Breaking the Circle (17 page)

‘Only me,’ Zac said softly.

‘Oh my God! I thought you were Ginger,’ Maya said. ‘Forgot for a moment you were with me.’

Zac grabbed her hand. ‘Well, I am.’

Maya gave him a faint smile.

‘I’m so glad. This place gives me the creeps.’

She pulled two pairs of thin rubber gloves out of her pocket.

‘Here, put these on – don’t want to mess up any evidence. Let’s get to work and get out of here fast.’

They wiggled their hands into the gloves, then crept upstairs, pausing and listening, until they were finally on the landing. All the doors were open and it took only moments to check that
nobody was inside the rooms. The house was deserted.

‘So, what we goin’ to do now?’ Zac asked.

‘We look for clues, anything they’ve left which tells us about the organisation.’

‘OK.’

Maya went into the room with the soggy mattresses. There wasn’t much to find: a few rags, a piece of rope, some bent scissors, smoky plastic bottles. She lifted a mattress, but there was
nothing underneath. She was just about to give up when Zac called.

‘Come and see what I’ve found.’

Zac was standing at the end of the landing with a heavy padlock in his hand; he gestured to a door which had heavy bolts on it. ‘Mostly locked, I guess, but the padlock was undone. Perhaps
someone left in a hurry. Come and see – it goes through to next door.’

They went through the door which led onto the adjoining landing. Zac dipped into a room and Maya followed. To her surprise, she found herself in a pleasant bedroom. It was a world away from the
scabby rooms with the stained mattresses next door. A king size bed with black leather headboard dominated the centre of the room and the sheets on the bed looked freshly laundered. Two big red
velvet cushions lay in the centre of the duvet, lined up on a white unit were bottles of aftershave and other toiletries, an iPod and a stack of magazines.

‘Gerard’s hideout?’

‘Yeah, I reckon,’ Zac said. ‘Good cover, eh? A palace in a squat.’

Maya was busy looking round. She went over to a side table and lifted up a cigarette lighter. ‘This has got his name engraved on it – Gerard Lesanne. I doubt if he’ll be back
here to claim it.’

‘Easy come, easy go, I guess,’ Zac said.

‘Zac! Gerard’s probably dead.’

‘Oh, yeah, well, I didn’t. . .’

His voice tailed off and Maya wasn’t listening, anyway. She was checking out a newspaper she’d picked up from a pile.

Zac came over to her. ‘That’s Russian or Polish,’ he said looking at the newspaper. ‘Somethin’ like that, anyway.’

‘Russian,’ Maya said. She set it aside and picked up a leaflet. Opening it up, she saw, spread across the centrefold, photos of women, most of them young girls. At the top of the
page was a heading – ‘Omega Brides’.

‘Look!’ Maya pointed. ‘I’m sure that’s Annika . . . and her sister.’ Her gaze swept over the rest of the photos. ‘I get it. Omega finds husbands for
some girls, but that’s just a front, to make them seem legit. The most attractive girls they keep and get them hooked on drugs so they can control them.’ She rolled up a couple of
leaflets and a newspaper and stuffed them inside her jacket. ‘I’ll send these to Simon tomorrow with my report.’

Zac picked up a leaflet and looked at the girls. ‘It’s horrible. Some of them don’t look any older than us.’

Maya nodded. ‘I know. Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps – Gerard sleeping in here like a king and next door girls tied up, lying on filthy mattresses and
crying their eyes out. How could he do that?’

Zac put his arm round Maya’s shoulders. ‘Come on. Let’s split.’

* * *

On the doorstep to Maya’s flat, Zac whispered goodbye and gave her a quick hug.

Sliding her key into the lock, Maya turned it and edged the door open. Thank goodness the alarm system didn’t go on until later. She could hear the TV in the sitting room – Helen,
slightly deaf, had it booming. She was watching a rerun of
Inspector Morse
.

If she could just get through the hall to the bottom of the stairs, Maya thought, then she was home and dry. Three quick strides and she was on the bottom step. Swiftly she mounted the stairs
and dived into her room. Hopefully Gran hadn’t noticed her absence.

She was just removing the leaflets and newspaper from inside her jacket when there was a knock on her door.

‘Maya?’

‘Just a minute!’ Stuffing the papers under a school file, she slung her jacket on a chair and went to the door.

‘Oh, you’re still dressed!’ Gran exclaimed.

‘Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I’m going to get ready for bed in a minute – switch my brain off and fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.’

‘I shouldn’t think so, after all the adventures you’ve had,’ Helen said.

‘Err. . . I’m going to try, anyway.’

‘Well, before you go to sleep, I want to look at those cuts and scratches and put some more ointment on them. You never know what germs could have got into them in that water. You need to
be on antibiotics.’

‘How did you know about the canal?’

‘Simon. He phoned about ten minutes ago. I was going to come up but I thought you were asleep – then I heard you. Did you come down for something?’

‘Oh, just a glass of water.’

‘Right. Well, Simon said he’ll send a car round tomorrow evening to pick up your report. We’re possibly not going to tell Pam how you escaped. A half-drowned daughter is
something she doesn’t need to think about.’

‘Thanks, Gran,’ Maya said.

‘Yes, well, you were very naughty. First thing tomorrow I’m taking you to the doctors.’

‘Gran, I’m all right.’

‘You were coughing earlier.’

‘I know, but I’m fine now. I’ll go and see the school nurse tomorrow. She can check me over.’

‘We’ll see. But you have to promise you’re going to keep out of trouble from now on.’

Maya rested her chin on her gran’s head. ‘I promise I’ll try not to get into more trouble.’

Once Gran had kissed her goodnight and had been reassured for the tenth time that Maya really wasn’t hurt any more than the obvious cuts and bruises, she left her to sleep. As soon as her
footsteps faded, Maya spread the stolen papers out on her bedroom carpet.

A hundred young women’s faces looked up at her. Some were fresh and innocent, some were heavily made-up, several wore skimpy clothes, adopting fake sexy poses, and a few had serious faces,
but one thing they all had in common was their eyes – they were full of hope. How many of these girls had Omega brought to England and exploited? On the top of the paper was a website
address. Booting up her laptop, Maya accessed the site. Men could peruse the site and choose a prospective bride. Only brief details about the girls were given: their names, height, weight, hair
colour, body measurements and what country they came from – Albania, Romania, Kosovo, China, Thailand, Philippines. At the top of the page was a phone number.

The next morning, it took a big effort for Maya to get out of bed. Dazzling dreams held onto her; the night had been full of sleeplessness and turmoil. She staggered into the
bathroom and stood for a long time under the shower, letting the stream of hot water ease the ache of her muscles. She examined her body. Glistening under a sheen of water, the cuts and bruises
took on a life of their own, marking her skin with livid scars.

Wrestling with Ginger and her fight for survival underwater had taken their toll. The bathroom mirror was too steamed up for her to see her face properly, so, putting on a dressing gown, she
went back into her room. The swelling on one side of her face had subsided, but her cheek had a bluish tinge and above it, her eye was ringed by a dark circle. There was a cut on her chin and
scratches on her neck. Make-up should conceal some of the damage, though not all.

Trousers were a good option. Actually, she hated the shapeless, navy blue trousers that were the school alternative to skirts, but today they’d act as a useful cover-up and, together with
a long-sleeved shirt, would conceal most of her injuries. After quickly pulling on her clothes, she applied some make-up. Leaning close to the mirror, she tried to decide whether the effect was
better or worse.

By the time she’d finished treating and drying her hair, she was hot and sweaty. This was not a good way to start the day
.

To think deeply requires a calm mind
.

Pam’s voice! When she heard it, she realised with surprise that it had been absent
.
She used to hear it all the time when Pam was away. If she was scared or worried, she’d
think of something Pam had said, but recently, Pam’s voice had been missing without her realising it.

She walked over to the window, opened it and took a deep breath. She felt strange, unnerved. She’d lost the connection with Pam without even noticing. Had she outgrown it? Was she becoming
more independent, or was it because she knew Pam wouldn’t approve of what she was doing?

From the window, she looked down on the scene she knew so well; the old square dappled in early morning sunshine, the beech trees forming a border round the little park. What scene had greeted
Pam upon waking – stark mountains, dusty plains? Like her mission, it was a mystery. Maya tried to picture her mum, but all she saw were Pam’s grey eyes looking at her with serious
questions.

‘I know, I know,’ Maya whispered. ‘But you didn’t see how desperate those girls were – they were crying, feeling ashamed, as if they’d done something wrong.
It’s not their fault, it’s foul, inhuman. They’re prisoners, probably somewhere nearby. I can’t just ignore them, Mum, I can’t.’

A woman in bright summer clothes hurried along the pavement, tripping in high red shoes. Two mothers supervising a line of children in neat uniforms – the walking bus – rounded the
corner and crossed the road. One of the children broke away from the line and was ushered back into his place.

‘If you’d met Kay, you’d want to help her, just like you helped me. You remember how I was found in a ditch, filthy and starving? I had this dream that a girl with gold eyes
pushed me in there to save me. It could have been Kay.

‘I have to try and find out about Omega, Mum. You do understand, don’t you? I have to help Kay.’

She touched the ruby ring which had been a birthday present from Pam.

Be careful my darling, I’ll be home in three days
.

Maya smiled.

Got you, Mum, I promise I won’t take any unnecessary risks. See you soon
.

While closing the window, a heavy, bald-headed man sauntering along with a newspaper under his arm caught her attention. He was wearing jeans and a combat jacket. He stopped, leaned back against
the railings, opened his newspaper and began to read. Maya didn’t miss his direct glance up to her window, and then he spoke into a wired headset. She dodged back, a burning question in her
brain – was he Simon’s man or one of the Omega heavies? Just as she’d decided to take another peek, the house phone next to her bed rang.

Quickly she crossed the floor and picked it up.

’Don’t worry,’ a male voice said. ‘He’s my man.’ With a flood of relief, she recognised Simon’s voice. ‘He saw you looking. He’ll tail you.
There’ll be somebody on watch till Pam’s back.’

‘Can I catch the bus?’

‘Yes. Carry on as normal. If the gang are watching we don’t want to alarm them.’

Down in the kitchen, Helen was listening to the radio and making toast.

‘I thought I heard you,’ she said. ‘You’re not going to school, surely?’

‘Yep,’ Maya replied, taking a piece of buttered toast.

‘I was just making you breakfast, I was going to bring it up on a tray.’ She gestured to a tray neatly-laid with a cloth and crockery. ‘How’re you feeling?’

‘I’m all right. Honest,’ Maya said. ‘I haven’t coughed once and I don’t want to miss athletics practice.’

‘You sure you’re up to it?’ Helen asked. She pulled down her glasses and inspected Maya over the top of them. ‘Your face is rather a mess, darling. Have a day
off.’

‘I am a bit tired, but I can’t let the team down.’ She took a bite of toast and chewed slowly. ‘Don’t worry, Simon’s men are out there, watching me. Bye,
gotta go.’

‘What about that report Simon wanted?’

‘I’ll do it when I get home.’

When the door closed behind her, Maya surveyed the street. Her bodyguard was still pretending to read his newspaper. Her eyes swept over the pavements and square; thankfully there was no sign of
Ginger or any gang members. Even so, as she hurried towards the bus stop, she was glad Simon’s man was following.

Leona and Evie were sitting together on a tabletop when Maya entered the tutor room.

‘Where’ve you been?’ Leona shouted. And then she looked horrified. ‘What the hell happened to you?’ She grabbed Maya’s arm and pulled her close. ‘Who
hit you?’

Maya turned away. ‘I was sick, I fainted, fell down.’

‘Yeah? Looks like you been street fighting.’

Maya turned away and dropped her bag on a table. ‘How’s Serena?’ she asked, hoping to ward off more questions.

Leona’s face puckered. ‘She’s improving but they don’t know what damage is done yet. They’re runnin’ tests. Could be her liver is damaged.’