Ana knew that Victor, Alex and the others were all downstairs. She could hear their muffled voices, could almost feel the anger vibrating through the fabric of the warehouse. She desperately wanted to know what they were saying. She’d already tried the door, hoping to sneak out into the hall and to the broom cupboard, but it was locked. Was she not even trusted when they were in the same building as her now?
That worried her more than she cared to admit.
She knew something big had happened since Saturday night. Something bad. Bad for Victor at least. Even though he hadn’t said anything to her directly, she’d managed to glean some of the details: the fact that Victor’s two goons, carrying Maria’s body in their van, had been stopped by the police. Even though they’d got away from the scene, they’d left behind their van, together with the body.
From what Ana could tell, Victor was more incensed than he was scared of the possible repercussions of the police closing in. The two goons had now gone into hiding. Apparently they didn’t trust their boss not to just slit their throats and send their bodies off to wherever it was Maria had been en route to.
Victor had been in a rage ever since. Together with Jim, there were three men out there whose blood he wanted, plus he was – quite rightly – convinced the police had been tipped off somehow. Which was why that house in Wednesbury had seen not just a deep clean in the murder room, but had been entirely cleaned out since Saturday night.
All because of Ana. And she really wasn’t sure how that made her feel. Powerful? Or infinitely small, alone and vulnerable?
There was banging downstairs then thudding footsteps coming up. Ana spread herself out on the sofa and grabbed her book from the coffee table.
She kept her eyes on the pages as the door was unlocked and opened and Victor and then Alex strode in.
‘Not to mention the lost customers and the contents of their wallets,’ Alex said, mid-sentence. Ana felt she got the gist of what that meant. ‘I’ve already been getting calls from some of our fixers, telling us it’s not good enough. That if we’ve not got the supply back up soon then we’re out of the loop for good.’
‘If it comes to that then we go back to the start,’ Victor said, angry, though strangely untroubled. ‘I built this business the hard way. I’m not afraid to do the same again.’
He was speaking with his fists clenched and Ana felt she knew what he meant. Violence. He’d built his business off violence.
‘What the fuck are you looking at?’ Alex said, glaring at Ana.
Ana shrugged, trying to stay as calm as she could. ‘Sounds like you’ve got problems.’
Victor huffed. ‘Problems? And what, my sweet, do you think could be the cause of the problems?’
‘A lack of loyalty,’ Ana said, glancing from Alex to Victor. ‘There’s no other explanation, is there?’
Alex shot daggers at her, as though he wasn’t sure if she was pinning the blame on him or not. It did intrigue Ana to think who Victor cared more about. Her or Alex.
‘Loyalty?’ Victor said. ‘There’s no such thing.’
Alex looked a little put out by that. To be honest, Ana was a bit surprised by the comment too.
‘I don’t need loyalty,’ Victor said. ‘All I need is fear. My enemies have to know the price of deceiving me. And believe me, Ana, they will.’
He held her gaze, both of them unblinking until the tension became too unbearable and Ana looked back to her book.
‘We might be gone a while,’ Victor said.
He grabbed his coat and keys and headed back for the door.
‘How long?’ Ana said, getting to her feet.
He didn’t answer.
‘You can’t lock me in here all night! There’s no food. No toilet!’
Victor said nothing more as he walked out, followed by Alex who slammed the door shut before locking it. Ana ran over, tried the handle, rattled the door, banged on it and shouted out to them. No response as they trudged away. Moments later there was a bang down below as they left the warehouse.
All alone – again – Ana was as scared as she was angry. She paced around the room. What was Victor doing?
Did he already know?
For more than two hours Ana’s mind was in turmoil as the warehouse lay silent below. She was tired, thirsty, hungry. There was no food in the room at all. The only drinks were a now empty bottle of Coke and several bottles of spirits.
Eventually it was the Coke bottle she used when she couldn’t hold her bladder any longer.
All the while, with her brain rattling away, her eyes would flick back and forth to her neatly folded coat.
Why had she even brought the damn phone here? She should have dumped it the second after she’d made that call on Saturday night. The device was nothing but a noose around her neck now.
With tension rising inexplicably with every tick, she took the clock off the wall. Took out its battery. She didn’t even want to know the time. Didn’t want to know how long it was, how slowly the seconds and minutes and hours were passing.
Yet tension continued to build with each beat of her heart.
Eventually she’d had enough. She couldn’t just sit there forever.
She moved over to her coat. Knelt down, her hands trembling as she laid it out on her lap. She reached into the hole in the seam. Her two fingers felt about, pincering as she tried to grasp the phone. Each time her fingers met, skin on skin, the hole in her chest grew. Yet she continued in vain, because she couldn’t bear to face the reality.
The reality. That the stolen phone – her solace as much as it was her death warrant – was no longer there.
In a panic she whipped her fingers out, refolded the coat as her brain erupted with conflicting thoughts. She tried to piece together her movements. When had she last seen the phone? When had she last held it? When had she last felt its form against her side as she walked?
She couldn’t clearly find the answers. None of it made any sense.
There was a click and a clunk and the door opened. Ana’s heart lurched as she spun around. She hadn’t heard them come into the warehouse at all. Had they sneaked in or had she just been too all-consumed?
Victor strode across the room, away from Ana. Alex shut the door behind him then stood across it, arms folded.
‘You’re back,’ Ana said, her eyes not leaving Victor as he walked over to the bookcase.
‘Vic?’
He said nothing. Ana’s eyes darted around the room. Looking for what? A means of escape. A weapon? What was she supposed to do now?
Victor reached up, stuck his hand between two lever arch files. He pulled out the small black object, a thin lead trailing behind it.
He didn’t need to say what it was.
He turned around, the tiny CCTV camera in his hand. His face sullen yet almost sorrowful.
Neither Victor nor Alex said a word. None were needed.
Victor knew. He knew everything. Ana had walked right into this.
She shook her head in despair. ‘I’m sorry!’ she screamed.
‘No,’ Alex said. ‘But you will be.’
He lurched towards her.