DON'T LOOK DOWN

by Barbara Scott Emmett

  Eighty-seven

  ‘You think I didn’t see you, Lauren?’ Viktor grabbed her collar in one fist and lifted her off her feet, swinging around her to face him. He flicked on a torch and shone it into her eyes. ‘I saw you from the car. Tottering up the path. Did you think you were invisible?’

  Blinded by the beam of light, Lauren swiped at him but her outstretched arms were a fraction short of his face. The fingertips of her leather gauntlets brushed his cheeks, his nose, and he laughed without humour.

  ‘Lauren, Lauren.’ He screwed her collar tighter and she gagged as the zip bit into her throat. ‘How amusing it was. Watching you struggle up that icy path.’ Lifting the visor of her helmet with the rubber torch, he brought her face close to his. Torchlight glittered in his yellow eyes.

  Animal, Lauren thought. Eyes like an animal. Except that was insulting to innocent creatures. Twisting away from the glare, she kicked out. Viktor chuckled at her efforts. He held her so her toe tips barely touched the ground and she jerked and danced like a corpse at the end of a rope.

  ‘What a pity you didn’t look behind you. You might have noticed me coming back up after you. Of course, once you were on your way up it would have made no difference. You were dead from the moment you began that climb.’

  Jesus. Jesus God. Lauren swung herself forward crashing her knee into his groin. Viktor grunted but the blow barely penetrated his bulky clothes. Cursing, he shook her like a rat and slammed her into the cave wall. Her helmet rang against the rock, her neck clicked with the impact. Cold beads of sweat broke on her forehead as nausea swept through her.

  Dazed, Lauren sprawled against the damp wall, pinioned hard against jagged rocks as Viktor squeezed the air out of her. He twisted her collar so tight she felt like her head was expanding. Winded, gagging for breath, her legs gave under her and she would have fallen but for the pressure of Viktor’s grip. She fought for control of herself, bracing her feet on the rock floor, willing her trembling legs to steady.

  He yanked her away from the wall and her neck whiplashed again as he spun her to face him. Dropping the torch he squeezed her throat with both hands. The torch rolled over the uneven ground painting patterns of amber light across the cave; rolling in a circle, it caught them both in its spotlight before it once more spun away. Viktor dug his thumbs deep into her throat, grunting with the effort. She felt his breath on her face, smelled garlic and Schnapps, and caught a last glimpse of his bared teeth, his yellow eyes, as the light receded. Clinging to consciousness, she prayed for deliverance, prayed for the impossible.

  It couldn’t end like this. Her life was short, too short, and speeded up like a film on fast forward.

  ~

  If the figure that rose out of the shadows made any sound, that sound was drowned out by the clang of Lauren’s helmet hitting the cave wall. Viktor neither heard nor saw the movement behind him, neither heard nor saw the rock that crashed down on the back of his head. A look of surprise flickered in his eyes and his fingers released Lauren’s throat with a seeming reluctance.

  As he slid down, his face brushed her breasts, her abdomen. His unconscious body knelt for a second, face nestled into her groin, before it keeled over sideways. After a moment Lauren slid down the wall and joined him.

  ‘Lauren?’ Katti’s voice was breathy, strained. ‘Is that you? Oh God, babes. What’s he done to you?’ She sank down beside Lauren.

  ‘Katti? Sweet Jesus.’ Lauren’s voice was hoarse, rusty. She gulped in some air, her head slowly clearing. ‘Are you okay?’ Her throat was raw. She still felt the pressure of Viktor’s thumbs on her trachea, could imagine the plum-shaped bruises.

  ‘Can you loosen my hands?’ Katti held up her wrists. They were bound with wire. She swayed towards Lauren. ‘Sorry, babes. Bit dozy. Just came to.’

  Lauren pulled off her helmet and gauntlets and propped Katti up, fumbling with the wire, twisting it until she got it free.

  ‘I wasn’t sure if it was you or not.’ Katti rubbed her wrists. ‘But I hate that bastard so much.’

  Lauren reached out to her. They were in each other’s arms in a second.

  Katti mumbled incoherently, cooing and shushing and comforting. Lauren echoed the sounds and the sentiment. Their fingers fumbled at each other’s faces, trying to read expressions, brushing away tears.

  ‘I thought... oh Jesus. I thought you were dead.’ Lauren hugged her friend fiercely. ‘Thought that was you…’

  ‘No. It’s Sammy.’ Katti’s voice caught as she spoke. ‘Poor Sammy’s dead.’

  Lauren tasted Katti’s tears as they seeped, hot and salty, across her own cheek. She kissed her forehead, her wet eyes.

  ‘That bastard shot him.’ Katti hiccupped a breath in and out.

  ‘Oh, Katz. I’m so sorry.’ Though she knew Sammy only from the tattered photograph and Katti’s sketch, Lauren was saddened at the senseless waste of his life. Twenty-two years old. And lying cold and dead in a dank cave. Whatever he’d done, he surely didn’t deserve that.

  She ran her thumbs over Katti’s wet cheeks, brushing away her tears. Love was a crazy business all right. Love and attraction. Had Sammy tricked Katti into loving him, as he’d tricked Alina? Tricked her into believing he returned her love? Or had this been his one genuine passion? They’d never know. Except perhaps Katti, in her heart.

  They knelt, clinging to each other, until the chill finally penetrated Lauren’s consciousness. They needed to move, to get away from here. Get somewhere safe. Get warm.

  When they pulled apart, Katti peered at Viktor, who was slumped on the ground next to them. ‘Is he..? Have I..?’

  ‘He’s out cold, thank God,’ Lauren said, toeing the black mass beside her. ‘God Katz, you’re a star. Clobbering him with your hands tied.’

  ‘I hate him for what he’s done to Sammy. Hate makes you strong.’

  Viktor’s abandoned torch glowed behind a boulder casting an eerie light. The shadow of the rock loomed large across the cave floor. In the dimness they could just make out the two bodies: Viktor, flopped on his side with something dark seeping from his skull, and Sammy, still and white, some yards away. Lauren fumbled for the slim torch stuck in her belt and switched it on.

  ‘He’s bleeding,’ Katti said. ‘Look.’

  ‘Never mind him. Can you walk?’

  ‘Yeah. Woozy though. God, babes... so many drugs.’

  ‘Sshh, I know.’ Lauren struggled to her feet, her legs wobbly. She trembled all over but there was no time for the luxury of going into shock. She helped Katti up. ‘How the hell did you get up that path?’

  ‘There’s a passageway. A tunnel. Back there. Sammy knew about it.’

  ‘Well, let’s get out of here before Viktor comes round.’

  ‘What if I killed him?’ Katti said, hesitating.

  ‘Too bad. But I don’t think you have, worse luck. Let’s go, Katz. Where’s this tunnel?’

  ‘I…I want to see Sammy,’ Katti said. ‘Just to say goodbye.’

  ‘Katz, we really should go.’ Lauren glanced over her shoulder.

  ‘I’ve got to see him one last time. Please babes.’

  ‘But–’ Lauren stopped. Now wasn’t the time to point out Zamir’s failings. Katti would hear of them soon enough.

  Katti knelt beside Sammy. ‘Bye bye, my lover,’ she murmured. ‘Sweet dreams.’ She took his hand. Lauren shuddered. The hand she’d been about to lift thinking it was her friend’s, chilled and lifeless. Thank God it wasn’t Katti who lay there dead.

  Katti’s voice was thick. ‘I know what he was trying to do, Lauren, but... He only did it for me, you know. For us. So we could be together.’ She raised her head, a look of appeal in her eyes. ‘He loved me so much. And I loved him. Still do.’

  ‘Katti. Katz. He didn’t deserve your love. After everything he’s done? You don’t know the half of it.’ Lauren cursed herself. So much for saying nothing.

  ‘No.’ Katti shook her matted curls. ‘Please don’t say that. He did deserve m
y love. He loved me so... so intensely. I’ve never been loved like that before.’ Her voice cracked. ‘Oh scheisse...’ She bent her head and kissed Sammy’s cheeks, his lips.

  Imagining she heard a sound, Lauren flicked a glance over her shoulder. ‘Let’s go, Katz. It’s not safe here.’

  Katti lingered, stroking Sammy’s hair.

  ‘Katz. Viktor could come round at any minute. Or one of the others could turn up.’

  ‘How right you are,’ said a voice behind her. ‘One of the others has indeed turned up.’

  Lauren swung in the direction of the cave mouth. A woman stood outlined there, the giant icicles framing her as though she stood in the mouth of a great beast.

  ‘Ingrid! You got here at last. Thank God! Where’s Wolf?’

  ‘No, Lauren, I don’t think you quite understood what I said.’ Ingrid stepped over to Viktor and gazed down at him, her face tight. ‘Who did this?’ She lurched towards Lauren and grabbed her wrist, twisting her arm up behind her back. ‘Was it you? Was it?’

  ‘No! I – Jesus!’ The torch slipped from Lauren’s hand, bounced across the ground and went out.

  Katti sat up, sucking in a sharp breath.

  ‘Jesus, Ingrid,’ said Lauren, peering at her. ‘What’s going on? What’s that murdering louse to you?’

  Ingrid jerked Lauren’s arm higher. ‘That murdering louse is my husband.’

  ‘Your husband? But... but what about Wolf?’

  ‘Wolfgang Hauer has served his purpose. You are welcome to him.’

  Cold steel caressed Lauren’s throat, slithered up until the point of the knife pricked the soft flesh under her jawbone. A memory flashed before her eyes: blood pooling in the shower tray, a sticky knife. Alina’s mother. ‘No. Not you.’

  ‘Yes me. Why not me?’

  Katti made a movement and Ingrid swung Lauren to face her. Katti still crouched beside Sammy. Her wide-open eyes flashed in the fading light from Viktor’s torch.

  ‘Keep still, you,’ Ingrid said.

  ‘It was me,’ Katti said, her tone defiant. ‘I hit him. I knocked the bastard out.’

  As though hearing his cue, Viktor groaned.

  ‘Be careful, Katz. He’s coming to.’

  ‘If you want your friend to live, Katti, stay where you are.’ Ingrid pressed the knife flat against Lauren’s throat. ‘Are you conscious, Baba?’ she called to Viktor. Viktor groaned again and spluttered out a wet cough. ‘Lie still, Baba. I’ll be with you in a moment.’

  ‘This is crazy, Ingrid.’ Lauren winced as the woman forced her arm a fraction higher up her back. ‘How come you’re involved in this?’

  ‘Where are you, Nick?’ Ingrid shouted, twisting her head towards the cave mouth. ‘I could do with some assistance here. And some more light.’

  A powerful beam flicked on, flooding the cave with white light. ‘Just checking there’s no one else around,’ said a man.

  Lauren stiffened. She couldn’t see Ingrid’s companion, as he was behind her, but there was no mistaking the voice.

  Eighty-eight

  ‘Gunther! Gunther fucking Steiner!’

  ‘Hi, Lauren. How are you?’

  ‘How am I? How d’you think I am, you lying bastard?’

  ‘Tch tch tch. Language.’

  ‘Yeah, accurate language. Bastard.’

  ‘Well, to be honest, it isn’t, but I understand why might think so.’ Gunther put down the lantern he held. White light penetrated the depths of the cavern and sparkled off the icicles at the cave mouth.

  ‘What else are you, other than a lying bastard? Well, congratulations. You had me fooled.’

  ‘I’ve fooled a lot of people in my time, Lauren,’ Gunther said. ‘But most of what I told you was the truth.’

  ‘You sent that... that thing to shoot me.’ Lauren tossed her head in Viktor’s direction. ‘You were the only one who knew where I was.’

  ‘Uh-uh.’ Gunther shook his head. ‘Your friend Mr Hauer knew too. Perhaps inadvertently he –’

  ‘Shut up, Nick.’ Ingrid said, making Lauren gasp as her arm rode up her back again. ‘Where’s your gun? Keep them both covered while I tie this one up.’ She pulled a roll of adhesive tape out of her coat pocket. Gunther produced a gun from inside his leather jacket.

  Lauren struggled as Ingrid tried to drag both her hands behind her back. ‘The key,’ she said. ‘Wolf’s key. You gave it to Viktor.’

  ‘Well done, Lauren. Taken you long enough to work that out.’

  Hampered by the knife and the roll of tape, Ingrid struggled to hold both of Lauren’s hands behind her back at the same time. Eventually, she gave up and taped Lauren’s hands in front of her. Cursing, Lauren tried to wrench her hands apart but Ingrid was four inches taller than she was and a couple of stone heavier – and then there was the gun, wavering as Gunther examined it idly as though he’d never seen it before.

  ‘Give the other one your phone, Nick,’ Ingrid said, jerking her head in Katti’s direction. ‘But get her father on the line first.’

  ‘You,’ she went on, eyeing Katti. ‘Tell him this time we are serious. Tell him this time we will kill you, and your friend here, if he does not agree to our demands. He knows what we want.’

  Viktor moaned, tried to raise his head, then gave up and lay back. ‘I’ll be with you in a moment, Baba.’ Ingrid called. ‘Lie still, darling.’

  Gunther – or Nick – keyed up Hartmann’s private number. He waited, half smiling, while it rang. ‘Ah, Herr Hartmann, I have a call for you.’ He held out the mobile to Katti.

  ‘And no mentioning names, Katti,’ Ingrid warned. ‘Or Lauren will pay the price.’

  Katti took the phone and lifted it shakily to her ear. ‘H-Hartmann? I don’t know what they want but please... Yeah, they’ve got Lauren too. Hartmann, for God’s sake give them whatever they ask for. They’re going to kill us. What? We’re near the Devil’s –’

  ‘Stop her! End the call.’ Ingrid glared at Gunther who removed the phone from Katti’s hand. ‘Do you think he heard that?’

  He shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter. It’d be well over half an hour before they could get here, even if they did. Then they’d have to find the right cave. They won’t know which one it is. It’s like a rabbit warren around here.’

  Katti looked from one to the other of them. ‘What do you want from Hartmann, anyway?’

  ‘The money was ready last night,’ Lauren said. ‘Why didn’t Sammy collect it? You could have had what you want by now.’

  ‘Zamir was not authorised to accept money,’ Ingrid said, grabbing her and flashing the knife in her face. ‘That was not what we asked for.’

  ‘Well, what?’ Lauren winced as she tried to twist out of Ingrid’s grasp. ‘Let go of me. I’m not armed and I’m tied up. Let me go.’

  ‘Let her go, Ingrid.’ Gunther waved his gun. ‘The amount dear Sammy would have been happy with is nowhere near enough for Ingrid,’ he went on. ‘Five million euros? Paltry compared to what she’s lost.’

  ‘What do you mean, lost?’ Lauren hitched her shoulders up and down to ease her muscles. Her wrists itched from the tape. She wondered if she might get a chance to bite it off. ‘What have you lost?’

  ‘Her father, the philanthropic Herr Hartmann–’ Ingrid glared at Katti who still sat shivering by Sammy’s body. ‘ – is a rogue and a thief and a murderer.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ said Katti. ‘How is he a murderer? How is he a thief?’

  ‘He stole my father’s life as well as his property. Stole my mother’s sanity.’ Ingrid’s breasts heaved as she struggled to control her anger. ‘My father set Hartmann up in business. They had a gentleman’s agreement – or a hippy agreement, based on backslapping and the sharing of a pipe of peace. None of your capitalist lackey lawyers, man.’ She imitated Hartmann’s voice. ‘My father was entitled to half the business – half! Not the kick in the teeth he got. And that’s what I want. I want my father’s half.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ K
atti said. ‘You’re crazy. Who the hell are you?’

  ‘My real name is Binsbergen, Katti.’ Ingrid put her head on one side. ‘Does that mean anything to you? Or has that man wiped out all mention of the person who poured money into the travel company, who was his partner in the early days?’

  Ingrid flourished the knife making the blade shoot flashes of silver. ‘When no one else would touch a business set up by Helmut Hartmann, Jaap Binsbergen was there. Jaap Binsbergen was the man who made Hartmann rich. Who made all his philanthropy possible. Jaap Binsbergen was my father.’

  ‘I’ve never heard of this…this Binsbergen guy.’

  ‘Well, you are hearing about him now. My father was left with nothing when Hartmann ditched him. He was ruined, financially and personally. After Hartmann screwed my father, he became a junky. Drugs, needles, poverty – that was my childhood. Until he damaged himself so completely he became a vegetable.’

  ‘I don’t know anything about Hartmann’s business affairs or who he owes money to,’ Katti said. ‘I’ve barely met him more than a dozen times in my whole life. He wasn’t around when I was a child. You know that.’

  ‘He owns the building you and your brother live in. Along with plenty of other properties. My father spent his life on a leaking houseboat in Amsterdam.’ Ingrid shot Katti a glare and went over to Viktor. ‘There there, Baba. Not long now.’ She knelt beside him, dabbing at his bloody head with a handkerchief.

  ‘So?’ Katti went on. ‘So he owns my apartment... he gives me a small allowance... so what? We hardly know each other. Why would he do what you’re asking? Why would he give up so much to save my life?’

  ‘He won’t let you be killed, Katti,’ Gunther said. ‘It would be bad for his image.’ He strolled over to Lauren. ‘It may be necessary to prove we mean what we say though. There may have to be casualties.’