10
‘What the hell was that about?’
Sabir was driving the rental car, with Alexi on the seat beside him. Calque and Radu were hunched forward in the back. Sabir had just seen two cars veer off the main road from Samois village onto a forest track fifty metres ahead of them. For one heart-stopping moment, the three cars had seemed to be heading straight for one another.
‘It’s them. I recognized Lamia’s face. She had someone in the car with her.’
‘Are you sure?’
Calque slapped Sabir on the shoulder. ‘Of course I’m sure. Lamia’s face is unmistakeable, man. I’m not blind.’
‘Did you see who was following her?’
‘No I didn’t. But I’ll give you three guesses who it was.’
Sabir floored the gas pedal, then threw the rental into a tight left-hand turn.
‘What do you think has happened? Why are Aldinach and Athame chasing Lamia? I thought they were on the same fucking side?’
Alexi turned to Sabir. ‘That was Yola inside the first car. I know it. I saw her face in profile. If they hurt her I will kill them all. I will make them eat their own entrails. I will …’
‘Okay, Alexi. Calm down. We’ll catch them.’ Sabir was having difficulty keeping the car within the confines of the track. There had been a considerable amount of rain two days before, and the thin November sun had not yet succeeded in drying it off. The top of the dirt track was like a skating rink, therefore, with the very worst potholes reserved for the corners.
‘Do you think they’ve seen us?’
‘If they haven’t yet, they will soon.’
‘You don’t think Lamia is trying to protect Yola, do you? That we’ve got it all wrong? Why would they be chasing her otherwise?’
‘Why indeed?’ Sabir swung the vehicle through a wide arc, mud and gravel spraying out beside him. ‘Where does this go to, Alexi?’
‘If you keep straight on, it goes back to the main Fontainebleau road. If you take a left turn about five hundred metres in front of you, it goes towards the old mines.’
‘This was a quarry area a long time ago.’
As if on cue, both the cars Sabir was following curled left, down the old mine road.
‘Tell me about these mines, Alexi.’
‘They are very deep. Very dangerous.’
‘And Yola knows about them?’
‘Of course. O Beng lives down there – all Gypsies know that. We are taught it as children, to keep us away from the shafts.’
‘O Beng?’ Calque was leaning forwards in his seat.
‘The Devil, Calque. They are going to see the Devil.’