“No,” Yashar shook his head. “No, no, no. I no understand. You want money? I have money!” He took a wallet from his back pocket and pulled out a sheaf of bills. “Plenty money! Come, we go to my room!”
“No. I am sorry.” Natalia peered back over the crowd, watching Kemal and the guards. “I must find someone.”
“Find who?”
“My sister.” Natalia looked Yashar straight in the eye.
“Your sister?! What her name?”
“Rita. Do you know Rita?”
“No, but I have money for her, too! She is beautiful, like you?”
“Listen to me, Yashar! I need to find her. She is with a man named Zigic.”
Yashar’s eyes lit up. “Ahhh…!” He broke into a smile. “Of course! Goran Zigic. A good man. Very nice.”
“You know him?!”
“Of course! My father, they do business.”
“What business?”
“Just business,” said Yashar. “My father, he own phone company. Biggest in Turkey. And many other company, too.”
“And Zigic?” Natalia continued. “Zigic sells ladies like me. So men can rape them.”
“No, no rape.” Yashar shook his head, suddenly looking very worried.
“Yes, rape,” Natalia countered.
“For money yes, but no rape. Zigic is good man. This car I drive, this his car. He borrow me for tonight.”
“Where is he now?!”
Yashar’s eyes betrayed his suspicion as he weighed whether to tell her anything more at all.
“Yashar, won’t you help me? Please?”
“I think you go, now,” he replied, a young man scorned.
Natalia turned her attention back to the party below. “Not without my sister.” Two beefy men in black suits walked out of the house and across the patio. One she recognized as the security guard from the front door. It was only when they stopped beside Kemal that the other man turned and Natalia caught a good look at his face. She recognized him, too. It was one of Zigic’s men, less than twenty meters away. She dropped to her knees, hiding behind the balcony railing.
“What you are doing?” Yashar laughed uneasily, peering down at her in confusion.
“Shhh!” Natalia held a finger to her lips and then pulled the gun out of her purse and screwed on the silencer.
“Hey!” Yashar gasped excitedly. “You crazy?!”
“Quiet!” She pointed the gun at him. “Sit!”
“Look, you no shoot nobody!” Yashar raised his hands in the air.
“No. I don’t shoot nobody. I get my sister and I go.” Natalia held the gun in both hands. “She is here now.”
“I go ask my father, ok? I find your sister,” Yashar pleaded.
“Sit!” Natalia commanded again. He looked down below, weighing his options, but then lowered himself to a seated position not far away. From inside the bedroom, Natalia heard voices. She slid across the balcony until her back was against the wall beside the French doors. “Shhh, quiet,” she whispered to Yashar and then motioned for him to slide back further out of sight. When he was off to one side, Natalia carefully peeked around the curtains. She saw three men, two with their backs turned. One had a suit cut a little bit nicer than the others. She recognized that suit and the man in it even without seeing his face. When he shifted to his right, Natalia saw Rita, hair in braids and wearing a school-girl’s uniform; black leather shoes, dark stockings, green plaid skirt and a white blouse.
“What you will do?” whispered Yashar.
Again Natalia put a finger to her lips. The men inside spoke to each other in low tones. One walked toward the open balcony door and stopped just before the threshold, his attention distracted by the Bosporus beyond. Natalia’s blood pressure rose. If the man took one more step he’d see them both sitting here, Natalia with a gun in her hands and Yashar cowering behind. Natalia held her breath. If she shot the first man, Zigic and the second might have time to pull their weapons. And if bullets started flying, Rita could get caught in the crossfire. The man near the doorway moved back into the room and Natalia breathed again. When she peeked inside once more, Zigic was pressing Rita against the bathroom door, one hand grasping her thigh. “You’ll be a good girl, tonight, won’t you?”
Natalia knew she had to make a move. There would be no better opportunity. She slid off her shoes and took three quick breaths. In one swift movement she jumped to her feet and swung through the door, pointing her gun from one man to another and back in quick succession. “Don’t move!!!” she shouted. “Hands where I can see them!” She’d caught them by surprise and their expressions showed it.
“Unbelievable!” Zigic and the others raised their hands in the air, though he had a bemused look on his face.
“Na, Na… Natalia?” Rita sputtered in disbelief
“You think this is funny!” Natalia said to Zigic.
“Oh, Natalia…” Zigic gave her a bitter smile as he shook his head. “Did you like what my men did to your father? I will do the same to you, and your sister, and your mother and everyone you ever knew!”
“You are in no position to make threats,” Natalia spat back. Despite his bravado, she was sure she detected a hint of fear in his eyes. It was an emotion she’d never seen in him before, but he was worried, that much was clear.
“Put the gun down and I might spare your mother,” said Zigic. “I may only rape her.”
The two henchmen had waited long enough. They went for their weapons, thrusting their hands under their jackets, but Natalia spun quickly and shot one in the head, the other twice in the chest. The men fell to the floor, their guns bouncing off the plush carpet. Zigic’s arrogance vanished for good, the fear of God upon him in a flash. He pulled Rita close, nearly choking her with one arm as he tried to shield himself behind her. “Put the gun down!” Zigic held his free hand in the air, as though he could stop the bullets with his palm. “I’ll break her neck!”
Natalia aimed her pistol at Zigic’s head. “Let her go,” she said calmly, but the gun shook in her hand, a testament to the power he still held over her.
“Look at you!” Zigic laughed in desperation. “A frightened little peasant girl!”
“I said let her go,” Natalia repeated, watching the color drain from Rita’s face as she gasped and squirmed in Zigic’s clutches. If only she would hold still for a moment. If only Natalia’s hand would stop shaking. She knew she could still make the shot; but what if she missed?
“Drop the gun like a good girl,” said Zigic.
“You have five seconds!” Natalia shouted.
“Praise God!” Yashar bounded inside. “You shoot them!”
Natalia turned her head just a fraction, but it was a fraction too much. Zigic rushed forward, shoving Rita ahead of him like a battering ram. Natalia had no time to react as her sister slammed into her and they both went crashing to the floor. Rita rolled to one side and the next thing Natalia felt was Zigic’s foot on her forearm, pinning her wrist to the ground. “Drop the gun!” He stood over her with his own weapon pointed at her face. Rita crawled backwards and away until she bumped into the wall. Natalia opened her fingers and let her pistol fall free.
“My father, he not going to like this,” said Yashar. “No, not like.”
“Shut up and take her gun!” Zigic shouted.
Yashar bent down and retrieved the Glock. “What you will do?”
Zigic lifted his foot from her forearm and took one step backwards, keeping his gun trained on Natalia’s forehead. She still saw the fear in him. Multinovic was right. Underneath his usual swagger, Zigic was a coward after all. This knowledge was power to Natalia. Despite her predicament, she knew she could beat him. Her heart swelled with confidence. Zigic looked anxiously to the two dead men and Natalia recognized her moment. She spun herself around in a flash, wrapping her legs under Zigic’s ankles like a vice and twisting her entire body in a roll to the left. Zigic reached out with both hands to steady himself but it was no use. He toppled like a fa
lling tree, slamming into the floor with a violent explosion as his gun went off, blasting a hole in the bedroom wall. Natalia sprang to her feet, kicking him hard in the abdomen as Yashar backed away in terror. Zigic rolled onto his knees in an attempt to stand but Natalia caught him full-force between the legs and he crumpled into a fetal position, groaning in pain. One more kick to the head left him sprawled out unconscious on the floor. From outside, Natalia heard the sound of men shouting. She turned back toward Yashar to find him standing three meters away, pointing Natalia’s own gun at her.
“Put the gun down!” commanded Natalia.
“You don’t move!”
“I know you won’t shoot me, Yashar. Just put the gun on the floor and step away!”
Yashar shook his head. “No.” He placed his finger on the trigger.
“Yashar, that is a very dangerous weapon. I know you don’t want to hurt anybody. Please!”
Again Yashar shook his head, bewilderment showing on his face. From outside, the shouting continued and Natalia heard footsteps charging up the stairs. She bolted to the bedroom door and turned the lock just in time before an unseen hand tried the knob from the other side. Yashar took two steps backwards.
“Rita, it’s time for us to go.” Natalia moved quickly to her sister, helping Rita to her feet as the men outside banged on the door. On the floor nearby, Zigic groaned as his consciousness slowly began to return. Natalia eyed his gun, a few feet away on the floor.
“Don’t,” said Yashar. “You no move.”
Natalia kept her steely gaze on him as the two sisters walked past and out onto the balcony. The pounding on the bedroom door grew louder and more frenzied as the men outside tried to break it down. Yashar stayed where he was, frozen by indecision. “We’re going over!” Natalia said to Rita.
Rita’s eyes opened wide when she saw the pool directly beneath them. “I can’t swim!” The banging at the door ceased for a brief moment followed by the sounds of gunshots blasting at the lock.
“It’s time to learn!” Natalia lifted her sister around the waist and swung her legs up and over the rail. She heard a collective gasp from the horrified guests below as she released Rita who fell with a giant splash into the water. In the next moment, the bedroom door burst open and three of Kemal’s men rushed into the room. Natalia saw Yashar, pointing toward the balcony. And she saw Zigic, halfway to his feet, his glazed eyes upon her. Natalia was next over the rail free-falling into the swimming pool, down through the water she went until her feet hit the bottom. Bending her knees, she pushed off with her legs and shot back upwards until she broke the surface. Natalia barely knew how to swim herself but thrashed her arms and legs in a desperate attempt to keep her head above water. Nearby was Rita, completely submerged. Natalia grasped her by the shirt and pulled her to the edge, managing to shove her up and part way out of the pool. Rita sputtered and coughed before scrambling the rest of the way out as the party guests moved further back and away. Kemal himself was nowhere in sight.
“Hareket ettirmeyin!” one of the men shouted down from the balcony. All three men pointed their guns at the two girls, though they seemed to be confused as they tried to figure out what was actually going on. Natalia pulled herself from the pool and then held her hands in the air to show that she was unarmed. “Ok, ok!” she yelled while quickly eyeing the escape route, through the house and on out. When she looked back up again, Zigic appeared at the rail, his own gun in hand. Natalia grasped Rita’s arm and they sprinted inside to the ringing sound of gunshots and then screams as bullets ricocheted across concrete.
Through the living room they ran, past the giant staircase and out the front door. A parking attendant stood beside a board covered with keys on metal hooks. Natalia quickly ran her fingers over them, lifting off a set with a Ferrari symbol on the keychain. She pressed the alarm button and heard a chirping sound from the rows of cars on the lawn as the yellow Ferrari’s lights flashed on and then off again. “Come on!” she shouted to her sister.
When they reached the car, Natalia opened the driver’s door and bounded into the seat as Rita climbed in on the passenger side. Zigic and the other men raced out of the house after them, but it only took the push of a button for the engine to roar to life. Natalia punched the gas pedal and the car’s back end spun out as she cranked the steering wheel to the right. Straightening it back out, they took off down the driveway, gravel flying through the air. The back window exploded as bullets riddled the car. “Keep your head down!” Natalia pressed the button on the sun shade and the front gates began to swing open. A lone security guard stood in the way, waving his hands back and forth. Natalia gunned the accelerator again and he dove aside, the Ferrari clipping the edges of the gates and bursting on through in a shower of sparks. The car skidded left, then swerved right as Natalia frantically turned the wheel one way and then the other until their momentum settled forward and they hurtled down the road and away, past darkened mansions, the ferry dock, and on into the urban sprawl that was Istanbul.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
They sat in the darkened Ferrari, parked behind a commercial building on the outskirts of the city. Rita trembled in Natalia’s arms. “It’s all right, we’ve made it,” Natalia tried to soothe her. “It’s all over.” Natalia closed her eyes and buried her face in Rita’s hair, inhaling deeply. “It’s all over,” she repeated the words, even as she knew they weren’t true.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Rita cried.
Natalia leaned back in alarm. “What are you sorry for?”
“I didn’t believe you. I should have believed. You tried to tell me…”
“Rita! You have nothing to be sorry for! You did nothing wrong!” Natalia put a hand on the side of her sister’s face.
“It was just like you said.”
“But I hardly said a thing. I was afraid to tell the truth.”
“You told us they were bad men.”
Natalia took Rita’s hand. “They can’t hurt you anymore.”
“But Natalia, I wasn’t the only one. There’s another girl!”
“There are a lot of girls, Rita. I’m sorry, but we can’t save them all.”
“But we can’t just leave her there! Alina is locked in a cage, just like I was!”
“Where?” Even with firsthand knowledge of Goran Zigic’s depravity, this news shook Natalia.
“I don’t know, in the basement of a house.”
“Whose house? Where is this house?”
“I don’t know! The man with the beard. I think it was his house.”
“Zigic.”
“We have to tell somebody. We have to call the police!”
“We can’t call the police.”
“But we have to tell somebody!” Rita’s voice quivered with desperation.
Natalia turned her attention to a touch screen on the dash, pushing a button to initiate the onboard navigation system. “Where would you like to go?” a woman’s voice asked in English.
“Home,” said Natalia, noting the irony of the word. The path to their own home led first through his.
“Turn right, now,” said the voice.
“What are we going to do?”
“I’m going to take care of it.” Natalia hit the car’s ignition switch. The engine came to life with a low rumble and Natalia drove around the building. “I’m sorry, Rita, but there’s nobody else who can help us.” She turned right onto the highway.
“Left turn toward Bosporus Bridge in 100 meters,” said the voice. Rita sank back in her seat, as if trying to disappear. Natalia kept to the speed limit, hoping to attract as little attention as possible while driving in a bright yellow V-12 Ferrari with a broken rear window and crumpled front bumper. She knew the car was likely equipped with a tracking device. She also knew she’d be wanted for murder. Double homicide. The police might close in at any moment. “Turn left toward Bosporus Bridge.”
When they’d crossed the bridge, the navigation system led them down winding roads and up
a hill into a neighborhood of enormous homes. A high brick wall stretched along the road on the left side. As they approached a large metal gate Rita tensed up, afraid to move, afraid to even breathe.
“You have arrived at your destination,” said the navigation system.
“You recognize this place?” Natalia asked.
Rita nodded, eyes wide.
Natalia drove past slowly. Through the gate she saw a large round driveway and beyond that, a large two-story house with a solid-looking wooden door. A black SUV was parked in front, along with a sleek black Mercedes that Natalia recognized. Light shone from a window upstairs but Natalia saw no signs of life. She continued on past without stopping. “How do you get into the basement?”
“There’s a door, through the kitchen,” said Rita. “But you can’t just go in there!”
“Does this door have a lock?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of lock? Do you need a key to get in?”
“There’s a keypad. You need the code.”
Coming after Zigic was part of Natalia’s plan all along and now she knew exactly where to find him. Rescuing this other girl was just another wrinkle. “I have to take you somewhere for safe-keeping,” she said.
“And then you’ll come back?”
“Yes, then I’ll come back.”
“But what if he’s here?”
“I’m counting on it.” Natalia turned the car around and drove back down the hill, scanning for any signs of police as she went. On through Istanbul, Natalia made her way to the city center where she pulled into an underground parking garage. She found a space far in a back corner, hidden as much as possible behind a larger sedan. As soon as she climbed from the car, Natalia immediately noticed the surveillance cameras. They didn’t really matter as long as she stayed one step ahead. The authorities could know where she’d been, as long as they didn’t know where she was going. Rita followed her up the stairs to street-level and then down two blocks to the hotel. In her room, Natalia’s duffel was packed and waiting on the bed. She slung it over her arm and they were out of the room in seconds. The front-desk clerk said nothing as they hurried past and out the front door.
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