‘Theft, unlawfully accessing a computer, possession of stolen goods, stolen data, unlawful acquisition and retention of private data. You’ve been busy.’ He turned to the driver. ‘Gyuri, be careful, we are transporting a criminal. She might be dangerous.’

Gyuri laughed and sped through another red light.

Antal looked intrigued, tilted his head sideways as he spoke, as though assessing her again. ‘Zsuzsa Barcsy, I think you are not as innocent as you look.’

Zsuzsa smiled, in spite of her nerves. Was Antal flirting with her? Yes, she decided he was. ‘I hope so. So what happens next? Are you going to hand me over?’

‘What do you think?’

‘I think not.’

‘Smart girl. But when I say brace, you…’

‘I know.’ She paused for a moment. ‘Will there be shooting?’

‘Possibly. But I doubt it. In any case you don’t need to worry about that.’ Antal lightly slapped the windows. ‘This car is bulletproof. Even the tyres. Relax. Enjoy the ride.’

Antal’s earpiece crackled again. He looked straight ahead and his voice turned serious. ‘They’ve got a drone up. There are police on every route, looking for us. Take the next left.’

The Audi moved across into the left-hand lane as the car approached the turn-off at Zsigmond Square. It sped past a line of green municipal bicycles each parked neatly in its stand, then turned right onto Uromi Street, a much narrower residential road that also led north towards Obuda.

Every now and again Zsuzsa found herself in a street that reminded her of her home village. The Buda side especially was composed of suburbs that had once been small settlements. They drove past a house, a single-storey building with a yellow facade that looked like just her grandmother’s.

For a moment she felt a pang of homesickness, then looked straight ahead. The police checkpoint was positioned towards the end where the road bent leftwards. There were two cars parked horizontally across the street at an angle, their front bumpers a metre or so apart. One cop was standing on either side of the road, a torch in hand while another sat in the driver’s seat of each car.

The Audi slowed right down as it moved towards the police cars. There was a single vehicle in front, a white Toyota saloon.

The police officer on the right-hand side of the road waved his torch.

The Toyota stopped and one of the police officers peered inside. He gave the driver a cursory glance and waved it forward. The drivers inside the two police cars reversed for a couple of metres to let the Toyota pass.

‘Speed through now, boss?’ asked Gyuri. ‘There’s a space.’

Antal shook his head. ‘Only for a few more seconds. They will drive back into position. And this is a residential street. All we need is for Erzsi neni to appear with her dog when we are doing seventy kilometres an hour.’

Zsuzsa tried to damp down her growing sense of alarm. Antal sensed her unease and turned back around to speak to her. ‘Don’t worry. Gyuri knows what to do. He’s an expert. Aren’t you, Gyuri?’

Zsuzsa looked in the driver’s mirror to see Gyuri grinning at her. ‘Nyugi, miss, relax. It’s going to be fine.’

Zsuzsa nodded uncertainly and braced herself.

She expected the car to rev up and smash its way through the police vehicles at top speed, sending them spinning out of the way like a scene from a Jason Bourne film.

Instead the Audi carried on creeping forward.

She glanced at the speedometer: they were going at ten kilometres an hour. One of the policemen waved his torch at the Audi, frantically gesturing for the car to stop.

Gyuri kept driving, calmly holding the wheel, keeping a low but steady speed, until the Audi was just a few yards from the two police cars.

‘Brace now, Zsuzsa,’ said Antal.

The Audi suddenly lurched forward as Gyuri floored the accelerator. She pushed herself back into her seat, leaning back as hard as she could and pushing against the headrest.

The Audi hit both vehicles with a crunch, smashing the police cars’ headlights and crumpling their bonnets.

The impact pushed her back into her seat but both police cars spun outwards, one to left, the other to the right, absorbing much of the energy of the impact. Both police officers jumped out of the way, just in time.

A fraction of a second later the Audi was roaring up Uromi Street.

Zsuzsa glanced leftwards as the Audi came onto Szepvolgyi Way, where one of Budapest’s best-known cake and ice-cream shops stood on the corner. It was a wide road, with two lanes in each direction, the main artery in and out of Obuda.

Last summer she had sat on the low wall overlooking the road with her then fiancé, eating lemon sorbet as he had explained to her that he hated Budapest and wanted to go back home to their village, and he would like Zsuzsa to come with him and to get married as soon as possible.

She had gently explained that would not be possible and it would be best to go their separate ways. He had packed up his clothes and moved out of their tiny flat that evening. The episode now seemed like a scene from another life.

The Audi was speeding up now, hitting eighty kilometres an hour as it raced up Szepvolgyi Way towards Obuda, running several sets of red lights, then turning onto Folyondar Street, a residential road that led onto Remetehegyi Way.

Now they were coming into a fancier part of the city, Zsuzsa could see. For a moment they were stuck behind a taxi, then Gyuri overtook, moving into the opposite lane then switching back just in time to avoid the oncoming traffic.

Zsuzsa flexed her shoulders, turned her head from side to side. Everything moved smoothly. She relaxed a bit, now writing the paragraph in her head about how the Audi smashed its way through the police roadblock. She asked, ‘Are we expecting any more interference, Antal?’

He turned and smiled at her. ‘I don’t think so. The drone will have seen what happened. They tried but this is a big beast. It’s going to take a nice chunk out of the police budget if we have to keep smashing our way through their cars.’

Gyuri kept a steady pace as the car whizzed through the quiet, tree-lined streets. A few minutes later the car drove onto Remetehegyi Way and parked outside Reka’s villa. Two policemen walked over immediately, but raised their hands in greeting when they saw the car and Antal exit the vehicle.

He opened the boot and took out Zsuzsa’s bag, then opened her car door. She stepped outside, looking around curiously. She had never been to Obuda before.

The air smelled different, she realised, sharper and fresher than downtown. Reka’s villa looked very grand, set back from the road behind a high fence, with a carefully manicured garden in front. The view of the city from here was spectacular.

Antal handed Zsuzsa her bag. ‘I wish you a lovely and pleasant rest of the evening,’ he declared, lapsing into a formal register, an amused glint in his eye.

‘Thank you. It’s been very interesting so far,’ she said.

‘Let me know when you want a ride back into town.’

‘I will,’ she said, watching Antal as he turned and walked away.

The front door opened and Reka stepped out. She walked down the path to the gate, which opened silently. She stepped through and greeted Zsuzsa. ‘Thank you for coming, Zsuzsa. I’m very glad to have you with us. I hope your journey wasn’t too difficult.’

Zsuzsa tried to recover some of her composure. This was actually happening. She was really coming to stay with the prime minister. ‘It was more exciting than I expected.’

‘So I heard.’

Reka patted the Audi, walked around to the front. The headlights were cracked and white paint was smeared down each wing, but there seemed to be no structural damage.

Antal saw Reka looking at the car. ‘I’ll get it checked tomorrow morning, Prime Minister.’

Reka said, ‘Thank you, Antal. And thanks to you and Gyuri for getting Zsuzsa here safely.’