Never Trust a Callboy (14 page)

"Shall we go to my room?" my new companion whispers in my ear.

"No, don’t be annoyed... but that’s a bit too fast for me."

I withdraw with an apologetic smile. I am a stupid cow, I berate myself, but I can’t do anything about it. Somehow, I'm not in the mood to be intimate with a stranger.

"Too bad." With a shrug, he turns around and scans the room with a view to finding the next beauty, one who’s more adventurous than I am. I feel strange as I make my way back to Anna. It’s a funny feeling to be so easily replaceable.

"And?" asks Anna with a significant look at the guy I just kissed.

"I don't know, it's not my thing to hop into bed with a total stranger," I confess. Although this is not the real reason, it’s still not a lie. Even if Christian had not pushed his way into my thoughts, the whole thing was moving too quickly. When I phoned Christian, it was something else. That evening, I was determined to have a one night stand, on my terms. The fact that he was not only very attractive but also very nice played no role in this decision I tell myself.

"You want an espresso?" I ask Anna with a fixed smile while I try to think of something else. It is not an option to fall in love with a callboy! Luckily she does not suspect that it’s the memory of a man who earns his money lying down that stopped me from wanting more. She must not think I’m quite that stupid.

We’re pretty tipsy as we walk up the hill to Anna’s house later that evening. She leans heavily on my arm. Apparently she can’t hold her alcohol as well as she thought, because she’s leaning her entire weight on me. Although it’s after midnight, it’s still hot. I’m sweaty and I'm happy with every breath of wind that touches us.

We are lucky. We only have to cross the street and turn into the small lane which branches off from there. The street lamps cast a milky light on the pavement. Anna gets heavier on my arm, and I'm glad that the alley, which leads to her house, lies ahead. A cat goes for a walk on the wall next to us, but it's not Minn. Perhaps one of her admirers? Then I see something else. My heart skips a beat and then starts to pound.

A
black BMW with tinted windows. This may be a coincidence, whispers a voice in my head. But I don't believe in coincidences. Slowly I step backwards with Anna, and hide under the protective branches of a tree. I stare at the car, while I try to think clearly.

"What's going on? Why are we stopping?" fusses Anna next to me.

"Quiet. Don't say anything." I draw her even further back in an effort to merge with the night shadows. I'm glad that we both chose little black dresses this evening.

"What's going on?" Anna tries to get free from me, but I hold her still.

"Over there. The BMW. The man in the parking garage drove exactly the same car," I whisper.

"The man who nearly ran over you?" Luckily, Anna is talking quietly now too. She seems more awake, and she appears to have understood the seriousness of the situation.

"Exactly."

"What is he doing here? How did he find you?"

"I don't know. Perhaps I’m mistaken. Maybe it's just a stupid coincidence."

Anna looks at me dubiously. "There aren’t so many BMWs on this island. Especially not with a Frankfurt plate."

Now it is Anna that leads me further into a side street, and then we break into a run heading down to the port where the taxis are waiting. We climb into the first available vehicle, and Anna talks in Spanish to the driver. He starts the car before we’re even strapped in and takes off with squealing tires. Anna pulls her phone out of her pocket and begins to make a phone call, she rattles off an explanation like a machine gun. At least, I think that’s what she’s doing, I can’t tell because she’s speaking Spanish. Then she stops talking, but before I can say anything she’s dialed again. Another jumble of Spanish sentences; after a while she hangs up, turns to me and grins.

"Your mysterious pursuers are experiencing a nasty surprise," she announces and leans back satisfied.

"Did you call Antonio?"

Anna nods. “Yes. He will ensure that your stalkers spend the night in a cell. To sober up."

"How does he know that they’re drunk?"

"When he picks them up, they will be drunk. Believe me."

"Antonio is probably pretty mad at me for drawing you into this whole mess."

Anna shrugs her shoulders. "He wasn’t very happy, that was obvious, but he's worried about you of course. It looks like you're not safe even here. He thinks you should go back to Frankfurt as soon as possible and go to the police."

"He's probably right," I agree, reluctantly, even if I don't like the idea. I certainly won’t be going to the police. but I have to leave here, I don’t want to put Anna in danger.

"Antonio has contacted his friend José. He will fly you to the mainland."

"Now? In the middle of the night?"

“Yes. Antonio will have to let your stalker go in the morning. He wants you to disappear from the island before then. For your own safety." And Anna’s I think. I have to agree with him, even if everything is going a bit too quickly for me.

"He also said you shouldn’t use your cell phone, they might have located you using it. Tomorrow they’ll check your car for trackers, but as long as we don't know how they found you, you should be careful. Here, you can use my phone in the meantime."

"Thank you. I’ll give it back to you as soon as possible."

"I have another one. There's no hurry."

Before I can say anything, the taxi comes to a stop. Before us lies a small estate which is almost obscured by several large trees. And then I see something else, a helicopter, a very small helicopter. An uneasy feeling is spreading from my stomach. When Anna said that this José would fly me to the mainland I was thinking about a normal plane, not that! I’ve never flown in a helicopter before. My father didn’t squander his money on such nonsense, as he liked to say.

"So, here we are." Anna sounds happy as she gets out and indicates the helicopter. Not surprisingly, as she’s not the one who has to fly in it. I follow her hesitantly. I didn’t know these things could be so small.

"José will bring you to Denia." Anna gestures to the man who looks like a tourist despite his Spanish name, he has thick, blond hair, blue eyes, and is well tanned.

José offers me his hand and says: "It’s a pleasure. It’s a long time since I’ve flown over the sea."

That’s all I need, I hope he knows what he's doing. I'm already getting queasy just looking at the helicopter. Then I realize, that it has no doors, and my stomach makes an involuntary somersault. "What about the doors?" I ask with a shaky voice.

"You can trust José. He’s a nice guy and an excellent pilot. He will bring you safely to Denia."

I attempt a smile and turn around to face her trying not to let my feelings show. I don’t want her to think that I'm afraid of getting into this flying sardine can. "Okay, thank you again for everything, Anna." I hug her. "I'm sorry. I didn’t mean to draw you into this whole thing," I whisper, and have to hold back rising tears.

"Don’t worry. I’m fine, Antonio is looking out for me, and besides, that's what friends are for." Anna pats me on the back and breaks off our hug. "Now, José will be ready in a minute." Then she turns around and goes back to the taxi. She waves to me one last time before climbing in and drives away amidst a cloud of dust.

I envy them, but it doesn’t make a difference, I have to get away from here, I can’t put Anna at risk, at least no more than I have done already. I turn around and look over to José. He is standing next to his helicopter concentrating on a clear liquid. Then he stands on the tips of his toes and looks at the rotor blades, as if he’s just seen them for the first time. What's he doing?

"When can we leave?" I wonder what the translation would be for: can we please get the whole thing over with as quickly as possible.

"Won't be long now. Almost finished with the pre-flight checks," he mumbles, and moves on. He goes to the cockpit, moves a lever and indicates for me to enter. I do so, force myself to climb onto the small seat and look around. There’s not much to see.

"Where are the doors?" I ask, in the hope that they will still somehow emerge out of nowhere.

"We don't need any. Much too hot," replies Jose. He sits down and puts on his headphones. The cockpit is even smaller now. And I don't have anything to hold on to. There’s a handle right next to me. "Can I hold that?" I ask in the hopes of having something to anchor myself to.

"You can’t touch anything. Not if you don't want to crash, and certainly not this lever."

Good. Now I feel much better.

José turns on the engine and the rotor blades above us begin to rotate slowly. The whole helicopter vibrates, but otherwise nothing happens. Nothing at all. We don’t lift off, but instead stick to the ground. With my luck this thing is broken. Patiently I wait a few minutes, hoping for a miracle, but still nothing happens.

"Why aren’t we flying?" I ask eventually as it becomes evident to me that there is something wrong.

José looks at me like I’m out of my mind. "We have to start up the motor first. We can’t just take off."

"Really? They always fly off immediately on television. They climb in and off it goes."

"That’s the difference between reality and television," replies José, and then he takes off without warning. We rise vertically into the air, while my stomach thinks it’s still on the ground. When it eventually realizes its mistake, I feel as if it’s taking a high-speed elevator to the top. I swallow hard, not wanting to embarrass myself any more than I already have. Then, the nose of the helicopter sinks and we rise even higher, above the trees which are much denser below us than I would like. We continue climbing, so high that the road below me, which leads from here directly to Ibiza town, looks like a colorful band of light.

Then suddenly, the helicopter pitches to the side. Terrified, I look over at José. Which is a mistake, because below him is nothing but emptiness. My heart beats hard in my throat. We're going to hit the ground like a stone.

"What was that?"

"Calm down, Tamara. It was a curve."

"Oh." I can’t think of anything else to say but that. The blood rushes to my head and I’m suddenly hot. Luckily, José is busy flying and can’t see that I'm sitting next to him with a bright red face.

What should I do if he makes a right hand turn? There is nothing next to me, no door, no grip. Only gaping emptiness between me and the Earth.

I break out in a cold sweat. This is all Ron’s doing. After all that’s happened so far. After all that I've been through, I will die now, in fear, in a helicopter.

"There’s Ibiza town," says José and pulls me out of my gloomy thoughts.

“Ah. Yes. Beautiful," I mumble as we leave the city with its white walls behind us. Not much later we are above the sea, which stretches deep below us.

"How do you know where to fly?" I ask, because this complete and utter darkness creeps me out.

"GPS." Jose indicates a small device. "Don't worry, we won’t get lost." He turns to me and smiles. "You'll arrive in Denia alive. I promise you."

T
he train jerks and judders a little as it moves off then slowly gains momentum. Exhausted, I stare out of the window. It is shortly after one o'clock in the afternoon and I didn't sleep a wink all night. Ahead of me lies a long journey, the train takes over twenty hours from Valencia to Frankfurt. Luckily, José was kind enough to fly me here, because it would have taken even longer from Denia. I left my car in Ibiza. I’ll pick it up as soon as this nightmare is behind me, or maybe hire someone to drive it to Frankfurt.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because I wake with a start. Where am I? The view from the window shows a grey sky and fields whizzing by. The noise that awoke me grows louder until I finally find the phone that Anna gave me and turn off the alarm clock. I have to change trains soon. Blearily I push myself up. Fortunately, I only have my purse and don’t have to drag a case along with me. The train slows down and comes to a stop with a loud wheeze.

It's cold outside on the platform. It’s officially summer, but here in Narbonne you can’t tell. I'm freezing in my thin dress and stumble tiredly onto my next train. I find an empty compartment and sit by the window. I still have a long journey ahead of me. This time I do not succeed in falling asleep. Instead, I try to find an answer as to how Ron fits into this puzzle. I haven’t gotten too far by the time the phone rings.

"How are you?" asks Anna, as soon as I pick up.

"Good. Tired. I’ll be in Frankfurt in a few hours. Did Antonio find out anything else?"

“No. He interrogated your stalkers for quite a long time, but they denied everything. Said they just wanted to drop in on an old friend and that they must have mixed up the address. From the description you gave him, he believes that it was Blondie and Rambo. Those aren’t their real names of course. But unfortunately, they don’t have any criminal records. Which doesn’t necessarily mean anything."

"Too bad, I would like to know how they found me."

"Yes, that’s what Antonio wanted to know as well. He’s pretty sure that they located you using your phone. Your car is okay, they didn’t find any hidden transmitters."

"Okay, well it can’t be helped. Thank you for your help! I don't know how I will ever put this all right."

"Don't worry, something will come up. See that you get home safely. And take care of yourself!"

Anna finishes the conversation, and I tuck the phone into my pocket. I’m not nearly as calm about it all as I may have led Anna to believe on the phone. I'm afraid to go back, but I don't know what else to do. One thing has become clear to me: I need to find out what is going on here if I want to lead a normal life again.

At eleven o'clock the next morning I finally arrive in Frankfurt. I feel dirty from the long journey, and am looking forward to a shower at my hotel. But first, I rent a car. Luckily, I have Ron's Sixt Platinum card with me. This guarantees me not only the best car that the car rental company has to offer, but also means that his name will appear as the leaser.