People's Republic

  Ryan bit at the opening. ‘What’s her business?’

  ‘Computer security,’ Ethan explained. ‘You look pretty cold, you want a warm drink?’

  ‘Got any tea?’

  Ethan laughed as they reached the kitchen. ‘English people drink heaps of tea, don’t they? I think we only have coffee.’

  ‘Whatever’s warm and wet,’ Ryan said, as he rubbed his hands together.

  The kitchen was on a grand scale, like the rest of the house. There was a built-in coffee machine, but Ethan didn’t seem sure how it worked, and having one arm in plaster didn’t help.

  ‘I never use it,’ Ethan said apologetically. ‘Hate coffee.’

  ‘I’ll do it,’ Ryan said. ‘Everything at our place is identical.’

  ‘Why no school today?’ Ethan asked.

  ‘Asthma,’ Ryan said – they’d picked asthma because Ethan suffered too, giving them another potential opening for a conversation. ‘My sister had to call the doctor out in the night. I haven’t had an attack in years. Doctor said it might be stress: moving to a new country, new school, plus seeing what happened to you.’

  ‘Hate asthma,’ Ethan said. ‘Freaks you out when you can’t breathe. But same as you, I’ve barely had it since I was eight or nine.’

  ‘It was mild as,’ Ryan said. ‘But the doctor said rest and I’ll milk it for all it’s worth. I hate Twin Lakes Middle, I don’t know anyone.’

  ‘Is that girl who goes out on the surfboard your sister?’ Ethan asked. ‘I thought she might be your mom, or stepmom.’

  ‘Amy’s my half-sister. Twelve years older than me,’ Ryan said.

  Ethan grabbed a can of orange juice from the fridge, and looked slightly embarrassed. ‘No offence, but your sister’s a total babe.’

  ‘I’ll take it as a compliment,’ Ryan said. ‘You should ask her out, she totally digs scrawny twelve-year-olds who are into chess.’

  Ethan burst out laughing. ‘I wish,’ he said. ‘You might as well have a seat.’

  Ryan picked up his coffee and followed Ethan into the lounge area. The tide was in and waves crashed less than thirty metres from the house. The two boys slumped on to sofas, and Ryan drew comfort from Ethan’s relaxed body language.

  ‘I think my dad might fancy your mum actually,’ Ryan said. ‘She knocked on our door Friday night to tell us how you were doing and he was totally sucking up to her.’

  ‘He’d be barking up the wrong tree with my mum,’ Ethan said. ‘She’s had a few partners over the years. There was Auntie Theresa, Auntie Helen, Auntie Maritza from Brazil.’

  ‘Guess it’s back to online dating for my dad then,’ Ryan laughed, as he sipped his coffee. ‘So you’re the only one home?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Ethan said. ‘Mum was gonna work from home, but she’s making such a fuss over me and she has this big meeting. So I was like, go, go, get outta here. All I need to survive is Pepsi, Pop-Tarts and painkillers.’

  ‘No other family at all?’ Ryan asked.

  Ethan shook his head. ‘My mum’s family all come from the back of beyond. You ever seen that Borat movie? She says it’s like that – tin huts, horses and carts and shit.’

  ‘What country is it?’ Ryan asked. He already knew Ethan was talking about Kyrgyzstan, but was intrigued to know how much Ethan knew, or would admit to knowing.

  ‘Some ex-Soviet republic,’ Ethan said. ‘Mum gets really cagey if you ask her about it.’

  ‘You’ve never been over there?’

  ‘Nah,’ Ethan said. ‘I’ve met my grandma in Dubai a couple of times, but my uncles and my granddad basically disowned Mum because of the gay thing.’

  ‘Your mum must have shagged at least one bloke for you to pop out though,’ Ryan said, wondering if he was starting to push too hard with the questioning.

  ‘My dad was a sperm donor,’ Ethan said. ‘But don’t spread that at school. It’s bad enough being the chess-playing robot-building geek with the fat best friend, without mixing in lesbian-mom-test-tube-baby shit.’

  ‘At least you’ve got one more friend than me,’ Ryan said.

  ‘You’ll make friends,’ Ethan said. ‘You’re a cool guy. I know for a fact that Brittany fancies you.’

  The idea of a girl fancying him threw Ryan off track. ‘Is she the one with the pink braces, in our high set maths group?’

  Ethan nodded. ‘Has that tight skirt with the camel thingies on it. Yannis lives next door to her and her grandma.’

  ‘Nice tip-off,’ Ryan said, smiling. ‘Brittany’s fit.’

  Ryan felt good as he drained his cup of coffee. He’d always suspected Ethan would be more talkative if he could catch him when Yannis wasn’t around, but he hadn’t expected him to be such a little gossip.

  ‘I’ll tell you something funny, but you’ve got to swear not to tell anyone else,’ Ethan said.

  Ryan laughed. ‘How can I say no with a build-up like that?’

  ‘OK,’ Ethan said, taking a deep breath. ‘I slept over at Yannis’ place during summer break. So I’m in his room and I find this pair of girls’ knickers. First of all he’s like yeah I had a girl in my room. And he’s giving me all this bullshit about how it was his hot fourteen-year-old cousin. But I know he’s lying. I’ve known Yannis since we were about seven and he ain’t got no cousin. So after bugging him forever, I finally get him to confess that they’re Brittany’s.’

  ‘You what?’ Ryan gasped.

  ‘I swear to God,’ Ethan said. ‘The fat perv snuck into her garden and stole Brittany’s frilly pinks from the washing line.’

  Ryan laughed so hard he clutched his sides. ‘What a sicko,’ he screamed. ‘Maybe I can sell him a pair of Amy’s for fifty bucks.’

  Ethan howled with laughter. ‘Do you think Yannis puts them on?’

  The mental image of Yannis’ fat body dressed in girls’ underwear was more than Ryan could take.

  ‘Laughing so hard I’m gonna die,’ Ryan snorted.

  ‘Hurts my arm,’ Ethan said, laughing helplessly. ‘Jesus Christ. Imagine if you could get a picture of that. I bet you’d vomit just looking at it.’

  A couple of minutes passed before either of them calmed down enough to say anything coherent, and even then they kept getting attacks of the giggles.

  ‘You wanna do something?’ Ryan asked. ‘I know your arm is screwed, but we’re both just kicking around. I’ve got a PS3 at my place.’

  ‘Can’t,’ Ethan said. ‘Can’t move my fingers properly with the cast, but we’ve got a cinema room downstairs. Wanna watch a Blu-ray or something?’

  18. BULBOUS

  Kuban had slapped Ingrid, punched her in the face, banged her head against the table and bent back her fingers. Sometimes Ning looked up, but mostly she stared down at the floor. Her hands were numb from being cuffed, she felt nauseous and badly needed to pee, but was scared to ask.

  ‘I was in the British Army,’ Ingrid shouted defiantly.

  Kuban looked at the two burly henchmen. ‘Stand her up.’

  Ingrid twisted and grabbed the desk, but she couldn’t stop them. As the men held Ingrid in place, Kuban thumped her hard in the stomach. Ingrid groaned and stumbled, but the men kept her upright.

  ‘Anything to say?’ Kuban asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ Ingrid said. ‘Bite me.’

  Kuban looked angry as he took a folding knife from his trouser pocket. ‘Grab her hair, keep the head still.’

  Ning felt sick as Kuban made two deep slashes across Ingrid’s cheek. He then took a small squeezy bottle from his pocket and squirted fluid over Ingrid’s face.

  ‘Lemon juice,’ Kuban said, smiling as he licked his fingertips. ‘Yummy!’

  Ingrid groaned and twisted about, trying to free an arm to rub her burning eyes.

  ‘Everyone breaks,’ Kuban said firmly. ‘You can end this now.’

  ‘Not for you,’ Ingrid shouted. ‘Never.’

  ‘Your defiance impresses nobody,’ Kuban spat. ‘Sit her back in the chair.’

  As the two he
nchmen dragged Ingrid towards the desk, she surprised them by lifting up both legs. Ingrid was heavy, and as the man holding her right arm stumbled she freed her left arm and knocked him down with a well-aimed punch on the nose.

  Ning had never completely believed that Ingrid had been in the British Army, but you only threw a punch like that if you’d had some kind of training. As the man stumbled back with a bloody nose, Ingrid broke free and charged the desk. She grabbed the MacBook by its screen and threw it as hard as she could at Kuban.

  The laptop’s hinge snapped as it crashed against the mirrored wall. As Ning dived forward so that it didn’t crash down on her head, Ingrid flipped the desk over.

  But her freedom didn’t last. One of the henchmen grabbed her around the neck as Kuban threw the desk out of his way then punched her in the mouth. The blow caused a mild concussion and Ingrid’s head drooped as the henchman dragged her two steps back and dumped her into a chair.

  The teenage lad stood by, looking anxiously at the MacBook. ‘It’s smashed. The boss won’t like this.’

  ‘He won’t find out,’ Kuban said, sounding a little shaky. ‘We’ll put it back in the cupboard and get another one.’

  Ingrid laughed dozily as her head rolled from side to side. Kuban joined the teenager crouching over the laptop.

  ‘Maybe there’s a workshop at the market that can fix it,’ the henchman who’d been punched suggested.

  Kuban stood up furiously and shook the busted MacBook screen in the air. ‘You can’t fix this, dummy.’ he shouted. ‘It’s ruined.’

  The door flew open. Kuban spun around, ready to yell at someone for not knocking, but when he saw who it was he backed up to the desk with an expression like he’d just swallowed a turd.

  ‘Mr Aramov,’ Kuban said. ‘I wasn’t expecting you.’

  Leonid Aramov was touching forty, with long black hair and a physique pumped by weight training. He ignored Kuban and stepped straight up to Ingrid. She couldn’t see because her eyes were streaming, but she knew his voice.

  ‘Might have known you were behind this,’ Ingrid spat.

  Leonid cracked a mean smile. ‘You looked prettier the first time we met, dancing around a pole with no clothes on.’ His tone became more aggressive when he looked at Kuban. ‘Tell me you have something.’

  ‘It will take time,’ Kuban said. ‘She’s determined, but they all break.’

  Leonid jabbed Kuban in the chest with his pointing finger. ‘I hear you fell asleep in the Kremlin lounge.’

  ‘The flight was delayed. You know I’ve had this flu—’

  Before Kuban could finish, Leonid swung his massive arm and punched him in the gut.

  ‘I ordered you to pick them up the instant they stepped off the plane,’ Leonid shouted. ‘And the scuffle in the bar? What if my mother hears about it?’

  ‘Boss,’ Kuban said, badly winded. ‘Just let—’

  But Leonid wasn’t a fan of complete sentences. This time he picked up the laptop screen and belted Kuban around the head with it. ‘You will pay for its replacement. And why spray juice in her eyes, you idiot? What if she needs to read a computer screen?’

  Kuban groaned as Leonid doubled him over with another punch, then brought his knee up and smashed his nose.

  ‘Go home, you useless drunk,’ Leonid roared. Then he addressed the two henchmen and the teenager. ‘There’s a box of electrical cords in the manager’s office – one of you fetch it, one make me some hot black coffee, and boy, you smash the girl’s foot.’

  As the henchmen hurried out, the teenager stayed still, looking scared and awkward.

  ‘What’s your problem?’ Leonid shouted, as he pointed at Ning. ‘Do as I say, now.’

  Ning scuttled back towards the mirrors as the heavy-built teenager moved in. He stamped down, but Ning pulled her socked foot out of the way. With cuffed hands and tightly bound legs, she could only shuffle into the nearest corner.

  ‘Get on with it,’ Leonid ordered. ‘Stop messing about, boy.’

  Ning’s corner darkened as the youth loomed over her. He pinned Ning’s ankle under his filthy trainer, then rolled her foot on to its side and shifted his weight, so that Ning had seventy kilos crunching the bones in her toes.

  After watching Ingrid resist for almost an hour, Ning didn’t want to show weakness, but the pain was excruciating and she couldn’t help making a low moan.

  ‘You like seeing your daughter suffer?’ Leonid asked. ‘Or shall we have an adult conversation?’

  Ingrid’s head still rolled around from the punch, and her eyes were streaming.

  ‘Get some cold water to bring her around,’ Leonid told the teenager. ‘She’s knocked out, she can’t see. Why must I work with idiots?’

  Ning gasped with relief as the bulky teenager moved off her foot. As he left the room, one of the henchmen leaned nervously in the doorway.

  ‘Sorry, boss, I can’t find the box.’

  ‘It’s a big wooden crate,’ Leonid yelled. ‘How can you miss it?’

  ‘Maybe it’s been moved,’ the henchman suggested.

  As Leonid stood in the doorway facing the henchman, Ingrid stopped rolling her head and looked at Ning, apparently not as unconscious as she’d led her tormentors to believe.

  ‘You both stay still,’ Leonid shouted. ‘I’ll be one second.’

  ‘Get here,’ Ingrid whispered.

  Despite her pain, Ning quickly shuffled three metres towards Ingrid sitting at the desk.

  ‘I think my toe’s broken,’ Ning said.

  ‘I grabbed this when I tipped the desk over,’ Ingrid said, as she held out the pocket knife Kuban had used to cut her cheek. ‘You’ve got to understand: if Leonid gets our money he won’t want anyone knowing what has happened, which means he has to kill us.’

  Ning nodded.

  ‘If I’m letting them hurt you, it’s because I love you. But I’m going to try getting you out of this room. Use the knife, use your boxing or whatever you can to try and escape.’

  ‘Where to?’ Ning asked. ‘I don’t even know where we are.’

  ‘Babes, I don’t have all the answers. But Bishkek is the capital, so there must be something. Try finding an embassy, or a tourist place. Not the police, the Aramovs probably own them.’

  Ning still had her hands cuffed, so Ingrid tucked Kuban’s knife into the front pocket of her stepdaughter’s jeans.

  ‘I love you, sweetheart,’ Ingrid said.

  ‘Love you too,’ Ning said.

  Ingrid reached across to wipe a tear off Ning’s cheek, but the teenager had stepped back into the room. He placed a Pyrex bowl and a roll of kitchen towels on the desk in front of Ingrid.

  ‘Mr Aramov say you must wash out eyes,’ he said in broken English, before grabbing Ning under the armpits and pulling her back to the mirrored wall.

  The teenager then leaned across Ning. For an instant she thought he’d seen Ingrid concealing the knife, but to her surprise the youth pushed a small key into her cuffs and loosened each side a couple of notches before speaking quietly.

  ‘I hope more comfortable,’ he said.

  Ning was grateful, but wondered if his kindness was part of some grand manipulation. As feeling came back to her fingers, one of the henchmen walked through the doorway with a wooden crate, followed by Leonid, who now held a steaming coffee mug.

  ‘So Mummy is a tough nut,’ Leonid said cheerfully, as he stepped towards Ingrid. ‘But how much will she let her little girl suffer?’

  19. MALMIN

  Gillian and Ethan weren’t workout fiends, so the basement room that was a gym at Ryan and Amy’s place had been converted to a home cinema. The huge projector screen was complemented by speakers built into the side walls and electrically reclining seats. There was even a bar area up back, with a popcorn maker and hot dog grill.

  ‘Mate,’ Ryan shouted, as a scene from Iron Man 2 played up on the big screen. ‘Can you pause it, I need a piss?’

  Ethan hit a button on an iPad to pause the mo
vie. ‘You know where to go?’ he asked.

  ‘Same as my house I’d guess, next to the beach shower?’

  ‘You got it,’ Ethan said. ‘Grab me some M&Ms on the way back.’

  Ryan walked back between three rows of cinema seats and out into a hallway with coming attractions posters along the wall. He’d now spent over five hours at Ethan’s place, and his only major worry was that he might forget some of what he’d found out.

  Ryan genuinely needed to pee, but he made it quick and skipped washing his hands because he was intrigued by a small room behind the cinema. The first oddity was that the hallway wall bulged out, suggesting that it had been reinforced. The room’s door had an outer layer that matched the other doors in the hallway, but when Ryan rapped on it he heard the distinct ring of metal beneath the walnut veneer.

  But it was the lock that really made him curious. It appeared to have two key slots, one above the other, along with a fingerprint panel. Ryan only had a few seconds, so rather than study it he pulled his phone from his shorts and snapped a picture of the front, and a second shot capturing the detail of the markings on the side.

  He pocketed the phone and walked back to the cinema, but as Ryan grabbed the door handle Ethan made him jump by opening it from the other side.

  ‘Letting Yannis in,’ Ethan explained, before shouting up the stairs. ‘I’m down in the cinema.’

  Within seconds Yannis was huffing on the stairs. ‘How you doing, Ethan? You should have been at school, man. Sal’s expelled, Guillermo’s suspended for a week. Everyone’s asking how you are. So I said you’re OK, but I didn’t say you were out of hospital in case the teachers tried passing on work.’

  Yannis looked confused as he reached the bottom of the stairs and saw Ryan.

  ‘Oh, it’s you,’ Yannis said sniffily.

  ‘Well, I was me the last time I looked,’ Ryan said. He couldn’t stand Yannis, but had to try getting along if he was going to stay friends with Ethan.

  ‘We’re watching Iron Man 2,’ Ethan said. ‘It’s just coming up to the massive ruck at the end.’