Cosmopolis: A Novel by DeLillo Don

Author:DeLillo, Don [DeLillo, Don]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2003-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

PART TWO

3

She had coral brown skin and well-defined cheekbones. There was a beeswax sheen to her lips. She liked to be looked at and made the act of undressing seem proudly public, an unveiling across national borders with an element of slightly showy defiance.

She wore her ZyloFlex body armor while they had sex. This was his idea. She told him the ballistic fiber was the lightest and softest available, and the strongest as well, and also stab-resistant.

Her name was Kendra Hays and she was easy in his presence. They mock-boxed for about a second and a half. He licked her body here and there, leaving fizzes of spittle behind.

“You work out,” she said.

“Six percent body fat.”

“Used to be my number. Then I got lazy.”

“What are you doing about it?”

“Hit the machines in the morning. Run in the park at night.”

She had cinnamon skin, or russet, or a blend of copper and bronze. He wondered if she felt ordinary to herself, riding an elevator alone, thinking about lunch.

She shed the vest and took her room service scotch to the window. Her clothing was folded on a chair nearby. He wanted to spend a day in silence, in his meditation cell, just looking at her face and body, as an exercise in Tao, or fasting with the mind. He didn’t ask her what she knew about the credible threat. He wasn’t interested in details, not yet, and Torval wouldn’t have said much, anyway, to the bodyguards.

“Where is he now?”

“Who?”

“You know.”

“He’s in the lobby. Torval? Watching them come and go. Danko’s in the hall outside.”

“Who’s that?”

“Danko. My partner.”

“He’s new.”

“I’m new. He’s been watching your back for some time now, ever since those wars in the Balkans. He’s a veteran.”

Eric sat cross-legged on the bed popping peanuts in his mouth and watching her.

“What’s he going to say to you about this?”

“Torval? Is that who you’re talking about?” She was amused. “Say his name.”

“What’s he going to say to you?”

“Just so you’re safe. That’s his job,” she said.

“Men get possessive. What. You don’t know this?”

“I heard the rumor. But the fact is I technically speaking went off duty an hour ago. So it’s basically my time we’re dealing with here.”

He liked her. The more he knew Torval would hate her, the more he liked her. Torval would hate her hot-bloodedly for this. He’d spend weeks glaring out at her from under his stormy brows.

“Do you find this interesting?”

She said, “What?”

“Protecting someone in danger.”

He wanted her to move slightly left so that her hip would catch the glow of the table lamp nearby.

“What makes you willing to do this? Take this risk.”

“Maybe you’re worth it,” she said.

She dipped a finger in her drink, then forgot to lick it.

“Maybe it’s just the pay. The pay’s pretty good. The risk? I don’t think about the risk. I figure the risk is yours. You’re the man in the crosshairs.”

She thought this was funny.

“But is it interesting?”

“It’s interesting to be near a man somebody wants to kill.”

“You know what they say, don’t you?”

“What?”

“The logical extension of business is murder.

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