Until the Debt Is Paid (29 page)

Jan saluted and stood up. “Till Monday.” He shut the door behind him, grinning, more than satisfied. He heard yet another object hitting the wall. But by then he was already two offices down.

Epilogue

Chandu’s favorite bar was hopping. The music blared too loud, drowning out all the regulars trying to talk. Up at the bar sat Chandu, Zoe, and Max. Both Jan’s big friend and the medical examiner had been released from the hospital earlier that day, which had not stopped them from hitting all the bars.

The young hacker was in an equally good mood. His eyes were bright. He waved his green cocktail at Jan. As usual, Zoe ignored him as thoroughly as she did the bar’s smoking ban, while Chandu refilled her glass from a whiskey bottle. His crutch was leaning against the bar. His leg wound would take weeks to heal; after that, he’d be his old self again. Zoe had weathered her injuries well too. She looked a little pale, maybe. But soon the shootout would be only a memory.

“You know, Zoe,” Chandu said, slurring it a little and lifting his glass, “if you weren’t such a bitch, I’d flat out ask you to marry me.”

She toasted him back. “I’m a lesbian.”

The disclosure made Chandu lose his train of thought. He furrowed his brow, trying to make sense of it.

“No matter,” he said finally. “Sex isn’t everything.” He knocked back his whiskey in one gulp.

“Is to me,” Zoe replied and drank hers down too.

Jan settled himself on the stool next to her.

“Janni,” Zoe said, turning to him. “We’ve been waiting for you.” She pushed a glass over and filled it from Chandu’s bottle. Then she refilled hers.

She toasted Max, whose eyes were riveted on a buxom blonde, and kept her glass raised.

“To our Janni and his newly won freedom.” And the three tipped back their whiskeys in one swig.

“Thanks,” Jan said softly and drank as well.

Max devoted himself to watching the blonde, while Zoe and Chandu started discussing the point of marriage in the twenty-first century. Jan set down his glass on the bar and opened up his wallet. He eyed, wistfully, the photo of Betty and him. Her laughter would always be so charming and real in his memories. He still believed that she had liked him. He wasn’t yet prepared for anything but that version of reality.

Then he felt the big hand of his friend on his shoulder. Chandu poured Jan a refill, while Zoe delivered a toast to the Berlin police. At some point the place got so full that the four had to press up against the bar. All around them it was just happy people, and after the third glass it felt the way it used to be. Back then. When Betty was alive.

About the Author

Photo © 2014 Oliver Bendig

Alexander Hartung was born in 1970. He started writing while studying political economy and discovered his love for thrillers and historical novels. Hartung’s first novel, the historical crime thriller
Die Rache des Inquisitors
(
The Inquisitor’s Revenge
), was published in 2010.
Until the Debt is Paid
is set in Berlin, the city Hartung called home for a time while working as a management consultant. Hartung currently lives with his wife and child and their dog in his hometown of Mannheim, Germany.

About the Translator

Photo © René Chambers

Steve Anderson is a translator, a novelist, and the author of the nonfiction Kindle Singles
Double-Edged Sword
and
Sitting Ducks
. Anderson was a Fulbright Fellow in Munich, Germany. He lives in Portland, Oregon.