The conversation had been so taut that neither Rin nor Karkov noticed the noise until it grew quite loud. Even then, it easily could have been mistaken for ordinary traffic. Rin had assumed the road simply would reopen once the locals thought she was gone, but Karkov’s face told her otherwise long before the ruckus drew close enough to do so itself.
“Yours?” Rin knew this was a silly question.
Karkov shook his head with an air of exasperation. “In a manner of speaking. They are mine, but they’re not here on my orders.”
“I thought we wouldn’t be disturbed,” Rin mocked.
“So did I.” Suddenly, he looked at her with concern. “You didn’t kill him, did you?”
“Who?”
“My Fervent Leader.” There was an urgency in Karkov’s voice. Seeing no hint of recognition, he explained. “The new dictator.”
“Obviously not, since I was gone before he became dictator.” Rin had no idea what he was talking about and did little to hide her irritation.
With a snort of impatience, he clarified. “Not back then. Now. Did you just kill him on the way here?”
She chuckled. “Ah, I see. You pretend to care for your people. So touching. No, I did not kill whatever murderous thug you set over them.”
“He’s not a thug, as it happens.”
“I’m sure that was foremost in your mind when you chose him.” She grinned. “Just like the previous one.”
Karkov shrugged. “It was a snap decision. As for that other fellow — you know, the one you murdered — let’s just say he was better than some, worse than others.”
“You have rather low standards.”
“I work with the material at hand. This one turned out pretty decent. You probably noticed the improvement.”
Rin smiled at him. “Yes, I can hear the improvement outside.”
“Well it does look like Fervy decided to make a move,” Karkov conceded.
“So you’re not even in control of this tiny little piss-pot of a country, eh? I guess as the song says, you’re not half the man you used to be.”
“Apparently,” he sighed. “And to think I was concerned for his well-being.”
After a moment’s thought, he shook his head. “Well, I suppose there’s nothing for it.”
Karkov signaled Rin to wait, as he produced a cellphone and dialed. “I’m really sorry about this,” he offered, as the phone rang. “Let’s make sure it’s not just a mix up before jumping to conclusions, though.”
Rin watched him with an air of annoyance, slowly rapping her fingers on the table. The language was unfamiliar to her, but Karkov was getting visibly irritated. Finally, he hung up.
Quietly closing the phone, he seemed pensive. After a few moments, he looked at her with measured chagrin.
“It’s not a mix up.”
“I could have told you that,” Rin observed, still rapping on the table.
“I wouldn’t have minded any other time,” Karkov grumbled to himself, “but this is decidedly inconvenient.”
“On the contrary,” Rin smirked. “It seems quite convenient for you. But it won’t help. I’m going to end this now.”
Despite the threat, she made no move to rise — even before she registered Karkov’s pleading look. She knew that look. It wasn’t desperation or fear, but rather the exhaustion of a beleaguered parent whose child has disrupted the dinner party.
With a clear aura of frustration, Karkov began removing his clothes.
He indicated that Rin should follow suit, but she glared at him. “I told you I’m not going to fuck you.” She gave him a sweet smile. “But don’t worry. You’ll still be fucked.”
“Besides, this isn’t the time for that sort of thing,” she quickly added, facing away so Karkov couldn’t see her blush. Despite herself, she couldn’t help feeling it was just the right time for that sort of thing.
Turning to face him, she saw that Karkov’s body felt the same way.
“So there is a right time, then,” he laughed.
Rin gave him a look of annoyance, and he explained. “Things are likely to get a bit rough.”
“In your dreams.”
He rolled his eyes. “Suit yourself. I just don’t want my clothes getting shredded.”
“Mine already are,” Rin observed, wiggling her finger through one of the bullet holes Karkov had made.
Ignoring her, he carefully deposited the cellphone in his jacket and arranged his clothes in a neat pile on the table. Apparently thinking better of it, he brushed the dust off the floor and moved them there instead. Just as he finished, a voice blared through a loudspeaker. Rin hadn’t believed the language could get any less pleasing, but changed her mind after hearing it squawked over a megaphone.
She glanced at the sphere in her palm and realized Karkov had a point. The last thing she needed was to spend hours searching through a heap of rubble while he beat a leisurely retreat.
“Fine,” she grumbled. “Go keep them talking while I undress.”
Karkov shot her an irritated look but nodded.
“Women…,” he chuckled before shouting something to the people outside.
While he was thus occupied, Rin quietly placed the sphere in her pocket, disrobed, and arranged her clothes as Karkov had. Should she surprise him by hiding the sphere in his pocket? It would be a satisfying trick but didn’t feel right. He was the type of guy who deserved to see it coming. If it happened too fast his face wouldn’t be frozen in a satisfying rictus of horror for all eternity.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a harried whisper from Karkov. “Ready yet?”
“It’s your mess,” she calmly replied. “What are you planning to do?”
“Well I could deal with it myself but don’t want to hog all the fun.”
Rin tossed her head in disdain. “Why should I get involved in this petty little coup of yours? If anything, I should be on their side.”
She smiled at the spectacle of Karkov struggling to think while she stood there naked. She made sure to bend and stretch a bit.
His eyes found hers, though his voice remained distracted. “I think that unlikely. They’re here for you, not me. It turns out Fervy was very apologetic about the whole thing. When the army found out you were back, there was an insatiable thirst for revenge. Half the people outside are the children or relatives of soldiers you killed.”
Rin put her hand over her mouth. “Oh, it means so much that I had a formative influence on these young people. I feel like a teacher or pimp.”
Suddenly, she looked at Karkov. “Wait, how do they know who I am? Even the few who saw me back then wouldn’t recognize me now.”
“They don’t need to recognize you. They know who you must be.” Karkov gave an embarrassed smile. “I may have let slip a few things over the years. Fervy’s not stupid, but he can be loose-lipped at times. He probably didn’t realize it would cause a problem. Some of the soldiers must have pieced it together. After all, your entrance wasn’t exactly low key.”
“And whose fault is that?”
Before Karkov could respond, she broke into a wide grin. “You’re really trying to defend this Fervy of yours. Do you have a crush on him?”
She leaned in. “Are you fucking him?”
“Not that it matters, but no.”
Rin stepped back and looked at him. “Because the Karkov I knew would have killed him at the slightest hint of insurrection. You really believe this guy isn’t trying to make himself dictator in fact as well as name?”
“The Karkov you knew didn’t have to pick a new schmuck out of a country full of them every time his ex came through town.”
Rin smirked. “Ex? I see, you’ve finally acknowledged it. Shall I have the divorce papers drawn up?”
Karkov gave her a long look, then sighed. “I really don’t want to have to pick a new name. I think the next one will be called our Redundant Leader.”
“That’s not very good.”
“See what I mean?” Karkov exclaimed. “It’s damned hard to run a country.”
“Better stand back, or you may drown in my torrent of tears.”
“That wasn’t very good either,” Karkov observed. “Well, shall we?”
Rin’s confusion was evident.
“Outside,” he motioned. “It won’t do much good to put our clothes on the floor if they blow up the cabin. Besides, I just got the couch re-upholstered — since I’m here so often.”
Before she could ask what he meant, Karkov shouted something to the men outside.
He glanced at Rin. “We’ll just act like we’re going to surrender.” In response to the suspicion on her face, he elaborated. “Once we’re away from the cabin we can liven things up.”
She nodded, but gave him a quick, sharp look. “If this is one of your ploys …”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Karkov reached for Rin’s hand before she could reply, but she pulled it away with a wry grin. “Nice try, buddy.”
He shrugged before opening the door. “And they say you’re not a romantic.”
Hi Ennio,
We have about 16 or 17 episodes left (but some will be doubled up due to size), so book one should finish by the 1st week of May at the latest. I plan to publish it in print and ebook form in early to mid-June.
I don't know for sure how long the hiatus will be after that. I basically need to whip the next book into good enough shape so that all I need to do each week is a final round of edits before publishing the episode(s). Most of books two and three are at that point already, so this process shouldn't take too long. I doubt the hiatus will be longer than 6 months --- and it probably will be closer to 3 months I think. I may opt to start sooner and space the episodes out a bit more (or perhaps a bit less regularly, so the less polished ones can get more attention as I go rather than up front).
If you or any other readers have a strong preference for either (i) regularly-spaced episodes that start a bit later or (ii) episodes published as I'm ready but which start sooner or (iii) a hybrid where most episodes are regular but there are a fair number of exceptions, I'd be very interested. As long as I can bring the book to where it needs to be without lots of deadline-related stress, I'm open to different approaches. In fact, if I can figure out how maybe I'll post a poll to see what everyone wants going forward.
Cheers,
Ken
From some weeks I have the exact impression that book 1 will finish just when the part I would love more just started... How long will be the hiatus dear Ken!