‘You’ve been going around London pretending to be a relative of mine, and I want to know why,’ Lucy continued. Caelan held up her hands, confused, disbelieving, and very aware of Stefan Harris’s mother sitting behind them. Where the hell had Lucy sprung from? How had she known where Caelan was?
She stepped forward, knowing she needed to take control of the situation. Manhandling Lucy out of the office would raise Mrs Harris’s suspicions, but she couldn’t allow the young woman to keep talking. Mrs Harris was still wearing her headset, but she was watching them.
‘Can we…’ Caelan started to say. She reached out a hand, intending to grab Lucy’s arm, knowing she could easily overpower her and force her out of the building, but if she showed how desperate she was to silence her, Mrs Harris would know for certain something was wrong.
‘No, we can’t.’ Lucy glared at her, hands on hips. ‘Even if your name is Victoria Smith, you’re not related to me. I’ve never met you, never heard of you. I spoke to my mum earlier today and she hasn’t either.’
‘You might not remember me, but I know your brother.’ Caelan glanced at Mrs Harris, who had removed her headset again.
Furious, Lucy shook her head. ‘You’re lying. You don’t know either of us, so what’s your game? Who are you?’
Caelan didn’t know what to say; only knew she had to shut Lucy up and get them both out of here any way she could.
‘Can we go somewhere and talk?’ she said.
Lucy was having none of it. ‘My brother’s in intensive care, my mum, who’s ill anyway, is now terrified and confused because I rang her asking about someone who didn’t exist.’ She took her phone out of her bag and held it up. ‘Tell me who you are, or I’m calling the police.’
Mrs Harris got to her feet. ‘No. I’ll phone my son.’
Caelan’s mouth was dry, her brain refusing to work. What could she say? What lies could she concoct? In all her roles, all the hours and weeks she’d spent pretending to be someone she wasn’t, she had never been confronted, exposed as a fraud. She had been withdrawn from operations because suspicions had been raised, told to come in because another officer had dropped her in it, but never had she had her own fake persona thrown back in her face.
‘Well?’ Lucy’s fists clenched, and for a second Caelan thought she was going to hit her. Mrs Harris looked on, a strange expression on her face.
Caelan hesitated, infuriating Lucy further.
‘Fine,’ she spat. ‘Have it your way, but you’ll have to speak to the police.’ She focused on the screen of her phone, but Mrs Harris laid a hand on her arm.
‘My son will come, I’ll call him now. He knows this woman. He’ll make her talk.’
Lucy stopped. ‘Make her talk? What does that mean?’ She moved her arm from the other woman’s touch, staring at her. Her eyes flicked between Caelan and Mrs Harris, as though unsure who she should trust, then she looked around her, as if realising for the first time that she was alone.
‘Persuade her, I meant,’ Mrs Harris said. ‘This is his business. He won’t want the police here.’
‘Why not?’ Lucy demanded. ‘It doesn’t matter. Whoever she is, she’s lied to everyone. I’m sure your son will want to know what’s going on, if he knows her. Thinks he knows her.’
Mrs Harris gave a sly smile. ‘I’m sure he will.’
Caelan knew she had two choices. She could run, or she could stand her ground. Running wasn’t a real option, because she had to protect Lucy. Leaving her here at Harris’s mercy was unthinkable. The questions about where she had been and what she’d been doing could come later. She looked well, unharmed, no different to the photograph Caelan had seen before.
The problem was Mrs Harris.
Her fingers were moving across the screen of her phone, and Caelan knew she had to act. She stepped backwards, away from Lucy, then sprang at the older woman, seizing her forearm with one hand and the phone with the other. Mrs Harris squealed, Lucy gasped, but neither of them tried to prevent what was happening. Using a move similar to the one that had put Mulligan on the floor in the cell at Acton, though with more consideration, Caelan pivoted the woman over her thigh and lowered her gently to the ground. She knelt over her, keeping hold of her wrist so she couldn’t struggle. Mrs Harris wriggled, cursing and flailing, but she couldn’t break free. With her other hand, Caelan removed the phone from her grasp and tucked it into her coat pocket.
Lucy stared down at her. ‘Who the hell are you?’ Her voice was soft now, fearful. ‘Some kind of spy?’
‘No. I told you, I know your brother. You’re not safe here. Please, go and wait by the door.’
Lucy nodded, compliant now, her movements quick and panicked.
Mrs Harris cried, ‘My son will be here soon.’
Lucy froze as Caelan took out the phone again. The screen hadn’t locked yet, and she was able to check the recent calls and texts. ‘No, he won’t. He didn’t answer.’
‘He’ll know something’s wrong. He’ll be here.’
Caelan didn’t believe her, but she knew staying here would be a bad idea. She needed to get Lucy to Penrith, and that meant taking Mrs Harris along for the ride. She looked at Lucy’s fearful face and tightened her grip on Mrs Harris’s arm.
‘There’s a cab outside. Where are the keys?’
Mrs Harris pouted. ‘I’m not telling you anything.’
Caelan knew she could break the woman’s wrist with one twist, but she would never do it. She only hurt people who were intent on hurting her. ‘If you don’t tell me, I’ll walk out of here now and take that bag of money with me. You’ll have to explain to your son that you lost it, and I’m guessing he won’t be happy. I only want to borrow the car. I’ll bring it back, good as new.’
She knew the operation was blown, but with Lucy here, safe and well, it was time to admit defeat. Achebe, Somerville and Brady could pick up the pieces. She was going to walk away once she had delivered Lucy to her boss.
She stared down at Mrs Harris, curled on the floor, her face showing her terror, and hardened her heart. ‘Well?’ she said. ‘Shall I phone Stefan, or do you want to tell him yourself?’
Mrs Harris tried to twist away, but Caelan held on.
‘Bitch,’ Mrs Harris snarled. ‘Stefan will kill you for this. In the desk drawer. Don’t take anything else. He’ll know.’
Caelan looked at Lucy. ‘Would you mind getting them? I’ll explain everything in the car, I promise.’
Mechanically, Lucy nodded, but she didn’t speak. She moved to the desk. Caelan saw her stop for a second as she reached into the drawer, but then she held up the keys. Caelan leant over Mrs Harris.
‘Now, I’m going to let you go. I want you to go back to your desk and start answering calls again as though nothing has happened. Whatever you do, don’t contact Stefan.’
‘Why? What can you do to stop me?’
Caelan smiled. ‘Like I said, I’ll take his money with me. You might sniff at seven grand, but I don’t think your son would. Not when it’s money he’s owed.’
The other woman swallowed, and Caelan felt another sting of guilt. Mrs Harris was afraid of Harris, that much was clear, and Caelan was using that fear to intimidate her. It didn’t sit well.
‘He isn’t my son,’ Mrs Harris mumbled.
Caelan hesitated. ‘What did you say?’
‘He isn’t my son.’
Relaxing her grip, Caelan allowed her to move into a sitting position. Lucy stood with the car keys in her hand, staring down at them.
‘What do you mean?’ Caelan asked, gentle now.
‘I’m not Mrs Harris. I never have been. Stefan’s mother disappeared years ago.’
‘Then who—’
The woman’s laugh was bitter. ‘His father’s whore. He brought me here from Poland twenty-five years ago, along with my sisters and my brother. I was seventeen. We were promised the usual things – work, a house, money.’ The same short laugh. ‘Once we arrived, I never saw my sisters again, though Victor, Stefan’s father, was only too pleased to tell me they had been put to work on their backs. My brother went to a farm of some kind.’
‘You mean you were trafficked?’ Lucy said.
The woman turned on her. ‘You think it wasn’t happening then? Humans have always bought and sold other humans. People are the worst creatures on earth.’
Caelan knew she was telling the truth; there was no question of her making this up. She knew she should run, get herself and Lucy out of there, but there was something in the woman’s voice that made her hesitate. The agony in her eyes, the trembling of her body. This was a story she had longed to tell for years. Caelan hesitated. Harris hadn’t been summoned, she’d checked, and she had a duty to protect this woman too.
‘What’s your real name?’ she asked softly. Another person whose identity had been stripped from them.
The woman released a shuddering breath. ‘Justyna. Victor always called me Tina – more English, you know.’ She gave a shaky smile. ‘That mattered to him.’
‘Why does Stefan call you his mother?’ Caelan was still gently grasping Justyna’s wrist, but now she adjusted her grip so she was holding her hand in support rather than controlling her. Justyna shook her head.
‘It amuses him. He knew I was his father’s prisoner, his slave.’
Lucy stood with her hands by her sides, clearly shaken. ‘His slave?’
‘He was in control of everything, from what I ate to what I wore. Who I spoke to.’ Justyna blinked, her mouth working. ‘Who I had sex with. If I argued, he beat me. He said if I tried to get away he would find me and kill me.’
‘He prostituted you?’ Lucy looked appalled.
Justyna managed a smile. ‘To his friends, only they didn’t have to pay. Then… then to his son.’
Caelan’s grip tightened. ‘Stefan?’
‘On Stefan’s fourteenth birthday, Victor decided it was time he lost his virginity. He gave me to Stefan as a present. Lent me, I should say. Stefan wasn’t allowed to keep me.’ She blinked again. ‘Not until his father died, anyway.’
‘What happened to him?’ Caelan asked.
Justyna turned to look directly into her eyes. ‘Stefan’s father? He fell down the stairs. It was an accident.’
Caelan understood it had been no such thing. ‘I see.’
‘He was drunk. He hit his head, I think broke his neck.’ She gave a careless shrug. ‘Either way, he was gone.’
‘It happens.’
‘And Stefan is easier to control.’ Justyna smiled.
‘You said Victor brought you into the country, you and your sisters and brother. Do you know if… Does Stefan…?’
Justyna nodded. ‘His father taught him the family business and now Stefan is in charge.’
Caelan had heard enough. ‘You’re coming with us.’ She looked at Lucy. ‘Let’s go.’
Lucy held out the keys. ‘I still don’t know who you are. Why should we trust you?’
‘Because you have to. I’ll explain on the way. Come on, please. Time to go.’
She pulled Justyna to her feet, was ready to grab Lucy’s hand too and drag her along with them if she had to. She needed to get them both to Penrith, and quickly.
‘Hang on a minute.’
Caelan froze. The voice came from behind them. It was smug, male, and she recognised it immediately.
Johnny.
Stefan Harris’s right-hand man had been in the building all the time. Why hadn’t Justyna said so? But as she glanced at the other woman’s face, she knew the answer. Justyna was stunned, terrified. She hadn’t known.
Caelan turned. Immediately she knew they were in trouble. By his side, Johnny held a gun. Now he raised it, gestured at Caelan and nodded towards the door.
‘All of you, throw your mobile phones on the floor. Now.’ They did as they were told. Johnny kicked the phones under the desk, out of sight. He looked at Caelan. ‘You’ve got the keys. Let’s go.’
Slowly Caelan moved her feet and raised her arms slightly, making herself bigger, putting her body between Johnny and Justyna. Lucy was still standing behind the desk, shifting restlessly, and Caelan turned so Johnny wouldn’t have a clear shot at her either. She felt no fear, just anger at herself for not checking the building, and for not leaving sooner. They could have heard Justyna’s story in the car. She met Johnny’s eyes.
‘Where?’
‘To see the boss. He’s busy tonight, but I’m sure he’d be delighted to see you all, especially,’ he gave Justyna a cold smile, ‘his dear mother.’
Caelan shook her head. ‘Let them go, and I’ll do whatever you say.’
He gave her a bored stare. ‘Start walking, or the ginger one gets a bullet in the knee, then I’ll work my way up.’
Caelan squeezed Justyna’s hand and then released it. Lucy was staring at Johnny, panic clear on her face.
‘Follow me,’ Caelan told her. ‘Trust me. It’ll be okay.’
Behind them, Johnny chuckled. ‘That’s what I like to see, blind optimism. Come on, move.’
He pushed past them, grabbing Justyna as he went and standing by the door with the gun at her temple. He nodded at Caelan. ‘You can drive, Ginger sits in the passenger seat. I’m in the back with Mrs Harris here, and you go where I tell you. The second you take a wrong turn, try and draw attention to us or do anything other than exactly what I tell you, I’ll shoot her. You understand me?’
‘Yes.’ Caelan knew that for the moment she had to do as she was told. She should never have allowed this situation to happen, but now she had to think, react, plan. Beside her, Lucy looked shell-shocked, her face white, her breathing too fast. Caelan squeezed her arm.
‘You’re okay,’ she said.
Johnny laughed. ‘Yeah, everything’s great, sweetheart. Now get outside.’
He held Justyna close as they went through the door. ‘You two, don’t move. You,’ he dug the gun into Justyna’s ribs, ‘should have the key. Lock the door and then give the key to me.’
She nodded, fumbling in her jeans pocket.
‘Hurry up,’ Johnny hissed. Caelan watched, hoping for an opportunity to attack him, but he kept Justyna too close and she dared not take the risk.
Justyna locked the door and held out the key in a trembling hand. Johnny smiled, his cheek pressed against hers as he held her in front of him. To an onlooker it would look as though he was hugging her, not holding her prisoner.
‘Put it in my jacket pocket,’ he said. She did as she was told and he forced her to turn towards the taxi. ‘Get in, all of you, and remember: do as you’re told.’
Caelan opened the passenger door for Lucy and ushered her inside. Lucy didn’t resist, pulling the seat belt over her chest, stunned and wide-eyed, her movements mechanical. Caelan scrambled around to the driver’s side, hoping to see a police car, Ewan, Penrith, anyone who could help them. No such luck. There was no one in sight, not a pedestrian, not a vehicle.
She got in and started the engine. Johnny pushed Justyna into the back seat and climbed in beside her.
‘Now drive,’ he said.