For a moment she envied their cosy domesticity. It had been a long time since she had shared a meal with a guy. She had thought that city life would automatically bring an exciting social life, but it was much harder here than at home to make friends. And her choice in men was abysmal. The last guy she had dated, Adorjan, was now in prison. Somehow she had managed to get involved with a man who was working with Pal Dezeffy in his attempt to derail Reka Bardossy’s Qatari investment plan.
Adorjan had supplied the fatal fake Viagra which had killed the key Qatari financier in the fancy brothel in the Buda hills – a brothel owned by the brother of the city’s most famous detective. How did that relationship work? she wondered. That would make an amazing article – two brothers: one a cop, the other a pimp. Although somehow she knew neither would ever give her an interview.
The car turned right again at speed then took a sharp left, cutting in front of a slower-moving vehicle and sparking some outraged hooting. Well, she thought, she had always dreamed of an exciting life as an investigative reporter, and now she had one.
She had taken the battery out of her phone as Reka had instructed so could not use Google Maps but by now she knew the city well enough to guess their route. They would follow the path of the river for a kilometre or so until they turned left at Szepvolgyi Way and climbed up into the Buda hills and the district of Obuda.
She was right and a few moments later the Audi was speeding along the wide three-lane road that ran parallel with the river, parallel with Margaret Island. So far so good, but there was still a way to go.
‘Where might there be interference?’ she asked.
As if on cue Antal’s earpiece hissed and crackled. He held up a hand to both acknowledge her question and ask her to wait. ‘There is a police check on the corner of Szepvolgyi Way. We need to take another route.’
Zsuzsa frowned. ‘Why are we worried about the police? It’s not illegal to go to the prime minister’s house.’
Antal said, ‘No, it’s not. But it seems you are making some powerful enemies, who don’t want you to get there, Zsuzsa. I just heard that there is a warrant out for your arrest,’ he said, his voice amused. ‘What have you done?’
Zsuzsa’s doubts turned to anxiety. ‘Arrest? On what charges?’
‘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.
