The Comedy is Finished

“Not dry, goddamit.”

With a schoolboyish laugh, he reached over to the bedside table and showed her the tube of K-Y jelly. “I thought of everything.”

So she rolled over, lifting onto her knees while her cheek and shoulders remained on the sheet, and the cool jelly was pleasant on the rim of her anus. “Take it slow,” she said, lips moving against the sheet. “We haven’t done this for a while.”

“Yes yes, sure.”

The first stroke was a shock, making her fingers close into fists grasping bunches of sheet, and she was about to tell him to quit, that’s all, forget it for today, but he paused unmoving at the end of the thrust, and now at last he became gentle, murmuring words to her and stroking her long back, his fingers soothing over the old scars. When he moved again it was slowly, carefully, and she was prepared for it; and each stroke after was better.

The anal orgasm was rare enough to be always a surprise, and something of a shock; less pleasurable than the normal way but equally powerful, and at the same time somehow grim, grinding. If the normal was a transformation from caterpillar to butterfly, this was from corpse to vampire. Liz groaned with it, arching her back, biting the sheet, and soon afterward he came to his own triumphant finish. Withdrawing, he patted her on the rump in easy conquest before going off to the bathroom. Liz rolled over and pulled a blanket up across her body, ducking her head under it, closing her eyes. She didn’t like it that she’d come.

She heard him return from the bathroom, but remained under the blanket. Again he lightly slapped her buttock, saying, “Get dressed now, come on downstairs. We have things to do. We’re ending it today.”

*

Peter felt cheerful and in charge as he trotted down the stairs. He wasn’t grinding his cheeks, he wasn’t worried about the future, he wasn’t troubled by the past. Decisions, whether they turn out to be right or wrong, have a satisfying calmative effect in themselves.

The only residual annoyance, in fact, was that the Feds hadn’t as yet made the latest tape public; were they trying to outbluff him? Well, it didn’t matter; they’d have to release the tape after Davis’ body was found.

Ginger was at the kitchen table, morosely eating a bowl of soup. He looked up at Peter’s entrance, saying, “Your friend should have brained that idiotic woman with a rock before she used up all our food.”

“We won’t be here much longer,” Peter said carelessly. “What’s that, the Scotch broth?”

“I won’t be here much longer, at any rate,” Ginger said, glowering at Peter’s back as Peter found a bowl and filled it from the pot on the stove. “I leave for Tokyo this afternoon.”

“Very good idea.” Peter sat to Ginger’s left and shook salt and pepper over the soup. “By tonight, we’ll all be out of the country.” Casually, as though an afterthought, he added, “We’ll need money.”

“I’m not sure I can do anything about that.” Ginger was remaining surly, despite Peter’s good temper.

“Oh, but you can, Ginger. You can hardly do anything but. You want us safely out of the country just as much as we do.”

“How much do you want?”

“Twenty thousand.”

Ginger slapped his spoon on the table, more exasperated than angered. “Peter, you’re such a fool! How am I supposed to get you twenty thousand dollars today?”

“Out of the bank.”

“Peter, honestly, living the way you do, you just don’t know a thing about the adult world. In the first place, if I had twenty thousand dollars in the bank, I wouldn’t withdraw it all at once for any reason on earth, because all transactions over five thousand dollars are reported to the government.”

Peter was astounded. “They what?”

“You’re fighting the system and you don’t even know what the system is. The justification is, they’re looking for tax swindlers.”

“But that’s invasion of privacy!”

“I know that.” Having been given this opportunity to flaunt his expertise and make fun of Peter along the way, Ginger’s mood was improving dramatically. “In the second place,” he went on, “I don’t even have twenty thousand dollars in the bank, I very rarely have more than three or four. All my money goes directly to my accountant, who handles my finances, pays my bills, makes my investments, and gives me dribs and drabs when I ask him pretty please. If I demand twenty thousand dollars all in a heap, he’ll most certainly want to know why I want it. And if he doesn’t want to know why I want it, I’ll fire him.”

As Ginger’s mood improved, Peter’s soured. There were always problems, nit-picking minor stupid problems that had nothing to do with anything, but were just there to get in the way. It was barely possible to keep an overall plan in mind, much less act on it in a direct and sensible manner. “All right,” he said. “Five, then. Or forty- five hundred, so you won’t be reported.”

“Don’t have that much,” Ginger said cheerfully. “Not readily available.”

Peter watched him, not liking what was happening but seeing nothing to be done about it. “How much do you—How much can you let us have?”

Ginger considered, his little eyes amused, his natural monkey glitter returning at last to his features. “Two,” he finally said.

“Two! That’s barely enough to get us out of the country.”

Ginger shrugged, and returned to his soup.

Two thousand dollars. Peter’s teeth began absentmindedly to gnaw at his cheeks. Should he travel alone after all? He’d originally intended to dump the others after this operation, leave for Algeria alone, but now that a further operation would be necessary he needed to keep the group together. The remnant, Larry and Liz, really, that’s all there was; Mark was another problem.

One possibility was Canada. They could go there, lie low for a while, then kidnap a prominent Canadian and hold him for the same ransom; an interesting complication for the United States government, to risk the loss of another country’s citizen. Of course, the list of prisoners to be released would be much more carefully compiled this time. Peter would have to find ways to make absolutely sure there had been no changes of heart among those to be freed. And the subject for kidnapping would have to be a more serious figure; the effort to go over the government’s head to the heart of the people had not been altogether successful.

Liz came into the room while Peter still brooded; her presence activated him again, reminding him that he was still in charge, the group was still his to control. And to remind him also of his cheeks; damn, he’d been biting them again. Consciously stopping, he said to Ginger, “All right. Two thousand it is. But you’ll get more to us later?”

“Of course,” Ginger said blandly, obviously not caring if Peter believed him or not. “You’ll get in touch with me the usual way, let me know where you are, and I’ll send you as much as you need.”

You’re lying, Peter thought, looking into those spiteful monkey-eyes. You’re lying, but it doesn’t matter. When the time comes, you’ll pay. “That’s fine,” he said aloud.

Liz had found a can of Tab in the refrigerator. She snapped it open and stood leaning against the counter, watching the two men at the table, saying nothing.

Ginger said, “I’ll go to the bank now.”

“Wait. I want you to take Mark with you.”

Ginger looked insulted. “To be sure I don’t run away?”

“Good God, no,” Peter said. “You’re smarter than that. You weakened last night, but now you know what’s sensible.”

“I know what’s possible,” Ginger said, a surprising bitterness briefly on his face.

“Whatever. The point is, I need Mark out of the house while Liz and I take care of Davis.”

Liz shifted position, staring at Peter, but still didn’t speak. Ginger frowned at the two of them. “Take care of Davis? I don’t suppose you mean to let him go.”