by Steve Lee
Gasped again when she saw the results. For the first time in hours, she smiled.
“What is it?” Tess asked. “What have you found?”
Pointing at the screen, Elena said, “We can fly to Warsaw and get a connection. We can be there in around four hours.”
Elena pushed up to leave.
Tess grabbed her arm. “Whoa, sit down.”
“We’ve got to go. The plane is in an hour.”
“All the more reason to buy tickets online to avoid lines at the airport.”
Tess booked two flights: the 17:55 flight, which arrived in Warsaw just fifty minutes later and then the 19:40 to Gdansk, which took around the same length of time. If all went according to plan, they could be at the shipyard a little after 9:00 p.m.
Now they had just thirty minutes to cover the seventeen kilometers to the airport before the gate closed at 5:25 p.m. Unfortunately, rush hour traffic in Poland’s second city was a killer.
Following the satnav, Tess drove as fast as she dared, but never exceeded the speed limit. The delay in getting pulled over would make them miss their flight. And if the cop who stopped them was so curious about the bullet hole in the windshield he asked to look in the trunk… Well, they’d likely be delayed by the Polish constabulary for more than just a few minutes.
Tess zipped in and out of the traffic, always below the speed limit, always signaling. Beside her, Elena gripped the dash, her knuckles white with worry. But progress was so slow it was like waltzing in mud.
Elena pointed to an opening in the next lane. “Quick, Tess.”
Tess checked her mirrors, hit the gas, and darted into the space. They cruised past a few vehicles, but nowhere near fast enough.
Flying toward the next set of lights, Elena again pointed. “There!”
“Seen it.” Tess zipped back into their original lane and roared toward the next set of lights.
“Oh, no, they’re going to change. They’re going to change.” Elena covered her face with her hands.
Tess ached to floor the gas pedal and tear through the lights, but resisted. It was so hard, it was almost painful. But if they were pulled over, she’d as good as killed Cat.
“Oh God, oh God, oh God.” Elena peeked from between her fingers.
Tess cruised through the lights.
“Oh, thank God.” Elena panted for air as if she’d sprinted through the lights herself.
Unfortunately, no sooner were they through one set of lights than another loomed before them. All the cars ahead braked for a red stoplight.
Instead of racing to get to the lights as quickly as possible, Tess eased off the gas.
Elena spun to her. “What’s wrong? Why are we slowing down?”
Tess pointed at the clock in the dash: 5:22, thirty-three minutes before their flight.
Wide-eyed, Elena stared at her. “But—”
Shoulders slumped, Tess said, “We can’t make it.”
“But—”
“I’m sorry. We can’t.” She pointed to the lines of slowing traffic in front of them. Boarding ended thirty minutes before a flight – there was no way they could be seated on the plane in the next three minutes. And once that cabin door was closed, there was no way it would open again for two late passengers.
Elena crumpled in her seat.
“What time is the next flight?” Tess asked.
With an expression like she was attending a funeral, Elena shrugged.
“Hey, don’t lose hope now.” Tess squeezed her hand for a moment. “We can still drive, if we have to.”
“An eight-hour drive in six hours?”
A frantic six-hour drive and then a fight to the death with armed men? Yep, things were just getting better and better. But maybe they could avoid that.
Tess said, “Get my phone from my bag in the back and call the airline. There must be another flight. And check Michal’s wallet. See how much money we have.”
Giving Elena something to do would momentarily distract her from the nightmare she was living, while also uncovering their options.
Having searched the wallet, Elena said, “1400 zloty and a driving license in the name of Piotr Zemekis.”
“That’s around four hundred bucks. Good. That’ll be useful.”
“And Piotr?” Elena asked. “What are we going to do about him?”
“What do you want to do about him?” Tess asked.
“Gut him. Like a pig.”
It was easy for Elena to say she was going to kill Michal. Hell, she probably even believed it herself. But when it came down to it, most people didn’t have the will to end someone, no matter what crime they’d committed. No, it took a particular kind of person to kill. Even in exceptional circumstances.
A signpost for Krakow airport reared on their right. Tess changed lanes for the exit.
Elena was about to discover just how far she’d go to claim payback for those she loved. Would she be able to live with the decision she made?
Turning for the airport parking lot, Tess said, “Whatever we’re going to do, it’s nearly time to do it.”
“I’ve told you what we’re going to do.”
“Are you sure? It’s a lot harder than you think to kill someone.”
“You just watch me.”
Chapter 17
Tess surveyed the sixth floor of the seven-level parking garage opposite Terminal 1. Everywhere was gray concrete, while in the distance, tires screeched as a driver took a corner too tightly.
Two spaces over from the Mercedes sat a red SUV, while opposite were three free spaces, then a concrete pillar on one side and a red sedan on the other. She’d reversed into a space in one of the furthest spots from the elevators to minimize the chances of passersby hearing Michal, or Jacek, or Piotr or whatever his goddamn name was.
“So you’ve never been arrested?” Tess asked Elena as they climbed out of the car.
“Do I look like a criminal?”
“So the police don’t have your fingerprints?”
“No.”
If they hadn’t been so desperate to reach the airport, Tess would have dumped the car somewhere secluded and then taken a taxi. Now she had the problem of what to do with it.
Tess had worn her gloves all the time since meeting Michal. DNA evidence was another story. She could torch the car, but that might prompt a terrorist alert and shut down the airport. No, she’d have to leave the car intact. But Michal? How intact should she leave him?
Standing between the gray water-stained concrete wall and the Mercedes, Tess opened the trunk.
Michal stared up wide-eyed, his face as drawn and lifeless as Elena’s from shock and blood loss.
Tess offered Elena the knife.
Anxiety creasing her face, Elena looked at her, then the knife, then Michal. Her trembling hand reached for the weapon.
Michal’s eyes widened even more. Tess had gagged him with some of the gray stuffing that had burst out of the hotel’s sofa, so he made urgent grunting noises as the knife glinted in the shadowy light of the parking garage.
But Elena’s hand stopped short of the hilt.
“You wanted to gut a pig.” Tess pushed the blade closer to her.
With a heavy frown, Elena shrank back. Her mouth fell open, but no words in any language came out.
“Yours isn’t the only daughter he’s taken,” Tess said. “And if you don’t do this, it won’t be the last. People like this don’t change.”
Shaking her head just barely, Elena finally found the power of speech. “No. No, I can’t. We can’t.”
“And if we don’t and he manages to contact his gang so they’re waiting for us all armed to the teeth?”
If Tess allowed Michal to live, that decision wouldn’t just kill Cat, it would probably kill her and Elena too. She pushed the knife against Elena’s hand.
Shaking his head at Elena, Michal squealed like a cornered rat. He pushed further into the trunk as if a secret door might open and let him escape.
Elena jerked her hands
out wide, away from the knife. “No. It’s not right.”
Tess stared at her. “It’s okay,” she said with a calm reassuring tone. “Most people can’t kill. Even for the best of reasons.”
Elena reached out and eased the trunk lid down. “Let God decide. If it’s meant to be, he’ll bleed to death.”
“God isn’t watching.” Tess caught the trunk before it shut. “If he was, you’d be happy and healthy in Romania with Cat.”
Tess pushed the trunk lid back up. She stabbed the knife through Michal’s left eye right up to the hilt. Blood spurted over her hand.
Elena lurched forward and vomited onto the oil-stained ground.
Tess wiped the blood on Michal’s blue jacket and then slammed the trunk shut. “We have to go.”
She put her arm around Elena but the lady yelped as if Tess had burned her and pulled away. She glowered at Tess as if it were Tess who was the monster.
Tess strolled toward the elevator. It wasn’t the first time someone had looked at her like that. And she’d bet it would not be the last. However, this tiny part of the world was one tiny bit safer because of what she’d just done. She’d sleep soundly on the plane. No regrets. No guilt. No bad dreams.
She turned back.
Elena was still slumped against the wall, looking even more unwell than usual.
Tess called out, “If we miss this plane, it’s all over.”
Elena had phoned LOT, the main Polish airline, from the car. There was a flight at 19:20 and a connection at 21:10. If all went well, they’d be dockside around 11:00 p.m. – just one hour to find and save Cat before the ship sailed.
In the elevator, Tess rested her thumb on the Door Open button while Elena toddled over and in. The lady stood in the furthest corner away from her.
Sighing, Tess slumped forward and rested her forehead against the stainless steel elevator wall.
Surely, Elena didn’t think she enjoyed killing. Surely. So what had she thought they were going to do with Michal? Hand him over to the authorities for ‘justice’ to prevail? For rehabilitation to turn a psychopath into a caring human being?
Yeah, right, because that always worked out just fine.
It was as if Elena believed that somehow everyone was going to come through this and live happily ever after. Everyone. But how could they? Elena knew what Michal had done. Knew what his gang was still doing. They had to pay. This wasn’t a game; this was a war. A war innocent people were losing.
Tess pressed the button for the ground level. This was going to be an even longer night than she’d thought it was going to be.
As Tess strode along the asphalt path to the terminal between two small areas of neatly mown grass, Elena trudged along a few yards behind.
A cough broke the icy silence.
Then another.
Knowing what was coming, Tess turned and unslung her backpack. She scurried back as Elena bent double, holding on to a gray metal handrail, all but spluttering her lungs out onto the grass.
Tess offered her a fresh bottle of water.
Elena shoved her away.
During her training, Tess had been pummeled by kickboxers, slammed into the ground by jiu jitsu experts, and battered senseless by kung fu masters, but that shove… That shove hurt more than any beating she’d taken anywhere.
“Elena, for God’s sake, I can’t do this alone. I don’t know Poland and I don’t know Polish. If you don’t help me, I can’t save Cat.”
Something must have clicked, because Elena’s hand snaked out and grabbed the air for the bottle. Tess put it in her hand. Sipping the water in between coughs, Elena barked less and, little by little, her fit subsided.
Placing the palm of her hand on Elena’s back, Tess gently rubbed. “You know I had to do that.”
Breathing hard, leaning on the rail, Elena glared at her from the corner of her eye. Sweat beaded on her face.
“How many more lives would he have ruined?” Tess asked.
Elena pushed up. She handed the bottle back and then staggered on. “Are you coming?”
Okay, they were talking. That was a start. Tess caught up and walked alongside.
In the airport, they paid for their flight tickets with Michal’s money, then Tess withdrew another five hundred dollars in zlotys from the ATM. She’d no idea how they were going to gain access to the dock, so it was best to be prepared with a decent bribe if they needed it.
They bought a bottle of fresh orange juice and a sandwich each, and then found a secluded spot in which to sit not too far from the gate where huge windows overlooked the runway.
The airport offered free Wi-Fi for one hour per user, so Tess fired up the laptop from the hotel. Not only did she need more information, she needed to build bridges.
She tore off a hunk of her sandwich and munched a mouthful of cardboard-like cheese, rubbery ham and limp lettuce. Not having eaten since breakfast, she barely chewed it before devouring another hunk.
“Do you have the list of names, please?” Tess asked.
Elena took it from her purse and handed it over.
She watched Tess surf to Facebook and type in the first name: Artur Bartosz. A list of users with that name appeared.
“What are you doing?” Elena asked.
That was the first brick laid in the first bridge. “I want to put faces to the names, so if we see them, we know who we’ve found them.”
Elena nodded and leaned closer.
That was a second brick.
They went through the six-name list, filtering it by Krakow and the surrounding towns, Elena providing translations, suggestions and opinions.
After forty-five minutes of searching and cross-referencing, they had found the pages of possibly five of the six names, one of which Tess was certain about because it was Shaven Head. He’d led her to the redheaded Artur Bartosz. With a grizzled face that made him look like an old seadog, Artur appeared in the galleries of three of the other names.
Tess chose the best portrait of each of the five men and photographed it to keep on her phone. She closed the laptop, which looked a decent piece of gear. She’d sell it when all this was over to help cover her costs.
“Is there anything else we can do?” Elena asked.
Tess stared into space. After the problem in the parking lot, was Elena going to be able to handle what was to come? She placed her hand on Elena’s. “Only to prepare for the difficult things we’re going to have to do.”
Elena hung her head and gazed at the floor.
“I’m sorry,” Tess said, “but it’s only going to get worse.”
Elena nodded, but remained silent.
“If I could do it alone,” Tess said. “I—”
The lady squeezed Tess’s hand. “I know you would. It’s just… I’ve never…” She huffed and stared at the floor as if struggling to find the words to express herself clearly. Turning to Tess, she said, “How do you do it?”
“Where’s Cat’s father?” Tess asked.
Looking thrown, Elena said, “Er… He, er, he died in a car accident when Cat was eight. He was Canadian – why I speak English.”
“And you loved him?”
“I miss him every day.”
Tess nodded. “So you’ve raised Cat all these years on your own? You must love her too.”
“Of course, but what—”
“Over her lifetime, a woman is many things, not least a lover and a mother. But she’s never the two at the same time. It’s as if she has a switch she can flip when she needs to be one or the other, but the switch won’t let her be both at the same time.” Tess shrugged. “I have a switch.”
“What do you mean?”
Tess toyed with her bottle of juice. “I was like you once – just a normal person living a normal life.”
“What happened?”
Tess hung her head and stared at the floor, trying to block out the images of blood. So much blood. She heaved a breath. Some things were too personal to share, too painful to even think ab
out, let alone talk about.
“What always happens – life happened. It would be nice to go back to being normal one day, but…”
If that day ever came, Tess knew exactly where she would go and exactly what she would do there. Other than seeing justice done in Manhattan, it was the last dream to which she still clung. However, deep down, she doubted she’d live long enough for it to become a reality, but it was a pleasant distraction from the darkness that engulfed so much of her life.
“Anyway, in the meantime,” Tess said, “I have a switch I can flip. It lets me do the things I do and still look in the mirror without wanting to slit my wrists.”
“But why do you do them? Why don’t you go and find that life now?”
Tess turned and stared into Elena’s eyes. “And who’d save Cat? Who’d save all the other innocent people who are abused by monsters everywhere I go?”
“Tess, you can’t change the whole world.”
“No. But I can change tiny bits of it and then sleep soundly at night knowing I have.”
Elena stared at Tess with such sadness in her eyes. She cupped Tess’s hands. “Oh, Tess, that’s not living.”
“So what should I do? Dream of kids and malls and job promotions? Or of saving Cat?”
It was an impossible question to answer.
Tears welled in Elena’s eyes. Tess doubted they were for Cat, this time. Now the lady saw Tess’s dilemma – she had the choice either to help people in desperate need or to live a normal life, but not both.
Over the speaker system, a woman announced something in Polish.
“This is our flight,” Elena said.
They ambled toward the gate.
“So that’s why you travel,” asked Elena, “why you have your armor? So you can help people?”
“Kind of.” She’d had to check her backpack containing her armor to avoid being detained when they went through the security check, but she never went anywhere without it. Even with all her years of training, the simple truth was she was physically smaller and weaker than the average man. Her armor was a wonderful equalizer. And then some.
“But don’t you get afraid?” asked Elena.
Tess snickered. It was a ridiculous question, but she couldn’t blame Elena for thinking she might be superhuman. “Of course I do. Only a fool would say they didn’t. The secret is in knowing how to use that fear to help you, instead of letting it paralyze you.”
