. He had to make several trips. He took advantage of one of these journeys to continue on to a nearby Prisunic, where he bought a suitcase and a bag. Back upstairs, he packed up his remaining possessions.

Then his lips tightened. He picked up the intact telephone and dialed a number. The call went through on the first ring.

“Hello, don't hang up,” said Alex's voice. “You have reached Alexa Métayer. I will be out for a few hours. At the tone, please leave your name and telephone number so I can call you back when I return.”

Terrier shrugged and hung up. He finished his tasks, then picked up the telephone again to call the owner, who lived on the first floor of the building. While the man was on his way upstairs, Terrier called his garage to have his car brought round.

“Oh, my,” declared the owner when he saw the damage. He let out a whistle.

“I'll forget the deposit,” said Terrier. “I'll leave you what remains of the furniture. That all right with you?”

“Yes, fine,” said the owner after a moment's reflection. “I don't want to be mean about it. What happened?”

“A girl got worked up. You know how it is.”

“The pretty brunette?” The owner made a face. “You wouldn't believe it to look at her. I saw her going out late in the morning. I don't know when she arrived, of course.”

He winked at Terrier. Terrier turned his back on him. The telephone rang. Terrier lifted the receiver.

“I'm trying to reach Luigi.”

The voice was slurred, metallic, abnormally shrill. The guy (or the girl) at the other end of the line was using a vocoder-like gadget to distort the sound—or else he was a rehabilitated mute.

“What number are you calling?” asked Terrier.

He was cut off. Terrier hung up. A second later, the telephone began ringing again.

“Hello?”

“I can't reach Luigi Rossi anymore,” said the deformed voice. “I'm furious. Somebody will have to pay for that. Maybe you.”

“Explain that,” said Terrier.

There was a noise that could have been a chuckle, then the line went dead. This time no one called back. Someone rang at the door, but it was only the guy from the garage coming to say that the Citroën DS 21 was parked out in front. Terrier pocketed the car keys and tipped the worker, who went away. A moment later, Terrier and the owner came downstairs together.

“You'll be missed,” the owner was saying. “You were the ideal tenant. Peace and quiet and all. If I understand correctly” (he gave Terrier a complicitous smile), “you had some private problems.”

“I wouldn't call that a problem,” said Terrier.

It was five-thirty in the afternoon. Terrier tossed his luggage on the backseat of the old DS 21, grabbed the wheel, and started the engine. He took the service road toward the Porte de Versailles and then slipped into the slow and very heavy traffic. An old pale-gray Ford Capri with a dull black hood began to tail him.

4

To connect with the Autoroute du Sud, Terrier had to turn around and double back at the jammed-up Porte de Versailles. He noticed that a Ford Capri was doing the same. Through the flood of automobiles and exhaust fumes he poked along the outer boulevards to the Porte d'Orléans, then up the access ramp to the highway and along the highway itself. The Capri was still in sight.

Around six-thirty, Terrier was no more than thirty kilometers from Paris, but by then the traffic was loosening up. The Capri was still in sight, far behind. Terrier accelerated to 125 kmh, and the Capri did the same. He reduced his speed to 90 kmh. The Capri maintained its distance.

As he approached the Achères parking area, Terrier slowed down even more. He considered the failing light and the traffic. It was still light, and many vehicles were still on the road. Terrier didn't stop: he sped up and then maintained a normal speed. Now and again he glanced at the rearview mirror. Night fell.

Around ten-thirty, Terrier wasn't far from Poitiers. Noticing a sign indicating a refueling area, he braked long and slow. He slowed down in stages, and his taillights illuminated as he did so. He left the highway and stopped under the canopy of the gas station, where he had the tank filled and various things checked and the windshield cleaned.

The Capri also needed fuel. It parked under the canopy at some distance from the DS. Terrier went to the toilet to take a piss. As he came back to his car, he went by the rear of the Capri and glanced at his shadow, who had not gotten out of the car. He was a tall, thin young man with a pasty complexion. He wore a black leather jacket and dark glasses; his head bristled with a thatch of black hair. Terrier returned to the DS, paid the attendant, and got back behind the wheel. A little sleet swirled in the orange glow of the highway lighting. Terrier started the car and went and parked in the lot behind the self-service restaurant.

The restaurant interior was done up in orange and black plastic, and there was not a single diner. This was not the sort of place to linger over a meal. As Terrier was putting food on his tray, out of the corner of his eye he saw that the Capri was pulling into the lot. It stopped, and its driver did not get out.

As Terrier was eating, a Volvo parked in the lot. A rather pretty, fortyish brunette with a fine complexion got out and came into the restaurant with two children, who were kicking up a fuss. The woman scolded and cajoled them calmly, patiently, and firmly. Terrier observed her. He had an attentive, approving expression. The fussing of the two kids made his mouth tighten a little.

When he had finished eating, Terrier returned to the DS. He glanced at the Capri, parked thirty meters away, just as a cigarette flared red. He grabbed the suitcase from the backseat, opened it on the front seat, and removed the box into which he had put the HK4 before leaving. He fitted a .380 ACP barrel into the lock, then loaded and inserted a clip. He put the automatic in the side pocket of his leather coat and got back out of his car. It was cold. What looked like snowdrifts lined the edges of the parking area. The orange lamps gave little light. In the Capri, the pale young man smoked an American cigarette. He gave Terrier a panicky look as he approached.

“Why are you following me?”

“What did you say?”

Through the open window, Terrier hit the young man between the eyes with the barrel of the HK4. The cigarette fell. Dazed, the young man sucked air through his thin mouth, his face contorted. Terrier opened the door, grabbed the young man by the front of his white sweater, and yanked him from his seat. He laid him out on the ground. The young man tried to get back up. Terrier kicked him in the head, and the young man stopped moving. Terrier quickly searched him. In ten or fifteen minutes, the pretty mom and her brats would come back this way and turn on their headlights.

In his pockets, the pallid fellow had a Swiss Army knife, keys, a plastic coin-purse, a pack of Winstons, a Bic lighter, and a wallet of the kind Africans sell on the street. In the wallet, Terrier found five hundred francs in new one-hundredfranc bills held together with a pin, along with three worn ten-franc bills; some Mobil gas coupons; an identity card, a social security card, automobile registration papers, and a certificate of insurance in the name of Alfred Chaton, packer, living in Montreuil; and a love letter from a girl. The man called Alfred Chaton began to move. Terrier pinched his temples to accelerate his coming-to, then he grabbed him, knocked his head against the car body, and, holding him by the hair, raked his face against the handle of the back door. Finally, he sat him on the ground, leaned him up against the Capri, and slapped him.

“Christ stop you're crazy,” Alfred moaned. “I don't know anything. I'm just a gofer.”

“Why are you following me?”

“They asked me to.”

“They who?”

“Some people.”

Terrier gave him a kick in the spleen. Alfred convulsed and fell on his side, writhing about and groaning loudly. Terrier grasped his nose between thumb and index finger, forcing him to breathe through his mouth and preventing him from crying out as the brunette and her two kids got back into their Volvo, fifty meters away, and drove off.

“They who?” repeated Terrier. “Want me to start over?”

“Please, no. Some people. Some people called Rossi. Italians.”

Suddenly, Terrier remembered the name. And he remembered Luigi Rossi appearing on a motorcycle on the twists and turns of the road that connects Albenga with Garessio in northern Italy. Remembered wearing Polaroid glasses as he stretched out between the rocks in a blind made of fir-tree branches. Remembered removing the snow protector from the barrel of his Vostok and aiming at the motorcyclist, holding his breath, and pressing the trigger. Remembered how Luigi Rossi fell on the wet road and tried to get back up; remembered how the second 7.62mm bullet hit his forehead, and pieces of helmet and head flew about. Remembered how Luigi Rossi fell back face down on the wet road, assuredly dead, and how he, Terrier, quickly returned to his Peugeot 403, which was equipped with chains, on the forest road and went back to Turin.

He remembered. At the time, he was a beginner. Cox paid him twenty thousand francs.

“Do these people called Rossi have first names?”

“They didn't say.”

“They just told you that they were called Rossi,” suggested Terrier.

“Yes. Well, no. I heard them talking among themselves. They are brothers or cousins or something. I don't know.”

“They are brothers or cousins or something, and they don't call each other by the first name—they call each by the family name?”

“I don't know. Yes.”

“I think you could describe them for me,” said Terrier.

“Absolutely,” said the pale young man.

“Get back in your heap.”

Grimacing with pain and fear, Alfred Chaton heaved himself into the Capri.

“What are you going to do with me? I'm just a gofer, for God's sake. I will tell you anything you want to know.”

“Was it you who ransacked my apartment?”

“What? No. No.”

“Do you know who did?”

“Absolutely not.”

With his left hand, Terrier grabbed him by the collar and pushed him back into the Capri. At the same time, he got behind the wheel, took out his automatic, and rested the end of the barrel against the pale young man's throat.

“Don't make the slightest move, no matter what.”

The young man blinked. Terrier pressed the cigarette lighter. The eyes of the motionless young man followed his gestures.

“I'm going to burn out an eye,” said Terrier.

“Why? Why? You're crazy!”

The young man began to weep. With a click, the cigarette lighter popped out, ready for use.

“They told me to tell you that!” the young man cried out. “They told me to follow you and that you would spot me and to say that I was paid by some people called Rossi! I swear, it's the truth!”

“Who?”

“I don't know. I don't know them. I can describe them.”

“Don't bother.”

“The fucking cunts!” cried the pale young man. “They said you were an okay guy, that you might knock me around a little, but I only had to say I was a gofer and give you the name of the Rossi brothers and you would let me go! You're going to let me go now, aren't you?”

“Sure.”

Terrier drew back a little on his seat and stopped pressing the barrel of the HK4 against the throat of the young man. The latter tearfully rubbed his neck.

“Oh! Thank you, thank you!”

“Take this message to Cox,” said Terrier as he put a slug into his heart.