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Authors: James Lovegrove
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as we say. His chwal . An image of him appeared in my mind. Damballah has many forms, but most often he manifests as a serpent, a white python. He slithered inside me and I in turn fell to the floor and started slithering too, and as I did so he spoke. He told me that the balance of life is at risk of being upset. Cosmic equilibrium is threatened. He gave me your name, saying you were at the centre of it all somehow, and he informed me that you are a friend of my cousin’s, which I knew already as Wilberforce has talked about you now and then. He speaks highly of you, by the way.”
“So I should hope.”
“Damballah was very alarmed, and it is not comforting to see a spirit, an aspect of the godhead, alarmed. He said I must go to you and offer my aid, and must not take no for an answer.” She spread out her hands. Her nails were long, beautifully manicured, lacquered in the richest of reds. “And here I am.”
“Ah,” said Lex. “Interesting.”
Gable at the crossroads last night: Help’ll be offered you, and when it come, you don’ turn it away, you knowum sayin’? Whatever your finer feelin’s, you don’ say no.
Lex felt an unaccountable shiver run through him. What the fuck was going on here? He felt as though he had been thrown into the middle of some bizarre conspiracy, tides of coincidence swirling heavily around him. This time yesterday morning he’d been contemplating nothing more arduous than going for a run before the sun got too hot, then heading down to the beach afterwards for a spot of snorkelling. Now: a job from Seraphina, a gun battle with gangsters, voodoo, or vodou if you preferred...
“All right,” he said to Albertine. “I have no inkling what this danger you’re talking about could be, and you don’t either, so what we’re going to do is back-burner it for now. No point stressing over unknowns. When and if an adverse situation presents itself, then we’ll take action. In the meantime—”
His phone bleeped. A text. From Seraphina.
Rendezvous with Caribair flight CBC301 from Washington via Bermuda, arriving 12:20 local. Five friends disembarking. They will brief you further. xxx Seraphina
He glanced at the phone’s clock. A couple of hours to go. But Nestor Philippe Airport was all the way over on the windward side of the island, and there were no decent roads between here and there save the six-mile stretch of the René Smithson Highway. Being late would not look good.
“Tell you what,” he said. “If neither of you’s got anything else on, I could do with a hand on the transportation front. Got some people I’m meeting off a plane, and we’ll need two cars.”
“Not a problem,” said Albertine. “I’m sticking with you until my skills are needed, whenever that is.”
“And I’m sticking with her,” said Wilberforce. “Because if there’s going to be some sort of aggravation...”
“I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself,” Albertine protested.
“But if Aunt Hélène found out I’d let you go off on your own, without some muscle to back you up, God knows what she’d do to me. Worse than giving me the droop, that’s for certain.”
“Muscle? I’ll have Lex for that.”
“Stringy streak of piss like him?” Wilberforce snorted.
“Cheers, Wilb,” said Lex.
“No offence.”
“None taken, I’m sure.”
“I mean, I’m not saying you’re not good in a pinch, but...”
“No, I understand. Albertine is family.”
“Yeah.”
“Honestly, Wilberforce,” Albertine said. “I’ll be fine.”
“No arguing, cuz.”
“ Please , no more arguing,” Lex implored. “Wilb can tag along if he wants. The more the merrier.”
EIGHT
TEAM THIRTEEN
T HE CONVOY OF two, Subaru and Suzuki, reached the airport with quarter of an hour to spare, despite being held up on the way by an achingly slow tractor and a broken-down farm truck with a flatbed full of anxiously bleating goats. Lex requested that Albertine and
“So I should hope.”
“Damballah was very alarmed, and it is not comforting to see a spirit, an aspect of the godhead, alarmed. He said I must go to you and offer my aid, and must not take no for an answer.” She spread out her hands. Her nails were long, beautifully manicured, lacquered in the richest of reds. “And here I am.”
“Ah,” said Lex. “Interesting.”
Gable at the crossroads last night: Help’ll be offered you, and when it come, you don’ turn it away, you knowum sayin’? Whatever your finer feelin’s, you don’ say no.
Lex felt an unaccountable shiver run through him. What the fuck was going on here? He felt as though he had been thrown into the middle of some bizarre conspiracy, tides of coincidence swirling heavily around him. This time yesterday morning he’d been contemplating nothing more arduous than going for a run before the sun got too hot, then heading down to the beach afterwards for a spot of snorkelling. Now: a job from Seraphina, a gun battle with gangsters, voodoo, or vodou if you preferred...
“All right,” he said to Albertine. “I have no inkling what this danger you’re talking about could be, and you don’t either, so what we’re going to do is back-burner it for now. No point stressing over unknowns. When and if an adverse situation presents itself, then we’ll take action. In the meantime—”
His phone bleeped. A text. From Seraphina.
Rendezvous with Caribair flight CBC301 from Washington via Bermuda, arriving 12:20 local. Five friends disembarking. They will brief you further. xxx Seraphina
He glanced at the phone’s clock. A couple of hours to go. But Nestor Philippe Airport was all the way over on the windward side of the island, and there were no decent roads between here and there save the six-mile stretch of the René Smithson Highway. Being late would not look good.
“Tell you what,” he said. “If neither of you’s got anything else on, I could do with a hand on the transportation front. Got some people I’m meeting off a plane, and we’ll need two cars.”
“Not a problem,” said Albertine. “I’m sticking with you until my skills are needed, whenever that is.”
“And I’m sticking with her,” said Wilberforce. “Because if there’s going to be some sort of aggravation...”
“I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself,” Albertine protested.
“But if Aunt Hélène found out I’d let you go off on your own, without some muscle to back you up, God knows what she’d do to me. Worse than giving me the droop, that’s for certain.”
“Muscle? I’ll have Lex for that.”
“Stringy streak of piss like him?” Wilberforce snorted.
“Cheers, Wilb,” said Lex.
“No offence.”
“None taken, I’m sure.”
“I mean, I’m not saying you’re not good in a pinch, but...”
“No, I understand. Albertine is family.”
“Yeah.”
“Honestly, Wilberforce,” Albertine said. “I’ll be fine.”
“No arguing, cuz.”
“ Please , no more arguing,” Lex implored. “Wilb can tag along if he wants. The more the merrier.”
EIGHT
TEAM THIRTEEN
T HE CONVOY OF two, Subaru and Suzuki, reached the airport with quarter of an hour to spare, despite being held up on the way by an achingly slow tractor and a broken-down farm truck with a flatbed full of anxiously bleating goats. Lex requested that Albertine and
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