‘Then she was just looking out for herself. She would know that if he had killed you there would be no one to protect her from him.’
Hugo shook his head. ‘That’s what I thought at first, but I think she would have done that for anyone. She stopped me killing him over a misunderstanding. If she was just protecting herself, she would have kept quiet and I would have choked him to death.’
‘So what’s your point?’
‘She keeps thanking me, and she seems to care about others even when her own safety is at risk. I’ve never met anyone like that before. To me, the whole world is out for what they can get.’
‘It’s how it works. Care and compassion belong to the weak and get you nowhere in this world.’
Hugo nodded. ‘I know you’re right, but this kid…’
‘She’s playing you, Hugo, messing with your head. Am I right in thinking you didn’t get her to do what I suggested back there at the diner?’
‘Maybe.’
‘You should have. Two reasons. It would show her you don’t care about her and satisfy you at the same time. Trust me, you’ll see her in a different light after she satisfies you with her mouth.’
Hugo didn’t answer, but he knew Marius was right about one thing. It was stupid for him to think of this girl as anything other than a commodity to be sold for the best possible price. But he also knew he couldn’t do what Marius suggested.
Not with this girl.
Marius leant forward to look at him. ‘You are not thinking of letting her go, are you?’
Hugo thought for a moment, then shook his head. ‘No, of course not. You’re right, the girls are here to be sold. Forget everything I’ve just said.’
‘That’s more like it. You had me worried for a minute there, Hugo… hey, I have an idea, if you don’t want to lay hands on the kid, take my girl.’
‘What?’
‘Pull over in the next lay-by and take Sabrina. She’s tight. If I didn’t know better I’d say she was a virgin before I had her back at the warehouse in Munich.’
‘How do you know she wasn’t?’
‘She’s eighteen, how many eighteen-year-olds are virgins these days?’
Hugo shrugged.
A few minutes later Marius pointed up ahead. ‘Pull into that lay-by.’
Hugo braked and pulled in, then just sat there with the engine running.
Marius looked at him. ‘Go on then, just send the kid up front with me.’
Hugo stared at Marius but said nothing.
‘Hell Hugo, if you don’t trust me with her, keep her there and let her watch so she knows what to expect when she’s sold.’
Hugo remained silent.
‘What’s up? I’ve seen you do it before, many times. You couldn’t keep your hands off that Italian girl last year. She was well used by the time you sold her. Go on, your choice, the kid or Sabrina, but my advice is the kid.’
Hugo thought for a moment and said, ‘Nah, I don’t fancy the kid,’—he patted his chest—‘she’s pretty and cute but there’s not much there. She’s too flat for me, I like a fuller figure.’ He hoped that would end the conversation.
‘Yeah well, that Italian girl was well stacked. Okay, Sabrina it is then. And before you bite my head off, I won’t touch the kid without your permission. I’ll only ask you to consider it.’
Hugo nodded. ‘Okay, I’ll think about it, but we need to get moving if we are going to stay on schedule.’
As he set off again Hugo considered Marius’s suggestion. Maybe that would help break this spell that Katerina was starting to have over him. Maybe he just needed to be reminded what girls are for. He had always believed they were put on this earth to please men. And when he sells Katerina and walks away she will no doubt be abused in every conceivable way. So as long as Marius guarantees to preserve her virginity, why not let him have some fun with her?
Maybe he would arrange it at the next safe-house.
24
KATERINA
Katerina and Sabrina had managed to lie down and sleep through the drone of the van’s engine and the vibration coming through the floor. But when it came to a halt the silence and lack of movement was enough to wake them.
Katerina searched around her for the small flashlight and switched it on. ‘Sabrina, are you awake?’
Sabrina sat up and stretched before answering. ‘Yes, but only just. How long do you think we have been asleep?’
‘I don’t know, but this floor is so hard I’m surprised we could. I know I woke up several times so I think it’s been a few hours.’
In the silence, Katerina could just make out the rumble of male voices coming from the cab, but not enough to understand what they were saying. As the girls sat side by side waiting for the men’s next move, she thought about how they had no control over any part of their lives. They were at the mercy of two strangers, men they had only met for the first time two days before, and men who did not have their best interests at heart.
Katerina was still coming to terms with the fact that men like these exist and that she had fallen into their clutches. But even worse was thinking about what lay ahead. She knew she was going to be sold, but to who? What kind of person buys a twelve-year-old girl? And what will they expect from her? She had a rough idea, but the uncertainty just increased her anxiety.
Sabrina got to her feet and stretched again then sat down on the wooden box. Are you okay, Katerina?
Katerina nodded.
‘You seem to be coping well with what happened to you.’
Katerina’s eyebrows plunged into a confused frown. ‘What happened to me?’
‘Back there at the diner, when I came back from the restroom you and Hugo were not there. Marius said we had to wait for a while because Hugo had taken you to the van. He had a sick grin on his face, so I thought… you know…’
Katerina’s confusion lifted. ‘Oh, that, no it’s not what you think. Nothing happened.’
‘Look, it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, I understand.’
Katerina smiled at her friend. ‘No really, nothing happened. We just talked.’
Sabrina’s brow furrowed as she studied Katerina but said nothing.
‘We just sat in the front of the van, he turned on the radio and told me he wasn’t going to touch me or make me do anything.’
‘Really?’
Katerina nodded.
Sabrina’s frown faded. ‘That’s great, I was worried about you when Marius told me where you were. I’m so glad nothing happened. But you have been so quiet since the diner.’
‘I’m just disappointed, that’s all. For the first time since I was taken I felt as if my plan to get him to see me as a person and not just property was working. He was starting to talk. But just as I was getting somewhere, Marius opened the van door.’
‘I’m not sure you could influence Hugo. I think he and Marius have done this many times before with many other girls. We are just the latest.’
‘You are probably right, and I may not get another opportunity now before Hugo sells me. My only chance will be if I’m alone with him again because he’s more distant when Marius is around.’ Katerina’s eyes watered.
Sabrina reached out and held her hand. ‘Is there something else?’
‘I was right about Natasha. She had been taken.’
Sabrina drew breath and stared at Katerina open mouthed.
‘Hugo told me it was Natasha’s fault that I was taken.’
‘How?’
‘He said she was warned not to escape. They told her they would take me if she did.’
‘He is cruel to say that. Even if it’s true, he shouldn’t have told you that. He is just trying to turn you against your sister.’
‘I don’t think so, he didn’t ask me where to find her.’
‘They probably already know that. After all, you said they knew about your grandmother’s address.’
Katerina nodded.
‘Don’t let him cause you to doubt y
our sister, I’m sure she’s at home now worried sick about you.’
‘Natasha used to tell me that if anyone ever hurt me, she would kill them.’
‘I’m sure she meant it, but what could she do? She can’t take on these bastards, can she?’
‘No, of course not.’
When the van doors opened again Hugo and Marius were there waiting for them to exit. Katerina jumped down first and looked around. They seemed to be in an underground carpark with parking bays for around thirty vehicles, and many were occupied by luxury cars of every make and model. There were no windows and no views of the outside world.
Katerina’s senses were in overdrive. This felt different to the previous stops they had made. She had been told she was being taken to London, but she was worried she may be sold to an owner of one of the luxury cars. She glanced at Sabrina and from the look on her friend’s face she could tell that she was thinking the same.
They held hands as they followed Hugo and Marius up one flight of stairs to a corridor with many doors off each side. They were taken along to the end and into a large square empty room with no windows, bare brick walls, and a grey concrete floor and ceiling. Two strip lights above them flooded the room with stark white light. She guessed they were still below ground level.
The girls were led over to the far wall where several chains hung down, bolted to the wall at one end, with iron rings at the other. It was obvious what they were for.
Katerina turned to Hugo. ‘Is this it? Is this where you are going to sell me?’
Hugo shrugged. ‘Maybe, I need to check.’ He placed the ring at the end of a chain around her neck and secured it with a small padlock.
Marius did the same with Sabrina. Then the men left the room.
The girls were secured several feet apart but their chains were long enough for them to come together and hug each other for comfort.
A few minutes later Hugo and Marius returned with another man. As Katerina studied the stranger she guessed he must be in charge. He appeared to be late forties, with short neatly trimmed hair, wearing a black suit, crisp white shirt, and a blue tie with a sheen to it as if made from silk.
He looked just like a business man, and if she had seen him on the street she would have taken him for a banker or maybe a lawyer. But in this concrete basement used to chain girls to the wall she was fairly sure he was neither. Still, as he approached her and Sabrina she couldn’t help thinking of him as the banker.
Hugo and Marius stopped in the middle of the room but the banker came closer and motioned with his hand for them to separate. He studied Sabrina first, then he walked over to Katerina and looked her up and down. She shuddered at the way his gaze lingered. His eyes were steel grey and cold and his face completely expressionless making it impossible to know for sure what he was thinking, but due to the situation she could make a reasonable guess. He was assessing her value.
He turned back to Hugo and Marius and nodded. ‘Which one of you owns the young one?’
Hugo lifted his chin slightly. ‘I do.’
‘How much?’
‘Were you not told? I’m taking her to London on instructions from Stefan.’
‘Is that Stefan Radic?’
‘I don’t know his last name but he is part of the London Kestrati.’
‘Then it is Stefan Radic. I may give him a call. I could make him a substantial offer for her.’
Katerina watched Hugo as he seemed to like what he was hearing. But she didn’t, because it meant that this could be the end of her journey with Hugo, which also meant she might not get another opportunity to talk to him alone again.
The three men left the girls chained to the wall, and when alone, Sabrina held Katerina’s hands in hers and looked her in the eyes. ‘I have a bad feeling about this place, Katerina. Whatever happens you must not resist. Just go along with it and you may survive to see your family again.’
Sabrina’s anxiety just added to Katerina’s. She felt the same uneasiness. This wasn’t like the previous safe-houses. The luxury cars below meant there were rich men in this building. Men who were probably there to buy girls.
They didn’t have long to dwell on things before Marius came back with another man. The new stranger was not like the banker. He was older, maybe in his sixties, and dressed casually in jeans and a sweatshirt. He carried a small iron ring with keys attached and reminded Katerina of the caretaker at her school. So that’s what she named him in her mind.
The caretaker used the keys to unlock the collars and the men led Katerina and Sabrina out of the room and back along the corridor. Katerina hadn’t noticed on her way in that the doors on each side of the corridor were all half glazed with glass containing small reinforced wire squares in a grid pattern, the kind you see in hospital doors. Maybe that’s what it was, an old hospital taken over by the traffickers. They passed the door from the car park and continued along to the opposite end of the corridor. They had to wait while the caretaker unlocked a plain wooden door.
He ushered them inside. It was a bigger room than the one they had just left but had the same painted brick walls, concrete floor and ceiling. There were no chains, but even more chilling, along the opposite wall there were eight glass hospital style cubicles side by side, each the size of a small single cell. The lower half of the walls and doors were wooden panels, the top half were wire mesh reinforced glass, and the dividing walls between each room were the same. There was a girl inside each of the first six rooms.
The caretaker led Sabrina into the seventh cubicle and locked the door, then he pushed Katerina into the eighth. He stood outside the rooms looking from one to the other. ‘Right girls, there is no talking in here. Anyone who breaks that rule will be severely punished, do you understand?’
Katerina glanced at Sabrina who nodded at the caretaker, so she turned to him and did the same.
The caretaker pointed to a camera above the door in the middle of the wall opposite the glass rooms. It was panning slowly from side to side. Katerina sat down on the metal framed hospital style bed in the middle of her cell and gave a nervous smile to Sabrina in the next room.
After Marius and the caretaker had left, there was complete silence. None of the girls dared speak as they were being monitored.
Katerina watched the camera pan from her room to the first at the far end and back again. After staring at it in silence for a few minutes she gasped as she realised it took around forty-five seconds to pan from her room along to the first and back again. That meant she would be in its blind spot for at least thirty-five seconds. She waited for the right moment, then moved to the meshed glass separating her from Sabrina and explained that if they spoke quietly the camera’s microphone may not detect their voices. Sabrina had been watching the camera too and must have thought the same because she nodded then pointed as the camera swept towards them.
A few seconds later Katerina whispered to her friend and told her to ask the girl in the next room if she knew where they were and what was going to happen. When the time was right Sabrina moved to the glass between her and room number six. Katerina waited patiently. Her friend’s exchange with the other girl took three sweeps of the camera with them separating each time it panned towards them.
The information Sabrina returned to Katerina with was not what she wanted to hear. ‘This place is used to sell girls to rich men who take them away for their own personal pleasure or to be put to work in brothels. Men compete here at an auction for the best girls and often there are others viewing and bidding remotely online.’
Katerina spoke in whispers again. ‘I hope Hugo and Marius don’t sell us here.’
Sabrina nodded. ‘Me too, but remember what I told you, just in case. Don’t fight them, Katerina, or they will hurt you.’
Katerina shuddered at the thought of some stranger taking her away but hoped she was just being held there temporarily and would soon be on her way to London. Even though she had an idea what lay ahead for her, she was in no hurry to find out, a
nd she still had her plan to chip away at Hugo. Her main concern now was whether or not she would get another opportunity.
25
MASON
As they sat in the hire car in the airport’s short stay carpark, Natasha showed Mason the maps and updated him with the body count and what she had found out so far at the first three safe-houses.
He listened intently and when she’d finished he smiled at her. ‘So why do you need me? It sounds like a one sided fight with the Kestrati well and truly out classed.’
She laughed. ‘So far I’ve had the element of surprise, and I got lucky. I’m not sure that will continue.’
‘You’re right, the Kestrati would have to be pretty stupid not to work out what’s going on.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Just think about what’s happened so far. Katerina was taken from a town south of Bucharest. Soon afterwards the boss of the Bucharest mob is found with his head bashed in. By the way, that’s becoming a habit with you but last time you used an iron.’
‘What can I say? I’m resourceful.’
‘Then a guy at the first safe-house was stabbed to death. Three more were shot dead at their second safe-house, and finally, up to now, two more were shot at the third safe-house in Munich.’
‘And your point is?’
‘It’s fairly obvious someone is working their way across Europe and the next stop on the map is here in Brussels. I think your element of surprise is well and truly gone now.’
‘So they’ll be expecting us?’
‘They’ll be expecting someone, probably a small army from the amount of bodies you’ve left behind.’
She thought for a moment. ‘Well then, you’ve just answered your own question.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Why I need you. With no element of surprise, things are going to get a damn sight hotter.’
He laughed. ‘Hell, it’s only been two days, but I have missed you.’
Natasha laughed with him, then became more serious. ‘How are things with you and Kathy?’
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