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.“Wren?”“Tomas Adzovic.” She exhaled.If he was involved in this, he’d be found out sooner or later.“What about the link with Marco and the women I taught?”“No more, Squirt.You’ve done enough.Let me run the names through the computer at work and see what I come up with.” He piled up the sheets, pushed them in his bag and rose to his feet.“I think you should reconsider joining the police.”“No way.”“If you’re right about this,” he held up the file, “you won’t have a job for long.”Her stomach slumped.“What do you mean?”“If Ezispeke is being used for money laundering or as a way to get illegal immigrants into the UK, it’ll be shut down.You and your friends will be out of work.”Oh God.* * * * *Tomas drove one-handed and rubbed his eyes.He was tired and his back ached.He’d finally been spat out of Nottingham’s rush hour traffic and was heading for the motorway.Turned out he had nothing to pick up in the city and he was fairly certain Marco had done that deliberately.Maybe because he was pissed off he’d refused to drive to Hull last night.Or maybe because Wren had secured Marco the information he’d been supposed to get.Or maybe because Marco wanted to make a move on Wren himself.A lot of maybes and Tomas didn’t like any of them.One certainty.He didn’t want Wren anywhere near Headingley tonight, but neither he nor Adam knew where the hell she was.Adam had called several times to tell him Wren wasn’t answering her phone.Tomas already knew that because she hadn’t answered him either, or responded to his voicemails or texts.Adam told him he’d called Ezispeke and left a message for Wren to contact him and when she hadn’t, he’d been to the school only to discover she’d left for the day.So Tomas had a problem.As far as he knew, Wren would turn up at the house in Headingley tonight and there was no way to prevent it without creating ripples.Those ripples might build to a tidal wave, which could pull the three of them under.If he told Adam to intercept Wren, what if Veton saw him, stopped him, hurt him? If he told Wren’s brothers or father, they might blunder in and wreck his undercover work.If he told Julia, she’d accuse him of letting sentiment get in the way of doing his job.If Wren mentioned her father and brothers were policemen, would that get her murdered?The lump in his throat grew larger.The notion of someone getting killed was a legitimate one.The bastards didn’t care what they had to do to get what they wanted.He put his foot down and edged over the speed limit.There was no chance of him getting back before Wren was due to arrive in Headingley, but he’d make damn sure he was there when she finished.* * * * *Wren knocked on the door before she could change her mind.Dragen answered, cigarette in his mouth.“Hi,” she said, trying to sound more confident than she felt.The top button of his jeans was unfastened and he wore a filthy T-shirt with a picture of a candle that said, “Blow me, it’s my birthday”.Dragen looked her up and down without saying a word and then moved aside to let her in.“Dragon, yes?” He exhaled smoke into her face.Wren coughed.Bastard.Only Danijela, Vesna and Tanja were waiting.“Where are Jovana and Ardita?” she asked.“Ardita ugggh.” Vesna held her stomach and put her hand to her head.“Ardita’s sick.” Wren nodded.“Jovana busy,” Danijela said.Wren took three women’s magazines from her bag and handed them out.“Flip through.Find a page you like and we’ll talk about it.”Wren hadn’t planned to ask any tricky questions unless the moment was absolutely right with no chance of being overheard.The women settled into talking about makeup and clothes, and a couple of times they even laughed.Danijela read out a letter on a problem page about a woman whose boyfriend had cheated on her with her friend.“Men all same,” Vesna muttered.“Liars, cheats.Led by dick.” She waggled her finger in front of her crotch.“Smaller, worse they behave.”Wren gulped.“Do you have boyfriends?”No one spoke.Only Danijela met her gaze.“What you think?”“That you should have.”That earned her a genuine smile from Danijela.“Tomas your boyfriend?” Vesna asked.“Yes.” Please don’t let Tomas be involved in this.Yet she knew however much she might wish it, he was.What could she do? How could she get him away from this before the police stepped in?“Tomas is okay,” Danijela said.She nodded toward the door and shook her head.But not Dragen? Wren had already decided that.A faint cry from upstairs made her start.She opened her mouth and closed it as the three women stared at her.Oh God.I am so in over my head.Danijela slid her hand into her pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper.The other two watched the door.“I like shoes,” Danijela said.“What are your favorite shoes?” Wren’s heart beat faster.Vesna lifted her foot.“Red with rose on heel.”Danijela held out her hand to Wren.She swallowed hard, palmed the paper and put it in her back pocket.All three women exhaled together.What did the note say? Help us? Rescue us? Tell the police? Buy us chocolates? Humor failed to calm her nerves.“What your favorites, Wren?” Tanja asked.“Shiny black ones, but the heels are so high I can’t walk properly in them.” They sat at the bottom of her closet.“I like these.” Tanja pointed to her feet.Wren nodded.“Flip-flops.Because they flip and flop.” She flapped her hands up and down.“Like fish.”“Flip-flop,” Tanja said and laughed.Wren reached for her folder to take out Leo’s list and heard the front door open.She’d missed her chance and closed the folder.“Shall we go out?” she suggested.“Walk to a fish-and-chip shop and talk.”Tanja stood and Vesna pulled her down.They looked toward Danijela, who shook her head.“We can’t,” she whispered.“Wouldn’t you like some chips?” Wren asked
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