Run for Home

by Dan Latus

  A big black car eased through the archway. The Jaguar again. So it was them. There was scarcely time to register the fact before the front tyres hit the stinger and popped. The front end of the car slumped onto the snow.

  He stared hard at the car. Darkened windows. He couldn’t see through them. Was she in there?

  Both front doors opened: Jackson and Murphy again. They appeared, one on each side of the car, guns in hand, looking around, on full alert. Jackson stepped to the front of the car, saw what the problem was, and wheeled around with a warning shout to Murphy.

  Harry stayed where he was, behind a stone pillar. As yet, they didn’t know where the attack was coming from, or if indeed one was coming at all – and he didn’t know if they had brought Lisa. He grimaced. He hadn’t anticipated this situation.

  Jackson started to move in his direction.

  ‘Stop right there, Jackson! No further forward. You too, Murphy!’

  ‘Gibson!’ Jackson said, not fazed at all.

  ‘Have you got the girl?’

  ‘What girl’s that?’

  He could see them both. Murphy was edging sideways round the back of the Jaguar, while Jackson did the talking. He needed to stop Murphy moving.

  ‘Murphy!’

  Jackson edged forward another step. Harry fired, and missed. Jackson returned fire and dived back behind the car.

  A bullet whined off the pillar. Murphy’s contribution.

  Then Lenka opened up from somewhere in the archway, forcing both men to scramble for shelter at the front of the car.

  Harry grimaced and spat into the snow. Stalemate. And he still didn’t know if they had brought Lisa.

  He heard a vehicle approaching at speed, powering up the hill, sirens blaring and flashing lights brightening the evening sky. The archway was suddenly full of noise and light. A police car edged into view: city police. Initially on a routine visit, he guessed, but then responding to the sound of gunshots as dusk fell across the city.

  Two uniformed men got out of the car, weapons in hand. A radio crackled. Orders were shouted by megaphone as the cops moved alongside the Jaguar. Risky for them, but the shooting had stopped. Too late for Jackson and Murphy to press on. They would have to resort to being outraged diplomats.

  There were other figures moving about in the background now, attracted by the commotion. Vyšehrad was apparently not as deserted as it had seemed. A group of figures stumbled down the road from the school, one of them using crutches. A woman, somewhere, began screaming.

  Harry moved out from behind the pillar, preparing to explain himself. Then a rear door of the Jaguar opened and a small form emerged, straightened and ran towards him.

  ‘Tati! Daddy!’

  His heart skipped. She was here! He gasped and dashed forward. He met her halfway, scooped her up in his arms and ran through the archway.

  Lenka called to him, and led off down a narrow path deep in snow. He ran after her, Lisa secure in his arms.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The snow was deep on the hillside, in places waist-deep. They ploughed through it at breakneck pace, Lenka leading the way. Lisa clung to Harry like a marsupial pup, eyes tight shut and gripping hard.

  He glanced over his shoulder a couple of times. There was no pursuit – yet!

  Keep going, keep going!

  On a particularly steep section, he slipped, crashed onto his back and slid out of control until he thudded into a tree. Lisa yelped with fright. He held tight on to her.

  Lenka yelled a query. He had no breath left. He just waved her on and struggled back to his feet.

  He guessed she was leading them back to the shelter. It was close and it had everything they needed; most of all, it offered security, if only they could reach it.

  Lower down the hillside, it was night now, and would have been quite dark but for the light from street lamps reflecting from the snow. Their pace slowed, but they kept going. There was no halt until they reached the entrance to the shelter.

  Lenka stopped, glanced around and then opened the door. As he stumbled inside, he saw her going backwards, sweeping away their tell-tale footprints from the snow. He let her do it. His arms were killing him. But when Lisa opened her eyes and looked at him, he could have carried her back up the hill and down again once more.

  It was wonderfully warm in the shelter, even more so in the room they had used previously. He hadn’t realized until then how cold he had got up on the hill. It had been a long wait, up there in the snow.

  He stooped to set Lisa down on a bunk bed, but she wouldn’t let go. Gently, he teased her fingers loose, soothing her with kisses and gentle words.

  ‘How is she?’ Lenka asked anxiously as she entered the room.

  He wasn’t sure. He straightened up, his eyes never leaving Lisa’s. She stared at him without expression for a few more moments. Then her eyes came to life and she began to smile. He smiled back, relieved, almost overwhelmed.

  ‘I was going to say traumatized,’ he said softly over his shoulder to Lenka, ‘but that’s wrong. She’s fine, I think.’

  He stooped to kiss the little girl again. Lisa laced her arms around his neck, ignoring his protests. ‘I knew you would come for me,’ she said happily, shyly. ‘I just knew!’

  ‘Of course you did. Of course I would. How are you, sweetheart?’

  ‘Hot,’ she said, starting to unfasten her coat. ‘Now I am.’

  He smiled and turned back to Lenka. ‘Thank you,’ he said, hugging her, too. ‘You were wonderful.’

  ‘We were lucky,’ she said simply.

  And he knew that to be true. The plan, such as it was, would have stalled in its tracks if the police officers had not appeared when they did, and even earlier if Lenka hadn’t taken it upon herself to open fire on Murphy.

  He shook his head at the memory of the crazy scene up there.

  ‘I couldn’t believe it when the police arrived. How lucky was that? I’d thought the place was deserted.’

  ‘It would have been if I hadn’t called them.’

  He stared at her.

  ‘I guessed we might need backup. Those were not ordinary police officers, Harry. They were some of my colleagues, and eager to take part. We’re all tired of foreigners creating havoc on our sovereign territory.’

  He shook his head with astonishment.

  ‘Thank you again – even more!’

  ‘Now, young lady,’ Lenka said, brushing past him. ‘What would you like? Something to eat and drink?’

  Lisa smiled uncertainly. Then she frowned and looked round with wide-open eyes, as if seeing the place for the first time.

  ‘Where are we?’ she asked dubiously.

  ‘A safe place,’ Lenka assured her. ‘We are inside a mountain. No one can reach us here.’

  The eyes opened even wider. ‘Inside a mountain? Wow!’

  ‘It is a very secret place. You must not tell anyone about it.’

  Lisa shook her head with a silent promise. ‘Do they have hot chocolate here?’ she asked.

  ‘Possibly. Would you like some?’

  Lisa nodded.

  ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

  Lenka turned away. She poured water from a plastic bottle into a kettle and put the kettle on a camping stove to heat. Then she began to search the shelves for hot chocolate powder.

  ‘Coffee, Harry?’

  He nodded appreciatively and sat down, holding Lisa close. Just then, he really wasn’t capable of much more, and he didn’t want to do anything else anyway.

  Lisa seemed unharmed. That was something to be grateful for. A lot, actually. Perhaps she would carry unfortunate memories in her head for a while, but otherwise she seemed fine. To Jackson and Murphy, she would have been of little consequence. They had not hurt her deliberately but they would have snuffed her out, as well as him, without concern when the time came. That thought made the present moment seem even more precious.

  Lisa took the mug of hot chocolate and sipped cautiously until she had
established that it was to her liking. Lenka gave Harry a complicit smile. He winked. All was well in their cave. As Lenka had said, they had been lucky. It made a welcome change.

  Only their watches gave any indication of the passage of time, but pass it did. A couple of hours later, Lenka looked outside and returned to say that the wind had got up and it was snowing heavily again. There was no need for her to add that it would be best to remain where they were for the night.

  Lisa was excited, understandably so, but eventually she grew tired and struggled to keep her eyes open. They put her to bed in a sleeping bag on the bottom bunk, where they were sitting. As long as she could see and feel her father’s presence, she seemed content. She soon fell asleep, and even began to snore.

  Lenka chuckled. ‘Just listen to her!’

  Harry smiled back. ‘A regular little old lady, isn’t she?’

  ‘You’re lucky to have her, Harry. I’m so glad we were able to rescue her.’

  ‘It was a worrying situation,’ he admitted.

  ‘If you had gone to the meeting as they wanted, we wouldn’t be sitting here now.’

  There was no need to say anything in response. The reality was inescapable.

  He nodded agreement. ‘By the way, I think I know what those discussions at the embassy are about. And it might explain why the decision was taken to eliminate Unit 89.’

  ‘Go on,’ she said, curious.

  He told her. He told her about the looming gas crisis, particularly in Britain.

  ‘It’s enough, isn’t it?’ she said wearily. ‘It would be just like the Russians to seize the opportunity to press their advantage. I wonder what else they have demanded.’

  He shook his head. ‘Probably a long list of things. They could demand almost anything right now. The potential consequences of the country not having enough power don’t bear thinking about.

  ‘What are half a dozen lives, already sworn to defend Queen and country,’ he added bitterly, ‘compared with that catastrophe in waiting?’

  Lenka nodded. ‘I used to think,’ she said wearily, ‘that lives lived in the shadows, like ours, were worthwhile.’

  ‘And now?’

  ‘Now I no longer know. We don’t seem to achieve much.’

  That about summed it up for him, too. Especially in recent years. What good had Unit 89 done? What did it matter that there were Russian spies in central Europe? And what difference would it make now that Unit 89 was no longer there to watch them?

  ‘Well, I’ve made up my mind,’ he said. ‘I’m out of it now. I can’t stop them coming after me, but I’m going to make damned sure they don’t find me – us, I mean,’ he added, nodding towards Lisa. ‘There are limits to the sacrifices I’m prepared to make, and I’m way past them already.’

  Lenka made more coffee. She handed him his mug and sat back down beside him.

  ‘I won’t ask what you will do now, Harry – in future, I mean. It’s too soon. You are welcome to stay here for a little while, but in the morning I must leave you. I am wanted elsewhere,’ she added with a wry shrug.

  ‘Of course.’

  Tomorrow? He hadn’t given it a moment’s thought. Today had been spent living minute by minute. And right now, he didn’t want the present ever to end.

  ‘I’ll let you know what I’m doing,’ he said. ‘I’ll find a way of letting you know.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said with a nod.

  They sat in a companionable silence for a little while then, listening to Lisa snore, and thinking about snow and, in his case, wondering about one or two things.

  ‘How did you know it was Lisa?’ he asked.

  ‘What?’

  ‘When her picture came up on TV, how did you know it was her?’

  ‘I wondered if that would bother you,’ she said with a sad smile.

  ‘It did, rather.’

  He waited for her answer. The question suddenly seemed important again.

  ‘I have a life, Harry, and I have a job. And Marika was a colleague, as well as a friend. Of course I knew it was Lisa.’

  He suddenly felt naïve. She would have seen photos. There must be more information on file than he had assumed. He felt a bit flat, let down. She could have told him.

  ‘Do you understand?’ Lenka added. ‘Some things I can’t tell you, even now.’

  He nodded wearily. ‘I was just surprised.’

  ‘Don’t let it come between us, Harry.’

  ‘No, of course not.’

  At least she had dispelled an awkward doubt that had been troubling him under the surface, and would almost certainly have come back to haunt him when all the excitement had died away.

  ‘Lenka, there’s something else I haven’t asked you yet, something more personal. Are you alone now? I mean, do you live alone?’

  She shook her head. ‘I live with Stefan,’ she said. ‘We have been together for a little while, and things seem to be good.’

  ‘Is he from … our world?’

  ‘Definitely not, thank God!’

  With a little chuckle, she added, ‘He has business interests, and they take him away from home a lot. He is away at the moment, actually, which is convenient for me.’

  ‘What does Stefan think you do for a living?’

  ‘Oh, he knows nothing about all this. He just thinks I’m a desk-bound civil servant, and I take care not to tell him any different. For the moment, that is. Perhaps I will tell him one day, if we stay together.’

  Harry nodded. ‘I don’t blame you. That’s the best way to keep it.’

  ‘It’s not like with you and Marika.’

  No.’

  She was right, he thought. It wasn’t. But those days had come to an end, a long time ago.

  ‘Thanks again for all you’ve done, Lenka. You’ve been wonderful. I do know you have your own life to lead, and I’ve taken you away from it.’

  ‘As I keep saying, Harry, Marika was my friend. You are my friend, too, and now so is Lisa.’

  He could think of nothing worth saying to that. He just took her hand and gently squeezed.

  Chapter Nineteen

  ‘What did he say?’ Murphy asked after Jackson had put the phone down.

  ‘He wanted to know who he had with him, who else was doing the shooting.’

  ‘What did you tell him?’

  Jackson shook his head wearily. ‘I told him we had no idea. It was dark. The shots were coming from inside the archway. We couldn’t see who it was. He wasn’t best pleased.’

  ‘Fuck him!’ Murphy said.

  ‘You want to tell him that?’

  Murphy smouldered.

  ‘So we have new orders,’ Jackson said, trying to be diplomatic.

  ‘What – look for them?’

  Jackson shook his head. ‘We’re running out of time. He wants us to quit pussy-footing around and go for the jugular. We’re authorized to ask people where Gibson is. We can use whatever pressure is necessary.’

  ‘That might work,’ Murphy said thoughtfully. ‘That’s a lot better.’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Better than riding around the city looking for him.’

  ‘I should say so.’ Jackson grinned. ‘It could be all over by tomorrow night.’

  ‘Amen to that!’

  Chapter Twenty

  The next morning Lenka left early, before Lisa was awake.

  ‘Say goodbye to her for me, Harry.’

  ‘Of course. And before you ask, I still don’t know what we’re going to do yet, or where we’re going to go. We’ll have some breakfast together, and then. …’ He shrugged. ‘Whatever we do, we’ll do it together.’

  ‘Of course. Take her far away from here, Harry. Make a fresh start.’

  He smiled. ‘We’ll see. And you? What will you do?’

  ‘Revert to normal. Go back to what I usually do.’

  He wondered if there would be any problems for her resulting from yesterday’s shenanigans, but decided not to ask. She would just have to handl
e them if there were, and he knew she was well capable of that. Anyway, there was nothing useful he could do, and he wasn’t even going to try. His priority was Lisa.

  ‘Take care, Harry!’

  ‘And you.’ He smiled. ‘Thanks again, Lenka.’

  After Lenka had left, he rooted around and found some bits and pieces for breakfast. Nothing fresh of course, but a surprisingly wide choice of things in packets and tins. Lisa, when she awoke, declared a preference for macaroni cheese of all the options available. So he had that, too. And coffee; Lisa chose orange juice. It was like being on holiday.

  ‘Now, young lady,’ he said while they ate, ‘how are you this fine morning?’

  She beamed him an answer and kept on eating.

  Afterwards, he was content to sit back for a while and get to know his daughter all over again. For security reasons – hers – he had never seen a lot of her. It had seemed safer to keep well away. Besides, looking after a young girl didn’t fit well with how he lived.

  Marika – happy as she had been at the prospect, and then the reality, of parenthood – had known that too. ‘We will manage,’ she had declared.

  And so they had, for a time. Then the roof had fallen in. Marika had been killed when a truck crushed her little car on the highway from Prague to Brno. It had probably been a simple accident, though in their line of work few believed in such things. After that, he had taken the baby to Babička, and had seen her only occasionally from that day on.

  He shook his head impatiently. No point going there now. Sadly, Marika was long gone, and Lisa was a proper little going concern. He had to live in the present.

  Relaxed, he watched with amusement as Lisa roamed around their refuge, exploring with eyes and fingers, and providing a running commentary on everything that came to her attention. He felt they were safe here. The world was at bay. They had food, water, heat. They could stay here forever, if needs be. Well, nearly.

  ‘Daddy? Where are the windows? I want to see the snow.’

  Ah! Perhaps the magic of their seclusion was wearing thin already. Lisa had exhausted the possibilities of their room in the nuclear shelter.