The hand tightened on my neck as the car did a ‘U’ turn and accelerated toward the west, down Oranienburger Strasse. We were heading away from the agency and toward an area of Berlin where I would be completely lost. I suddenly snapped out of my frozen state and began clawing at the hand that was threatening to cut off my air supply. “Stay still Beth, or you’re dead!” The voice commanded.
“Let me fucking go you cunt,” I screamed hoarsely.
Thinking I was about to be killed, I Suddenly went wild, twisting my body and kicking out at the panel in front of my knees.
“Fuck!” yelled the driver, as I kicked the gear stick, knocking the car into neutral and causing him to lose control for a moment.
In response, he swung his fisted right hand round and punched me full in the belly, knocking all the wind out of me.
“Ummph!” I groaned, doubling up, as a dreadful pain exploded in my stomach.
My hands fell away from the hand on my throat, so that I could claw at my stomach to relieve the burst of pain. I was already gripped with fear and panic, but the fresh pain was so intense it made me want to curl up into a ball and shut out the grief that was approaching.
“Beth listen to me,” the voice hissed. “If you want to see your friend Cherry again, then you must sit still. Do you understand?”
Despite the pain and dread coursing through my body I fully understood the implication of his words. I suddenly heard the distant sound of police sirens above the sound of the onrushing road and high revving engine noise. My hopes began to rise.
“W… where is she,” I spluttered, still trying to rub away the pain and get my breath back.
“You’ll soon be joining her, just as soon as we’ve lost the police tail, so sit tight Beth.”
The car suddenly accelerated and began weaving in and out of the traffic. With a screech of tyres, the driver veered into a narrower road, which had tall building either side. All of a sudden, he turned first one way, then another, accelerating and suddenly braking, before turning again. It felt as though I was watching a movie, where the villains were being chased at breakneck speed through a city. The only trouble was, I was with the bad guys who usually ended up dead when their car exploded at the end of the car chase!
I had to look away when the driver took chances by crossing roads where we didn’t have right of way or tore down one way streets the wrong way. I half expected a car to slam into my side of the vehicle, or hit us head on and kill me instantly.
I knew it was the dark haired driver, who had hold of my neck, even though he had said very little. I spotted my bag in the foot well and began to straighten my legs, to make it appear as though I was relaxing.
“Push your arms back behind the seat, Beth,” he ordered.
I dropped my arms to the sides of the leather seat and felt behind me to see if I could reach round. A familiar click told me that one of my wrists had been manacled. Then a second click and my arms were securely fastened behind the seat.
While he was doing that, I slipped my shoes off and flipped my bag open. My tormentor removed his hand from my neck and I sensed him move back against the back seat. The sound of his seat belt engaging soon followed. Meanwhile, as the car swayed to and fro, I emptied the contents of my bag onto the floor. As I fumbled about with my feet, I cursed wearing the knee length white socks, which effectively stopped me from feeling exactly what I was doing.
I looked up just in time to see a busy junction approaching and the driver was obviously going to drive straight through a red light. As we arrived at the cross roads a car approaching from my side swerved and twisted round, but couldn’t avoid hitting us.
“LOOK OUT!” I screamed, when the sound of glass shattering and metal crunching together reverberated through the car.
“Fuuuuck!” exclaimed the driver.
The car had slammed into my side, seemingly in slow motion, before bouncing off the BMW. The blonde haired driver just managed to keep control of the car as it slewed from side to side. Somehow, we reached the other side of the junction and sped into yet another narrow street.
The whole experience was surreal and I was struck dumb as my life flashed before me. I was certain that I was about to die at any moment and if we survived then the gang were going to do what the driver of the car had failed to do – kill me! The sound of a collision behind us, signalled that the pursuing police cars hadn’t been so lucky crossing the junction.
“Sehr Gut!” The driver exclaimed looking in his mirror.
If he was happy, then I was in deep shit, I assumed.
Heavy hot tears steamed down my face and my knees began to visibly tremble with the realization that my police protection had come a cropper at the junction behind us. A paralyzing terror gripped my mind and it took all my willpower to return to my thoughts of escape.
“Okay Viktor you can slow down now. Take us to the block.” The murderer said, having moved forward to poke his head between the seats.
I had managed to single out my Samsung from the other clutter in the well, but stilled when my tormentor reached over my shoulder and grabbed my breast with his right hand.
“Beth, you shouldn’t have brought the police here,” he hissed in my ear. “You have no idea the trouble you have caused my master.”
“That’s not true,” I screamed through my tears. “The filth made me come here. Let me go and you’ll never see me again!”
The Samsung was an old model with buttons, which I could feel through my socks. It was lying on the carpet just in front of my seat, so I frantically prodded away with my toes. Any button would switch it on, but I really wanted to see the screen to know if I had actually activated the alarm on Mary’s tracker. I wasn’t confident at all that it would work if the phone wasn’t switched on.
“Don’t lie to me Beth. Your friend has already told us half of what we want to know. I just need you to fill in the blanks.”
Up ahead, I could see we were entering a rundown area of old tenement buildings that looked as though they were due for demolition. Viktor steered the car between two of the high rise buildings and parked the car next to a tall concrete column. The driver got out his side, walked round the front of the car and opened my door. The interior light came on and the first thing Viktor saw was the contents of my bag on the floor of the foot well.
“Move your feet whore!” demanded the driver.
I lifted them up so he could scoop my junk back into the bag, leaving the phone to last. The guy behind me let go of my breast, but I could feel his hot breath on my neck as he watched what Viktor was doing.