‘Where’s David?’ Maria speaks in Greek, trying to establish a link between them, unable to stop her voice from shaking as the men guide her towards what she sees now is an old farmhouse.
The moon has receded once again behind the cloud and it is impossible to make out what lies on either side of the track, other than the building beyond.
If she runs, where will she end up? They might be surrounded by bog or open fields, offering the perfect view for her to be shot at, with the help of the flashlights the men are holding. Maria tries to map the route back to the main road in her mind, but they had driven for so long without signs of life before arriving here that she knows she will never outrun these men, even if she could get away.
‘He’s waiting for you,’ Jorgos replies evenly.
They move inside the house, through a damp porch and into the kitchen, furnished with dark wooden furniture and old-fashioned light fittings.
‘Where is the bathroom’ Maria says, reverting to English. It is the only thing she can think of to buy herself time.
‘After.’ It is the first time the second man has spoken. He is heavyset with blond hair and slightly buck teeth, an accent she can’t quite place.
After what?
‘Please, I have my period and I really need to change my tampon,’ she says, a little too desperately.
It is a cheap trick but she sees Jorgos flinch. Buoyed by his reaction, she presses on. ‘I can do it in here if I have to …’
The men exchange a brief glance before Jorgos moves towards her, gesturing for her to take off her coat. ‘The toilet is there. Give me your bag as well.’
Maria flinches. ‘I need my tampons.’
Jorgos inhales, as if she is pushing her luck.
‘They are in here?’ He takes the bag from her and opens it, holding her eye for a moment before looking inside and spotting a small purple carton. Despite the cold, Maria feels a film of sweat on the top of her lip as Jorgos opens the packet and inspects the rows of sealed tampons.
He looks her up and down, her stomach tightening as his attention lingers over her breasts, and then he presses the box into her hand.
‘Hurry up.’
Maria opens the door into the loo and closes it behind her, her heartbeat racing as if unleashed from its cage.
Her fingers shaking, she draws one of the tampons out and unwraps it, leaning over slightly, pulling down her pants with her other hand. Hearing Jorgos clear his throat on the other side of the door, she looks to her left and sees a flash of his head through the crack of the door. Whispering a prayer to herself, she leans forward a little, folding herself out of sight, obscuring her front from potential view as she quickly reaches inside her bra, pulls out the phone she had been given years ago by Felicity, and pushes it with a single shove up between her legs, dropping the unused tampon into the toilet and flushing.
Running her fingers for a moment under the tap, the water icy-cold, she feels her breath return to a more regular beat.
‘I said quick!’ Jorgos’ voice is so close that Maria jumps.
‘You didn’t say you were using the toilet,’ he adds as she opens the door and Maria’s eye flickers.
‘I had to get rid of the old one.’
They look at each other for a moment and then the second man speaks from his position on the other side of the kitchen, his back against the counter.
‘Take off your clothes.’
Maria shakes her head and Jorgos pulls himself up at her show of resistance, reminding her that she has no choice other than to do what the men say. She is throbbing inside where she inserted the phone and she doesn’t let her mind imagine what is coming next. Though if they planned to rape her, why would they let her change her tampon first?
She just needs to comply, that’s all.
Taking another step back into the kitchen, Maria removes her top layers and stands there, the men watching her shiver in her bra and knickers.
The cold pricks her skin but she doesn’t move, apart from her eyes which briefly cast around the counter behind Jorgos’ sidekick, for anything she might use as a weapon if she can get close enough.
‘Keep going,’ Jorgos says and she looks at him.
‘What are you going to do to me?’ she asks, and he cocks his eyebrow.
‘Why are you afraid, Maria? We are doing our job. Just as you have been.’
There is contempt in his voice and Maria’s jaw tightens. ‘David is not going to like this,’ she says more firmly, convincing herself that David is still on her side.
‘David understands,’ Jorgos says. ‘Take off the rest.’
Hans moves behind her. Closing her eyes briefly, Maria unclips her bra, letting it fall to the ground, and then her knickers, not looking down at the pale mauve cotton that lies crumpled at her feet.
She stands there for a moment, her humiliation complete, or so she thinks.
‘Turn around,’ Jorgos says.
Turning slowly, Maria feels the men’s eyes on her body. Her instinct is to lift her arms to hide her nipples hardening against the cold, but she keeps them by her side, waiting for one of the men to move forward.
They are silent for what feels like a minute and then the second man speaks.
‘Open your legs.’
Maria feels a rush of silent horror, picturing the foreign object stuffed inside her, willing away tears which suddenly ambush her as she slowly complies, shifting her feet into the second position the twins learnt at the ballet classes she sometimes took them to at her local church in Hampstead.
‘Bend over,’ Jorgos says and Maria hesitates, long enough for Hans to stand a little straighter. She breathes in, knowing that it is all over, understanding instinctively what comes next, once the device is inevitably discovered.
‘Jorgos.’
The voice makes her cry out in shock, the handle of the door turning a split second before, and a third man steps in, dressed in uniform. ‘We have to go now, or the Captain says we’ll miss our flight path.’
Maria stays there a moment, frozen, and then Jorgos calls out, as if for the benefit of someone not in the room. ‘She’s clean. Right, let’s go. Now.’
Maria hears the roar of the engines outside as soon as they start to move towards the back door of the farmhouse, the jet screaming to life as she lets herself be led towards the steps to the plane.
She is in shock, reminding herself that she is safe now, that the men didn’t touch her, that they had turned their backs in some ludicrous show of respect as she hurriedly dressed herself again, moments after their thwarted search.
There is no one else on the plane as they step inside, met by pristine leather armchairs and classical music playing over the speakers.
‘Where is David?’ Maria asks again, more quietly this time, casting around the otherwise empty aircraft.
Jorgos indicates for her to sit by the window and settles himself beside her, his mate sitting opposite.
‘He went ahead,’ Jorgos replies without looking at her and Maria feels the plane start to lurch down the private runway, and across the point of no return.