“Well, four men, dressed in police uniforms, came just a little more than half an hour ago, saying they were here from the regional office in Szombathely to relieve the two officers Peter had left to guard the jerk. They persisted until they were able to make off with the prisoner, but we don’t have a clue where they went. Peter is now calling all over to try to find out who the fuck these men really were, and where they might have taken the asshole.”
“Relax, George. Surely our friend will be in Szombathely just as I said. In custody there.” This from Labrecque, who had returned with his two Viennese colleagues in tow.
“Bloody well hope so.”
“And Nadia?” Anne asked.
“Well, that’s what makes us suspect the worst. They took the little Russian girl too, saying she was under arrest for prostitution. For sexual solicitation and lewd behavior, of all things! The leader of the pack waved a warrant under the noses of the doctors and nurses. They, of course, wanted to keep her here. But in the end, they had no choice.”
“What, Nadia? For prostitution? You’ve got to be joking!” Greg exploded.
“Yes, prostitution!”
“The nerve of those bastards. How--how the hell would they even think that she had anything to do willingly with the world’s oldest trade?” Labrecque asked. Then, after reflecting a moment, he continued. “They must have known that she was forced into sexual slavery, the sickos. They just painted it as prostitution so they could take her away.”
“And how did they even know Nadia was here, I wonder?” Anne gave voice to the disturbing thought that came into her mind.
“Good question,” Labrecque complimented her. “It must have come from someone in the hospital. Maybe the medics who brought her here.”
“But how would they connect her to Hetzel? And the sex bit?”
“Hmm. I rather think they must have found out from Hetzel himself, or perhaps from whoever locked her up in that room,” Greg disagreed. “Hetzel must have surmised that if we found her in that cage, all traumatized and abused, we would bring her here, I am sure.”
“Christ! So he must have gotten someone to check to be sure and then arrange for the arrest warrant. One of our corrupt Hungarian police buddies, no doubt.” Szekely was livid.
“In any case, Julia, you still need to go to Ozersk.” Anne turned to her friend, focusing on what she considered the most urgent. “They have Nadia again unless we can get her back by then, but you have got to convince her father not to let these guys leave the Mayak facility with any nuclear material. Under any circumstances. And you need to line up security to capture them if they attempt to do so.”
“Yes, you are right,” Labrecque agreed with her. “I have already talked to my two colleagues and they are standing by to drive you whenever you’re ready.”
“Then I best get going.”
Just then, Kormendi came over, phone still in hand. “This is not good. Not good at all. I first called my two trusted men from Vasvàr--the ones I left to guard Hetzel--and they said they did not recognize any of the four policemen. Those guys claimed they were there from Szombathely, and were following the orders of the ‘boss’ for the entire region, although they never gave his name. I then reached Colonel Bartha on his mobile--I report to him, as it happens--and of course, as I guessed, he knows nothing of all this. He never gave any such orders. He was incensed, and will try to find out who is behind it all. But in the meantime, my friends, the golden goose has been stolen right from under our eyes. We are fucked, to put it mildly.”
“These sex traffickers are very well organized is all I can say.” Labrecque was at a loss. “Better than we are, it seems.”
“And the icing on the cake, is that they took that poor Russian girl you guys found locked in some cage, claiming they had a warrant to arrest her for prostitution!” Kormendi continued. “Absolutely ridiculous.”
“Of course! We now know that she was one of the keys to their plans,” Greg observed, and then turned to Julia. “The other being you, Julia. But, it would seem that you are more easily replaceable in their vile venture.”
“Well, if it was them, as it is more than likely, then they are speeding away somewhere this very moment,” Szekely said. “The only problem is we don’t know where. And we have no way to track them.”
“I fear for Nadia,” Julia said. “I hope they don’t do anything nasty to her.”
“Yes, poor Nadia,” Anne agreed, but her mind was suddenly racing elsewhere. “Greg, do you have the receiver? You know, for that tracker?”
Greg did not see the relevance. “Why? The transmitter is in--on you still, no?”
“Well, that’s just it!” Anne said with a little self-satisfied smile. “It was so...so uncomfortable, and it did not serve a purpose any more where it was, so I took it out when we were upstairs in Hetzel’s room earlier. I stuck it in the pocket of that jacket the guard had loaned him to come over here. It was hanging right there in the bathroom. So, unless the crooks discarded it, or left it there, we should be able to track where they are going.”
Julia was elated. “Wouldn’t that be great?”
“Or at least wherever Hetzel’s jacket happens to be,” Anne added, deflating her own enthusiasm, suddenly thinking that most probably, they would have just left it behind in their great haste.
“I knew Interpol was just not the same without you,” Labrecque observed. “I am going to go upstairs to see if that jacket is still there. Or whether they took it with them. I’ll also ask a few nurses whether they have seen it.”
“I’ll run out and get the receiver.” Greg, too, was excited. “And turn it on. Let’s hope they have the jacket. And that the battery still works on the sucker!”
“What’s this?” Szekely was stunned, just off his iPhone. “You had a tracker on you, Anne, is that what I am hearing, that you managed to stick into Hetzel’s gear? That’s terrific!”
“Let’s hope it’s still there and it works,” Anne responded, all in all quite pleased with herself.
***
A few minutes ticked by, and Greg rushed back through the glass doors. “It’s still bleeping!” he said with glee, “And it shows them heading south.”
“Is that where the airstrip is?” Labrecque asked. “The one they have been using?”
“No. No, that’s actually west of here. And a little north, I think,” Kormendi answered, consulting an app on his mobile to make sure.
“We still have no idea where they are going,” Szekely observed. “But at least we now know the direction they are heading in. So we will just have to follow them.”
“And the sooner the better. We don’t want them to get too far ahead,” Labrecque added.
“They already have a good head start.” Anne remarked, checking the time on her phone. “A good forty minutes. And the others several hours ahead of them.”
“Yeah, and it’s already almost four-thirty,” Greg added. “So why don’t we just have some of your colleagues, pick them up, Peter? And get Nadia back and arrest Hetzel.”
“Yeah, easier if those corrupt or fake cops have handed them over to the gang,” Kormendi said. “But not so easy if my colleagues are following orders from one of our top commanders. Hmm. One who has been bought by these criminals. They would claim they have jurisdiction. And, of course, the warrant, if it is real.”
“I thought of that too, Greg,” Anne retorted. “The other problem is that we absolutely need them to lead us to the others.
“Who must be way ahead of them, as you said. We don’t know where,” Greg added. “And you’re right. That is the only chance we have of rescuing all the girls and catching these criminals. But I do fear for Nadia.”
“Okay. Greg and Anne, you come with me, if you would like. I have the bigger car,” Szekely said. “Peter can take Nicholas and follow us, since we will have the tracker. And Julia, goodbye and good luck.”
“Thanks,” Julia said, and gave kisses all around. “You too, good luck, you guys. Just let me know where yo
u end up so I can join you when I am done in Mayak.” And she went out through the glass doors to get in the black BMW waiting outside.
“Hold on a second.” Kormendi looked up from his phone. “Let’s just think a moment. I think there is something rather fishy going on here. With these strange policemen springing Hetzel and kidnapping that Russian girl from the hospital, I mean. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that your creepy friend must have had access to someone very high up in the police force here, to be able to get such quick action.”
“Hmm. That is certainly what it seems like,” Labrecque agreed. “It would also help explain how they got to little Nadia. Unless, of course, they weren’t cops, but just crooks dressed up as policemen.”
“I thought of that, too, Nicholas, but from just the way those guys apparently acted, and, knowing Hungarian policemen, I think they were real cops. And when I think about it, it must have been someone above Bartha who gave the order, and just used my boss’s name to make it all sound legitimate. So the rotten egg could be one or several of four or five officers right at the top of the police hierarchy.”
“Well, well,” Szekely joined in. “That would be a bombshell!”
“In which case, the corrupt guy or guys in the police force,” Kormendi continued, “whoever they are, are clearly in the pay of those gangsters, and they may well have put out an alert for all of you. As a precaution, to make sure you cannot give their friends any more trouble. And to try and prevent you following them.”
“Good thinking, Peter,” Szekely agreed. “That is certainly possible.”
“Fortunately, Hetzel does not know me,” Kormendi continued. “Plus, as a high ranking officer of the Hungarian National Police force, there is very little they can do to prevent me from going about my business. If I am right, and it is these rotten colleagues of mine we are talking about.”
“You may be right, Peter,” Szekely acquiesced. “But as a Hungarian officer of Interpol, they should leave me alone too.”
“Yes, but they could slow you down, you know. Hungarian policemen are good at obfuscating, you should know that by now.”
“Hmm.”
“In any case, what I suggest is that Greg and Anne come with me--that way, if it comes to that, I can use whatever means, including subterfuge, to keep them out of the hands of these rogue elements on our police force. Greg will keep the tracker, and you, George and Nicholas, can follow in your car.”
“I see what you’re getting at,” Labrecque said. “Yes, it does make more sense.”
“Okay, let’s get going. We’ll follow you.” Szekely was itching to get on the road.
Chapter 24
The two cars left Vasvàr on Gyorvàri ùt, which soon turned into highway E74 as they sped along, through forest and field, southward toward Zalaegerszeg and Nagykanizsa, following the direction indicated by the receiver communicating with the little tracker still in the zippered pocket of Hetzel’s jacket. Kormendi drove fast. He was an excellent driver, and Greg was glad that the Hungarian police officer was at the wheel so he could doze off for a while. None of them had had much sleep during the last couple of days.
He woke with a start, refreshed, just as traffic slowed down when they were approaching Zalaegerszeg.
“Happy to switch off, Peter, if you’d like,” he said, rubbing his eyes.
“Thanks, but it’s better that I drive,” Kormendi answered. “If we’re stopped here in my country, it looks bad if the police officer is a passenger in his own car. If our friends continue into Croatia, as it looks, I am sure Nicholas will have you take the wheel at some point. I will turn back from the border and you will all go on in the one car.”
Greg checked the receiver again. He had placed it on top of the dashboard. It was still working, indicating that the car carrying Hetzel’s jacket was going south, and was now about half an hour ahead of them.
Anne, too, had been napping in the back seat. She stirred. “Boy, I really needed that. Thanks, Peter, for driving while we old fogies sleep.”
It was when they were approaching the village of Hahót that they heard the siren, and saw the police car with the flashing blue light come up behind them. “Oh no. What a pity. We’ll have to deal with the village idiots now,” Kormendi remarked, as he pulled over, and rolled down his window.
A slovenly policeman in his late twenties sauntered over, just as Greg glanced sideways and saw Szekely and Labrecque--who had been following at a distance of maybe half a kilometer--pass by, and turn right into the next street. Presumably, to wait and see what happened next.
As Kormendi recounted a few minutes later when he pulled back out onto the highway with a smug smile, the policeman had asked for his papers. Kormendi handed him his driver’s license, then the car documents--registered under the police force in Szombathely--and last, his police ID. Seeing the car registration, the policeman asked, “Hmm. You with the police? You don’t look like it.” But it was when the ragtag junior saw whom he was dealing with--a police major from Szombathely--that the man saluted, clicked his heels, and offered to help in whatever way he could.
Kormendi thought for a moment then told the young officer that they were on a mission to track Russian human traffickers, and they could use a police escort, perhaps as far as the Croatian border. He asked him who his big boss was, and when he said the name of the commander of the outfit in Nagykanizsa, the next big town, Kormendi told him to get the man on his radio.
At this point, Kormendi got out of the car, saying to the two others with a twinkle in his eye, “Just give me a second. I think this is going to be good,” and walked over to the police car with the flashing blue light. He came back a few minutes later. “Okay, this joker now has his orders to accompany us to somewhere near Nagykanizsa, where we will be met by two local police cars that will escort us all the way to the Croatian border if need be. We won’t be bothered again.”
Kormendi then took out his cell phone to call Szekely and explained the situation to the two Interpol officers. When he signed off, he said, “Passports. Nicholas asked about your passports. You will need them to get into Croatia, which is not in Schengen.”
“I have Anne’s and mine,” Greg said.
“Good. We shouldn’t have any problems then.”
***
It was just after six when Kormendi pulled over just before the border crossing at Letenye, saying, “Time for you to switch cars. It would be better for me to get back to the office and start trying to figure out who the rogue elements at the top of our police force are. Before they do any more damage.”
“Thanks, Peter, for everything,” Greg said, taking the still beeping receiver off the dashboard. “You’ve been great.”
They got out and walked back to Labrecque’s BMW 225i as it pulled up behind them. After goodbyes, Greg and Anne climbed in the SUV and the French Interpol agent took off as the Hungarian policeman waved and turned around where he could cross the divide to go in the other direction.
Passport control at the Letenye crossing did not take long, and soon they were back on the highway following the signs for Zagreb. After a little over an hour, since they had not eaten a proper meal all day, they stopped for dinner at the Pauza Restaurant in Lucko, just past the capital, for a traditional meal of Riblji paprikas, a spicy fish stew.
They were confident that the Hetzel team would also have to take a break, since they too, had to eat and refuel the car at some point.
Indeed, when they resumed the journey with Greg at the wheel, they noted that they were not much further behind than they had been before the stop. The GPS took them toward Split, but then at Hrsina, they took the left fork onto the E65. As they approached Jasenice, the tracker told them that their prey had stopped moving.
“They must have stopped for the night,” Anne commented. “They, too, have had a rough day.”
“A rough two days and night,” Greg added. “And I wonder how Hetzel is surviving the journey. With that serious wound you inf
licted on his thigh.”
“Yeah, I hope it is getting good and infected.” This from Szekely.
“I guess we too had better stop soon. We don’t want to get much closer to them,” Labrecque said.
“Good. I wouldn’t mind taking a shower and stretching out for a bit.” Anne relished the thought.
“Amen,” came the chorus from the others.
They stopped at a nice little Bread & Breakfast just off the road, maybe fifteen minutes behind Hetzel and company. Greg took the receiver inside and kept it on all night, right by his bed. In case the gangsters tried to get away in the dark.
“Probably they won’t leave too early,” he commented. “My thought is that their destination must be Montenegro, or maybe somewhere further south into Greece, since if their goal had been say Dubrovnik, they would have kept on going. And I am sure the border crossing into Montenegro doesn’t stay open all night anyway.”
“Yes, you must be right, dear,” Anne said, as she slipped out of her jeans and top, ready for that much-desired shower. They may open around six.”
“Well, I doubt that they will be there first thing. Since it is another five hours or so from here.”
“I think though, they will nevertheless try to leave fairly early. I fear for little Nadia, Greg. I am sure Hetzel will be wanting the stop to change the bandage and to doctor his wound. So he probably needs an inn for that, but I doubt that they would take Nadia into any establishment.”
“So what do you think they would do with her?”
“My guess is that one of the guards will stay with her in the car. Maybe both. In some deserted place to park. That’s what I am afraid of. Two brutes like that with a beautiful and vulnerable girl.”
“I see what you mean. That was why I had thought we should pick them up right away. To get her out of their clutches.”
“Yeah, but then we would have no chance of rescuing the others. And putting an end to this criminal gang,” Anne said, stepping into the shower.
Twisted Traffick Page 14
