The Crypt (3 page)

The normal reaction for the person choking was for both hands to raise to the area of the neck. The police officer didn’t disappoint her.

Her left hand dropped both shoes to the pavement as she bent at the waist, leaned forward and snapped the clip holding his gun. With deft hands she had the weapon lifted out of its holster and in her palm aimed at the other two men in less time than they had to react to her attack on the cop.

“Stay back,” Sarah said as she aimed her new weapon in their general direction. In the same movement she flipped the safety off and slid her index finger inside the trigger guard.

The officer was breathing better. A wheezing, raspy sound emitted from his mouth as color returned to his face.

“I’m done for the night. I will back away and leave you to do as you please. If anyone tries to follow me I will take it as a personal threat to my person. In my defense I will be forced to shoot my would-be attacker. Are we clear?”

The officer nodded right away. He wasn’t stupid. He knew who held the gun.

English and his gypsy friend who still stood off to the side behind the cop only stared at her.

“I asked, are we clear? Don’t be a fucking idiot. Answer the question or I will be forced to make you hear me. You don’t want to piss me off. I get ugly when I’m pissed off.”

The cop turned to both men. He mumbled something unintelligible.

English looked at Sarah and nodded almost imperceptibly.

“No, you answer me. Are we clear? That is the last time I ask.”

She still held the gun out at arm’s length. She adjusted its aim to focus on English’s face.

He waited another moment and said, “Yes. We are clear. No one will follow you again tonight. But I will be watching you.”

Threats really pissed her off.

“You will not be watching me. No one
watches
me.” She stepped forward into his space, placing the gun at his belt line. “Threaten me again and you will be eating your next meal with no teeth.”

Being this close offered her a chance to remind him of who was in charge at the moment. A quick drop of her head, hard enough to matter but not hard enough to break anything, and English felt her forehead connect with his nose.

He staggered back and grabbed his face. His voice nasal, he asked, “Why’d you do that?”

“No one threatens me. I told you, I get quite pissy when that happens.”

She backed away and only lowered the gun when she was twenty feet from the four men who still stood in the middle of the road, watching her retreat.

What just happened there?

English had said something about him doing his job. The cop wanted to take her to his station. He probably wanted to take her somewhere else, rape her and leave her by the Danube River for the night.

Nothing made sense.

Sarah knew she had gone too far. She had stolen a gun from a police officer. A Hungarian police officer. She couldn’t do that and remain in Hungary.

At this point she would be labeled an International criminal or something. She had to leave Hungary.

“Damn,” she said as she slammed her fist into her hand.

Nothing was going as planned. She had come here as her sister had asked her to. She had done everything she was supposed to do. But now, four weeks into her stay in Hungary, she was no further ahead.

She felt like she was losing her mind.

Could she be losing her edge, falling apart? After all that had happened to her in the last five years, was she fucking up? Did she really attack a cop and steal his weapon? She’d stolen a cop’s car before but never a weapon.

Whether she was going crazy or not, she knew one thing for sure: she had to leave Hungary as soon as possible.

And who was the guy with the fedora hat? Why was he watching her?

Stakes are about to be raised and I’m going to do the raising.

Chapter 2

Sarah finished packing the one small suitcase she traveled with and set it by the door of her hotel room.

She’d stayed at this Best Western since the day she arrived. A Do Not Disturb sign had remained on her door the whole time. Having a maid enter her room wouldn’t work with Sarah. She made her own bed, and once every three days, she grabbed the towels and garbage, entered the hall and changed them with one of the maids working in the other rooms.

When she got back to the room last night she was too tired to imagine leaving right away. The officer would have to report his weapon stolen. Forms filled out, paperwork filed and a description sent out to other officers. By the time the day shift came on, Sarah would be on all their computer screens.

All she had to do was take a cab to the Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport, buy a ticket to somewhere in Canada and board that flight. She’d decided on Canada to avoid the American authorities if they were tipped off and told to watch for her. Could she get to the Budapest airport without the authorities warning airport security? If she was destined for trouble, wouldn’t Vivian have made contact?

Of course she would have.

She entered the bathroom, balled her hair into a bun and tucked it up under a pink baseball hat.

No make-up, a baseball cap and a stupid T-shirt that only a tourist would wear. It had a picture of Budapest on it with something about August 20th and how last year’s party was a blast. Above the city in the picture a Malév Hungarian Airlines jet soared over the Danube River.

She looked down at her shirt. A rush of sadness enveloped her. She’d failed. Armond Stuart was here and she had nothing to go on. He was getting away. He would get away. In the coming years he could abuse hundreds of more girls unless someone stopped him. Sarah had come close in the past but he got away from her and he was doing it again.

Epic fail
, she thought as she turned from the mirror and walked back out to her luggage.

One final check on the gun and she was ready to go. The weapon sat in the waistband of her jeans, at the small of her back. The slight bulge it made was covered by her carry-on luggage, a backpack she had slipped her arms into.

She checked the peephole in the door: no one on the other side.

Sarah opened the door and stepped from her room.

She let the door close and started for the elevator.

In under a minute she was walking through the lobby toward the counter to hand in her key and have a cab called.

The Best Western had an impressive lobby with many couches and lounge areas. Sarah scanned the large room. No one seemed out of place. Maybe they weren’t onto her yet.

She waited behind an older couple checking out at the desk.

A part of her was happy to be leaving. This had been her first trip to Europe and it had come as a shock. The differences to North America were mind-blowing. She missed home. She missed the familiarity.

The couple ahead of her moved to the side. When they did, she turned to look out the front doors of the hotel.

Two police cruisers sat parked behind the four large columns that denoted the entrance to the hotel.

Shit.

Could they be here for her?

Of course they are. Who else would the police be calling upon at ten in the morning with that many cars?

“Just a sec,” she motioned to the clerk who had been waiting patiently for Sarah to respond to her.

Sarah nudged her luggage up against the counter, grabbed a hotel brochure and headed for the back couches. One man wearing an expensive suit sat reading a newspaper along one wall.

Halfway to the back Sarah glanced over her shoulder. No one had entered the front doors yet. The old couple who were ahead of her had exited already. Even the clerk had stepped away somewhere.

She reached behind her and removed the police gun she had stolen last night. A burgundy couch sat facing the rear of the lobby. As she passed it, she pretended to trip. Her hand shoved the weapon in behind the cushion as far as she could. Still on her knees, she made sure it couldn’t be seen or felt when she readjusted the cushion into place.

She stood up, looked around and then turned and continued to walk to the back of the lobby.

After taking off her backpack, she unzipped it and withdrew the book she was reading.

If the police were here for her, then she would never be able to leave Hungary, let alone the hotel.

If they had another purpose, she would sit idly by until they had left and then she would continue on her journey to Canada.

She only got to the second page before five men entered the lobby. Two were wearing suits, two were in police uniforms and one of them wore civilian clothes.

The one in civilian clothes was English from last night.

So they were here for her. They had already found out the hotel she was staying in. It wasn’t hard to track someone down when European law required all hotel guests to register using a valid passport.

What now?

Why, in my moment of need, have you abandoned me, Vivian? What have I done to deserve this?

English turned toward her. He tapped the shoulder of one of the men wearing a suit and pointed at her. The group of five started her way.

She leaned forward and slowly placed the book in her backpack.

“Sarah Roberts?” one of the suits asked.

“And you are?”

“My name is Imre Mátyás. I’m with the Budapest police. This man here,” he pointed to the man behind him also wearing a suit, “is with our immigration office and you can tell who the other two police officers are as they are in uniform. Finally, the man in the back there is János Csaba.”

The man from immigration was smiling like he knew something. The kind of smile that said he was winning and he knew it. He had something planned for her. She could feel it.

Maybe one day I’ll find out what your problem is and wipe that fucking smile off your face.

“How can I help you?” She asked.

No one offered hands to shake. No one moved to exchange air kisses on their cheeks.

“Are you Sarah Roberts?”

She nodded and said, “Yes.”

“You will need to come with us to police headquarters.”

“I’m not going anywhere with anyone until I see some identification.”

Her stomach was rolling. It wasn’t the tension from the confrontation. She’d been here too often to be bothered by that. It was them. She hated cops. Always did. There were five of them. She was in a foreign country. There was nothing she could do. Even if she could get away, where would she go? Every border crossing would be watched. Every plane, train and automobile would be inspected.

It was over. They’d caught her. At least she had respect for them. American police would not have been able to pull this off as fast as they had.

Both suits had flipped out their wallets. Their IDs looked genuine enough.

Two more tests.

“What district is your police department in?”

“District thirteen. Now please stand up. We can continue our conversation in privacy.”

“One last question. What is the common name of your police department?”

The suit turned to his men, a look of exasperation on his face. János shrugged his shoulders in an
I told you
gesture.

“It is nicknamed the Police Palace. Now, are you going to come with us willingly or not?”

“Am I being arrested?”

“Not right now, but that can be arranged. Will you come with us or will you force me to detain you?”

Sarah dropped her hands to the armrests of the chair she sat on and nodded again.

“I will come willingly.”

She stood slowly so as not to alarm them. Each man stepped back.
Good, English must’ve wooed them with stories of our skirmish last night.

“Turn and face the wall.”

Sarah looked him in the eye. “I said I would come willingly. That means no restraints. I either leave here unrestrained or I leave here on a stretcher.”

The suit stood back and sized her up. “I like your fire, young lady, but no, I will not be using cuffs of any kind. I simply need to pat you down. An officer has reported his weapon as missing. I would hate to have that weapon show up in your hand. Neither one of us would want that. So turn around and allow me to frisk you.”

Sarah watched them all for another moment and turned, spreading both hands on the wall.

By now a small group of five or six people had gathered in the lobby to watch.

I guess the police arresting someone is more exciting than checking out of your hotel. Assholes.

The suit was quick about it. He found no weapon. He grunted an
okay
and Sarah turned around.

One of the uniformed police picked up her backpack and the group walked through the lobby toward the front doors.

The lone man in the expensive looking suit had set his newspaper down to be nosy.