To Tell the Truth (31 page)

It was Adrian. ‘When Besmir comes out, just do as he says. Follow us.’

‘What was the screaming? I heard a woman screaming?’

‘She is the old bastard who is supposed to look after the children. She is always drunk. Besmir and Hassan were just shutting her up.’

Rosie was frightened to ask any more.

‘Where are the children?’

‘In the place next door. Like a stable or something. You see it?’

She looked at the ramshackle barn. ‘Yes.’

‘When Besmir comes, we go in there. We take the children and put them in our cars. Then we go.’

‘Where?’ Rosie ventured.

‘Doesn’t matter. Away from here.’

When he hung up, Rosie relayed the information to Javier and Matt.

‘This is mental,’ Matt said. ‘Fucking mental.’

A few seconds later, Besmir, Hassan and Adrian emerged from the building and went to their car. They took Amy from the back seat and carried her to Rosie’s car.

‘Come,’ Besmir said to Rosie.

She got out of the car. He handed her the sleeping child.

‘You must take her. Keep hold of her.’ He turned. ‘Come, we get the other children.’

Hassan and Adrian followed Besmir.

‘Let’s go.’ Rosie looked at Javier and Matt who didn’t move. ‘Come on, guys. We don’t have an option here.’

‘Let’s go, Matt.’ Javier opened his door and got out. ‘I can’t fucking believe I’m doing this.’

Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw when Besmir kicked in the door. The overpowering stench hit them. Death has a distinctive, unmistakable, rancid smell, and a rotting corpse will knock you off your feet. Even if it’s your first encounter with a decaying body, you don’t need to ask what it is. You just know.

‘Oh, fuck!’ Matt’s voice was a whisper.

As their eyes adjusted to the dark, they became aware of things moving on the ground. Then scurrying.

‘Fuck! Rats! Fuck!’ Matt kicked something at his feet.

Then came the sound of a child crying. Rosie peered into the darkness and could see what looked like cages.
Behind the bars, a little figure tried to stand up, but it fell down again.

‘Look, Adrian, a little kid … Over there … in the corner, in a cage … Jesus wept!’ She held Amy tight to her chest, thankful that she was sound asleep

Besmir picked his way across the floor. He reached up and pulled down the loose planks of wood blocking a high window, suddenly exposing the place to the harsh glare of the sun. Another child started crying, then another, like the sound of cats wailing in a night when sleep won’t come. Rosie stood rooted, her eyes flicking across the room. Don’t dare pass out, she told herself.

Inside the cages – there were four of them – there were toddlers, and a few a little older, maybe four or five. In the light, Rosie counted at least eight or nine children. Ragged, filthy little things, staggering around barely able to walk, some reaching through the bars, others cowering, sobbing, in the shit-caked straw. Rosie caught a glimpse of the stricken look on Besmir’s face, and in that moment, she thought she saw something close to an answer as to why it had come to this, what had brought them here.

‘Quick. Get the children. We must move fast. Get them out of here.’ Besmir pulled open the cages. He picked up a weeping child, then another.

Matt looked at Rosie, shaking his head slowly in disbelief.

‘Come on, Matt, grab these children. Over there.’ Javier took him by the shoulder and ushered him to a cage in the corner where two children were lying.

Rosie tried to pick up a tiny girl who was bawling. She couldn’t hold both kids in her arms, so put the girl back down and clutched her hand tightly, while trying not to be sick from the smell of excrement. Adrian already had two children in his arms, and Hassan was climbing over a rusty wheel to get to a kid who was hiding in the corner.

‘Aw Jesus!’ Matt shouted. ‘This kid’s dead. Aw Christ, Rosie.’ He slumped against the wall.

‘Ssssh … Quiet, Matt. I’ll get him,’ said Javier. He crouched down where Matt had been trying to lift a small boy who sat with glazed eyes staring, gripping the hand of the little girl lying still next to him.

‘It’s OK. I’ve got you, boy … Sssh … It’s OK now. Come on.’ Javier gently prised the child’s fingers from the stiff, cold hand of the little girl, whispering comfortingly as the boy wrapped his arms around him and buried his face in his shoulder.

‘Come. We must go. Let’s get them all into the cars and follow me,’ Besmir urged.

Suddenly they caught the sound of a single gunshot and something ricocheting off the walls and roof. Everyone stopped in their tracks.

‘Where do you think you are going?’

It was Leka. He stood in the doorway with the smoking gun pointing upwards. Something close to a smile cracked his face.

Stunned silence.

‘Besmir. Adrian.’ He frowned. ‘You betrayed me. Big mistake.’ He wagged a finger and tutted.

Besmir stared at him, unflinching. Slowly he put the
two children he was carrying down on the floor. Adrian looked beyond Leka.

‘Do not think of doing something stupid, Besmir. Or you, Adrian. I am not alone.’

Rosie could feel her knees shaking as Leka looked around the room and his eyes rested on her, then Amy.

‘You have my blue girl.’ His steely eyes narrowed.

At the window, from the outside, a metal sheet was being stacked up to close the gap, and the room grew darker as it shut out the sunlight. As everyone looked in the direction of the window, Rosie noticed Besmir slide his hand down towards his ankle, and in one seamless movement remove something from under his trouser leg.

In the doorway, behind Leka, three men appeared, two of them carrying petrol cans. They stepped inside and began to pour petrol around the floor and up the walls, the fumes quickly filling the room. A drop of petrol splashed onto Rosie’s bare arm, and suddenly in that moment she felt it was over. Here, in this stinking hellhole, all of them would die, alongside the decomposing body of a small child. There was nobody to save her this time. Adrian was here, and in the semi-darkness she could see by the chalk-white pallor of his face that he too realised his luck had run out.

‘Please don’t do this,’ Rosie heard herself saying. ‘Please. I beg you. Please let the children go. They’re just children.’

Leka stared at her.

‘I know who you are. Your friend Mr Cox told me. You people are parasites, maggots.’

‘If you know who I am, then you must know people will come looking for me,’ she blurted out, looking at Javier and Matt. ‘For all of us.’

He smirked. ‘They can look. But there will be nothing left to find.’

‘Please. The children. Your blue girl.’

Leka paused, looking at Amy who was beginning to stir in Rosie’s arms. He looked around at the rest of them.

‘You should not be here, Adrian, Besmir. Why? You should not betray me. You made this happen, you bring me problems. Police are asking questions now in Spain. Mr Daletsky says everything must be destroyed. No trace. You should have done your job and that is all. You are finished.’

‘Please,’ Rosie pleaded. ‘Please let the children go.’

Silence. The men with the petrol cans stepped back out of the doorway. Rosie felt sick. She looked at Matt and Javier, saw the desperation in their eyes.

Then, suddenly, all hell broke loose. Leka buckled over and clutched his stomach. Blood trickled through his fingers as he grabbed at the handle of the knife Besmir had thrown so hard it had pierced straight into him. Besmir and Adrian rushed towards Leka, but the two big minders were faster. They grabbed him and dragged him backwards out of the barn, then pushed the door closed, plunging them all back into the darkness. Adrian and Besmir shoved hard against the door, but they could hear rocks piling up outside, then the noise of a car starting up and being driven towards them. It stopped up against the door barricading it shut.

Then, suddenly, a flaming rag was dropped through a space in the boarded-up window. They heard a whoosh and the blaze caught in seconds. Flames licked the petrol-soaked walls, and began spreading on the ground. Thick black smoke was engulfing the room, making everyone cough and choke.

Rosie tried to find a place, a gap, that wasn’t on fire. She could hear the children coughing and crying, and she covered her mouth trying to take short breaths. Still carrying Amy, and holding the hand of the other child, she blinked, the smoke stinging her eyes. As she swallowed more smoke she began to stagger and slip to her knees, and placed Amy on the ground.

‘Quick, Besmir. Kick the wall. It’s not strong. It will fall if we kick hard.’ Adrian began furiously kicking the metal and throwing his shoulder against it.

Besmir and Hassan joined him, all of them kicking and shoving with the full force of their bodies until the wooden beams creaked and metal began to twist and give way, and Hassan pushed himself outside. The sudden surge of air sent the flames higher and the children screamed, but Adrian and Besmir were already picking them up one by one and throwing them outside to Hassan.

Rosie could hear the screams of the children, but she could feel herself losing consciousness.

‘Stay with us, Rosie,’ Javier urged, coughing and gasping for air himself.

Matt grabbed hold of Rosie and helped her to her feet and they staggered towards the gap in the wall. Matt pushed Rosie outside and went back to grab Amy and the
other child and drag them to safety before collapsing on the ground alongside her. She looked up to see Adrian and Besmir emerge from the flames with three more children, and then all of them slumped to the ground. Rosie raised herself up on her elbow and saw at least eight children, some milling around, some unconscious, others crying and coughing. But she couldn’t see Javier anywhere.

Suddenly, the roof of the building fell in.

‘Javier! He’s still in there. Christ, he’s trapped.’ Rosie screamed.

Adrian stood up unsteadily. Besmir took off his shirt and tied it around his head, covering his mouth. Flames shot up to the sky as another part of the roof fell in. Besmir ran forward and disappeared into the blazing building.

Rosie sobbed as Matt held her in his arms. Then, through the wails of children, they suddenly heard the sound of sirens. In the distance flashing lights could just be seen through the clouds of dust.

‘Look, Rosie, cops. Look.’ Matt forced himself to get to his feet. ‘I need to get pictures,’ he gasped, and staggered towards the car to fetch his camera.

The blue lights were getting closer. Rosie looked at the burning building, willing Besmir to appear, and he did, supporting Javier. They staggered out and both collapsed on the ground. Rosie cried with relief when she heard Javier coughing.

Besmir lay on the ground, feeling the breath leave his body. His lungs had felt like a furnace, but now there
was no pain. His head felt light. He turned to the side and saw Kaltrina kneeling, her tear-stained face smeared with smoke and dirt. She was looking at him curiously, as though she remembered him. He thought she smiled. The last thing he saw was the sunlight reflected in her blue eyes.

CHAPTER 40

‘What the fuck, Gilmour?’ It was McGuire.

‘Yes, I’m fine, Mick, thanks for asking. I survived.’

‘Christ almighty, Rosie, I know you
survived
. I’ve just fucking seen you on Sky News. What the Christ happened? Are you sure you’re alright?’

‘Yeah, Mick, I’m fine. I’m just about to leave the hospital. I would have phoned you earlier, but I was suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation, to use the official term.’

‘Very funny, Rosie. We were all frantic about you. Can you imagine the flap we were in? I talk to you in the morning and then don’t hear from you all day, then suddenly a snap comes on AP wires saying Amy’s been found alive in Morocco, and one line that a female newspaper journalist may have been burned to death. That’s how it came out here. We’ve been phoning you for hours, and getting fuck-all information out of the Moroccans.’ He paused. ‘Christ, Rosie. We thought we’d lost you.’

‘Sorry, Mick.’ Rosie detected a catch in McGuire’s voice. ‘I’m sorry. It was … Jesus, Mick … It was awful, terrible.
Everything happened so fast. We were out in the middle of nowhere and suddenly we were caught up in something and we couldn’t turn back. Then we’re trapped in this barn with all these poor fucking stolen kids. Christ, Mick, one of them was lying dead in the corner.’ Rosie was surprised at how quickly she was losing it. ‘Then … then these bastards set fire to the barn. Oh, Mick! I thought we were all going to die.’

The bravado was gone. She burst into tears. Shit. That was the last thing she wanted to do.

‘Sorry,’ she said quickly, sniffing.

‘It’s alright, Rosie. It’s just the relief that’s made you a bit overwhelmed.’

‘You know you really should be writing self-help books, Mick.’

Get back in the saddle, she told herself. Don’t give him your worries. Whatever he says, he really doesn’t care if you do it with mirrors, as long as you deliver.

‘That’s better, Gilmour. But honestly – we were worried sick. Thank Christ we didn’t lose you.’ The catch in his voice again. He paused. ‘Listen. I want you out of there pronto. I’ll get you on a plane tonight, You need to be home.’

‘No, Mick. No.’ Rosie swiftly composed herself.

It had been less than twenty-four hours since the police, ambulance and fire brigade had arrived like the cavalry and scooped everyone up from where they lay on the ground in various stages of consciousness. All of them were rushed to the main hospital in Tangiers where a battery of doctors checked them over. Two of the children
nearly didn’t make it and were still in intensive care. But Amy was fine, Rosie had been told by a doctor in his fractured English. It only took a few hours before the news spread and a media presence began building up outside the hospital, hoping for a glimpse of the little girl the world was talking about. Adrian, despite coughing his guts up, had got off his mark in the car before the emergency services arrived. He told Rosie he would be back to Spain by evening. Hassan had also vanished.

The Spanish Guarda Civil was sending a special boat to bring Amy back to Tarifa where she’d be reunited with her parents. As soon as Rosie heard that, she got dressed and signed herself out of the hospital. She was shaky and dizzy when she got to her feet, but Matt and Javier helped her out of the ward. If they hurried, they could be on a boat to Spain within the hour. She needed to be there before Amy arrived.