by Sofia Grey
“It might be.” Aiden’s voice was thoughtful. “Yanni goes to Juli’s house. Later the same day, a group of foreign men raid the house and see Jack there. Then you see one of them at Gloria’s. And he may have seen you there the night before. I’m guessing the bouncer would recognise you.”
“I don’t get it.” Juli sounded bewildered. “Are you saying Papa had a connection to Gloria’s?”
“Maybe.” Aiden spoke slowly. “Or maybe they somehow traced Yanni to your house and went looking for him.”
“The men in the car park—the ones that shot at Maria.” Juli hesitated. “They must be looking for Yanni. But how would they have traced him to Charlie’s?”
“We took a cab back from Gloria’s last night. They could have followed us, or asked the cab driver.” Jack wanted to kick himself for his sloppy security measures. “Let’s assume they recognised me last night and followed us back. Once they were in the building, they’d no way of knowing exactly where Yanni was, so they waited until he reappeared. Which he did, a few hours ago.”
“It’s a safe assumption Yanni’s upset someone. His injury was severe,” said Aiden. “What if we’ve been looking at this all wrong, and Yves is just an innocent bystander after all? Yanni’s on the run from someone. The story about the girl was a smokescreen, a means of getting Maria’s sympathy so she’d set him free.”
Juli wriggled forward, leaning on the back of Tanner’s seat as she joined the discussion. “But you’ve found proof that Irina exists—went missing, even.”
Jack looked at her, and tried not to worry afresh about Maria. “If you’re right, Aiden, someone wants to kill Yanni, then Maria is in a hell of a lot more danger than we thought.”
*
Yanni set off toward Swindon, while Maria’s thoughts spun in ever decreasing circles. Juli said he lied as easily as breathing and he was very convincing. He’d spun her a lie about Jack being one of his trusted lieutenants. Juli had the uncanny ability to spot a liar at twenty paces, yet she’d believed Yanni. That was how good he was. In all probability, this was another lie.
Maria ran her tongue over dry lips. God. She’d just about kill for a coffee.
Yanni was waiting for her to speak.
The words came tumbling out. “How the hell could you have known my brother? Rico was one of the good guys. He wouldn’t have had anything to do with you.”
Yanni waited a few moments before answering. “You’ll always have blinkered vision if you persist in seeing everything as black or white. You’re missing so many shades of grey.”
“What? What the hell does that mean?” She struggled for composure. Failed. “If you’re trying to suggest Rico was in any way like you, then you are very much mistaken.”
Nothing.
She glanced out the window and saw signs for Cirencester flashing past. They were heading roughly north. “I don’t believe you. I think you’re just saying that. Juli warned me about you.”
“Yet you set me free and came willingly with me.” He glanced at her, a note of amusement in his voice. “And was shot at on the way.”
“Stop changing the subject. You say you knew him? Prove it.”
“I know you’re his sister. That he served with Jack and the cowboy. That he worked for a private security company at the time he died.”
Her anger was energising. It cleared her head. Maria refused to take any more of Yanni’s shit. “That information is available to anyone with an inside contact to the records office. You can do better than that. Oh, but you can’t, can you? Because you never met him.”
“If I tell you, what do I get in return?”
She threw her hands in the air. “In return? You have got to be joking. How about I don’t turn you in?”
He laughed. “And tell me, Maria, just how would you do that? I’ve confiscated your arsenal of weapons. I have your phone, and I’m the one in the driving seat. Any half-assed attempt to grab the wheel will result in us both getting hurt.”
He was right. She’d have to bide her time. She slumped in the seat.
“If you want to get out, I’ll happily pull over for you.” His tone was mild, and she scowled some more. She wasn’t giving him anything, not the tiniest scrap of information, even if she had to sit silently for the entire weekend.
She picked up her iPod and selected a new playlist, turning the volume to a level where they couldn’t possibly hold a conversation. There. She’d been silent for a whole fifteen minutes. He was trying to distract her, was all. To shift her focus away from him. From this situation. She had to figure out a plan.
Cirencester flashed by, then Gloucester, and then they were headed north again on a quiet road. She yawned. The gentle motion of the car was soothing. The only lights were from the dashboard and the occasional traffic they passed. Even the towns were fast asleep.
Her eyelids grew heavy.
Maria awoke with a start and the instant recognition that something was different. The car had stopped. Nirvana had given way to Red Hot Chili Peppers, with the volume minimal. She gazed around and tried to orient herself. It was pitch dark outside, complete and absolute. Swinging around wildly, she smacked a flailing hand into Yanni’s arm.
She glanced at him as he sat behind the wheel. As she rubbed her eyes, he flicked on the interior spotlight and the car lit up, painfully bright for a moment.
Maria blinked owlishly and found her voice. “Where are we?”
“We’re stopping for the night. I need to sleep.”
Her head ached, from stress or tiredness. “Yes, but where are we?”
A soft chuckle. “We’re here. Would you like to get out and take a proper look?”
“I’d like to use the bathroom. And get coffee. And a sandwich.”
“Sorry.” He sounded anything but. “I’ve bottled water and tinned fruit. I think I have crackers as well. You’ll have to pee in the bushes, though.” He flicked off the light again, then switched on a flashlight. Opening his door, he climbed out, flashing the light around him. He pulled open her door and held out a hand. “Come on. You might like it here.”
With a great deal of trepidation, she clung to his hand as he led her away from the car. Oh God. What if he murdered her here and dumped her body? Or abandoned her and drove off? She gulped and tried to pay attention, as she stumbled down a steep slope, completely disoriented in the darkness.
He tugged her to sit down on the ground next to him. “It’s a lovely warm night, and we can sleep in the back in the car, but first, I want to show you something. Sit quietly for a few minutes and let your eyes adjust to the darkness.”
The flashlight flicked off, and she gasped, squeezing his fingers for a moment.
“Shush.” His whisper was soothing in the pitch dark. “Stay quiet for a minute. I know you can do it.”
Maria had a moment of clarity. She was sitting with arms-dealer-suspected-terrorist-lying-bastard-Yanni, holding his freaking hand, while making plans to spend the night with him. He’d exerted some weird Jedi-mind-shit on her.
“I don’t like this,” she whispered into the darkness.
His fingers tightened around hers. “It’s okay. Wait.”
What the hell were they waiting for? The seventh cavalry? She shifted, impatient and anxious.
It felt like hours passed, though it was probably a few minutes.
“There. Look.”
She could make out the vague shape of his arm in front of her, pointing upwards. She followed it, to gaze at the night sky. And gasped. Hundreds, thousands, even millions of stars sparkled down from the blue-black canopy above them.
“That’s the Milky Way,” whispered Yanni. “You don’t often see it in Britain. Isn’t it spectacular?”
He’d brought her outside, to look at the stars. A wave of relief crashed over her.
She lay back on the ground, feeling gingerly beneath her head to make sure she didn’t bash it on a rock. “Where are we? This is only the third time I’ve asked.”
“S
nowdonia. We’ll rest up for a few hours.”
She digested his reply. They were in the mountains of North Wales, around three hundred miles from London. And while they were high up, Oscar’s button would transmit beautifully.
Maria smiled to herself. Maybe the cavalry wasn’t far away after all.
*
Juli listened to the frantic discussion in the car. She couldn’t stop thinking about when Yanni had apologised so profoundly about Papa, saying that if he hadn’t made friends with him, he’d still be alive. Something was missing from this picture.
It was time to interrupt. “I get that Yanni’s on the run and somehow it’s all related to Gloria’s, but how does my father fit into this? Even if everything else is speculation, the thallium poisoning was real. And somehow, Yanni knew about it.”
Aiden twisted in his seat to face her. “I’m sorry, Juli.” His voice was sympathetic. “I still think it was Yanni who gave him the poison. I just don’t understand why.”
Jack shifted in his seat. “I thought that too, but…” He trailed away.
“Go on.” Juli expected him to come up with another damning theory. But as usual, her husband surprised her.
“I don’t buy it now. Let’s say he wanted to gain Juli’s trust and get her help with something. Bringing her this news ensured she’d give him medical attention and a safe place to recover. But the thallium was administered several days before he came to Juli. Did he expect to be banged up so badly? It feels wrong. He would have come sooner with the news. As soon as he could.” Jack glanced at her, but she couldn’t read his expression in the darkness. “There’s something more. We don’t know what the hell it is.”
“Guys”—Aiden’s voice held a warning note—“we need to come off the motorway. The signal’s shifted north.”
The next two hours were stressful. The signal stayed ahead of them, transmitting strongly, but they were driving blind. SatNav was useless, since they had no idea of their destination, so Aiden and Jack navigated from maps.
They drove through the Cotswolds, a picturesque area in the daylight, but black and forbidding at night, and then struck out toward Wales.
Finally, sometime around three in the morning, they had to stop. They’d entered the Snowdonia mountain range and couldn’t get a lock on the signal, no matter how many roads they looped around. According to the software, they were a maximum of five miles away from Oscar, but finding Yanni and Maria in the pitch dark was impossible. They already knew Yanni had changed vehicle—the police found Maria’s Mini over an hour ago, and still in London. They’d no idea what kind of car they were looking for, and this tranquil area, popular with tourists, was full of cars with out-of-town number plates, campers, hikers, and holidaymakers.
Yanni and Maria could be anywhere. The only saving grace was that the signal had stopped moving.
With a shared sense of frustration, they pulled onto a car park and settled down to catch a few hours of sleep. It’d be daylight soon. If they were lucky, they might catch a break.
*
Maria settled down to sleep in the Mitsubishi, with the seats reclined and wrapped in a lightweight fleece blanket Yanni produced from a box in the back of the car. From another box came the tinned fruit and crackers he promised, along with several bottles of water. It was a strange supper, but welcome nonetheless.
“I don’t think I need to restrain you.” He sounded amused in the darkness of the car. “After all, if you wander away on foot, you’re miles from the nearest habitation and quite likely to fall down the side of the mountain.”
She shuddered. “I’m not wandering anywhere.”
“And let me remind you, if you manage to take your phone back, you’re at least ten miles from the nearest cell phone signal.”
She ignored him and burrowed deeper into her blanket, her knees tucked up beneath her.
Yanni’s breathing sounded tense and sharp. He was still awake. Was his wound giving him pain?
“Do you need your dressing changing? I could take a look at it for you.”
“Thanks. That’d be good.”
The light flicked on again, dazzling her, as he rummaged for something behind his seat. A first-aid kit. The wound was on his right side, and she couldn’t access it from where she sat.
He gazed at her, intelligent, predator eyes gleaming in his pale face. Even tired and injured like this, he was undeniably attractive. “There’s more room in the back,” he said.
They put the seats upright again, and she followed him into the back of the car. Twisting around, he lifted the shirt and T-shirt, both soaked and matted with dried blood. As least it had stopped bleeding, but the dressing was a mess. Using water from one of his bottles, she gently cleaned the area as best she could, dampening the lint dressing so that it would come away more easily. It must have hurt.
He was tense and he hissed through his teeth, but he stayed rock steady while she wiped and cleaned, then applied a fresh dressing and taped it down.
Sitting back, she admired her handiwork. “All done. You’ll live.” She stripped away the fine rubber gloves she’d been using and dropped them into a plastic bag with the old dressing and soiled cotton wool. “What should I do with this lot?”
Yanni eased his clothes back into place, slowly and gingerly. “Leave it there. I’ll burn it in the morning.” He looked at her fully now, a hint of a smile on his face. “Thanks, Maria. You did a good job.”
“I spent a couple summers volunteering at the local hospital where my Mom works.” She yawned, tired again, and shivered, feeling the chill of the early morning.
He must have noticed. “It’s colder than I thought,” he said. “We’ll be warmer if we huddle together in the back.”
“Yeah, right. That has to be the lamest pickup line I ever heard.”
This drew a snort of laughter. “No pickup intended. I know you have designs on the cowboy. I’m merely offering my body warmth.”
Another yawn, and her eyes were drooping. “Touch anything, and I’ll kick your ass.”
“Noted.” He reached for the blankets, layered them, and draped them carefully around him, lifting a corner to allow her access to crawl alongside him. After a long moment’s hesitation, she squeezed next to him. His body pumped out heat. Within minutes, she was warm and comfortable, her head resting against his shoulder, one of his arms draped around her.
She was on the verge of sleep, when he spoke softly. “He wore a neck chain. A St Christopher medal.”
Was he talking about Rico?
“Your father gave it to him when he joined the marines. He claimed it was his good-luck charm.”
Maria chose her words carefully. “Okay. You spent time with him. He wouldn’t tell just anybody about that.” She hesitated. “But how? How can you have known him?”
There was a long silence. Yanni’s arm tightened around her shoulders. “We traded information.”
“You mean you were an informant? They call them grassers here.”
“Such a harsh word. You’re missing those grey shades again. But in its simplest form, yes. I gave him information from time to time. And he returned the favour.”
Maria should ask him more, but she couldn’t keep her eyes open a minute longer.
Sunlight woke her with a pleasant bright warmth across her eyelids. She yawned and stretched. Man. While the seats may be comfortable for travelling, they sucked for sleeping on. She opened her eyes. Yanni was gone. She lay alone in the back of the car.
She looked at her watch. She’d only slept for a few hours. It wasn’t seven yet. So where was Yanni?
She stumbled out of the car, shaking her legs to get the blood flowing again. There he was, a few yards away, crouched over a tiny fire. It was cold outside. The sun was up, but it wouldn’t be warm for ages yet, so she wrapped the blankets around her and wandered over to take a look. He’d laid stones in a circle to contain it, all very neat and safe.
She tugged the blankets more tightly against the cold. “
Please tell me you’re going to brew coffee on that?”
He turned around to smile at her. “Already done.” He gestured towards a flask on the ground. “As long as you don’t mind it black.”
“As long as it’s coffee, I don’t care how it comes.” She peered into the fire. He poked at something with a stick. “What are you burning?”
“The swabs and dressing, and my shirt. I don’t want to leave them lying around.”
“Oh. Okay.” That made sense, even to her sleep fogged brain. He must carry spare clothing along with the blankets and emergency food supplies.
She poured coffee, inhaled the aroma and drank it greedily. She couldn’t help noticing the view. In daylight, she saw they’d parked in a small area just off a narrow winding road—hardly more than a track. All around were mountains, with the sea glistening a shimmering blue in the far distance.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Yanni stepped up beside her, sipping his coffee. “But we need to get moving. I’ll make the fire safe, and then we’ll set off. I suggest you pee behind those bushes.” He grinned. “I promise I won’t look.”
Ten minutes later, he was navigating down the roughest of tracks, a sheer drop on one side, toward a winding ribbon of a road far below.
For once, Maria stayed absolutely silent, petrified that he’d be distracted and drive them over the edge. It was a terrifying thought that he’d driven up here last night, with only the car headlights to guide them.
And something else was scaring her, nibbling away at her self-control. Yanni had not only disposed of his bloodstained shirt and fleece, but his jeans as well. He now wore black combat, trousers and if she was right, that had been a scrap of denim she’d seen in the fire.
Chapter Fourteen
By the time dawn broke, Jack was itching to move. The sun rose, and light spilled across the mountains, and if the circumstances had been different, Jack would have held Juli’s hand and admired the views unfolding around him.
Not today, though. The tracker appeared to be stationery, and this was good news. If Yanni was really meeting someone on Saturday, it made sense for him to hole up somewhere for the day. And this was an ideal location.
