The Survival Game (20 page)

And that was exactly the case here.

‘Is that them?’ Stefan asked her, noticing the man Valeria was staring at.

‘Yes,’ Valeria replied, not diverting her stare from the man under the umbrella.

‘Do you want me to go with you?’ Stefan asked.

Valeria looked back at him and smiled. She felt much better knowing she had good people around her to protect her. Marek’s second family were all good people. All of them.

‘It’s okay, Stefan,’ she replied. ‘I’m more than used to dealing with these types of people now.’

Stefan smiled ruefully. ‘It will be a good day when you don’t have to any more.’

Valeria turned her attention back to the man under the umbrella, just as another car pulled up beside him—a Mercedes with tinted windows. Valeria watched on as another man in a trench coat stepped out of the driver’s seat and opened up an umbrella. He shut the driver’s door behind him before slowly approaching the original man. When he reached him, they began to talk, occasionally glancing to the left and right.

‘Unfortunately, Stefan, I don’t think that day will ever arrive,’ she said to the window. She sighed. It was genuinely how she felt about these matters. But at the same time, she knew she had to be strong. To push onwards. ‘I’ll be back soon,’ she said before opening the door.

‘Okay,’ Stefan replied, but the lashing rain drowned his voice out.

Valeria was instantly drenched, and a thought suddenly struck her—these two men she was about to speak to would be glad of the heavy rain because it helped to hide them even better.

She dashed over to where they stood. When she was close by, they turned her way, stopped, and stared. When she reached them, they huddled in towards her so that she could get beneath their umbrellas.

‘Thank you,’ she said courteously, wiping the rain from her forehead. And she suddenly realised another benefit of the rain—it helped mask her tears. She sniffed and delicately wiped her nose with her hand before staring at them. Both men stared back at her with solemn eyes. Looking at their faces made Valeria realise just how much she hated these people and what they represented. They weren’t concerned for her feelings, for
Papa
, they just pretended to be. As long as she did what they wanted, as long as she was of use, they’d keep up the pretence of caring.

‘I’m glad you could meet us at such short notice,’ said the second man to arrive, his voice accompanied by the sound of the rain splattering against his umbrella. ‘Especially after the day you’ve had.’

Valeria looked down and nodded her head in response.

‘And apologies for the time and choice of surroundings,’ the man then said. ‘But you know by now how these things are.’

Valeria shrugged. Yes, this was the real world of the politician; deception, shadows and secrecy, she knew
that
all too well.

‘It’s all right, Alistair,’ she replied. ‘After the day I’ve had, standing in a cold and rainy car park in the middle of nowhere at one am is very easy.’

Alistair McKinney smiled wryly. ‘I suppose it is… We’re very sorry to hear about your father and cousin. Seems you’ve made a few enemies. But we expected that…’

Valeria nodded in agreement. They
had
made enemies, that was for sure. She suddenly found herself thinking of Marek.
So, who made the enemy, Valeria?
a voice inside her asked.
You or your brother?

‘Bartosz has already made contact,’ McKinney informed her, ‘and he says this incident has nothing to do with him.’

‘That’s nice of him,’ Valeria replied dryly. The very mention of
that
name made her skin crawl. Bartosz was exactly what Alistair McKinney was—a slimy politician. And she hated all politicians.

‘Well, was he good enough to tell you who
may
have done this?’ she asked.

McKinney glanced from her to the other man, and she realised that she hated
gliniarze
just as much as politicians. Maybe even more. They were dogs. Dogs on the leash of the MPs.

‘I believe Ray already has something on this,’ McKinney replied.

Valeria looked from him down at Raymond Barnes. ‘
Sir
Lionel Clifford couldn’t make it tonight?’ she asked with a tinge of contempt to her voice.

‘
Er,
I’m afraid not,’ Barnes replied in a lispy, bureaucratic tone. ‘He’s extremely busy right now…’

Typical gliniarze,
Valeria thought bitterly to herself.
Send in the lapdog to do his dirty work.

Barnes removed a folded plastic file from the inner pocket of his coat. ‘We managed to lift a partial fingerprint from a photo of your brother back at your father’s house,’ Barnes informed her, getting straight to business. He gave the file a brief glance before handing it over to Valeria.

A sudden confusion overcame her.
A partial fingerprint? An identification? It can’t be…
She eagerly scanned the front document of the file through the opaque cover. She found herself staring at a mugshot of a man in his twenties. There were dark rings under his eyes and his eyebrows met in the middle. Butterflies swished through her stomach. It was the Arab. The one they robbed in the alleyway a few nights before. Even though he looked younger in the photo, it was definitely him.

‘His name’s John Evangelou,’ Barnes informed her. ‘Ring any bells?’

Yes, he rings plenty, Ray. Robberies in alleyways, bells a bit like that.
And then it quickly became clear in her mind just how rotten this situation could potentially turn. If
they
found the Arab, he’d tell them about Marek’s presence in the UK. Then if they found Marek, they’d hand him over to Bartosz in an instant, and he’d spend the rest of his life behind bars.

‘Valeria?’

Valeria turned her mouth downwards and shook her head. ‘No. I have never seen him before. Do you know why he would do this?’

‘Well, he was in prison a while ago for dealing drugs; cannabis, that kind of thing,’ Barnes informed her. ‘We think he’s up to his old ways again and wants you out of the picture. He was always small time, so right now he most probably works for someone, a Mr. Big, who supplies product for him to sell on street corners…’ Barnes then gave her a little smirk before continuing. ‘Obviously,
your
product is better than whatever
his
is. He was most likely sent to your father’s house hoping to find
you
there. Or at the very least, he was trying to send a warning out to you.’

Wrong, you idiot!
Valeria thought to herself with a mixture of disgust and anxiety.
He was after my brother. It was my brother who brought him to
Papa
’s front door. Not me! But anyway…

‘Have you—
have you found him?
’ she then tentatively asked.

‘I’m afraid not,’ Barnes replied, and glanced downwards.

Valeria’s chest relaxed slightly.

‘The address we have on file is an old one,’ continued Barnes. ‘He has no fixed address right now. And we’re reluctant to release his face and name to the media in case it drives him even deeper underground. But I promise you we’ll find him. He can’t hide from
us
…’ There was a look of arrogant pride tattooed on his face that made Valeria want to slap him. She refrained, lowering her head and nodding to herself instead. Even though Evangelou could give up her brother, he murdered
Papa
and Adrian in cold blood, and for that he needed to be punished. Severely. So his capture had both an up side as well as a down side.

‘Maybe he works for Bartosz,’ Valeria then said, in an attempt to throw the dogs a red herring.

McKinney huffed. ‘Bartosz is adamant—’

‘And you believe him?’ Valeria snapped.

‘This would be a stupid move on his part,’ McKinney stated. ‘It would just serve to strengthen our alliance with you and kill any slim chance he has of getting you back. He’s very vociferous in his innocence. Trust me, I know the game. Bartosz has nothing to do with this. His best weapon is diplomacy—although granted it’s not his greatest strength—the situation earlier today is so very
un
diplomatic, even he couldn’t fail to recognise it as such.’

Valeria responded by swiftly putting the file down by her thigh, wanting the Arab out of her sight. He was more trouble than he was worth.

McKinney straightened his back. ‘Now, we’ve already made it clear to Bartosz that you’re working for us, and that things will remain that way for the foreseeable future. You’ve proven yourself valuable and reliable. And as you’ve helped us with our
problem
—for which we’re grateful, I might add—your citizenship will be fast tracked from tomorrow. It should be processed in the next ten to fifteen days. Now, we can flex our political muscles to fend off Bartosz until then, but in the meantime we have another problem, namely your brother…’

Valeria’s eyes darted up to meet McKinney’s. McKinney was staring down at her with serious eyes, a slight anger residing inside them. It was the stare of an irritated schoolteacher.

‘Bartosz wants Marek,’ McKinney stated. ‘But you already know that. He’s made a fool of Bartosz, and so Bartosz wants to make an example of
him
. He’s an escaped con, Valeria. Now, if he
is
here in the UK and we allow him to stay here, it looks as though we’re harbouring an escaped criminal, which weakens our stance against Bartosz, which in turn weakens our ties with you. It will give him the leverage he so desperately needs to demand you return home.
And we both know you don’t want that
.’

Valeria suddenly had an image of Bartosz in her mind. The slime politician who wanted to use her brain for his own thirst for power. She could see that twisted megalomaniac face, that horrible grin. She shivered.

‘So, if he’s here, Valeria,’ McKinney continued, ‘you have to tell us.’

Valeria’s head snapped up. ‘Even if I knew where he was, I would not give him up to you, Bartosz, or anyone!’ she replied sternly.

McKinney remained stone faced.

‘He is man on the run, Alistair,’ Valeria continued. ‘He won’t even tell
me
where he is, his own sister. He is most probably still in Poland, right under Bartosz’s nose.’ She laughed to herself and shook her head. ‘You know Bartosz and Marek were once like brothers?’ she asked.

‘We’re well aware of the story, Valeria,’ McKinney responded. ‘They were both part of the same soccer hooligan gang before Bartosz made the jump up into politics. Marek saw it as betrayal, got cheesed off, even more so when he found out Bartosz then wanted you on his side—’

‘And part of the story you may be unaware of, Alistair, is that Bartosz and I were once lovers…’ Valeria interjected, staring wide-eyed at both men. Their eyes rolled around in their sockets, not knowing where to look.

‘I left him once I realised what he wanted me to do for him,’ Valeria continued, ‘and so like hurt little boy, he got jealous, and had Marek and his friends arrested. Set up and thrown in jail.’

‘And we sympathise with both you and your brother,’ stated McKinney.

‘
Pfft!
Don’t insult me!’

‘Believe what you like, but it’s the truth,’ McKinney said adamantly. ‘We know exactly what kind of man Bartosz is, and we have no desire to bargain with him or to let such a brilliant mind like yours fall into the wrong hands, believe me. And as long as you work for us we’ll protect you from him.’

‘You are my heroes,’ Valeria said with just an air of sarcasm.

‘I know you must be emotional right now, Valeria,’ McKinney then said, slightly annoyed. ‘But we
are
on your side. And so until we catch this Evangelou thug, we want to ensure your safety.’

‘And how do you intend on doing that, Alistair?’ Valeria asked.

McKinney glanced over at Barnes. ‘We want to put you under constant surveillance until we catch him,’ Barnes informed her.

Valeria’s jaw dropped. ‘You mean
watch
me? Constantly?’ The very thought made her almost choke.

‘No.
Keep an eye on you.
Protect you,’ said Barnes.

Valeria chuckled. ‘Ray, I have thirty men protecting me at the factory. I have guy in the car over there. I am
already
protected. So thanks for offer, but I feel more comfortable around my own.’

McKinney and Barnes glanced at each other. ‘That’s all very well, Valeria. But we’d like to ensure your safety ourselves,’ Barnes retorted.

Valeria shook her head. These people were useless,
she
was the one who had to come over to their country and clean up the mess they created in the name of divide and rule. These scumbags left the back door open for the criminals to come and wreak havoc on the public, their sense of fear keeping them in line and forcing them to look to the authorities for safety. A well used tactic going back centuries she knew all too well from being around this kind of person. But it finally backfired on them. She recalled Sir Lionel Clifford’s very words when they first met—
We just can’t cope any longer,
he said.
We’ve lost control.
If they couldn’t protect their own people, how could they protect her?

‘The fact is,’ McKinney then said, making her glance over at him, ‘if anything should happen to you, then the very hard drugs will be back on the streets—’

‘
And you won’t get the truth drug you so badly seek
,’ Valeria added with a knowing gleam in her eye.

McKinney remained unperturbed. ‘As we’ve already made it very clear to you, it would be a big aid in our battle against terrorism…’

‘
It’s always for terrorism isn’t it?
’ Valeria mumbled to herself.

‘
We
want to use it for good,’ McKinney said firmly. ‘Bartosz wants to use it for bad. To manipulate. To control.’ McKinney was staring at her open-eyed as he spoke. But Valeria wouldn’t allow herself to fall for it. She knew what she was hearing was all lies.
They wanted to use her truth drug for good?
Bullshit. They ultimately wanted the same as Bartosz, the only difference between them was they didn’t want to ruin Marek’s life.

Imagine being able to see a nation’s hopes and fears before your very eyes. Imagine how a Bartosz would use that to his advantage. An Alistair McKinney.
It was either him or Bartosz. Which meant that her only choice was to sleep with the lesser of two evils. And the two men standing with her represented that lesser evil. So she had to lie down with them. Before today, for
Papa
; today and tomorrow for Marek, for herself, for the Gladiator brothers. She had to give them what they wanted or who knew what they’d do.
Deport her? Send her first class to Bartosz tied with a ribbon?