Out of control (18 page)

“How come?”

She grinned and glanced fondly at Mike. “I told him if he didn’t tell me I was going to go and sleep with Oscar.”

Mike looked at me helplessly. “What could I do?”

I had no suitable riposte ready so I dropped it.

“What did he tell you then?”

“He told me about Liam being fired from his job in Stirling and why. He said that the girl who had seemingly been responsible had been murdered and he told me that the accident wasn’t an accident. He is very worried, Bob, that this business might be dangerous and…”

Mike finished the sentence for her.

“….you’re not as young as you used to be and maybe you need a bit of looking after.”

I let that pass, touched by the fact that my brother was concerned for my well-being.

I filled Sophie in with a few more details that I thought it better she knew about. I also gave her a description of the ‘accident’. I didn’t say who I thought was behind it but she put two and two together.

She didn’t need any further explanation about the patent business and I discovered that I had an ally in my desire to try and do something about the poor girls that were being used by these Romanians. She was as disgusted and angry as I was. When I said that, despite Mike trying to persuade me to drop the whole thing, I was determined to do what we could to find out more and then go to the police with it, she was all in favour.

So I came back to the issue about the new girl who had arrived at LyonPharma.

Mike confirmed that he had a name and an address. Her name was Ana Panescu and she was living in a flat with another couple of girls near the Meadows.

“We need to know if, by any chance, she would be willing to help us if she could give us any information about Macek. She should be able to have access to something because she works in the IT department. I’ve no idea if she will or not but it’s worth a try.”

“So you agree that I should go and see her?” asked Mike.

“No. I think you should both go.”

“You mean Sophie as well?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I don’t want Sophie mixed up in this. If word gets back to Macek and he comes after me, that’s not a problem. I can handle that, but I’m not having Sophie exposed to that kind of stuff.”

“Mike, listen. This kid could be frightened, vulnerable, scared. It has to be handled very carefully. We have to gain her confidence. We have to be able to reassure her that, if it turns nasty, we can look after her. Sophie would be much better at the first bit and you should be able to reassure her that we can keep her safe. Also she’s in IT so she and Sophie will have something in common. That might help as well. It’s a job for two people. You must see that.”

“So you don’t think I could handle it ‘carefully’ on my own?”

“To be frank, I doubt it, Mike. If I needed protection or muscle there’s no one I’d rather turn to but, in this particular case, I think Sophie would have more chance of gaining her confidence.”

Sophie saved the day. “Mike, darling, I agree with Bob. And I want to be involved. I hate these kinds of people and if I can do anything to help get them locked away, then I’m up for it. Besides, with you looking after me there’ll be no danger.”

Finishing her pitch with a kiss, Mike was helpless. Game over. What more could he say?

So we agreed that they would both go over to Edinburgh and try to approach Ana. The objective we agreed was to get her out of there. If they found that she was trapped in the system and wanted out they would organize her escape and take her up to Lochbervie.

They’d have to establish contact and find out how the land lay. Then they would probably need to plan a second meeting. We had agreed that the idea of leaving her in place as a mole, feeding up information, was too dangerous, bearing in mind what had happened to Irina. One sniff of danger, it seemed, and Macek would just simply eliminate her. I had decided on Lochbervie as the safest place. It was isolated and strangers would be noticed more easily and also the narrow winding highland roads would make it easier for us to identify any pursuit if they were followed. I told them I would warn Maggie. The weekend would be a good time for her to run as she wouldn’t be missed until Monday. That meant Mike and Sophie going through to Edinburgh on Wednesday to give them plenty of time.

I drove home to Letham, happy that things were moving and, I admit, rather excited at the prospect of a bit of action – a small rush of adrenalin just like I had felt during our tussle with AIM Investments. Golf and gardening is all very well but you do need a change now and again, especially at the age of sixty seven - and doing something like this helps you to feel you’re still of some use to society.

But for the next couple of days golf and gardening would be fine. It would help me get my breath back. Then I’d go up to the hotel and give Maggie a surprise by arriving sooner than usual.

I went via Doune to check in on how Liam was progressing. That was when Heather nobbled me.

She came in from feeding the horses while Liam and I were chatting. “What’s this I hear about someone trying to bump you off, Bob?”

Liam looked across at me, managing to look both sheepish and apologetic at the same time.

She had wanted to know all about the accident and, trying to satisfy her need for all the details, Liam had let something slip and the truth had come out.

I told her not to worry. “It’s better that you don’t know any more about it. There’s no more danger and, even if there was, Mike will look after me.”

“Mike! He didn’t do much of a job looking after you the last time.”

“True. But he did save my life in the end.”

She had to reluctantly admit that that was true.

“And anyway,” I went on “If the baddies think you know anything about it they might come and do in your horses.”

That quietened her.

As I drove on up to Lochbervie I reviewed the information we were hoping to get. Would Ana help us? What might Pierre learn from his trip to Bucharest? Could Antoine find out anymore about Dugain’s origins? ........ and could I last the pace?

Maggie was delighted to see me a day earlier than anticipated.

“Cruise all booked?” she asked after we had unwound from our welcoming embrace.

“All fixed and I’ve brought all the brochures with me. We’ll look at them after supper.”

So we pored over photographs of elegant dining rooms, spacious cabins, mountains soaring out of deep grey seas. We would be visiting Trondheim, Narvik and even going up into the Arctic Circle. I was reprimanded for seeming to be more interested in the wine list which had been included in the literature.

By the time we were finished reading all the material I was getting quite excited about the whole prospect.

When she realised that we would be up above the Arctic Circle Maggie reckoned that it would be so cold up there that we would probably have to stay tightly cuddled up in bed all day to keep warm.

So we called it a day around eleven and went up to bed to practise.

The following evening, while Maggie was finishing off serving the last guest in the dining room and I was in the bar reading the newspaper, they arrived. I heard a car drawing up and got up to see Sophie come in with her arm protectively round a small slip of a girl clad in jeans and a hooded anorak.

Sophie was smiling broadly. “Mission completed, Bob,” she said.”This is Ana.”

The girl smiled timidly from under her hood and held out her hand.

I welcomed her and we sat down in the deserted bar. Mike arrived a few minutes later in a second car, also with a triumphant look on his face and bristling with energy.

“Hi, Ana, did you enjoy your drive through the beautiful mountains of Scotland?”

“Yes thanks, Mike,” Her voice was soft and quiet.

She was sitting very close to Sophie, hands clasped tightly together, clearly nervous at meeting someone new. Her knuckles were white with tension and she looked fixedly at the floor. She didn’t look much over twenty, if that, from what I could see of her face which was quite attractive in a pixie kind of way.

Sophie put her arm round her protectively. “Don’t worry, Ana. You’re safe now.”

Seeing Mike behind the bar she called over. “Mike, what about a drink for us as well and could you bring in the bags from the car? Don’t forget my laptop.”

I sat quietly. Sophie was clearly in charge and I was happy to be an onlooker.

Then she got up. “Bob, we’ll go and find Maggie and see if it’s possible to have a sandwich or something. We’ve got work to do. Guess what?” She turned to Ana and said “Show Bob what you’ve brought.”

The girl dug into her anorak pocket and pulled out an iPhone. She put it on the table with a nervous gesture, as if she was glad to get rid of it.

“Who do you think that belongs to?” said Sophie.

“I haven’t a clue.”

“It’s Macek’s!” she said triumphantly “and Ana and I are going to try to break into it and see what’s there.”

I sat up with a jerk and picked it up, trying to imagine what information it might contain. Records of phone calls, text messages, e-mails? With luck it could be a mine of information.

“Wow! That’s brilliant. Well done, Ana. Sophie, do you think you’ll be able to get into it easily?”

“We should be able to.”

“But can’t he just wipe everything out remotely when he knows it’s missing?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. But we’re hoping that, at first, he’ll think he’s just mislaid it or left it at the office. With a bit of luck he’ll only get suspicious on Monday morning when he finds it’s not at the office and he discovers that Ana’s missing. So we’ve got to crack it as soon as possible.”

I handed it over to Sophie who popped it into her handbag.

Mike had now brought in all the bags and had rustled up a plate of sandwiches from somewhere. She grabbed her laptop and sandwiches and left with Ana.

“Mike will tell you all about it,” she called as they disappeared out the door.

I turned to Mike who was, by now, sitting beside me, his hand outstretched towards me with a substantial glass of whisky.

“Tell me then.”

“It went fine. No problems. Just as we planned.”

Mike had called the night before to report back. He had given me a quick rundown but now was the opportunity for me to hear the whole story.

Sophie had gone up to Ana’s flat, leaving Mike in a quiet bar at the corner of the street.

The girl had been in alone and had apparently been nervous and worried when Sophie had explained why she was there. At first she hadn’t wanted to say anything but Sophie had gently got through to her that she was a friend and could be trusted

“I was stuck in the bloody bar for an hour and a half watching some damned football match.”

Sophie had gently told the story of a girl we had met called Irina who was also from Romania and she explained what had happened to her. Ana had been devastated. She said she didn’t know this Irina but she had heard stories from other Romanian girls she had met in Lyon.

Back home it had all sounded so good, she had told Sophie. There was a job waiting for her when she arrived in France and everything seemed fine. The man had explained to her that they had someone in Lyon who would help her to find a flat and for their services they would want twenty per cent of her salary for two years. She had thought that a bit much but when she heard that, even after their fee, she would have considerably more than she could earn in Romania, she decided to go. They also allowed the girls three months to settle down and enjoy the life that Lyon had to offer – the shops, the clubs – before they would start to collect their commission. She had been excited to embark on the adventure. She would be able to live a life that was totally different from what she had been used to in her small town back home.

Then the man in Lyon who had helped her to find her flat had approached her one evening in a club and explained to her that it was now time to start paying the commission that she had promised. He would collect it and send it back to Bucharest. Fortunately Ana had put the money aside - some didn’t – and so was able to pay. Then she was asked if she would like to earn some more money by selling drugs in the clubs around town. She refused and thought that was it.

He turned up again the next month and asked her again. This time there was a threat. Either she did as she was told or she’d be sent back home. He told her he would expect a positive answer when he saw her the next month. Obviously she was terrified. She didn’t want to go back but nor did she want to push drugs.

Fortunately for her the chance of coming to Scotland cropped up and she accepted it immediately to get away from Lyon. She soon realised, however, that she was going to have the same problem here and it was Macek who would be running her.

So far she had done nothing wrong but she was scared.

Sophie had managed to persuade her to come down to the bar and meet Mike and have a talk.

“You were right, Bob. Sophie did a great job winning her confidence. I doubt if I could have.”

It had taken a while but they had managed to convince her that we could look after her. If she could help us we could arrange for her to find a new job in France if she wanted – somewhere where the Romanians would never find her. Sophie explained to her that she was an IT consultant and she had lots of contacts with companies all over the country. She could easily get her an IT job. Or if she didn’t want to stay in France Sophie guaranteed that she would find her a job somewhere else.

Eventually she was persuaded to jump ship and that was when Mike had called me with the news. He then filled me in with the rest.

“We had organised to pick up her bag in the morning before she left for work and arranged to meet her in the middle of town an hour after she finished. As we agreed, I hired a car so that I could drive behind and ensure nobody was following. We stopped at a motorway service station on the way up to Perth. The girls drove in. I followed behind and stopped to watch who came in behind us. There was nobody for at least two minutes which meant that nobody could have been tailing us.