BREAK ME FREE (3 page)

Police sirens echoed in the distance and the earth shook as a heavy freight train passed close by. Bentham opened the door to the terraced house and stepped into the narrow hallway. He stood with his back to the wall, so Tanya could pass. “I know what you’re thinking
…. Shit, right?”

“Grew up in worse.”

“This is only temporary. When they get their head out their arse, then they’ll find you a more comfortable place.” Bentham kicked the bottom of the door. “It’s solid though. Multi-lock door, panic switches in living room and bedroom. CCTV on the front and back plus all doors and windows are fully alarmed.”

“Great.”

“Best of all.” Bentham walked into the living room and parted the netted curtain on the front window. “It’s got a great kebab house and a fine fish and chip shop across the road. Every cloud, hey?”

Tanya explored the galley kitchen before returning into the tiny living room and collapsed on the musty smelling couch. “Thanks for sorting me out.”

“No problem. I should be thanking you.” Bentham gazed at her smile. His heart pumped lust around his veins. “Look, I’ll personally look after you. I … I mean that in every way.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, don’t take this the wrong way.”

“I won’t, honest.”

Bentham rubbed his face with his hands. “Sorry, I’m tired. I just came off an early shift when you arrived at the station.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“No, don’t be, that’s the life of detective. We’re always on call.”

“You’re a good man.”

Bentham blushed like a loved up school boy. “Thanks.” He stood from the couch. “Listen. You have my number, call me directly, don’t bother going through the station.”

“I will do that, thanks
.”

“
If you need anything, I mean anything. Just call me, got it?”

“Yeah, Thanks detective.”

“Just call me Dave.”

* * * *

Bentham walked over the loose flagstones of the path and towards his car. He stooped low into seat and slammed the car door behind him. “What is it with good looking women and total bastards? I invest forty grand in a car and I still have to pay women to sleep with me.”

Pulling up at a set of traffic lights, he heard a dull menacing thunder. Glancing into his rear view mirror, he saw a Black Range Rover. “Christ.” Stroking his steering wheel, he whispered. “Don’t worry, Babe. I still only have eyes for you.” A mile further down the road, he noticed that the Range Rover
was still tailgating. He called the plate number into his radio. The Range Rover overtook him and sped off into the distance.

Bentham’s radio crackled. “Plate registered to a Mr
. Sergi Guzun, residing at Flat 6, 152, Kathryn Road, East Ham, London.”

“Got to be one of Vladimir’s boys.”

Tanya placed a greasy chip into her mouth as she watched daytime television on a small screen.
A thump on the door caused her to reach for the remote and turn the screen to black. She stuffed the polystyrene container into a small metal bin beside her chair and dived behind the couch. The creak of the door’s letter box caused her
to let out a muted scream.

“Tanya
…. It’s Serge. I know you’re in there, I just watched you walk back from the chip shop.”

“Shit.” From behind the couch, Ta
nya stared at the panic button on the wall. Her mobile phone rested on the window sill.

“Come on babe, I’m not here on Vlad’s orders. It’s the opposite in fact.”

Tanya’s heart leapt as she saw Serge’s face against the window. She screamed, “Fuck Off, Serge!”

“What have you done, Tanya. Why are you under police protection?”

“Nothing.”

“You’ve done something, what is it?”

“Go away, now.”

“I need to know, before I get dragged down with him.” Serge smiled as he spotted her. “Look, I hate the way he treats you. I see you and I
… I see a good woman who needs a good man. Not Vlad.”

“You suggesting that you’re a good man? You’re just as bad as him.”

Serge thumped the window with his clenched fists. “Never compare me to that monster. I have done bad things, yes. I’ve treated
women poorly, of course. But I’m not evil, not like him.”

“The police are on their way. You better go.”

“I just want you safe and away from him. Here isn’t the place. I can protect you, the police can’t.”

“Go away I’m fine here.”

“Hurry up.” Serge spoke into the glass window. “We need to go?”

“We?”

“It’s not safe for the both of us. I know you have ratted on Vlad. When he finds out, he’ll take us all down with him.”

Tanya slowly stood and walked to the window. “What do you mean it’s not safe for me here?”

“Well, I found you didn’t? Vlad will find you too when he realises what’s going on.”

“I thought this shit hole would have been off the map.”

“Coppers like a little bonus for all their hard work.”

Tanya walked to the front door and leant against it. “Dave Bentham in your pocket?”

“No, he is straighter than a math teacher’s ruler.”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“Look, by rights I should be dragging you out by your hair for making my life awkward. But I soon realised it was an opportunity to break free.” Serge rested his head against the door. “I have saved you many a time from Vlad’s wicked hands. He will never let you go.”

“I want him to leave me alone. I don’t want to see him again.”

“I really do care for you and I won’t be able to live with myself if you don’t come with me. You really can’t stay here.”

Tanya opened the door. “I’m not going to Mold
ava.”

“I don’t care where you go. But you’re not staying here.”

“Right, I’ll get my stuff.”

“Great. Take only what you can carry
… and hurry up.”

* * * *

Serge stood in the hallway and listened to Tanya moving around upstairs. Shaking his head, he watched as she struggled down the stairs with a large suitcase. “Shit Tanya, you’ve only been here two days, how did you manage to buy all that?”

“There’s a street of charity shops around the corner.”

“Keeping low profile then, I see?”

“I hate daytime TV.”

Tanya sat in the plush Range Rover and glanced at Serge as he climbed inside. “Thanks Serge.”

“No problem.”

“So, where are we going?”

“The airport.”

“Then what?”

Serge placed the key into the ignition, “You ask too many questions.”

Tanya watched the passing traffic from the window. The Range Rover glided across the tarmac of the motorway, switching from lane to lane. For the first time in a long time she felt free.

Serge parked the Range Rover on the top level of the concrete multi-storey car park. “Pass me your phone, all of them.”

“Even the one the police gave me?”

“Yeah, hand them over.”

“Why the police one?”

“Vlad will track them. Even if the police are playing straight, he won’t be far behind.” Serge took the phones from Tanya’s hands, switched them off and placed them in a plastic bag. “Right, come on, let’s go.”

Tanya stood outside the Range Rover holding her wheeled luggage in one hand, with a sports bag hanging from her other shoulder. She watched Serge empty a jerry can into the SUV’s fuel tank. “Why are you topping up, planning on coming back?”

“Just giving Vlad another headache.”

They hurried into the airport terminal. Glancing around at all the posters and billboards, Tanya started to dream of a sunnier life. She then noticed that Serge walked straight towards the exit. “How come we’re heading towards the train station? The terminal is behind us … The sun, sea and sand are all behind us ... And so is whatever is in fucking Moldova.”

“The car is bugged.” Serge tossed the plastic bag into a cleaner’s dustcart.

“So? The plane isn’t.”

“I know. But he’ll send an army over there to hunt us both down.” Serge stepped onto the escalator.

“Well let’s go to another country.”

“I prefer to just let him think we have gone abroad. That will keep him nicely occupied for a good while.”

Tanya huffed as she folded her arms. “How the hell did we get in this mess?”

“Did you seriously just say that?”

“All I was doing was the right thing. Vlad’s a bad man who needs to go down.”

“He’s a powerful man with more contacts than the yellow pages. You should have thought about that before you hatched this little plan of yours.”

“Hey, this is as much your fault as mine.”

“Yeah? And how did you work that one out?”

“You’re his brains. You gave him the means for him to be what he is today. If it weren’t for you, he’d just be a low-life thug, dealing pot to school kids. But thanks to you he runs a multimillion dollar trafficking business.”

“Fuck, you’re pretty clever for a blond
e.”

Tanya chuckled and bashed him with her wheeled luggage.
“You’re quite thick for an ugly face.”

The pair walked into a crowded station lobby. Tanya glanced at the departures board. “Where are you going?”

“As far away as I can from that Psycho. What about you?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never been out of London.”

“Fancy Scotland?”

“It’s cold.”

“It’s safe.”

“Serge, I haven’t enough money anyway.”

“Don’t worry, keep me company and I’ll protect you.”

Tanya bit her lip. She glanced at the floor before breaking into a smile. “Deal.”

The train rocked as it travelled through the night. Serge couldn’t take his eyes off the sleeping Tanya. Her long legs and slim body provided a timely distraction from the worries he was trying to leave behind.

Bentham sat next to his fellow detective Norman, in a small windowless office. He stared at the screen and didn’t flinch as tea dribbled from his uneven cup. “I can’t believe she could be so stupid to go off with him. Who is he?”

“Don’t know, but she seems to be friendly enough with him. In fact, she seems very friendly with him, you can tell by her body language.”

“Fuck you Norman. I’m telling you, she was into me.”

Norman shrugged, “You have a fight on your hands if you want her. I know I wouldn’t want to mess with him.”

“He has to be involved with Vladimir in some way.” Bentham got within inches of the monitor, his nose almost touching the screen as he stared at still of Serge. “Can’t fucking remember his name, but he is one of Vlad’s goons, all right.”

A notification popped up on the PC screen and Norman opened the email. “This just came in from traffic. It’s the vehicle that was parked on her street shortly before he arrived at her door.” He opened the attachment that display
ed a still from a CCTV video. “It’s a brand spanking Range Rover Evoque, this year’s plate. Not the kind of vehicle native to that estate.”

“That fucking passed me on the way home, after dropping her off.”

“Plate owner is a certain Serge Guzun. Can’t just be a coincidence that he is a Moldovan national, Dave.”

“Yeah I ran the plate myself
…. When was the car last seen?”

“Not sure. We have the plate pinged, so hopefully it will turn up sooner or later.”

“I just don’t want to drag her out the Thames with no tits.”

Vladimir chewed a fingernail as the call rang through unanswered. “Where is he?” He glanced peered through his car window towards Serge’s apartment. He opened the car door and stepped out.

At the front door Vladimir
pressed the intercom and waited for it to answer. “Come on Serge, wake up you prick.” He almost fell as he stepped over a bush that bordered the small path. Pacing around the block, Vladimir peered through the gate of the secured parking. “Serge’s Range isn’t there… Where the fuck is he and why isn’t the prick answering his mobile.” He walked to the main entrance and sat on the doorstep. Holding the phone to his ear, he phoned Igor. “Chubby, have you anything on Serge?”

“No one has seen him in two days.”

“The car?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Hurry, up anyway, I need your muscle.” The phone back in his pocket, Vladimir waited on the doorstep like a lost child.

Vlad
imir stood as the door clicked open. He smiled as he held the door open as a young couple struggled to maneuver a pram through the door. A false smile crossed his face. “You think they would make a wider door for the likes of you two”

“Thanks
.”

“No problem.”
He stepped inside. Taking out his cigarette packet, he wedged the door slight ajar for Igor, before making his way up to Serge’s apartment.

Vladimir paced up and down the corridor outside Serge’s apartment. “I can smell a
rat.” Stooping down he took a fire extinguisher from its wall mount, before using it as a siege weapon to ram the door open. Searching from room to room he looked for clues. A knock on the broken door caused Vladimir to turn on his heel. “Give me something.”

The bald headed, barrel chested Igor stood at the door. “Serge’s car is at
 Heathrow airport.”

“Airport? The fucker has gone back.”

“Looks that way.”

“What about the slut?”

Igor shrugged. “Which one?”

“Fucking Tanya. Where is she?”

“Word on the street is that she is in the police’s hands.”

“Protection or custody?”

“Don’t know yet.”

“Well don’t just stand there Igor, go and fucking find out then.”

Igor glanced at his phone. “I’m on it.”

“What’s fucking happening?” Vlad
imir fell on the couch and screamed, “What’s fucking happening?”

“What can I do to help?”

“Call off the container raid, I can’t deal with all this at once.”

“We can’t. We’re going to look like amateurs. Our reputation will be destroyed.”

“I know. But they’re fucking with me. I’m being fucked over.” Vladimir stood up and threw his mobile across the room. He then picked up the extinguisher that he used to knock through the door, and hurled it at the mirror, shattering the glass.

“That’s bad, Vlad.”

“I know, I fucking know. But it’s not like things can get any fucking worse. Now let’s go and retrieve his car.”

             
Vladimir stood in the multi-storey car park and stared at Serge’s car. “To think I bought him that for his birthday.” He scratched his scalp through his hair as he opened the car door with his spare key. “And this is how he repays me.”

Igor searched the glove compartment. “This is not like him at all. There has to be
 something behind this. You don’t think he’s gone off with Tanya?”

“He’s left with my money more like. He always did have an eye on her, though.”

              “Not the only one.”

“What?”

              “N…Nothing. I just, you know? She’s an attractive girl surrounded by men.”

“Shut up Igor. Just shut up
, and concentrate on looking for any travel receipts or anything else than gives his game away.”

             
Driving Serge’s car, Vladimir approached a busy roundabout when the engine began to splutter. “What the…?” The engine kicked and jumped as Vlad took the inside lane of the roundabout. Warning lights flashed and beeps reverberated around the cab before the engine cut out.

The car at a standstill, impatient drivers blew their horns
 and flashed their lights. “Serge, you utter bastard.”