by Chris Ryan
‘What does Leo know about you?’ asked Paulo softly.
Eliza looked along the line, making sure everyone else was asleep. ‘I’ve seen the face of the Rat-catcher,’ she whispered.
‘The Rat-catcher?’ said Paulo. ‘What’s that?’
‘He is a man. He hunts street kids.’
‘What for?’
‘To kill us.’
‘What!’
‘He thinks we are like vermin. Like rats. He thinks he is cleaning up the streets of Quito.’ Eliza gave a shuddering sigh. ‘If the other street kids knew I had seen the face of the Rat-catcher, they wouldn’t want to be near me. I wouldn’t be able to sleep here or work at the traffic lights. They’d make me go away on my own.’ Eliza’s lower lip trembled as she looked down at her hands.
‘Why?’ asked Paulo.
‘Because they think if you’ve seen the Rat-catcher, you’re as good as dead, and they wouldn’t want to be around someone like that. Leo says he’ll tell the others if I don’t pay him protection money.’
Paulo put an arm around her thin shoulders and she snuggled in against his chest. ‘How does Leo know?’ he asked.
Eliza looked up at Paulo and he smiled down at her. He looked so much like her big brother Marco when he smiled that she decided to tell him everything.
In the white van, parked at the front of the church, John Middleton was asleep at the wheel, with his mouth open and his head lolling over the back of the seat. Alex, Li and Hex were all sprawled on the seats in the back of the van. Hex was clutching his palmtop close to his chest as he slept.
Amber was the only one awake. She was sitting in front of the radio receiver, listening to Eliza’s soft voice as it was picked up by the covert radio in Paulo’s St Christopher medal. Amber’s face was a picture of concentration as she translated the Spanish into English. It had been hard work to start with but now she found it was getting easier by the minute. Even so, she was always a few seconds behind.
Suddenly, Amber sat up straight and pushed the headphones closer to her ear, as though that might help her understand more clearly. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened in horror as she listened to Eliza’s story. ‘That poor, poor kid,’ she said. ‘She saw the Rat-catcher kill her big brother, Marco. It was all that Leo’s fault – can you believe that . . .? He led this Rat-catcher guy right to them, then ran away.’
Amber turned to look at the others, but they were all still fast asleep. She waved a dismissive hand at them and turned back to listen to the rest of Eliza’s story. As she heard what happened next, her eyes filled with tears. The tears overflowed and dripped down onto the receiver, but Amber did not notice. She was too wrapped up in the story.
Eliza felt her voice begin to wobble as she finished describing how Marco died. She stopped for a moment and Paulo gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
‘Leo came back later that night,’ she continued. ‘He had come to steal my brother’s shoe-shine box. He found me and Toby there and he realized we had seen everything. That’s when he said I had to pay him for protection. I begged him to leave the shoe-shine box, but he took it away. He had a buyer for it.’ Eliza sighed. ‘If I’d had the shoe-shine box, I could’ve earned enough to rent a room. I could’ve kept Toby with me. Instead, I had to leave him on the doorstep at Sister Catherine’s House. He cried so much, but I had to leave him.’
‘But why didn’t you stay there too, Eliza?’
‘No. Toby will be better off without me.’ Eliza scrubbed the tears from her face and tried to smile. ‘I think Toby will be adopted by now. He will be with a good family! He is light-skinned, you see, with curly blond hair. Not like me.’
‘Eliza, you’re beautiful—’
‘No. I am morena. I am dark-skinned. The rich people who go to Sister Catherine’s House looking for children to adopt, they do not want Indio children.’
‘Not everyone is so prejudiced, Eliza,’ said Paulo.
‘I know that now,’ said Eliza, a flicker of hope coming into her eyes. ‘The adoption men who come looking for street children, they do not mind what colour our skin is!’
‘Adoption men?’ asked Paulo, careful to keep the excitement out of his voice.
‘Yes. They come every two or three weeks. Everybody wants a chance to go with the adoption men, but each time they take only two lucky ones away with them. The adoption men have rich people queuing up to adopt street kids, even mestizos like me. The kids who go with the adoption men, they end up in a big house on a big estate.’
Eliza turned her shining face up to Paulo and the hope in her eyes nearly broke his heart. ‘One day,’ she said, ‘the adoption men will take me. Then my new family will help me to find Toby and we will be together again.’
Eliza closed her eyes and snuggled against Paulo’s chest as she imagined that wonderful day. Paulo nearly told her the truth about the adoption men, but he decided it could wait until the next morning. Instead, he held Eliza close and let her drift off to sleep with her dreams still intact. He had no idea how much he would later regret that decision.
TEN
Paulo woke with a start as someone kicked the sole of his boot. His eyes snapped open but he shut them again almost immediately. A blinding light was shining straight into his face. ‘Who’s there?’ he demanded.
Eliza woke and sat up, instantly alert, like a cat.
‘I said I’d see you later,’ said a soft, sinister voice behind the light. ‘Well, it’s later now.’
‘Leo,’ whispered Eliza.
‘And a few friends,’ said Leo.
Paulo did not wait to be attacked. He lunged to his feet and ran full tilt straight into Leo. The torch went flying onto the concrete floor and shattered, plunging the back of the church into darkness. Leo crashed to the ground and Paulo scrambled to his feet, desperately trying to see something beyond the bright red ring burned into his retinas by the torch.
‘Get him!’ yelled Leo, from the ground.
Paulo thought he could see four dark shapes coming towards him. He stuck his arm out to the side, feeling for Eliza, and she slipped her small hand into his. Paulo took a deep breath and ran, dragging Eliza along behind him. He felt hands grabbing at his clothes but he kept on going, running blind. He had nearly reached the corner when Eliza’s hand was suddenly snatched away.
‘Paulo!’ she screamed.
Paulo groaned and turned back to face their attackers. His vision was beginning to clear now. He could see one boy holding a struggling Eliza against the wall of church. He took a step towards her but three more boys jumped him from behind. One grabbed his hair, a second bent his arm up behind his back until he thought the bone would crack and the third pressed the point of a knife into the small of his back. Paulo froze in place.
A few metres away Leo was clambering to his feet. He straightened and looked at Paulo with hatred. Snick. The sharp blade of the flick knife appeared as Leo walked towards Paulo. ‘Time for some carving,’ he snarled.
Finally Paulo remembered the covert radio around his neck. He knew it was his only chance. He filled his lungs and yelled for help at the top of his voice.
In the van Amber had dozed off in her seat with the headphones still clamped to her head. She jolted awake, with Paulo’s shout ringing in her ears. ‘Socorro!’ That meant ‘help’.
Amber ripped the headphones off and dived towards the front of the van. Frantically she grabbed the sleeping John Middleton by the shoulder and shook him hard. ‘Paulo’s in trouble!’ she screamed.
The other three in the back of the van woke up as Amber grabbed the headphones again. A look of horror crossed her face as she listened. ‘It’s Leo,’ she whispered. ‘Leo’s got him.’
John Middleton grabbed the ignition key and started the engine. The van had been left in gear, so it instantly lurched forward and stalled. With a curse, he tried again. The engine coughed but would not start.
‘Socorro!’ yelled Paulo again, his voice filtering faintly into the van through th
e headphones.
‘We’ll run,’ said Li, jumping for the side door of the van.
‘Hang on!’ called John Middleton as the engine finally started. The van shot forward, accelerating all the time. It took the first corner on two wheels, righted itself and careered along the street that ran down the side of the church. They were heading for the road that led to the back of the church, but John Middleton slowed the van as he spotted a pair of red tail-lights between the buildings. Another car had already beaten them to it.
‘What the hell is going on?’ demanded Li.
Amber clamped the earphones to her head, listening intently. ‘I can hear Eliza,’ she said. ‘She’s shouting something about being saved. Something about— Oh no! She says it’s the adoption men.’
Paulo let out a sigh of relief as the headlights finally appeared behind him. Leo had been getting ready to slice the knife into his cheek. The boy holding Eliza let her go and ran off. One by one the three boys holding Paulo lost their nerve and followed the first boy, but Leo was not giving up that easily. As Paulo backed slowly towards the headlights, Leo followed him, step by step, throwing his knife from hand to hand.
Eliza peered into the headlights, then her face lit up. ‘Paulo! We are saved!’
‘Not yet,’ muttered Paulo, watching Leo’s knife.
‘It’s the adoption men!’ cried Eliza.
‘What?’ Paulo twisted round and stared into the headlights. An old Chevrolet was parked at the end of the street, not the white van he was expecting. Two men clambered from the car and Eliza ran towards them.
‘Take me,’ she cried. ‘Me and my brother Paulo. Please?’
One of the men shrugged. They had been about to check out the covered walkway and take their pick of the street kids sleeping there, but these two were as good as any other pair. Besides, the boss liked brothers and sisters. The bond made them easier to control. He nodded towards the car and Eliza ran for the open back door.
‘Wait, Eliza!’ called Paulo, but Eliza was already climbing into the back of the car.
The man looked past Paulo to Leo, grimacing as he saw the glue-sniffer’s rash around the boy’s mouth. Quickly, Leo slipped the knife into his sleeve and arranged his face into a strange sneer. Paulo realized with a jolt of angry pity that Leo was trying to look appealing.
‘Maybe next time,’ the man said to Leo dismissively. ‘Off you go, son.’
Leo glowered at Paulo, then limped away as the man turned to Paulo. ‘Get in, then,’ he said.
The man turned away, heading for the car. Paulo hesitated, trying to decide what to do. He was under strict instructions not to go with the adoption men, but he couldn’t let Eliza go off with them on her own. Perhaps the best thing would be to go along with it, pretending he was as pleased as Eliza to be picked. After all, the men would not try to kill them before they had delivered the cocaine, so that gave him time to work out a way to escape.
‘Come on, son!’ called the man. ‘We haven’t got all night.’
Paulo nodded and started walking slowly towards the car. On the way, he hooked out his St Christopher medal and raised it to his lips. He whispered a few words into it and kissed the medal as though he had been saying nothing more than a quick prayer for a safe journey. Letting the medal drop back into his shirt, Paulo climbed into the back of the car.
John Middleton had brought the van to a halt by the side of the road.
‘Don’t stop!’ cried Li frantically. ‘We have to get to Paulo!’
Alex shook his head. ‘It’s not that simple. He’s not in danger from Leo now, and if we barge in there, we might be putting everyone’s lives at risk. Those men might have guns. We have to trust Paulo to tell us what to do.’
For a few agonized seconds they waited, staring at Amber. She pressed the headphones to her ear, willing Paulo to say something. Finally she heard his whispered words and turned to look at the others. ‘Paulo says we have to stay back and follow the car.’
‘The idiot!’ fumed Li. ‘Why is he going with them?’
‘He said he has to protect Eliza,’ said Amber.
‘The idiot!’ repeated Li fiercely, but her chin was trembling as she said it.
The old Chevrolet reversed out of the side road and headed off into the night. John Middleton sat at the wheel, watching as the car turned a corner further down the road. Only then did he start the van’s engine and turn on the headlights.
‘Come on then!’ yelled Li. ‘We’re losing them!’
‘No we’re not,’ said Hex, activating the tracking device. ‘We’ve got this.’
The streets of the city were early-morning quiet so they kept well back. Hex watched the green blip on the screen and called directions to John Middleton. It was unnerving, following a car that they could not actually see, but the signal was clear and the bleep was strong.
Suddenly, Hex frowned down at the screen. ‘Slow down,’ he ordered.
‘What is it, Hex?’ asked Amber.
‘They’ve stopped,’ said Hex. ‘The car’s stopped.’
John Middleton killed the headlights and carefully eased the van to the edge of the junction. Quietly he brought the van to a halt and turned off the engine. The Chevrolet had stopped further along the road, outside a small, newly built block of flats.
‘He looks OK,’ whispered Alex as they watched Paulo clamber out of the car, then reach in to help Eliza. They saw him glance along the street, checking that the white van was there. The two adoption men climbed out of the car and, as they turned their faces his way, Alex frowned. Those two men looked vaguely familiar to him but he could not think why.
Paulo and Eliza followed the men to one of the ground-floor flats. One of the men unlocked the door and they all went in.
‘What’s happening?’ asked Li, looking at Amber.
‘Eliza’s happy,’ said Amber, listening to the headphones. ‘She’s bouncing on the bed, I think . . . There are new clothes for her . . . and, oh, she’s found the bathroom. She’s turning on the taps. She keeps saying, “Hot water . . . hot water . . .” as though she can’t quite believe it. Hang on, Paulo’s shooing her out of the bathroom. He’s locking the door.’
Amber stopped and listened intently to Paulo’s whispered instructions. Finally she pulled the headphones down around her neck. ‘Paulo says everything is fine. He says they’re in no danger as long as he pretends he’s happy to be there. The men have told him that their boss will arrive in the morning, to take him and Eliza to the airport and put them on a plane to visit their new parents. Paulo is planning to go with the drugs baron to the airport, then report him to the airport police and get him arrested.’
Hex nodded. ‘Good plan,’ he said. ‘He’s not nearly as dumb as he looks.’
‘So, what do we do?’ asked Li, giving Hex a poisonous stare.
‘We wait,’ Alex replied.
‘I agree,’ said John Middleton. ‘But not here. This is a busy junction. Once the morning traffic gets going we won’t be able to stay here.’
‘But we can’t park outside the flats,’ said Amber. ‘They might get suspicious of a van pulling up at this time of night.’
‘We could park in the next road down,’ said Hex. ‘It’s only a couple of minutes away – and we’ve got the radio receiver and the tracking device to keep tabs on Paulo.’ He looked enquiringly at the others and one by one they nodded their agreement. John Middleton started the engine and the white van drove off to park in the next road. It seemed like a sensible plan, but Alpha Force had just made a very big mistake.
ELEVEN
Paulo was as reuse as stretched wire. They had spent the remains of the night at the flat and now the morning was ticking by and still the boss had not arrived. Eliza was happy. She was wearing a new dress, her hair was freshly washed and her belly was full of breakfast. She was standing at the bedroom window, waiting impatiently for the boss to turn up and take them to the airport.
Paulo sat down on the bed and stared at the bag of fe
stively wrapped ‘presents’ he and Eliza were supposed to hand over to their prospective new parents. If each of those presents held blocks of cocaine, then he was looking at a bag that was worth millions of dollars. When they handed over the bag of presents, their ‘parents’ would give them a wrapped Christmas parcel in exchange, which Paulo was under strict instructions to bring back unopened. He guessed that the parcel would be full of high-denomination bills.
Paulo shook his head as he eased the scratchy collar of the cheap new shirt away from his neck. He had to admit, it was a brilliant drug-smuggling technique. The airport staff and the flight assistants on the plane would never suspect-two happy kids with an armful of presents. The fact that the kids did not know what they were carrying onto the plane only made the deception more convincing. And the street kids would be on their best behaviour because they wanted their prospective new parents to like them. Once they arrived back in Quito with the money, they were killed. It was as simple as that. There would be no evidence, no tell-tale trail leading back to the drugs baron. Street kids were disappearing all the time. Nobody would miss a few more.
As Paulo stared at the brightly wrapped presents, he realized that it was the weekend before Christmas. Back home in Argentina, his family would be preparing the ranch for the big party they always held. Paulo had a sudden fierce desire to be with his family instead of stuck in a poky bedroom in Quito, waiting to meet the most dangerous drugs baron in Ecuador.