Innocent Girls

by Terence Mitford

  ‘Why, Hugo, Why?’

  ‘We are crossing the border so you must be out of sight. Don’t panic, there are breathing holes so you won’t suffocate.’

  She glanced around. Tiny shafts of light streaked through several small holes on both sides of her. She calmed down a little. It wasn’t a coffin, but some kind of freight crate just long enough for her to stretch out.

  The lid opened again and Hugo handed her a pillow. ‘Put this under your head, it will make you more comfortable.’ Then he closed the lid.

  The sound of nails being hammered into the lid turned her blood cold. The box was lifted up and carried down the stairs and pushed into the back of the van. The doors slammed shut and the vehicle moved off. She had no way of knowing when she would be let out, but she did know there was no chance of escape.

  She lay in the pitch black of her confinement and thought about what lay ahead. They were close to the border and Hugo was only taking her across in order to receive his money. So it wouldn’t be long before he left her with Anton. But maybe the box would protect her. He couldn’t assault her while she was nailed inside. As frightening as it was to be so confined, she accepted she was safer where she was.

  The van bumped along for around half an hour before stopping. Two doors opened and closed and footsteps faded. There was just silence for what seemed like forever. Was she at the border or had they crossed already? This was the first time they had stopped but she tried to remember if they had slowed down before. Could they have been waved through the border without any checks? Was she now in Hungary?

  She pushed up on the lid of the box. It was an instinctive action. She didn’t expect it to move and it didn’t. She listened but heard nothing. If this was the border maybe someone will check the van. Maybe they will want to know what’s inside the box. Maybe they will find her and rescue her. She listened for different voices. Should she shout out in the hope of being heard by the border guards?

  But what if they were the Albanians that were meeting with Hugo? She’d heard about them. They were cruel and violent. They would certainly punish her if they heard her screaming. She tried not to think about it. She would make up her mind when and if the opportunity arose.

  The sound of footsteps approaching caused her to tense up. Had the opportunity arrived already? Were these the guards?

  The doors opened and the van rocked. Someone was in the back of the vehicle. Hammering echoed inside the box. She was confused. Why were they putting in more nails?

  A crack of light appeared under one side of the lid followed by the shaft of a screwdriver. They were not hammering in more nails. Someone was levering the box open. She held her breath.

  As sunlight assaulted her eyes she closed them, and although blind for a moment, she recognised the voice that barked an order at her. ‘Get out and follow me.’ It was Anton.

  She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked past Anton at the outside surroundings. It couldn’t be the border. There were no men in uniforms, no barriers, and no activity that she would have expected to see at an official border crossing. She jumped down onto a sparse gravel surface and looked around. She was in a courtyard with a solitary grey brick building, the size of a small house, and they were surrounded by a similar grey brick wall.

  Anton jumped down behind her and pushed her toward the open door of the house. He led her into the front room and pushed her towards an old ripped sofa. ‘Sit there and don’t move.’

  It was a similar room to the apartment she had left earlier. It seemed to be standard to have a single sofa, a table, and chairs. Except this time there was no dusty television and there were four chairs around the small square table instead of three.

  Hugo was nowhere in sight and that worried her. Although she despised him for abducting her and bringing her to this awful place, he was her only protection from Anton and others like him they might meet on their journey. So right now he would be a welcome sight. But where was he? Had he got his money and left? Maybe what she feared the most had happened and she was now at the mercy of Anton.

  She pushed her hair back off her face and stared down at her hands. They were trembling. Anton had been beaten twice by Hugo because of her. No doubt he would want payback once Hugo was out of the way. She had never felt more vulnerable.

  Anton left the room and closed the door behind him. She was alone, but for how long?

  The minutes dragged by but she was in no hurry to see the door open again. She strained to hear the voices coming from somewhere else in the house and tried to pick out Hugo’s, but then sighed with frustration. They were too faint.

  Around ten minutes later footsteps approached along the hall. Katerina held her breath as she huddled on the end of the sofa, trying to control her shaking. She was nearly frantic as the door opened.

  She almost burst into tears of relief to see Hugo enter carrying two mugs. He handed one to her and then sat at the table and drank from the other. If he had noticed her relief he didn’t let on. She looked down at her cup and breathed in the coffee’s aroma as her shaking hands slowly returned to normal.

  Hugo glanced over his shoulder. ‘Sorry, but there’s nothing to eat here. We normally just use this place to handover to the Albanians but they are not here yet.’

  She took a sip. ‘It’s okay, I’m not hungry.’

  When Anton entered he did not sit down at the table. He just stood in the middle of the room drinking from his cup.

  She guessed there was no love lost between the two men. They worked for the same organisation but she sensed that Anton hated Hugo and it was probably mutual. That’s why Hugo sat with his back to Anton, ignoring him, and Anton just stared at her. A cold stare that caused her to shudder. What was he thinking? What was he planning?

  She averted her eyes down to the floor in front of Anton but could observe him through her peripheral vision. She monitored each sip he drank from his cup, each shuffle of his feet, and each movement of his hands. He put his right hand in his trouser pocket and remove something.

  As she brought her cup up to her mouth, and raised her eyes just enough to focus on his right hand, she caught a glimpse of metal. Whatever he was holding was slim and a little longer than his closed palm. His gaze was fixed on Hugo, his eyes narrow slits of concentration.

  As she glanced over to Hugo, with his back still turned, she heard a click, and when she looked back at Anton she gasped. Now she could see the object and it turned her cold. In Anton’s right hand was a long bladed flick knife. She’d seen them before in the hands of local youths in her neighbourhood. They had frightened her then but this one terrified her because she knew what it meant.

  She was about to witness a murder.

  Anton had been beaten and humiliated by Hugo and was about to take his revenge. Hugo was seconds from death.

  Shock and fear numbed her brain. She wanted to say something but it was as if she was paralysed and the world had gone into slow motion.

  She looked up at Anton’s eyes. They were locked onto Hugo and he was raising the knife as he moved towards him.

  He was going to do it. He was going to kill Hugo and she had a front row seat.

  A girl’s voice screamed out, ‘Hugo, watch out.’

  For a split second she wondered whose it was, but then realised it was her own. She had found her voice just in time to stop Anton slitting Hugo’s throat from behind.

  But as Hugo jumped up and spun around Anton plunged the knife high into his chest. Katerina screamed as Hugo fell back onto the table and Anton raised the knife for another attack.

  Without thinking, Katerina jumped up and threw her cup at Anton. It struck him on the back of his head causing him to stumble forward and call out in pain.

  He spun around and glared at her. ‘You will be sorry you did that you little bitch.’ As he turned back, Hugo rolled off the table and collapsed onto the floor.

  Anton stormed over to Katerina and pushed her down onto the sofa. ‘I’m going to fuck you then I’m going to
slit you open and watch you bleed.’

  He forced his hand under her dress, dragged her underwear down her legs, and threw them across the room. He dropped the knife on the floor and held her down, with one hand pushing on her chest, while he opened his belt with the other.

  She tried to wriggle free but he was too strong. She was pinned down.

  He opened his zip and lowered himself towards her, his sickly grin only inches from her face. She closed her eyes and braced herself.

  Suddenly, the pressure on her chest was gone. She opened her eyes. Hugo’s arm was wrapped around Anton’s neck. Hugo dragged him away from her and threw him headfirst against the wall. Then he picked him up and threw him again, and again, until Anton lay motionless on the floor. Hugo staggered back and sat down on one of the chairs.

  Katerina pulled down her dress and sat up. ‘Is he dead?’

  Hugo grunted, ‘I don’t think so. But he will be when the Kestrati hear about what he was going to do.’

  She was confused. If Hugo wanted him dead, why didn’t he just kill him? And this time she wouldn’t say a word.

  As if he could read her mind, Hugo said, ‘I could kill him myself but the Kestrati will do it far more slowly and more painfully. They will have the time to make him suffer. I don’t, we need to get going.’

  ‘But I thought you didn’t want to take me all the way.’

  ‘I don’t, but I haven’t got much choice now.’

  ‘You could take me back and let me go.’

  He raised his eyebrows and flashed her a look as if she was asking the impossible. Then he got to his feet, walked across the room, and picked up her underwear. He returned and handed them to her. ‘Here, put these on and go and get the first aid kit from my van.’

  Katerina sighed inwardly and slipped on her underwear. She hadn’t really expected him to let her go but she had to try.

  He sat back down while she went outside to the enclosed courtyard where she stopped and looked around. The gates were closed and padlocked, and the wall was too high for her to climb. So she found the kit under the seat in the van and returned to Hugo.

  He had already opened his shirt and when she handed him the small plastic kit he gave it back and instructed her to clean the wound and dress it with a lint pad and sticky tape.

  With shaky hands, she managed to do as he said. When she had finished she sat back on the sofa and watched him. ‘Shouldn’t you go to hospital?’

  ‘No, I’ll be fine. Lucky for me that idiot can’t do anything right. His blade stuck in my breastbone. It’s just a flesh wound.’ He fastened his shirt then glanced at her. ‘I guess I should thank you now.’

  ‘It’s okay, it wasn’t difficult.’

  ‘I’m not talking about the bandage, I mean when you shouted out to warn me.’

  ‘Oh, that. I wasn’t protecting you, I was just preserving you.’

  He raised an eyebrow and just the hint of a smile crossed his lips. ‘Nice answer, kid.’

  ‘It wasn’t because I like you, it’s just that I like Anton even less.’

  He nodded. ‘That’s good, I don’t like you either.’ He picked up Anton’s knife. ‘Wait here.’

  Katerina didn’t dare take her eyes off Anton while Hugo was gone. She barely breathed as she watched for the slightest movement. Fortunately, he remained face down on the floor.

  Hugo returned with a rope, dragged Anton up, and tied him to a chair. He took a piece of paper and wrote a note on the table. Then he used the knife to pin the note to the clothing on Anton’s chest. He walked out of the room telling Katerina to follow him.

  She read the note first.

  This is Anton. He was supposed to be transporting the special order to England, but he planned to kill me and use the goods for his own entertainment. Do whatever you wish, and take your time.

  The Recruiter.

  When they reached the van Hugo opened the back door and told her to get back in the box.

  She looked up at him through watery eyes. ‘Do I have to? Can’t I ride up front with you?’

  ‘No, it’s a long journey to the next safe-house and I need some piece and quiet.’

  She climbed into the box and laid down.

  He handed her a small torch. ‘Don’t use it too much or you’ll flatten the batteries.’

  He re-nailed the lid shut.

  15

  NATASHA

  Natasha was already awake when the alarm went off. She jumped out of bed and tapped Alison on the shoulder. ‘It’s six-thirty, time to get up.’

  Thirty minutes later they had showered and were eating a bread roll they had collected from the breakfast display and were in the car on the way to the first safe-house. They exchanged silent knowing glances but no mention was made of the previous night’s events.

  Alison followed Natasha’s directions and half-an-hour later pulled up outside a block of grey stone apartments.

  Natasha studied the map then looked out at the apartments. ‘This can’t be right, they look abandoned.’

  Alison looked around. ‘Why not? It seems the perfect place to hold girls. No one around to interfere.’

  Natasha studied the map more closely. Next to the cross was the number one. She flipped the map over to the list on the back. Next to number one it read Second floor, apartment 205.

  She folded the maps and tucked them into her back pocket. ‘Okay, let’s take a look.’

  She got out of the car and Alison followed as they made their way to the entrance in the centre of the block. They soon found the door on the second floor marked 205 with a hole next to the lock.

  As Natasha placed her hand on the door, Alison took hold of her arm and whispered, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’

  Natasha nodded, pushed open the door, and stepped inside, and with her heart pounding, crept along the short hall. She stopped at the first internal door and listened for any sign of life. It was quiet, but as she opened the door to what she guessed was the main room she came face to face with a tall thin man stooped at the shoulders.

  He jumped. ‘Who the hell are you?’

  Natasha jumped. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘It’s none of your business, what are you doing here?’

  Natasha said the first thing she could think of. ‘My friend used to live here a few years ago. We came to see her. We didn’t know she’d moved.’

  The man scowled at her. ‘Well, she’s not here now so you’ll have to leave.’

  ‘Do you live here?’

  ‘Yes, I do.’

  ‘But it looks abandoned.’

  ‘It can’t be if I live here, can it?’

  Natasha forced a smile. ‘No, of course not. I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to intrude.’ She was trying to diffuse the situation, hoping to get a chance to look around.

  He softened his expression. ‘It’s all right, you startled me that’s all.’

  Maybe he’d decided that by being friendly he’d be able to get rid of his unwanted visitors more easily. But his change of tone seemed insincere.

  ‘I understand,’ Natasha said. ‘We’ll leave you alone, but before we go can I trouble you for a glass of water? It’s just that we’ve had a long drive.’

  The man hesitated and clearly failed to stifle his renewed frustration at Natasha’s request. ‘Wait here.’ He walked into a small kitchen off the hall.

  Natasha took the opportunity to sneak into the main room and look around. There was not much to see. Just a sofa, a table, three chairs and a dusty television. But there were three plates on the table with the remnants of bread and cheese. She returned to the hall just as the man brought them two glasses of water.

  She thanked him. ‘Do you live here alone?’

  ‘Why do you ask?’

  ‘No reason, I just thought it must be lonely, and even eerie, especially at night. Do you get any visitors, apart from us, of course?’

  ‘No, I’ve not had any visitors here for months.’

  ‘May I use your bathroom befor
e we go?’

  He sighed and pointed to a door behind her.

  She thanked him again, handed him her glass, and went through the door to the bathroom. She looked closely in the sink and around the taps for any sign that Katerina had been there. She searched for her sister’s long brown hairs but there was nothing around the sink. She looked into the bath around the drain, but again, there was nothing. As she was about to leave she scanned the room one more time and froze. She went back to the glass shower screen, leant over, and studied it from the shower side. She had found what she was looking for. Proof that Katerina had been there. Written into the water stains were the first five letters of her sisters name. The last three were smudged but that didn’t matter. She was sure. Katerina had left a clue.

  Natasha left the bathroom and went straight to the kitchen where she grabbed the biggest knife she could find then returned to the front room where Alison was waiting for her.

  Natasha held the knife out of sight behind her back. ‘Where is he?’

  Alison shrugged. ‘I think he walked outside.’

  Just then the man returned and stood in the doorway to the room.

  Natasha couldn’t contain her anger as she glared at him. ‘You said no one had been here for months.’

  The man nodded. ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Then how do you explain my sisters name written on the shower panel in your bathroom?’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘My sister, Katerina, has been here. She wrote her name on your shower screen’—she pointed to the table—‘and I’m betting she ate breakfast off one of those plates.’

  The colour drained from the man’s face. ‘You should not have come here, you leave me no choice now. But I will get good money for you and your friend.’

  Alison stepped back and looked at Natasha.

  Natasha held eye contact with him. ‘Where is she?’

  ‘You are too late, she’s gone. But how did you find this place?’