Abducted

by Tikiri

“Busboy?” Katy asked.

  “Who’s that?” I asked.

  “Hired gun! He shoots at point blank. Even the thugs are scared of him!” Luc spluttered.

  “Wait,” Tetyana said. “Who is this, and why do you think he’s after us?”

  Luc threw his hands in the air. “Because he’s with Staples, that’s why! I just saw them!”

  “Who’s Staples?” Katy asked.

  “Staples works for Fred. His job is to hunt people who don’t pay up. Busboy’s job is to shoot them down,” Luc explained, gesturing madly.

  “Hold on,” I said. “We don’t owe Fred anything. He never paid us for that delivery. He can always find another supplier. Why would he—”

  “That’s not the point!” Luc almost shrieked. “You don’t make a promise to a drug king and run off like that. They think you’re trying to play them. That’s when they send Busboy. He cleans everything.”

  “Shhh,” Tetyana said, as a tourist walked by. “Keep it down, okay?”

  “You’re sure he’s coming for us?” Katy asked.

  “Why do you think they’re here? In Luxembourg?” Luc’s eyes bulged. He looked like he was ready to tear his hair out. “Staples looked right through the window. I’m sure he saw me!”

  We stood silently, trying to digest this.

  “On the other hand, maybe he didn’t see you,” Tetyana said. “All the windows are tinted here.” She paused. “But we need to move. Tell me, what does Busboy look like?”

  “Just like King TomTom,” Luc said, calming down somewhat.

  “Who’s that?” I asked.

  “You’re American and you don’t even know?”

  I shook my head.

  “He’s a rapper from the Bronx,” Luc said in an exasperated voice. “Got the biggest album this—”

  “Hey,” Tetyana interrupted him. “Just give me his description.”

  It took a minute, but we finally got to learn about Busboy and Staples. With all his suave charm, Fred was part of a vicious international gang with a reach across Europe, and he was not someone you wanted to mess with, or get involved with. That, however, was too late for us.

  Tetyana sent Katy out to flag down a cab immediately, and asked Luc and me to hide behind her and Win in the corridor. Fred had only met Luc and me. So far, anyway.

  It took us ten minutes to get back to the hostel from the museum. We scooped up our clothes and bags, checked out within minutes and piled into our van, while Tetyana kept a sharp eye out. On the plus side, it would have been hard not to miss two young men with gold chains around their necks and oversized diamond rings, swaggering inside an out-of-the-way student hostel.

  We were on the road again, this time heading west, back toward Germany.

  Luc stopped hyperventilating only after we left Luxembourg’s suburbs, but his face still looked pale. When Tetyana asked him if he was doing okay, his response was curt. “You’ve no idea what those guys can do.” Then he lapsed into silence, focusing on the road.

  Tetyana put her shades on and leaned back on her seat. She looked like she was asleep, but I was sure she was as alert as any watchdog. Katy, Win and I settled back in the rear, leaning against each other, mindlessly looking out at the green forest zooming by us along the road. The lump in my stomach had returned. I tried not to dwell on our uncertain future, but it was hard not to feel lost again. The past three carefree days already felt like a forgotten dream.

  Only fifteen minutes into the drive, Luc groaned, making us all sit up quickly.

  “We’re running out of gas,” he said. “I completely forgot to refill.”

  We had to find a gas station fast, so we stopped at the closest rest stop, off the highway. While Luc was pumping petrol, the rest of us got out to stretch our legs and get hot drinks at the nearby coffee shop. Better than sitting restlessly in the van, I thought as I got out and followed Katy to the shop.

  It was a secluded area and the café was a small one, set at the edge of the forest line. Built with rustic wooden logs, it looked like a place you’d find in the back roads of Canada, not in the middle of Europe. The furniture inside had been roughly put together with leftover wood from a lumberyard. An open fireplace sat at the end of the room, with firewood piled around it.

  Next to it was a lone Internet station with a paper stuck to the monitor that said, “Free for coffee lovers only.” A young woman with her hair in a blue kerchief sat next to the cash register with her nose in her phone. It was midmorning, just after the morning rush and just before lunchtime, so the place was deserted. This place probably only attracted tourists and commuters, I thought.

  We grabbed our teas and coffees and took a seat near the fireplace, as far away from the entrance and the woman as possible. It seemed like a safe spot to collect our thoughts and figure out our next move.

  “Hey!”

  We turned around.

  While we were debating on what to do next, Win had silently slipped over to the Internet station.

  “You have to see this,” she said in a loud whisper, pointing at the screen. Her cheeks were pink, from either excitement or fear. We quickly gathered around her. She had the Guardian open to the front page. The headline screamed, “International prostitution ring foiled!” I felt a thrill go through me. The list of names and addresses we’d put out two days ago was broadcast for the world to see.

  “Good job,” Tetyana said giving Win a pat on her back. Katy smiled. Even Luc perked up and gave a high five to Win.

  “That was your smart work,” he said, making her blush.

  “Hey, do you think they know it was us who leaked this?” I asked.

  “Don’t think the police would figure out easily.” Tetyana shook her head slowly, as if thinking this through. “My only worry is if Fred got to Vlad and Zero before the police came, and they’re now working together against us.”

  “And sent Busboy after us,” Luc said, looking like he was about to have a panic attack again.

  “We don’t know that for sure,” Tetyana said. “I’m just thinking out loud, so let’s not jump to conclusions.”

  “But how did they know we’re in this country?” Katy asked.

  “Maybe they already checked all the cities around Brussels,” Luc said. “They had three days.”

  “Are we safe anywhere?” Win asked, her voice trembling.

  Everyone turned silent.

  “This weekend,” I said, as an idea formed in my head, “the Diplomatic Dragon Lady’s coming to Luxembourg.”

  “The who?” Tetyana asked.

  I explained. “She’s part of the powerful diplomatic community,” I said, “and she knows me. We could ask her to help us.”

  No one spoke.

  “Here,” I said, pulling Chef Pierre’s magazine out of my pocket. “See this?”

  Everyone slid up to peer over my shoulders. The photo of the castle in the centerfold still looked magnificent, but under the low lights of the cafe, it had taken a slight menacing tone.

  “Looks like Dracula’s castle,” Luc said.

  “That’s her,” I said, tapping the photo of the tall woman in the white suit.

  “She looks like a president,” Win said in awe, taking the magazine from me to get a closer look.

  “She almost is,” I said. “So what do you all think?”

  “Baroness Agathe….party of the year…,” Tetyana read under her breath. “This Saturday? That’s tomorrow.”

  “We don’t have a lot of time,” I said. “She’ll probably fly back home on Sunday.”

  “Or go shopping in Milan,” Luc quipped.

  “How do we get to her?” Tetyana asked.

  “We can go to the castle and find her,” I said. “It’ll be a party. There’ll be lots of people, so we can mix in.”

  “Mix in? Us? At a posh party?” Luc said.

  Katy’s face lit up. “I know. We can go as a catering company.” She nudged me. “Won’t that be fun?”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” I
said.

  Tetyana and Luc still looked skeptical.

  “Do you guys have a better idea?” I asked.

  “Drive down to Sicily,” Luc said. “That’s what I keep saying.”

  “To your drug friends? And make it even easier for Fred to find us? No thanks,” Tetyana said, giving him a look. She turned to me. “So, how can she help us?”

  “I can explain what happened to us, how we exposed the ring, and ask her to talk to the police. She should support us, won’t she, after all we did? And if we’re with her, maybe we can get immunity.”

  “Immunity?”

  “So the police won’t lock us up. So they can protect us from Fred and his gang, and maybe even help us to get to the airport, or wherever we want to go. We won’t have to keep running like this.”

  Everyone was looking at me thoughtfully, except for Win. She was busy tapping at the keyboard, the magazine on her lap, her head deep in something, oblivious to the rest of the world.

  “How do you know she’ll want to help us?” Tetyana asked, her brows furrowed.

  “I don’t,” I said with a sigh. “I just know she’s the most important person I know in the world. She really liked my work. She chose me over all the other bakers in town and even gave me a security pass to the Foreign Department building. She’s here now. That’s all I know.”

  “So it’s a risk,” Tetyana said.

  I nodded.

  “A big one.”

  I nodded again. “I didn’t say it was a perfect idea.”

  “It could make things worse for us,” Tetyana said, and paused. “Then again, it could turn out well for us too.”

  “Fred’s gonna catch up with us one day,” Luc said. “We can only hide for so long.”

  “The bigger the chance, the bigger the reward,” Katy said. “Worth a try.”

  Tetyana nodded. “So how do we get inside the castle then?”

  “I’ll put us on their list,” Win said.

  We looked up.

  “What are you doing, Win?” Katy asked.

  “Finding a way to get us inside.”

  We peered at the computer. She pointed to a page with lots of letters and numbers on it, all of which looked like gibberish to me. Seeing the puzzled look on our faces, she flipped quickly through more pages and stopped on one that said, “Baroness Agathe to host event of the year.” At the top of the page was a list of distinguished invitees including the Diplomatic Dragon Lady, and at the bottom of the screen was a short list of companies catering to the event, including the local producers, butchers, and grocers. Win pointed her mouse to the bottom of the screen.

  “I can add our name right here. Just need to adjust the back end codes.”

  We looked at each other.

  “So what name do you want me to put?” Win asked.

  “You mean our catering company name?” Katy asked.

  Win nodded.

  “Er, Better Batter Bakers?” I blurted.

  “That’s boring,” Luc said, rolling his eyes. “How about Rebel Bakers?”

  “Sounds like a bunch of terrorists,” Katy said. “We’re supposed to sound posh, if we’re going in there.”

  “No,” Tetyana said. “We need to sound avant-garde, edgy. European royals like that these days.” Everyone looked at her in surprise. For someone good at handling guns and bringing bad guys to their knees, she said the strangest things.

  “Red-Heeled Bakers?” I asked, pointing at Katy’s heels.

  “That’ll leave Luc out,” Katy pointed out.

  “I’m cool with that,” Luc said, with a shrug. “And for the record, I’m all for girl power.”

  “I know,” Win said and paused.

  “What’s your idea?” Luc asked.

  “Red-Heeled Rebels,” she said, with a smile. “It feels like we’re a really cool, secret club.”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Sounds good to me,” I said.

  Win turned back to the computer with the serious focused look on her face again. She typed quickly, clicked save and refreshed. “How do you like this?” she asked when the page came up again.

  “Nice!” Katy said.

  Tetyana nodded. “Looks good.”

  “It’s great,” I said, a little in shock to see our phantom catering company show up on the castle’s official website in a matter of seconds.

  “Even Staples and Busboy won’t guess that’s us,” Luc said. “I feel better already.”

  “I really love it,” Katy said. “I just wish it was real.”

  I sighed. My mission was to get back to India, to Preeti. I’d already spent too much time running around Europe. I closed the magazine and tucked it in my pocket. “We’ve got work to do,” I said.

  “Hey, Win,” Tetyana said, leaning over Win’s shoulder. “Would you mind checking that site for me again?”

  While we watched, Win typed up a site name and scrolled down a chat forum, looking up to Tetyana from time to time.

  “What are you looking for, Tetyana?” I asked.

  “A name,” she said absentmindedly, her eyes focused on the screen. “A name.” When she got to the end of the forum, she shook her head and straightened up. “Can you clear the browser for me, hun?”

  Win pecked at the keyboard for a few seconds, then looked up. “Done.”

  We glanced at each other. Now what?

  Tetyana looked at me. “You’re right, we’ve got work to do.”

  “All right, Red-Heeled Rebels!” Luc said with a grin. “Let’s move it!”

  He grabbed Win by the hand, pulled her out of the chair and waltzed her out of the café.

  Part SEVEN

  These woods are lovely, dark and deep,

  But I have promises to keep,

  And miles to go before I sleep,

  And miles to go before I sleep.

  Robert Frost

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  The next day dawned sunny but chilly. The sky above was pale blue, speckled with white clouds. The imperial trees of Luxembourg’s forests stood at attention on both sides of the highway, as if shepherding us toward Baroness Agathe’s castle.

  It had been easy to find a map to the castle in a brochure of historic sites. After showers and breakfast, we piled into the van. We were now headed north, driving along a winding road that cut its way through the dark, green-forested hills. Once in a while, we glimpsed an imposing mansion at the end of a long driveway. Other times, we saw the top of a forgotten castle up on a hill, making me feel once again like we were traveling through the land of Sleeping Beauty. We drove in silence, admiring the magical landscape.

  The day before, after we left the café, we found a quiet roadside motel to stay for the night. The party at the castle didn’t start until Saturday evening and it was only an hour’s drive from where we were, but we didn’t want to go too early and give anyone the time to uncover our disguise. It also gave us ample time to rest and think before plunging into what might solve all our problems, or put us into deeper trouble.

  The motel didn’t have one large room for all of us, so we had to double up. Tetyana and I took one room with two double beds, Win and Katy took another, and Luc had the luxury of having a room all to himself.

  “Does she know you’re here?” I heard Tetyana say from her bed, as I tucked into mine on the other side of the room. We’d just had a simple dinner at the motel’s restaurant and had decided to sleep early to be prepared for the next day.

  “Who?” I asked.

  “This dragon woman.”

  “She doesn’t.”

  I wondered if they’d managed to find a substitute for the charity ball. We’d run away from Toronto only about a week ago, but it felt like an eternity had passed. I wondered if I’d already been blacklisted by the diplomatic community in the city.

  “To tell the truth,” I said, trying to swallow my worries, “she may not be too happy with me right now.”

  “Is that right?” Tetyana’s voice had turned slightly col
d.

  “I left suddenly, without telling her or her team. I don’t want her to think I’m a slacker, but I think she’ll understand after I tell her what happened.”

  “Why did you two leave? With a nice package of cash, too.”

  “We worked for a bakery.” I paused. There was so much more to the story than I could tell her in one night. “At least we thought we did. But the owners were drug dealers.”

  Tetyana was quiet.

  “Last week, we learned they were planning to sell Katy and me off to this Indian trafficker to make extra money.”

  “To a brothel?” I noticed she hadn’t sound surprised by what I said, merely curious.

  “This old Indian man wanted to get into Canada, and I was supposed to be his bride so he’d get a marriage visa.” I shivered as these words left my mouth, realizing what I’d escaped from.

  Tetyana didn’t respond. I wondered if she was asleep.

  “So we ran away,” I said. “This money is our money. Katy and I worked hard that year. We ran that bakery and we did all the work, but they barely paid us. They used us to cover their dirty work.”

  “Thieves,” I heard Tetyana say from her bed, “thieves and murderers everywhere.”

  I had to agree. I wanted to feel angry, even rage, and some days I did. But most days, I was nervous, anxious, always looking over my shoulder, wishing I had wings to fly across the ocean back to Goa.

  “Do they take Ukrainians in Canada?” Tetyana asked.

  What an odd question. “I think Canada takes everyone,” I said.

  “Everyone?”

  “Well, except maybe dictators, rapists, and murderers.” I stopped, remembering that Mrs. Rao, Franky, and Jose all belonged in these categories, but they’d managed to get into the country and do well. Very well. How did they get in? How did they go undetected? Maybe Canadians are okay with that sort of people coming in. Maybe they don’t care, or maybe they’re too polite to point them out. Who knew?

  “Are there any Ukrainians over there?” Tetyana asked, interrupting my ruminations.

  I had to think about that for a moment. “Perogies are really popular.”

  “Ukrainian perogies?” Tetyana sat up in her bed. “In Canada?” She sounded excited.