“Where's Katy?”
“Zero took her.”
“What?”
Behind him, the bedroom door opened and Win peeked out, her eyes fearful.
“Win! What happened?” Tetyana asked.
Win stepped out of the room like a frightened deer. “He got her when she came out of the toilet. She couldn’t hold any longer,” she whispered. “He pulled her up there.” She pointed to the third floor.
Someone was stomping down the stairs.
We all looked up.
I lifted the gun and trained it in the direction of the sound, my feet solid, my hands steady.
“Jeezus!” Vlad jumped back when he spotted the weapon. “What the hell?”
I took two steps forward and pointed the gun squarely at his chest. He threw his hands up.
“My god, woman. What got to you?”
“Where's Katy?”
Vlad blinked.
“Bibi?” He leaned in slightly and peered at me, keeping a safe distance, hands still up in the air.
“I said, where's Katy?”
“Jeezus.” He inched backward, toward the stairs, both hands still up. “He's right. You possessed. Bejeezus fucking Christ!” He slowly moved one hand to his chest and crossed himself, one wary eye still on me.
Then, without a warning, he spun around and clambered up the stairs like a frightened monkey.
Picking up my robe with one hand and brandishing my weapon with my other, I rushed up to the attic. Behind me, I heard the others troop up the stairs.
Vlad was at the attic door when I came up. He had the look of a cornered animal, searching frantically for an escape.
“Open up, you bastard!” Vlad screeched at the door. “Your sis gone stark raving berserk.” He pounded on the door with so much vigor, I was surprised it didn’t crash open. “Oi!” he yelled, giving me a scared sidelong glance as I came up. “Let me in, you godamned idiot!”
We heard someone speak from the other side of the door. Vlad stopped the pounding. I leaned in. It was Zero’s voice, but I couldn’t make out the words.
“What?” Vlad put his ear to the door to listen. Zero mumbled something.
“Your bloody sister. Not mine!”
“Get away—Bibi—gun—” It sounded like Zero was busy with something, his voice fading when he turned away and clearer when he faced the door. I strained to listen. There wasn’t a sound from Katy.
“She possessed, I tell you!” Vlad’s voice had risen several pitches higher. “Spooking me like hell.”
“I told you!” Zero yelled from behind the door. “Crazy mad like cousin’s wife!”
Vlad looked at me warily. I stared back at him and he seemed to shrink a little.
He was three times my size and could have easily overpowered me, but I realized then, just like Zero, he was a bully. And bullies don’t do too well when they’re surprised or cornered. Their power lay in the threat of their bullets. I held that power now.
It was time to raise the stakes. With deliberate movement, I lowered the gun, pointing directly at Vlad’s groin area. He didn’t have to see my face to know I was serious.
“I tell you this house is haunted.” Vlad crossed himself.
“I come out only if Bibi not curse me.” Zero's voice came clearly now as if he was standing just on the other side of the door now.
“Curse you?” A dark vein on Vlad’s forehead was throbbing like an electric wire gone mad. “You talk about curse? She got bloody gun on my dick, you idiot!"
“Where your gun?” Zero asked.
“With you, baboon. You took it from me, remember?”
Silence.
“Help me, man!” Vlad screeched.
Zero’s voice came plaintively through the door. “But my cousin die like this.”
“Cousin?” Vlad spluttered, looking like he was about to implode. “I don't give crap about your bloody cousin! Your crazy sister's gonna riddle me with bullets and you talking about stupid cousin?”
“My cousin wife was possessed. Just like that. All nice and normal one day and he beat her when he want. But one day she turn into she-devil. Just like that. That night he choke on his blood. It was curse, I tell you. She a witch!”
Vlad looked disgusted. “Your shitty family affair is not my problem. Open goddamn door!”
I prayed that Katy was okay. Why’s she so quiet? How do I get her out safely? Tetyana was standing beside me now, surveying the door. We exchanged a quick look.
Zero’s voice through the door again. “I come out only if you tell her not curse on me, okay?”
Vlad seemed lost for words. He gave me a pleading look. I returned it with a venomous one.
“Please?” he squeaked. “Be nice, Bibi.”
I didn’t move my gun. It was getting the effect I needed and I wasn’t going to change my tactic now.
“Okay, okay,” Vlad said, crossing his chest once again. “Zero! She promise. No curse. No witching. She do anything you want.”
“I want food,” Zero said.
“Food?” Vlad’s eyes widened.
“I hungry, man. Two days now. No one take care of me anymore,” Zero moaned. “Stupid women don’t cook for me.”
“Okay, okay, what you want?” Vlad said as if talking to a child. “We give you anything you want. Anything.”
“I want chapli kebab, sajji and biriyani. I want shawarma also.”
Vlad took a deep breath. For a second, I worried I’d pushed him too far and he was about to snap. Instead, he looked at me, begging.
“Come on, Bibi, he’s your only brother. He's family. All he want is to eat. Come on.”
I glared at him. I knew exactly what kind of a brother he’d been to Bibi.
“I want burger too,” Zero was saying from behind the door. “And don’t forget chips.”
“He’s just hungry. He don’t mean anything bad.” Vlad sniveled. "Be good sis, will you? Put gun down. We can figure this out in a civilized way, you know, like family.”
Civilized? Like killing Bibi's boyfriend? Like burning Bibi’s face? Like kicking Win? Like raping and killing that girl in the warehouse?
“Also halva. I want sweets,” Zero continued. “I want Indian sweets.”
“Jeezuz. If I lose my balls, I kill you myself,” Vlad muttered to the door. “Zero! Get out. You get everything you want. Even a boy.”
I looked at him startled.
“A boy?” Zero’s voice came clearly through the door. He seemed to have perked up.
“Yes,” Vlad said. “Promise.”
“A boy?” I asked.
I glanced at Tetyana. Her face was impassive, cold. Next to her, Luc was staring at the door. A look of pain crossed his face, but when he saw me looking, he turned away. There’s something else going on here I don’t know about.
I’d never held a gun in my hands before this day, nor did I know how to use it, but I was ready to shoot every bullet in that gun on both men.
I stepped forward.
Around me, I felt the room stop breathing.
“Tell him to come out, and he'd better not have laid a finger on her,” I said in my most dangerous voice.
Vlad stared at me. “You speak English pretty good.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Dunno what got into you.” He paused and his eyes widened. “You not Bibi!”
I glared at him.
He looked me up and down and his eyes rested on my hand that held the gun. His mouth turned into an ugly smirk. “You don’t shoot that thing. You don’t know how.”
Chapter Twenty-six
The door banged open. Everyone jumped back in surprise.
Before I knew it, Tetyana grabbed the gun from me and trained it on Zero.
“Get back!” she shouted.
Vlad flattened himself against the wall.
I peered inside the attic room. It was a mess inside like a hurricane had ravaged the room.
Katy was sitting on a wooden chair next to the bed, her feet bou
nd by a rope to the chair legs, and her mouth gagged with a rag. From the broken lamp, an overturned table and Katy’s frazzled red hair standing out like a lion’s mane, I was sure she’d put up a fight. She didn’t look as fearful as much as she looked angry. Her eyes flashed furiously at Zero.
Zero stood at the doorway, pointing his gun at her head. “The girl dead if you curse me,” he said glaring at me. “You she-devil!”
The cut I’d given his nose with my pistol whipping was bigger than I thought. I noticed a new bloodied scratch just below his right eye. It must hurt because he kept blinking. Good for you, Katy.
If Zero had looked unhinged before in the kitchen, he looked like a lunatic now. His hair was askew and his face was puffier and redder. He spat on the ground. “You curse me, you will get vile death!"
Before anyone of us could make a move, he pulled the door hard and slammed it shut behind him.
“You want?” he said, shoving a rusty key in my face. “You do what I say.”
It took me a second to realize he was pointing his gun at me. I stared down the barrel. No one breathed. Not even Vlad.
“One move and I’ll blow your brains out,” Tetyana said in a low voice. She still had her gun trained on Zero.
My mind whirled between panic and shock. Is he going to shoot me? Is Tetyana going to shoot him first? What do I do?
“And I blow her brains,” Zero snarled back.
No one moved.
Without changing his aim, Zero took a step backward. Tetyana’s took a step forward. Without a warning, Zero turned and bolted down the stairs.
Vlad had been standing against the wall with his mouth open. As soon as Zero disappeared, he stepped out to run after his partner, but Tetyana was faster. She whipped the gun around at him.
“Stay right there, asshole,” she said.
With her back straight, her shoulders firm, and her legs rooted to the ground, she looked solid. She held the gun like it was the most natural thing in the world. She’d done this sort of thing before, I was sure now.
“You move one inch and I have only one decision to make,” she said, “your head or your balls.”
Vlad went white.
“On your knees!” she screamed.
He fell to his knees, hands in the air.
“That girl changed everything,” Tetyana said in a hoarse whisper.
Which girl? The girl in the yellow blouse in the warehouse?
Vlad turned away, looking ashamed. Ashamed at being called out, not because of what he did, I was sure.
Tetyana moved a step closer.
Vlad shuffled back on his knees, watching her with panicked eyes. “Aw, c’mon. Can a man have fun? Was only....”
She took another step toward him. He shuffled back again.
“You call that fun?” Tetyana bellowed so loudly, it surprised even me.
Vlad looked at the floor. His arms, held up in the air, were now trembling.
“You rat bastard!” Tetyana cracked the gun across his head so fast, we all jumped. Vlad clutched his face. A gash appeared on his forehead and blood trickled out.
I looked over at Luc and Win.
Both were staring at Tetyana, faces pale. Have they seen her like this before? It was hard to tell. I glanced behind them anxiously. Where’s Zero? He had the other gun. We couldn’t have him come back up now.
“Please don’t hit. What I done for you? I fix everything. I found Zero to help you,” he sniveled.
“That crackpot?” Tetyana’s face was firm. “Look what he’s done now.”
“Please, Tetyana.” Vlad was whimpering. “I help you when those men after you. Don’t kill me!” he howled.
Tetyana stepped back, breathing loudly, her gun hanging limp from her hand. “Oh, I don’t plan to kill you,” she said in the calmest voice that made me shiver under my robe.
“I the good guy. I’m like your brother...” He didn’t get to finish.
Tetyana’s face turned into a furious ball of fire. She raised her arm and gave another resounding whack to his head. The sound of the gun whip echoed through the house. Vlad keeled to the ground. She hit him again and again until his face was a bloodied mess. I wanted to look away, but couldn’t.
Using her heel, Tetyana gave a powerful kick to his chest. He fell flat on his back with a cry. Not wasting a second, she stamped down on his groin and ground her heel, while he screamed to high heaven. He deserved what he was getting, but it was hard to watch. When she took her foot off him, Vlad was lying on the ground curled in fetal position, tears streaming down his bloodied face.
Tetyana looked at him, her nose wrinkled as if trying to block a vulgar smell. “Don’t you ever compare yourself to my brother.”
Vlad’s life was on a very thin line. I didn’t know whether to be impressed or terrified.
“Luc,” Tetyana said, without turning her head. “Keep an eye on this man, will you?”
Luc stood to attention and almost saluted. “Will do,” he said, marching over to take her place in front of Vlad, who didn’t look like he could put up a fight now.
“We need rope,” Tetyana said stepping toward the stairs. “Stay here all of you.”
We watched as she stepped down the stairs, bracing ourselves. None of us wanted a gunfight, but that’s what we were all expecting.
“Mmmm...”
I turned around. It was Katy’s voice coming through the door.
“Katy!” I rattled the doorknob and gave a kick at it for good measure. It didn’t budge. “Katy! I’m here!”
“Mmmm....”
“It’s okay,” I shouted. “We’ll get you out soon. It’s gonna be okay!”
I turned to Luc. “Can we shoot the door down?”
He shook his head. “She’s right behind the door. It will hit her.”
“There’s no other way in?” I said, looking around desperately. “What about the window?” I asked, remembering how I broke into the house in London.
“We’ll need a really high ladder or someone who can climb like a monkey. But the cops will see us then.”
“All okay?” Tetyana was back, dragging two bedsheets behind her.
We nodded.
“Can you rip these up for me?” she asked.
After slashing the sheets into long pieces, Luc and I helped Tetyana gag and tie Vlad up. He was on his knees now, with his arms and legs twisted behind him in the most uncomfortable position.
If Tetyana had wanted to extend the pain in his groin, she couldn’t have done a better job. When we were done, she kicked him swiftly between his legs once again with a sickening sound. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. I was sure he’d fainted.
Tetyana turned to us and said, “Too bad Zero doesn’t care too much about him, or we could threaten to kill him if we don’t get the key.”
“Where’s Zero?” I asked.
“Locked himself,” she said. “In the bunk-bed room.” She looked at Luc. “You plied him with too much coke.”
Luc shrugged. “He asked for it. What am I supposed to do?”
“How do we get Katy out?” I said, trying to focus on the most important thing now.
“We don’t have a choice,” Tetyana said, with a sigh. “I can’t go blazing into his room. Too risky. We need to distract Zero to get the keys.”
“What about the police parked outside?” I now knew there were good officers and bad officers, but we had to take our chances. “Maybe they’ll help us.”
“Sure, if you want them to take us away,” Tetyana said. “You’ll never see your friend again for a very long time.”
“But why? What did we do wrong?”
Luc and Tetyana looked at me like I was crazy.
“Honey, you don’t know this business, do you?” Tetyana shook her head. “If they come, they’ll take us all to the station and lock us up for months, no questions asked. Maybe years. Gangsters pay their way out before the girls get clemency, and I can’t afford to get locked away like that. I’ve got to ge
t back to Kiev. We’re not calling the police, okay?”
I stared at her. Locked up? For years? The smuggling poster at Heathrow Airport, the one with the woman in handcuffs, flashed across my mind.
I nodded.
“Listen,” Tetyana said. “You and Luc get something that smells a lot, like fish and chips or some curry, and come back quickly. That’ll get him out of the room where I can corner him.”
“I’m not leaving Katy.”
“The police will stop Luc if he goes out by himself, but with you in that get-up with him, there’s less of a chance for that happening. I’ll hold fort here.”
I guess I had no choice.
“Hey, Win.” Tetyana wasn’t done. “I need you to do one important job for us, okay?”
“Okay,” Win said.
“I want to you to stay near the outside kitchen door and keep watch for us.”
Win nodded. “I’ll go now.”
“Not yet!”
Win spun around and looked at her with big eyes.
“Go with Asha and Luc, just in case Zero comes out. We can’t have a second hostage. Stay near the back door, got it?”
She nodded.
“If you hear Zero come down, or you hear a gunshot, or anything, I want you to run out to the street. Don’t look back. Don’t come up or stay in the house. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“What about Katy?” I asked.
“I’ll keep guard here. If Zero comes up, he’ll have to deal with me.” She looked at me squarely. “I won’t let him get to her. I promise.”
I took a deep breath. I was putting a lot of trust in these people I’d just met.
“Asha.” She gave me a pointed look. “For everyone’s safety, please don’t do anything silly, okay? Just follow Luc’s lead.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. What does she mean, “silly”?
She turned at Luc. “And get my usual prescription, will you? Make it fast. We don’t have a lot of time.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
I felt the fresh air even with the robe on.
Luc and I’d just stepped out the back door, our first foray to the outside world after two whole days of being cooped up inside. We were on a mission to find food and maybe a boy. A boy? I still wasn’t sure I’d heard that last item correctly, but I wanted to get far from the house before I asked Luc.
The Girl Who Made Them Pay Page 12
