“And you think I did it?”
“Didn’t say that. Let’s just say you are a person of interest and leave it at that. Not that many blondes in this part of the world. You match the description perfectly, and you drive a white pickup. Of course if you really were in Porodin last night, there should be some witnesses to corroborate your story.”
Alina shook her head. “Sorry. I kept pretty much to myself. Just drove around and took in the town before heading down here. I heard this place is lovely, and it is. I’m very impressed. I might even stay a couple of days before moving on.”
“That would be nice, Alina. I’d like that.”
Goran rose, laid a few marks on the table, and left.
Alina watched him go, stunned by the sudden dismissal. She had not been aware how tense she was. Had he noticed? Was he really onto her? She had to admit that eyewitness account was pretty damning. She should have listened to Hugo and been more careful.
She sat about ten more minutes and finished her drink. She was not sure if he was still watching and she wanted to play it cool. She used the time to go over their conversation in her head. Had she said the right things? Was there a hole in her lies?
She rose and went to her room. She closed the door and leaned against it. Only then did she take a full breath again. She paced the room. This was bad. Real bad. He would tail her, of that, she was certain. That would make things difficult.
She turned and strode in the opposite direction. She would have to lose him, but how? First, she would have to know what car was following her. She turned again. No, that would be bad. Trying to ditch the police would be a sure sign of guilt. She had to play it just right. Let them follow her. Yes, that’s it. Show them she had nothing to hide. It might take a few more days, but Gamic was not going anywhere—she hoped.
Her mind made up, she felt more at ease. She lay down to think things through again. The next thing she knew it was morning. She got up and rubbed her bleary eyes. Yawning, she looked at her watch. Eleven o’clock. She shook her head. Half the day was already gone.
She took a quick shower and dressed in the same faded jeans and yellow T-shirt, then headed for the lobby. Goran was waiting for her.
“You sleep late,” he said. “If you want to see our fair city, then you need to see the dawn.”
She nodded quickly. “Yes, yes, I’ll do that. Maybe tomorrow. Is there anything you need?”
“Actually, there is. You see, I know you want a tour of the town, so I thought I’d give you one.”
She looked at him, a slight tilt to the head, watching him with a bemused smile. “A tour of the town...is that all?”
“Oh, well, and maybe dinner after?”
Alina shook her head and headed for the door. “Not today, Captain Romeo. I’d like to be alone, if you don’t mind.”
Goran grabbed her arm as she passed by. “Yes, I mind.”
Alina stopped and looked at his hand, at him, and then at his hand again.
He let go. “I’m sorry. That was rude.”
“Yes, and it ruined whatever chances you had at dinner,” she said as she continued toward the door. “I’m sure you’re going to follow me anyhow. Can’t stop you there, but I don’t know what you are looking for. I just plan to do a little shopping, maybe stop by a butcher shop on the way back and cook dinner in the room. It has a small stove. Won’t be much to see.”
“Maybe I can join you then?”
“No.”
As she left, she could feel his eyes still staring after her.
As Alina walked to her pickup, she noticed two men in a black car watching her. She glared at them. They did not avert their gaze. She turned back to look at the hotel front entrance to see the young captain waving at her with a smile.
She opened the pickup’s door and got in. How could she complete her mission with cops following her every move? She hated to be so close to her objective, hated that she had come all this way only to be denied. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. Take control of the situation. That is what Hugo taught her. Always be in control, for as soon as you are not, someone else will be.
There was no way around it. She had a plan, now work the plan. She would have to spend most of the day sightseeing and shopping, but there could be worse things to do. Problem was there really was not that much to see in Leskovac. A few ancient relics, some older buildings, a nice park, but then the list ran thin. There were, however, a few modern shopping stores.
She had just started the engine when it struck her: Goran had stayed behind at the hotel. He must have known she would not let him take her around the city. That is why he had his men stake out the car. He was probably in her room right now, going through her stuff.
Alina smiled. It is a good thing she had the foresight to hide the gun and knives. As long as he did not look in the bottom of the potted plant outside her door, she would be okay. She pulled out of the parking lot with the black car in tow.
“Okay, guys, let’s go for a ride,” she said, looking in the rear view mirror.
She spent the rest of the day driving around town and the countryside. She feigned interest in particular sculptures or buildings and stopped to admire them. Every time she stopped, the men stopped with her.
She eventually ended up at the park and got out to walk around. She noticed the men stayed in the car. Alina noted the park, with woodlands surrounding it, would make the perfect place to kill Gamic and hide his body. The police did not follow her there.
At about 3:00 that afternoon, she went to the first butcher shop on her list. She walked in. A man in a dirty apron said, “May I help you?”
“Do you know Edib Gamic?” she said.
“Edib? I don’t know anyone by that name.”
“Oh, okay. Sorry to bother you.”
Without another word, she left, leaving the man with a bewildered look on his face. She knew she could not chance going to another butcher shop right away. She had to kill more time, so she went to the shopping district.
Her first stop was for groceries. This time, the men followed her inside. She browsed up and down the aisles, buying just the bare essentials for her meal that night. Afterward, she went to a lingerie store.
“Let’s see the limit of your endurance,” she said with a smile as she watched them in the mirror. She was toying with them now. As she suspected, they hesitated at the front door, talked with each other, and then returned to the car.
Alina looked for a second way out of the store. She found a back door and took it. Sneaking around to the front corner, she saw the men, their eyes glued to a seductive mannequin in the window. Taking her chance, she turned her back and walked down the street. She found a phone booth and called the second store on her list.
There was no Edib Gamic there.
She hung up and was about to call the next store when there was a knock on the window. It was one of the police officers.
“What are you doing?”
“Making a call. You know, put in your money and punch the buttons? I’m sure you’ve done it before.”
“Who are you calling?”
“That’s none of your business. Your job is just to tail me, not to interrogate my life.”
“Captain Bratislav said we should keep an eye on you. You shouldn’t have snuck out the back like that.”
“Bratislav, is it?” She smiled. “No wonder he didn’t want to give me his last name.”
She hung up the phone and returned to her car. By now, it was 4:00. Time for one more butcher shop.
This time she hit pay dirt.
Alina recognized him the moment she saw the scar on his cheek. It ran down the side of one eye and disappeared into his beard, which he still wore long and uncombed. He looked just like she remembered.
Steeling her nerve, she went to the counter and ordered a steak—after all, she did need to eat. After paying, she said, “Thank you, Edib.”
He looked at her sharply. “Do I know you?”
/> She left without an answer.
When she arrived back at her hotel room, everything had been rearranged, just as she expected. She immediately went to work cooking her steak and planning her next move. If she could find a way to sneak out tonight, she could follow Edib home—but that was going to be hard if not impossible. Captain Bratislav was sure to have her under twenty-four hour surveillance.
She flipped the steak with a fork and opened one of the drawers, searching for a knife. Not finding one, she went to the door to retrieve one of her own. She opened it a crack and looked down the hall. All clear. Stepping outside, she was just lifting the potted plant when she heard footsteps on the stairs. Quickly, she replaced the plant. She looked up to see Edib Gamic staring right at her!
Alina retreated into the room and locked the door. She looked around, searching for something to use as a weapon. The door burst open in a shower of splintered wood.
“So, you’ve come back for me, eh?” Edib said.
“Why shouldn’t I? After what you did to me and my family, you deserve to die.”
“It’s not me who’s going to die tonight,” Edib replied. He turned to put the broken door back into place. “Frankly, I’m surprised you lived.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot.”
She rushed him while his back was turned, jumping to hit him with both feet. She kicked hard, smashing his face into the door. Landing on one foot she knelt, spun, and swiped his legs. Edib dropped, hitting the floor hard on his back. Alina was beside him in an instant, throwing three backhanded elbows to his face in quick succession. Then she was up, kicking him in the head with the tow of her boot.
Edib rolled from the blow but then turned into her, catching her foot and pulling hard. Alina fell awkwardly, catching herself at the last instant with one hand. Frantically, she kicked herself free, hitting both his face and hands, cutting him above his right eye. She then sprang to her feet and raced for the stove, reaching for the fork. Her fingers came up short as Edib grabbed her trailing foot and pulled. Alina went down. He was on her in a second. He grabbed the back of her hair and slammed her face into the floor. Alina grunted from the pain then rolled onto her back before he could pin her down. Edib fell on her, both hands wrapped around her neck.
She lifted both limber legs up and interlocked them around his head. Then she pulled down hard, arching his back. His hands came free. Never releasing her leg lock, she wrapped them around his throat and squeezed. Edib gasped for air. He raised a fist, but she leaned back and avoided the blow. He thrashed about wildly, but he could not break the deadly grip of her strong legs.
His hand chanced upon a shard of wood from the door. He grabbed it and stabbed the side of her leg. Alina yelped. Despite her desperation to hold on, her grip weakened. Edib pried himself free. Then both were up.
Alina pulled the splinter from her leg and flung it at him. It bounced off his heaving chest. He came at her. She backed off, limping. Slowly, they circled each other, both looking for a weakness in the other’s defense.
He tried a front leg kick but missed as Alina stepped to the side and did a swooping, roundhouse kick to his head. Edib ducked, then tried to grab her boot, but Alina was too fast. She pulled up short, spun, and landed a stiff side kick to the head.
Edib’s face flushed. Blood now flowed from his nose and the cut above his eye, matting his scraggly beard. His thick lips tightened. His hands, once loose, now balled into tight fists. He tried a right cross, which Alina avoided. She landed a stiff uppercut to his diaphragm. He gasped. Alina followed up with a crossing left to his slackened jaw. That rocked Edib on his heels but only seemed to enrage him more.
He came at her fast with a flurry of lefts and rights. Alina dodged down, back, and to the side, her quick reflexes affording her to avoid each blow; but it was only a matter of time before one of those powerful fists landed—and then it would all be over.
Alina’s retreating defense backed her toward the corner of the room. She was running out of space to maneuver. The wall was just a few meters behind her. She had to get around him somehow. She spied a vase on the dresser beside her and picked it up. Edib smiled at the puny defense.
Alina returned the smile, then spun and tossed the vase through the window. The glass shattered followed by the sound of the vase crashing onto a car parked below. The car alarm began blaring, the steady beating rhythm of its horn the only noise as the two squared off once more.
Edib stopped his advance and looked at the broken window, then at his watch. Wiping the blood from his eye, he rushed her again.
Alina waited, crouching. When he got close enough, she dropped low and kicked him in the knee. Edib bent forward. Alina powered a fist into his unprotected face. She rose and landed a hard left to the side of his jaw. Then she skirted around him, giving herself her more room.
Edib stayed where he was, holding his knee and jaw, facing away.
Alina attacked.
She jumped on his back and wrapped an arm around his neck. Grasping his forearm with the other hand, she squeezed his throat as hard as she could. Edib grabbed backward at her face, her hair, anything to gain leverage, but Alina’s position afforded her maximum protection. She evaded his every effort.
In a surprise move, Edib somersaulted to the floor. As he ducked down, it exposed Alina’s head to take the full impact, breaking her grip. The room reeling, she flopped onto the floor beneath him.
The car alarm continued to blare.
Edib pulled Alina to her feet. She tried getting away and made it halfway before he snaked an arm around her neck. Her back to him, Alina pushed with both feet, running backward and slamming him against the rear wall. She powered an elbow to his ribs. She hit him again, repeatedly pounding his side beneath the arm that threatened to choke the life from her. Slowly, his grip weakened. She managed to get a hand beneath his arm, allowing herself to gasp a quick breath. Then she lifted a foot and launched off the wall. With sheer strength and determination, she carried the brute across the room. She grabbed his arm with both hands and ducked down, pulling him over her head. He landed on the bed, bounced, and smashed into the kitchen cabinet on the other side. Both drawers opened on impact.
Alina straightened, gulping air into her starved lungs.
When Edib rose, he glanced at an open drawer and found the steak knife. He grabbed it, holding the blade down, and attacked once more.
He jumped onto the bed and sprang toward her. The knife plunged for her chest. Alina dodged left, barely avoiding the gleaming steel. He wheeled, cutting a thin line above her breast. Alina backed further left, circling behind him, but tripped onto the bed. Edib was on her in an instant.
With wild eyes, he plunged the blade at her heart. Alina managed to grab his knife hand with both hands and hold it at arm’s length. They fought for control. Alina was strong, but Edib’s sheer weight was slowly winning. The tip crept ever closer to her chest.
Alina’s strength waned. She could not kick because he straddled her legs, pinning her down. She could not use her other arm to attack as she needed both hands just to hold the knife tip aloft. The point of the blade touched her skin. She screamed in pain.
Suddenly, the door burst off its broken hinges.
Alina looked up to see Captain Bratislav pull his 9mm and fire three times. All three shots hit their mark. Edib looked down at his chest. Blood seeped through his skintight shirt. He came off Alina and was about to throw the knife when Goran fired twice more. One slug smashed into Edib’s forehead. The big thug staggered. His eyes rose to the top of his head, and then he fell atop Alina.
Exhausted, she pushed the dead body off her and rose to a sitting position, breathing heavily.
“I never thought I would be so glad to see you,” she said.
“Well, what did you think I’d do after you threw that vase on top of my car?”
“Yes, I’m...I’m sorry about that.”
He waved her off. “What’s going on here?”
“What’s it
look like? This man broke into my room and tried to kill me. He would have succeeded had you not shown up,” Alina said, exasperated. Then, more softly, she added, “Thank you, by the way. I owe you my life.”
Goran stepped to her side of the bed and moved the knife away from Edib’s hand. “You can pay me back by telling me who you are and why this man would want to kill you.”
Alina sighed. There was no getting around it now. She had to tell him everything. “Remember the family you told me about in Bosnia that was murdered by a bunch of Serbs during the war?”
“Yes.”
“I’m the girl who survived. This man’s name was Edib Gamic. He was one of the men who raped me and killed my family. I saw him at the butcher store when I stopped to get some meat.”
She suddenly noticed a burning odor. She walked to the stove and turned it off. So much for dinner, she thought.
“Is that why you came here, to kill him?” he said.
Alina nodded.
“And what about Mirko Halilovic? Did you kill him?”
“Yes. He was one of the gang, too.” She peered at him through disheveled hair. “Are you going to arrest me now?”
Goran shook his head. “On the contrary. I think this country owes you a big favor. That band of outlaws put a black mark on the Serbian good name.”
“Well, they deserved to die for what they did.”
“I agree with you. That bunch killed my father, too.”
Alina stared at him, her head tilted with a confused frown.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Goran continued, “those cutthroats killed Serbians too. Didn’t matter what country they were in. It was all in the name of ethnic cleansing. My family was one of the unlucky.”
“They killed your family? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know who you really were. To me, you were a mysterious woman who looked suspicious in a murder case, but I had no proof. Plus, I had no idea Halilovic was one of them.
“I heard a little girl survived that assault in Brčko. When you told me that was where you are from, I got my hopes up. I always wanted to meet that girl who wouldn’t die. And there’s no way someone can grow up there and not hear what happened. It was a long shot, I admit, but I hoped maybe it was you.” He examined the dead body. “I’ve been looking for these men most of my life. How did you ever find Mirko, or Gamic for that matter?”
Alina's Revenge Page 4
