Abducted

by Tikiri

  I prayed that Katy was okay. Why’s she so quiet?

  There was a pause before we heard Zero’s voice through the door again. “I come out, only if you tell her not curse on me, okay?”

  Vlad seemed lost for words. He gave me a pleading look. I returned it with a venomous one.

  He started hyperventilating. “Please?” he squeaked. “Be nice, Bibi.”

  I didn’t move my gun. It was getting the effect I needed, and I wasn’t going to change my tactic now.

  “Okay, okay,” Vlad said, crossing his chest once again. “Zero! She promise. No curse. No witching. She do anything you want.”

  “I want food,” Zero said.

  “Food?” Vlad’s eyes widened.

  “I hungry, man. Two days now. No one take care of me any more,” Zero moaned.

  “Okay, okay, what you want?” Vlad said, as if talking to a child. “We give you anything you want. Anything.”

  “I want chapli kebab, sajji and biriyani. I want shawarma also.”

  Vlad took a deep breath. For a second, I worried I’d pushed him too far and he was about to snap. Instead, he looked at me, almost begging.

  “Come on, Bibi, he’s your only brother. He’s family.” His voice had softened considerably. “All he want is to eat. Come on.”

  I glared at him. I knew exactly what kind of a brother he’d been to Bibi.

  “I want burger too,” Zero was saying from behind the door. “And don’t forget chips.”

  “He’s just hungry. He don’t mean anything bad.” Vlad put on his most sniveling voice. “Be good sis, will you? Put gun down. We can figure this out in a civilized way, you know, like family.”

  Civilized? Like killing Bibi’s boyfriend? Like burning Bibi’s face? Like kicking Win? Like raping and killing that girl in the warehouse?

  “Also halva. I want sweets,” Zero continued. “Lots of sweets.”

  “If I lose my balls, I kill you myself,” Vlad muttered to the door. “Zero! Get out. You get everything you want. Even a boy.”

  I looked at him startled.

  “A boy?” Zero’s voice came clearly through the door. He seemed to have perked up.

  “Yes,” Vlad said. “Promise.”

  “A boy?” I asked.

  I glanced at Tetyana. Her face was cold, impassive, and her eyes were on the gun. Next to her, Luc was staring at the door. I saw a look of pain cross his face, but when he saw me looking, he turned away. There’s something else going on here that I don’t know about.

  I’d never held a gun in my hands before, nor did I know how to use it, but I was ready to shoot every bullet in that gun on both men. I stepped forward and touched what I thought was the trigger. This is going to be easy, I thought. If I just pull this, they’ll be gone forever. Around me, I felt the room stop breathing.

  “Tell him to come out, and he’d better not have laid a finger on her,” I said in my most dangerous voice.

  Next to me, I felt Tetyana flinch.

  Vlad stared at me. “You speak English pretty good.” He cocked his head to the side and looked me up and down. “Dunno what got into you.” He paused. “You know what? You not Bibi.”

  My heart stopped.

  “And I don’t think you shoot that thing.”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  The door banged open.

  We all jumped back in surprise. Before I knew what was happening, Tetyana had grabbed the gun from me and trained it on Zero. Vlad had flattened himself against the wall, as if pretending not to be there.

  I peered inside the attic room. It was a mess inside, like a hurricane had ravaged the room. Katy was sitting on a wooden chair next to the bed, her feet bound by rope to the chair legs, and her mouth gagged with a rag. From the broken lamp, overturned chair and Katy’s frazzled red hair standing out like a lion’s mane, I was sure she’d put up a fight. She didn’t look as fearful as much as she looked angry. Her eyes flashed furiously at Zero.

  Zero stood at the doorway, pointing his gun at her. “There your precious girl,” he said, looking at me. “You she-devil!”

  I noticed a fresh bloodied scratch just below his right eye. It must have hurt, because he kept blinking.

  If Zero had looked unhinged before in the kitchen, he looked practically like a lunatic now. His hair was askew and his face was puffier and redder. He spat on the ground. “You curse me, you will get punish with vile death!”

  Before any one of us could make a move, he pulled the door hard and slammed it shut.

  “You want?” he said, shoving a rusty key in my face. “You do what I say.”

  It took me a second to realize he was pointing his gun at me. I stared at the barrel. No one breathed. Not even Vlad.

  Tetyana still had her gun trained on Zero. My mind whirled between panic and shock. Is he going to shoot me? Is Tetyana going to shoot him first? What do I do?

  “One move and I blow her brains,” he said, glancing sideways at Tetyana.

  No one moved. Zero circled me, like a hyena around its prey. Then, without changing his aim, he stepped backwards, one step at a time, toward the stairs. Before any one of us could take a breath, he bolted down the steps.

  Vlad had been standing against the wall with his mouth open. As soon as Zero disappeared, he took a step toward the stairs to run after his partner, but Tetyana was faster. She whipped the gun around at him.

  “Stay right there,” she said, in a dangerous don’t-mess-with-me voice.

  With her back straight, her shoulders firm, and her legs rooted to the ground, she looked solid. She held the gun like it was the most natural thing in the world. She’s done this sort of thing before, I was sure now.

  “You move one inch and I have only one decision to make,” she said, “your head or your balls.”

  Vlad went white.

  “On your knees!” she screamed.

  He fell to his knees, hands in the air.

  “That girl changed everything,” Tetyana said, in a hoarse whisper.

  Which girl? The girl in the yellow blouse in the warehouse?

  Vlad looked away, appearing ashamed. Ashamed of being called out, not because of what he did, I was sure.

  Tetyana moved a step closer.

  He shuffled back on his knees, looking at her with panicked eyes. “Aw, c’mon. Can a man have fun? Was only….”

  She took another step toward him. He shuffled back. His veins had started to throb again.

  “You call that fun?” Tetyana bellowed so loudly, even I was surprised. “Huh?”

  Vlad looked at the floor. His arms, held up in the air, were now trembling.

  “You rat bastard!” Tetyana cracked the gun across his head so fast, we all jumped. Vlad clutched his face. A gash had appeared on his forehead and blood was trickling out.

  I looked over at Luc and Win. Both were staring at Tetyana, faces pale. Have they seen her like this before? It was hard to tell. I glanced behind them anxiously. Where’s Zero? He had the other gun. We couldn’t have him come back up now.

  “Please don’t hit. What I done for you? I help you. I fix everything. I found Zero to help you,” he sniveled.

  “That crackpot?” Tetyana’s face was firm. “Look what he’s done now.”

  “Please, Tetyana.” Vlad was whimpering. Sniveling. “I help you when those men after you. Don’t kill me!” he howled.

  Tetyana stepped back, breathing loudly, her gun hanging limp from her hand. “Oh, I don’t plan to kill you,” she said in the calmest voice. I shivered under my robe.

  “I the good guy. I’m like your brother…” He didn’t get the chance to finish.

  Tetyana’s face turned into a furious ball of fire. She raised her arm and gave another resounding whack to his head. The sound of the gun whip echoed through the house. Vlad keeled to the ground. She hit him again and again, until his face was a bloodied mess. I wanted to look away, but couldn’t.

  Using her spiked heel, Tetyana gave a powerful kick to his chest. He fell flat on
his back with a cry. Not wasting a second, she stamped down on his groin and ground her heel, while he screamed to high heaven. He deserved what he was getting, but it was hard to watch. When she took her foot off him, Vlad was lying on the ground curled in the fetal position, tears streaming down his bloodied face.

  Tetyana looked at him, her nose wrinkled as if trying to block a vulgar smell. “Don’t you ever compare yourself to my brother.”

  Vlad’s life was on a very thin line. I didn’t know whether to be impressed, or terrified.

  “Win,” she said, without turning her head. “Get me some rope, will you, hun?”

  “Rope?” Win’s eyes widened. “Um, where—”

  “Tear up a bedsheet,” Tetyana said. “Luc, go with her. Scream, if you see Zero.”

  I stood against the attic door, taking stock. Katy was still locked inside. Tetyana had the gun now and she knew how to use it. Plus, she was fighting the very men who put Katy in danger.

  “Mmmm…” I heard Katy’s voice through the door.

  “Katy!” I rattled the doorknob and gave a kick at it for good measure, but it didn’t budge. “Katy! I’m here!”

  “Mmmm….”

  “It’s okay,” I shouted. “We’ll get you out soon.”

  “Can we shoot the door down?” I asked Tetyana.

  She took her eyes off Vlad only for a second to look at the lock. She shook her head. “She’s right behind the door. It will hit her.”

  “There’s no other way in?” I said, looking desperately at the attic door. “What about the window?” I asked, remembering how I broke in a few days ago, into the house in London.

  “There’s no way to get up. We’ll need a really high ladder, or someone who can climb like monkey.”

  “Here!” Win and Luc were back, dragging bedsheets behind them.

  “Rip them up,” Tetyana ordered.

  After slashing the sheets into long pieces, Luc and I helped Tetyana gag and tie Vlad up. He was on his knees now, with his arms and legs twisted behind him in the most uncomfortable position. If Tetyana had wanted to extend the pain in his groin, she couldn’t have done a better job. When we were done, she kicked him swiftly between his legs once again with a sickening sound. His eyes rolled to the back of his head; I was sure he’d fainted.

  Tetyana turned to us and said, “Too bad Zero doesn’t care too much about him, or we could threaten to shoot him if we don’t get the key.”

  A door banged downstairs. We jumped.

  “That’s Zero,” Win whispered.

  “Wait here,” Tetyana said.

  We watched as she stepped down the stairs, bracing ourselves. I didn’t think any of us wanted a gunfight, but I was pretty sure that’s what we were all expecting.

  In two seconds, Tetyana was back up. “Locked himself in,” she said. “In the bunk-bed room.”

  She looked at Luc. “You plied him with too much coke.”

  Luc shrugged. “He asked for it. What am I supposed to do?”

  “How do we get Katy out?” I said, trying to focus on the most important thing now.

  “We don’t have a choice,” Tetyana said, with a sigh. “I can’t go blazing into his room. He could shoot me first. Too risky. We need to distract Zero to get the keys.”

  “What about the police parked outside?” I now knew there were good officers and bad officers, but we had to take our chances. “Maybe they’ll help us.”

  “Sure, if you want them to take us away,” Tetyana said. “You’ll never see your friend again for a very long time.”

  “But why? What did we do wrong?”

  Luc and Tetyana looked at me like I was crazy.

  “Honey, you don’t know this business, do you?” Tetyana shook her head. “If they come, they’ll take us all to the station and lock us up for months, no questions asked. Maybe years. Gangsters always pay their way out before the girls get clemency, and I can’t afford to get locked away like that. I’ve got to get back to Kiev. We’re not calling the police, okay?”

  I stared at her. Locked up? For years? The smuggling poster at Heathrow Airport, the one with the woman in handcuffs, flashed across my mind. How many more years do you get for also smuggling money across borders and coming into a country, two countries or maybe more, without a visa?

  I nodded.

  “Listen,” Tetyana said. “You and Luc get some something quick but that smells a lot, like fish and chips, and come back quickly. I’ll hold fort here.”

  “I’m not leaving Katy,” I said quickly.

  “The police will be sure to stop Luc if he goes out by himself, but with you in that get-up with him, there’s less of a chance for that happening.”

  I guess I had no choice.

  “Win,” Tetyana wasn’t done, “we need you do one important job for us, okay?”

  “Okay,” Win said.

  “Go to the basement and check the passageway. Don’t go too far, just find out if it goes anywhere.”

  Win nodded. “I’ll go now.”

  “Not yet!”

  Win spun around and looked at her with her big eyes.

  “Go with Asha and Luc, just in case Zero comes out. We can’t have a second hostage. When you’re done, stay on the first floor, near the kitchen door, got it?”

  She nodded.

  “If you hear Zero come down, or you hear a gunshot, I want you to run out to the street. Don’t come up or stay in the house. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “Here,” Luc said, pulling a miniature torch from his pocket and handing it to Win. “You’ll need this.”

  “What about Katy?” I asked.

  “I’ll keep guard here,” Tetyana said, her voice firm. “If Zero comes up, he’ll have to deal with me.” She pointed a thumb at her chest. “I won’t let him get to her.”

  I took a deep breath. I was putting a lot of trust in these people I’d just met. “Thanks, Tetyana,” I said.

  “Asha.” She gave me a pointed look. “For all our safety, please don’t do anything silly, okay? Just follow Luc’s lead.”

  I opened my mouth, then closed it. What did she mean, “silly”?

  She cocked her head to the side and looked at Luc. “And get my usual prescription, will you? And make it fast.”

  “Aye, aye Capitaine,” Luc said, with a salute.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  I felt the fresh air even from inside the robe.

  Luc and I’d just stepped outside the back door, our first foray to the outside world after two whole days. We were on a mission to find food and maybe a boy. A boy? I still wasn’t sure I’d heard that last word correctly, but I wanted to get far from the house before I asked Luc.

  We left behind a gagged and bleeding Vlad kneeling in front of Tetyana on the third floor. She was sitting on a chair, legs splayed out, gun in hand, and a look on her face that said she was ready to kill at a moment’s notice.

  Win had disappeared into the basement, and Zero had locked himself in Tetyana and Luc’s bedroom. As we walked by the door, I heard him mutter to himself, chanting something, like he was praying.

  I smelled the fresh-baked bread as soon as we left the house. I’d barely eaten for two days, and the aroma was like a punch to the gut. I wanted to follow the smell, touch and taste the loaves, but this was not the time for that.

  A police officer who’d been patrolling the street with his dog crossed our path. He glared at Luc for a second and then at me. I felt like he could penetrate the black cloth and see right inside. His face said one word: contempt. Though I was already hidden behind Bibi’s robe, that look made me want to crawl into a hole. Then, without a word, he marched off.

  Luc and I started walking in the opposite direction, but I couldn’t help but feel the officer’s eyes on my back. After ten yards, I glanced back to see him standing, frowning at us, a hand on his radio. He yanked the dog’s chain and walked off, disappearing around the corner of our building.

  We walked briskly toward the mai
n street. Luc was trying to remember this city from when he last came here. “We’ve got to find the immigrant market. That’s where all Pakistani and Arab food stalls are. Zero will come out for sure when he smells that. Just remember if we have to talk to local Belgians, speak both Flemish and French, so you don’t insult them, okay?”

  “What if I don’t speak Flemish?”

  “Then use English. The Flemish don’t mind that.”

  “Halt!”

  We stopped and stared. Two smartly dressed police officers, a man and woman, stood in front of us, radioed up, with guns and handcuffs on their belts.

  “Bonjour, monsieur, madame,” Luc said, with a polite nod of his head. “Goedemorgen.”

  “Can we see your papers, please?” the female officer asked in English, looking me over.

  My stomach fell. I’d left my passport at the house and Luc had done the same. For good reason. I didn’t want anyone to know I was the girl who’d stolen money and run away from border guards. I could only imagine what Luc didn’t want the police to know.

  Luc answered for both of us in a mixture of French and English. “We’re on our way to the market to get food,” he said. “We left everything back home in case of pickpockets, you see,” he said. But the police didn’t seem to see.

  “Citizens of Belgium?” the male officer asked in English.

  “Français,” Luc said. French.

  The officers turned to me.

  It felt hot inside the robe, and suddenly, I wasn’t able to articulate in any language, English or otherwise.

  “Pakistan,” Luc said, quickly.

  I gave a series of vigorous nods under the robe.

  The officers turned to each other and spoke rapidly in a language I hadn’t heard before. This must be Flemish, I thought.

  “Follow us, please. This way,” the male officer said. They turned around and marched toward one of the police vans parked on the street.

  Luc and I looked at each other and started to follow them. Are they going to arrest us? Is this the end? I squeezed Luc’s hand and he squeezed it back. When we got to the van, the male officer pulled Luc to the side. I followed the female officer inside the van. I looked back before I stepped in and saw Luc being patted down. The van’s door closed, and the officer motioned for me to take off my robe.