by Dan Latus
Anticipating something like that, Jake had by then let go of the steak knife spearing the older man’s hand to the table and brought the Glock pistol out of his pocket.
He levelled the gun at the man with the knife. The man stopped in mid-movement and held back, looking to his partner – perhaps his boss – for guidance. None was forthcoming. The older man was still in shock, frozen by the knife pinning his hand to the table.
‘Magda,’ Jake said in a level tone, motioning with the pistol. ‘Let’s go.’
There was a long pause. She seemed to struggle to respond to the instruction, and made no move to stand up. She was locked in place, fastened to her seat. Her eyes were all for the older man, and for the knife pinning his hand to the table.
The older man gathered himself and spoke at last. ‘She is going nowhere,’ he growled in hesitant English.
Then, with a slow, deliberate movement, he reached out his free hand, took hold of the knife handle and, with a gasp, jerked the blade free.
Magda remained fixed in position, staring at the blood oozing across the table.
‘Time to go,’ Jake insisted sharply. ‘Coming?’
All four of them were still and silent then for a moment. Unseen forces were at work. The power to compel, and the power to release.
The older man snapped something at her. He called her Petra. She stared at him, visibly confused, stunned and uncertain.
‘It’s up to you,’ Jake said, not knowing himself which way it was going to go. ‘Stay, if that’s what you want.’
Magda got to her feet then and moved around the table to stand beside him. The man with the bleeding hand said something else to her. She didn’t respond.
Jake glanced quickly at her. She nodded. Together then, they backed away from the two men at the table and turned to walk out of the beer garden.
Chapter 29
He said nothing as they walked quickly back up the hill. Nor did she. Instead, they walked so fast they were both pretty breathless, making conversation next to impossible. Once or twice, Jake looked behind. No-one was following.
When they reached the cottage, he said, ‘Get your stuff. We’re leaving now. If you’re coming with me, that is?’
‘Give me a couple of minutes, please.’
He grabbed his own travel bag and took it out to the car. When Magda appeared, he waited until she had locked the front door of the cottage before starting the engine. As soon as she was aboard he slipped the clutch and got them moving.
‘Jake, I must tell you…’
‘Not now. Save it for later.’
They needed to go through Decín, ten miles or so away. The quickest route was down the hill, past the restaurant where he had found Magda, along the road to Hrensko, and then on into town on the road that ran alongside the river. He didn’t go that way. Instead, he headed for Jetrichovice, the start of the long way round. Less obvious.
If they came, they came. But he wasn’t going to make it easy for them. From now on, he was taking nothing for granted, and he would take all the precautions he could.
He drove through Decín, and on to Ústí nad Labem, where they joined the E55 again, the main road to Prague. Only then did he begin to feel like talking.
‘So you’re still with me?’
‘Of course.’
He shook his head. ‘Are you sure? Can I be sure?’
‘I’m here, aren’t I?’ she said, flashing him an angry look.
He kept quiet.
‘Stop the car!’ she demanded. ‘I will leave.’
He kept going.
She glared at him. ‘Stop the car!’
He took no notice.
She unsnapped the safety belt and threw open her door. With the wind blasting through the car, she screwed herself round. One knee on the seat, and her weight on the foot still on the floor, she braced to hurl herself out of the car.
He braked hard. The sudden deceleration threw her forward, off balance. She struggled back upright and launched herself out of the gaping doorway.
Jake swore, kept his foot hard down on the brake and wrestled with the steering wheel as the lumbering beast of a vehicle bucked and twisted and eventually shuddered to a stop. He leapt out and ran back, leaving the engine running and the Honda nose down on the brink of a ditch. He reached her as she struggled to her feet.
‘Get off me!’ she screeched as he grasped hold of her.
He kept hold and accepted the pummelling she gave him until she was too weak to hit him any more.
‘Magda, Magda!’ he soothed her.
‘You didn’t believe me,’ she sobbed, her face scratched and bleeding.
‘Forgive me.’
Several cars had passed by now. Another one passed, and hooted. Then an enormous truck gave them a blast on its mighty horn as it roared past, covering them with dust and grit in its wake.
Enough!
He scooped her up and carried her quickly to the Honda. He strapped her in the passenger seat and got back behind the steering wheel. As soon as two more cars had passed, he was able to pull the Honda back onto the road and resume their journey.
‘We’ll stop for coffee at the next opportunity,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry,’ he added.
She straightened up and pushed her hair back with her fingers, which seemed a good sign. Better, anyway. All in all, she was a bit of a mess. And it’s my fault, he thought grimly. I should have handled it better.
They stopped at a service area and headed for the coffee shop. While Jake did the ordering, Magda took herself off to the ladies’ toilets.
‘That’s better!’ he said with a rueful smile when she returned. Some urgent repair work had at least stopped the bleeding.
She just shrugged.
But over coffee she gradually came back to him, and began speaking again.
‘I have a proposal,’ she said.
‘Oh?’
‘There is a motel here, next to the café. Maybe we could stay here for one night. Then I will tell you everything.’
‘Everything?’ He nodded. ‘It’s a deal. Let’s finish our coffee first. Then we’ll take a look.’
Chapter 30
‘So you’d better tell me,’ Jake said. ‘Who are they? And how dangerous are they?’
They were sitting in their room in the motel, sitting around a low coffee table on dining chairs that were pretty new, and pretty cheap. Probably flat-pack, Jake thought, as his chair wobbled, fit to fall apart every time he moved.
Magda sighed and gazed past him at a bland picture on the wall. Jake waited patiently. He didn’t even turn his head to check the picture out. Romantic and historical, probably, like a couple of others he could see. Bohemia in times of yore.
‘The man you stabbed is Pavel Kunda. He is a wealthy man from Prague.’
Jake was surprised by the description. ‘Wealthy? What does he do?’
‘Crime,’ she said with a shrug. ‘He is a professional criminal.’
Jake shook his head. ‘That’s a profession in your country?’
‘Yes. The same as in England, with your Mr Fogarty.’
Jake gave a wry smile. His Mr Fogarty? Nice.
‘How do you know him – or how does he know you?’
Magda hesitated. Either it was very complicated or she didn’t want to say.
Jake waited. Might as well have it all out now. He had always known she was a closed book. Back then, he hadn’t wanted to open it. Now it was different.
In São Brás he hadn’t questioned her because he didn’t want to have to explain himself in return. Now she knew all about him, he needed to know where she was coming from. What she told him would determine if they had a future together.
‘This Kunda guy does know you,’ he pointed out gently, coaxing her. ‘He called you Petra, just like your good friend Mr Phan.’
She tossed her head, indignant. ‘My name is Magda now. You know that very well. I am no longer Petra.’
Jake nodded and pressed on with his quest
ioning. ‘So how do you know each other, and what did he want with you back there?’
‘It is complicated.’
‘Take your time. Until we get hungry, there’s no need for us to leave this room.’
She gave him a faint smile, which did nothing to relieve the tension in the room.
‘I told you I grew up in Prague, which is technically true. But my parents split up and moved away when I was quite young. So I lived with my grandmother in Vysoká Lípa for a few years. Then, after I left school, I moved back to Prague to find work.
‘At first, I stayed with an aunt, who had a spare room in her flat. It was very exciting for me to be there at that time in my life, in such a big city. The tramcars. The shops. The theatres. So many people – and such exciting people!
‘I found work in a kavárna, a small café, and that was where I met Pavel Kunda. He lived nearby and used to come into the shop every day for coffee, and for koláček – little cakes. He was quite a lot older than me, but he was glamorous seeming and amusing, and he always had money. Most of all, he liked me, and paid me much attention. In time, he became my first boyfriend.’
Jake almost wished he hadn’t opened the book. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know Magda’s life history – not right now, at least. He just wanted to know who the guy he had stabbed was, and how much of a threat he was going to be.
‘Was he a criminal back then?’
Magda nodded. ‘Oh, yes. That was why he had money. He did all sorts of things to earn it. Not sophisticated things, you understand, but the kind that gave him a good living.’
Good living? Jake thought. Well, that was one way of looking at it.
‘At first, I didn’t know he was like that,’ Magda resumed. ‘But soon I did, and it seemed OK.’ She shrugged and added, ‘I don’t deny it. I liked the life. I was young, and it was exciting. Then when he suggested I work for him, I liked that, too.’
‘What did you do?’ asked Jake, interested now despite himself.
She shrugged. ‘Not much to start with, but soon Pavel realized there were things I was good at. I had a good brain. I could remember things, and I was good at numbers. So he used me to keep the books and help run the business.’
‘The criminal business?’
‘Of course. But there was more. Pavel gradually acquired legal businesses, too. Restaurants, bars, clubs, and such things. Someone had to manage them. Increasingly, it became me.’
Jake wondered what the criminal enterprises were but decided not to ask. There wasn’t time. Anyway, he doubted if there would be many surprises there, but he was wrong about that.
‘After a time, the business became international,’ Magda continued. ‘There were guns, of course.’
‘Of course?’
‘Well, this country, Bohemia, has always made many guns. It is natural that they are sold to people in other countries. And not every buyer is a government, yes?’
Jake shrugged. ‘I suppose so. Where is this leading, Magda? Can we speed it up a bit?’
She might have pouted indignantly at that, but she didn’t. Instead, she gave him the inscrutable stare she always used when she felt he needed putting in his place. It told him she was getting back to normal.
‘You are hungry so soon?’ she asked waspishly. ‘You want to finish our discussion already?’
‘Sorry, sorry! No, of course not. Carry on, please.’
After a dignified pause, she said, ‘One important international contact Pavel made was your friend Mr Fogarty.’
‘Ah!’
She nodded. ‘Yes, indeed. Things were done, arrangements made. A relationship established. Guns were exported, as well as other things. Later, a new trade developed, a very profitable one for both sides. It concerned money.’
Jake could see now where this was going. She had said in the beginning that it was complicated. Complicated things took time to explain. He should have been more patient.
‘Money laundering, perhaps?’
Magda nodded. ‘I believe that is what it is called in your language.’
My language now, is it, Jake thought grimly. She really was right back into it. The persona developed in the Algarve, for the moment at least, had been shelved. More fool me for ever trusting her.
‘Pavel used me a lot for that new trade.’ She shrugged. ‘The numbers again, and also I could speak and understand English. Those things were very useful now he had entered a new business relationship with Mr Fogarty.’
The more she spoke, the more he realized how very little he had ever known about her. It had suited him back then to know, and ask, nothing about her background. Now he was learning how big a mistake that had been. He just hoped it wasn’t going to get him killed.
‘How did Kunda and Fogarty get to know each other?’
She shrugged again. ‘Some things I never knew, even though I lived with Pavel and believed I was trusted. So I became the trusted person who would go to London and bring back to Prague a sample of the money that was to be laundered. Not enough money to arouse suspicions if I was ever stopped, which happened once or twice, but just enough for Pavel to assess the value.’
‘Not too new, and not too old, presumably?’
‘Yes. That determined the price. Sometimes the bank notes would be in such poor condition that Pavel would not accept them.’
‘What happened to them, then?’
‘Perhaps Fogarty just burned them?’
Jake smiled. Somehow he couldn’t see it. Fogarty would likely have had back-up arrangements, at an appropriate price.
‘But that was unusual,’ Magda continued. ‘Mostly, the quality was acceptable, and allowed Pavel to set a price he could propose to Fogarty.’
‘What happened after that? How was the money moved out of England?’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. That was not my business. I just did my part. Then other people became involved, and I was happy to let them get on with it.
‘These trips to London were very stressful for me, especially as my relationship with Pavel deteriorated. So I didn’t want to know any more. I didn’t care. You understand?’
Well, maybe. Jake decided to let it go for now.
‘Who did you deal with in England? Not Fogarty himself, presumably?’
She shook her head. ‘Never. Usually it was his main man, as Pavel called him. Mr Hendrik?’
‘I don’t know.’
It could have been Hendrik, though. Bob had mentioned that name. Fogarty’s chief of staff, he’d called him.
‘Sometimes there was another man. I never knew his name. I just called him Mr Little, because he was small and dark. But now I believe it may have been the man you call Nicci – the Greek person.’
Jake nodded. He wouldn’t be surprised.
‘So where were you the night the roof fell in, when I was involved and it all went wrong?’
‘Pavel always told me to be watchful, and to leave immediately if I felt anything was wrong. There were escape routes arranged for me. I took one, when I became concerned, and left.’
Jake shook his head with growing amazement. It was hard to believe, but he was going to have to get used to it. This woman, who he had picked up on the Algarve so innocently, had been right there in the middle of it all. Their meeting had not been an accident at all. She had been pointed at him right from the start.
‘So you were there, at the scene? In the Team Valley?’
She shook her head. ‘No. Nearby, in a hotel like this one. I did not receive the phone call I expected. Also, there were many sirens and police cars. I left early,’ she finished with another of her shrugs.
So, Jake thought. Several things were making sense now. And several other things were deeply troubling.
‘You must be the rather mysterious Russian woman I heard about?’
‘So it seems.’ She smiled. ‘English people are not very good at foreign languages, are they? But it suited me for them to think I was Russian.’
Chapter 31
> ‘So what else do you want to know?’ Magda asked.
‘Now we come to the part about what you were doing in the Algarve with me. And then you can tell me how you ended up with those two guys back at the restaurant in Vysoká Lípa. That should keep us going for a little while – unless you want to break now, and go and get something to eat?’
Magda shook her head. ‘No. It is better if I explain everything now.’
‘Fair enough.’
Jake was trying to stay calm and reasonable. For the moment, all he wanted were the facts. He would process them in due course, and think then about what they meant. But right now it was the simple, unadorned facts he wanted.
He was beginning to realize how deep was his ignorance of a great many things, Magda in particular. He had always been aware that he knew very little about her, but that hadn’t seemed to matter. Now he was having to face up to the fact that there were two Magdas: the one he had lived with in the Algarve, and the professional criminal he had heard others refer to as “the Russian woman”. It seemed unlikely that they could be reconciled.
He was beginning to wonder, too, just how badly he had got things wrong, and what the consequences still might be. It was obvious now that his linking up with Magda hadn’t been at all fortuitous, whatever he had thought at the time.
‘Tell me what you were doing in the Algarve, Magda. Why were you there?’
‘Pavel sent me there to watch you, and to try to discover if you had the stolen money.’
‘I see.’
So it was every bit as bad as he had been starting to think. His relationship with Magda had not begun accidentally. It had been manufactured by a criminal mastermind based in Prague.
Wonderful, bloody marvellous! Nothing like the truth to make you feel good about yourself. And she had told him so straightforwardly, as well. No attempt at all to butter him up or sugar-coat the plain unadorned fact that he had been seeking.
Staring hard at her, trying to remain calm, he said, ‘What have you told him?’
‘The truth.’ She shrugged. ‘I soon told him you were living a simple life in the Algarve, and that there was nothing at all to suggest you had much money.’
‘And he bought that?’
