‘If you say so.’
‘I do, which is why I want to know what it felt like, what went through your mind during your attack on me.Did you feel excited?Exhilarated?’
‘Are you serious?’he countered, aggravated.
‘You must have got off on it, right?You must have enjoyed it.All that pain, all that power.’
‘Do you really want to do this?’
‘I’ve spent years trying to work out what possessed you to do this to me.I could have been blinded, I could have died.Yet you don’t seem bothered at all.Looking at you now, I can’t see a single shred of remorse.Tell me I’m wrong.’
She was glaring at him, emotional, but her attacker just shrugged, as if bored by the whole conversation.
‘You ask me what I felt,’ he eventually answered, his eyes glued to her ravaged skin.‘I felt … nothing.Nothing at all.’
Emilia felt like she’d been slapped.His indifference, his boredom, was beyond evil.
‘I did what I had to do,’ he continued coldly.‘It was just … business.’
His eyes locked onto hers, boring into her.And though tears of indignation, of outrage, pricked her eyes, she refused to blink.
‘Talking of which, where is it?’
For a moment, Emilia couldn’t speak, so inflamed were her emotions, but eventually she found the words.
‘It’s underneath the table,’ she replied calmly, releasing her grip on the holdall and pushing it towards him with her foot.
‘You can take it now and walk right out of here.’
Once more, the Dutchman hesitated, his eyes flicking around the café as if sensing danger.Satisfied that undercover police officers weren’t about to spring out, he looked down, unzipping the bag quickly to check the contents.
‘It’s all there, payment in full,’ Emilia intoned dryly.
‘I’m glad to hear it, as I really do have to go.’
Rising abruptly, he pulled the holdall onto his shoulder.A quick check that his route to the escalator was clear, then he turned back to Emilia:
‘Well, what can I say?It’s been nice doing business with you, Emilia.’
He smiled contemptuously at her as she rose, but Emilia now surprised him, lurching across the table, grabbing him by his collar and pulling him in close.
‘This isn’t over,’ she hissed, her nose touching his.‘This will never be over.’
Startled, angry, he pulled back sharply, batting her hand away.
‘Yes it is, you mad bitch.You will never see me again.’
Turning on his heel, he hurried away.Emilia watched him go, ignoring the startled looks of the other customers, her heart pounding in her chest.Though breathless and exhausted, she was nevertheless elated.She had handled herself well, had said what she needed to say, and the whole thing had gone completely to plan.Her Dutch tormentor was wrong.They would meet again.And sooner than he imagined.
Judgement Day was at hand.
Chapter 69
‘This is it then.The moment of truth.’
Charlie breathed the words, cutting the tension in the room like a knife.DC Roberts nodded earnestly, as did DC Malik, so without further ado, Charlie pressed ‘Play’.The CCTV feed jumped into life, the high angle of the camera making the interior of the Exodus look strangely striking and atmospheric, like a movie set before the big fight scene.The manager, all beard and gut, could be seen idling behind the bar, but the attention of the police officers was drawn to the stocky figure of Clint Davies hurrying over towards a table at the rear.They watched him in silence, all struck by the weirdness of what they were witnessing, the sprightly docker going about his business utterly unaware that he was just hours away from disaster.
Seating himself, Davies looked restless, anxious even, twirling his phone around and around on the table, before moving on to toy with the beer mats.Now, however, he looked up sharply, as another man approached the table.They were clearly on friendly terms, Davies rising and shaking his hand, as the pair exchanged a few words.Then his companion headed to the bar before returning to seat himself opposite the docker.
