سفر به خطر

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Journey Into Danger

‘This way! Hurry up!’ said one of the men, pushing Tom and Kemal towards the door of the workshop.

‘Get inside!’ said the man.

Tom and Kemal stepped inside and stopped, shocked. Diinya was standing in the workshop. He had a gun in his hand. For a few seconds he stared at them silently.

‘Well, well,’ he said slowly, ‘our friend, the Englishman. Very clever. Oh, yes, very clever. And you!’

His face was red with anger as he looked at Kemal. He stepped forward and hit Kemal in the face. Tom moved forward.

‘Don’t move, or I’ll kill you now,’ said Diinya. The gun was pointing at Tom. ‘Get over there.’

Tom and Kemal stood beside the workbench. Diinya looked at them both for a long moment.

‘So,’ he said finally. ‘You have seen all this.’ He pointed to the plastic bags and the onyx ornaments. ‘Very clever of you. We should have killed the English girl before. Then this would never have happened.’

‘Where is she?’ asked Tom. ‘Where is Angela?’

‘Oh, don’t worry about her. She’s OK. Let’s say - she is a guest at my villa. You’ll be able to speak to her very soon - I’m sure you’ll have a lot to talk about - before you all die!’

He laughed - a cold, cruel laugh.

‘OK, let’s go, said Diinya to his men. ‘We’re taking these two with us.’

The men pushed Tom and Kemal out of the workshop and through the shop to the door. The Mercedes stood in the street.

‘Get inside,’ said Diinya.

Tom looked up and down the street. But there was no one there to help them.

‘Don’t try anything foolish, Englishman. You can’t escape. Get in.’

Tom and Kemal sat in the back of the car, with a man on each side of them. The others got in the front. They drove away from the shop, turned on to the main road, and drove across the city towards the suburbs.

‘Take a look,’ said Diinya, smiling. ‘Istanbul by night. So many people, so much life. Take your last look at it, you foolish young men. It’s the last time you’ll see it.’

‘What,’ began Tom, ‘has Angela got to do with this?’

‘We needed her at the beginning,’ replied Diinya. ‘She was very useful. She helped us to arrange the export of the things to England.

She didn’t know anything about our - our other business. But one day, she left something in the office, and came back for it in the evening.

Most unfortunate for her. She saw what we were doing. After that, I could not let her go.’

‘Where is she?’ asked Tom urgently.

‘Ah - I’m not a cruel man,’ replied Diinya. ‘I did not kill her. I have kept her in my villa.’

‘That’s because you didn’t know what to do,’ said Tom.

‘Exactly. But we have no choice now. You know too much about us.’

‘What about the drugs when they arrive in Europe?’ asked Tom.

‘That’s easy,’ replied Diinya. ‘We have friends in England. The goods are delivered to dealers in England and our friends buy them. Your fiance helped us a lot. I shall soon be rich - very rich.’

The Mercedes turned off the main road, and drove along the small street towards Diinya’s villa. The car drove in through the gates of the villa, up to the house. It stopped near the front door.

It was a big villa with three floors. There were steps leading up to the front door.

‘Out,’ said Diinya.

They got out of the car. There was one small light above the front door of the villa. The rest of the house was in complete darkness.

Tom looked around - he was looking for a way to escape. Diinya saw him.

‘If you try to escape, I’ll shoot you,’ he said. ‘Now, get inside.’

They started walking up the steps to the front door.

‘STOP!’ shouted a voice.

Suddenly a blinding light came on.

The garden of the villa was full of men running towards them. For a second Diinya stood frozen on the steps, shocked.

Then he ran towards the door. It opened suddenly and two men jumped out. They had guns pointing at Diinya.

‘Stop! This is the police. Stop or we’ll shoot!’

Diinya dropped his gun and slowly put his hands above his head. His men did the same.

‘The police,’ Kemal said. ‘We’re safe.’

At that moment the door of the villa opened and a girl ran out.

‘Tom!’ she shouted. ‘Tom!’

Tom turned round quickly.

‘Angela!’ For a long time they stood, unable to speak, holding each other.

‘Oh, Tom,’ said Angela. ‘You’re here at last!’

He looked into her eyes. ‘Angela, my love,’ he whispered. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Oh, yes, I’m all right. I’m fine.

The police came here to the villa about an hour ago. We knew you were coming, the police were following you.

Oh, Tom, I was so worried that Diinya would kill you.’

She put her arms round him again.

‘Oh,’ said Tom suddenly. ‘Angela, my love, I want you to meet a very good friend of mine.’ He turned and smiled at Kemal.

‘Angela, this is Kemal.’

‘Hello, Kemal, nice to meet you,’ said Angela.

‘Hello,’ he said. ‘I’ve never met you before, but I feel I know you very well!’

They laughed.

‘Kemal has been wonderful,’ said Tom. ‘Without his help, we wouldn’t be here now.’

‘Oh, I only helped you a little,’ said Kemal.

‘A little!’ said Tom.

They watched as Diinya and his men were taken to a police car.

‘How did the police know what was happening?’ asked Tom.

At that moment a car drove up to the villa. A man got out of the car and walked towards them. He smiled.

‘Hello, Mr Smith,’ he said. ‘We meet again.’

‘Mr Pennington!’ smiled Tom.