Chapter 38: Trafficking

Damn phone! I cursed inwardly. Not only was it awkward to hold, but the sound quality was so bad that I had to speak and listen very clearly. It was completely impossible to have a whispered or muffled conversation. Fortunately, there was traffic noise nearby and I didn’t see anyone within earshot. Nevertheless, I was very careful about what I said and how I phrased it, in case someone was listening.

At least its small size made it possible to smuggle it into the basement. And since it had no memory, it was impossible to find out who had been calling and when. Prepaid cell phone with no contract, no billing, no traces. Still, it was better that it didn’t fall into anyone’s hands.

I told Holger what had happened over the past week in as few words as possible. Unfortunately, they had indeed missed how I had been taken to the ranch. He admitted that he didn’t have enough people to track every Rooms vehicle. However, they had now remedied the situation and bugged the vehicles. As a result, they now knew where Rebecca lived. But breaking into her ranch was rather conspicuous and difficult because of the surveillance. I was still supposed to try to gain access there.

I was slowly getting the impression that my clients were losing interest in the Rooms. Or in me. At least the latter would be very bad for me at the moment.

What I had to report about the basement was covered in a few sentences. Why I was back in the hospital was too complicated to explain over the phone. So I limited myself to talking about a show that had gone wrong and referred to a later, more detailed report. Basically, I didn’t know myself what had happened yet. At least I mentioned that the sound engineer Edward had been caught cheating and was facing harsh internal punishment. Maybe there was something in it for my clients.

The conversation ended with Holger’s usual warning that I should be careful. And with me feeling alone again. Thanks, Holger!

In the early afternoon, Rebecca arrived and, as promised, brought Isabell with her. Surprisingly, she gave us an hour alone and left the room. It was heavenly to be able to hug and kiss Isabell again! For a brief moment, I thought about running away with her right then and there. But that was out of the question, of course. She would hardly go along with it without asking why. And explaining that was much more complicated.

After a good twenty minutes of hugging, caressing, and kissing, we began to really talk.

“So,” I began. “You tried to kill Edward?”

Her eyes flashed with anger. “That bastard manually controlled the Dalek and hurt you. I wouldn’t necessarily have killed him, but I would have castrated him if they had let me!”

“How did you know?”

“Diana instructed me and sent me to keep an eye on him inconspicuously. His area wasn’t covered by any cameras, and a security guard at his side would have been far too conspicuous. But a service slave at the bar is quite inconspicuous, especially since he didn’t know who was hiding under my hood.”

It wasn’t yet clear to me how she had managed to catch him, but she could tell me more about that later. Now there were more pressing matters.

“Were you able to view my recording from July 26?”

She shook her head. “No, they’re completely blocked for me.”

Damn! So I had to describe to her what I could see on the recording until I had to stop. She seemed genuinely shaken, but soon recovered.

“Can I find out what happened to your sister Nadine now?”

I sighed inwardly. Of course I had to tell her. However, I had no intention of dragging her into all this, so I had to continue lying to her to some extent.

“Nadine’s fiancé, Kevin, got into trouble with the Russian mafia in Berlin and turned to me for help.”

“Why you?” she wanted to interrupt, but I waved her off.

“It’s a long story. Another time, I promise. I decided to set a trap for the bosses and call in the police. It went so wrong. Kevin and one of the bosses were shot during the raid. Another was sentenced to a long prison term because of my testimony.”

She looked at me in horror. “Do you work for the police?”

“No, I don’t, and I never have. Do you want to hear what happened next today?”

She nodded, pale-faced.

“Of course, I had to go into hiding. But the mafia put two and two together and came to the conclusion that Kevin’s fiancée, my sister, might know something. And they caught her. I was talking to her on the phone when they took her away.”

Isabell bit her fist in horror.

“The police couldn’t do anything. When they demanded an exchange—her for me—the kidnappers smelled a rat and took off.”

“You wanted to be exchanged?”

“If necessary, yes, but no, I knew they would have killed us both. But the police are really incompetent sometimes.”

“And then? I mean, your sister, was she...?” She didn’t finish the sentence.

I shook my head. “No, they took her to Russia, and she’s still alive.”

“How do you know that?”