The Silk Trap. A Novel in 43 Chapters
Chapter 20: The Devil’s Nest
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”― Søren Kierkegaard
“Are you ok?” are the first words she spoke, looking at Michel as she drove fast to catch up with the ambulance and the police escort on the highway. The taxi driver looked worriedly at Michel. There was something about Michel that made her stop. He looked like a tourist in trouble.
Magda had not seen a guy like Michel at this time of the morning ever before, in her 10-year taxi driving career on the streets of Liberec. He looked totally out of his depths, like a giraffe trying to cross the street during rush hour.
He was a tall, lantern-jawed, olive-skinned young man whose cheekbones were almost as prominent as his long nose. But right now, he looked scared, haggard, and worried.
“My friend has been kidnapped,” replied Michel with a deep sigh of a man who had been waiting a lifetime to utter these words out loud to someone.
But immediately, his speech sped up. “She is lying unconscious in the ambulance and has been drugged by a gang who are now escorting the ambulance.
He paused and continued, almost not believing the words himself, “The gang members are in the police car behind the ambulance.”
“Sorry… Slow down…What ?!” was all that Magda could muster initially.
Michel kept quiet and just looked blankly at Magda for some empathy. He was not lying but understood how hard to believe it all sounded.
“Your friend is in the ambulance and is being kidnapped by a gang who is driving a police car ?!!
Are you mad? That is impossible.” Magda shot back at Michel, looking very suspicious of everything he was saying.
“So you mean to say the kidnappers are police officers ?! I have never heard something so crazy in my whole life….”
“I can’t believe it.”
Michel nodded his head anxiously and continued to summarise his entire ordeal.
“I promise you, madam, I am not lying to you. I saw my friend being taken out of a club last night in Prague, drugged and wrapped in a bag by the same men who then changed their dress and became cops. I don't know why they are taking Lara in an ambulance or where they are going?” Michel was almost in tears; the emotion of saying all this to someone was overwhelming him.
He continued, “I saw them put Lara into a city bus’s luggage compartment, and then I traveled with her until this morning…when they changed the vehicle and also changed their own dress and car.”
“Did you call the police?” Magda asked as she pushed the accelerator pedal harder to keep close to the speeding ambulance.
“Yes. Michel replied, still talking fast. “But they could not understand me as I don’t speak any Czech.” They hung up. I was going to call again when you arrived.”
“ But I am not sure I should call the police if the police are kidnapping Lara!” Michel looked helplessly at Magda as he spoke.
But Magda looked worried at what she saw ahead. There was a traffic jam ahead, but the ambulance and the police car had been allowed to pass. She could see that the ambulance was turning off from the highway and heading out of town.
Magda turned and looked at Michel’s bright anxious eyes, “Look, mister. I don’t know what to believe or not to believe about your story. I was finishing my night duty and on my way home. My father is waiting for me.”
She looked at her watch and continued, “If you really want me to keep going, you need to show me you have some money first. Suppose we have to keep following the cars we need to get on the side road and try and catch up with them. I think I know where they are headed, but we need to turn off right now if we have to catch up with them.”
Michel pulled out his wallet and showed her a wad of 50 euro bills stashed inside.
“Please help me.” Michel pleaded.
“I have the money. I will pay you whatever you want. But please stay with the ambulance. Lara is my best friend, and I have to save her from these dangerous men.”
Magda glanced at the money and then at Michel.
His story made no sense. No sense at all…Cops kidnapping a foreigner in an ambulance…
But there was something in his eyes, voice, and vulnerability that made her want to believe him.
“Ok. I’ll help you. I think I know where they are going. It's the Jeber hospital. That is the only hospital on this road”, said Magda as she turned off the highway onto the parallel village road that ran parallel to the highway.
She slammed on the accelerator and within minutes was parallel to the ambulance and the police car on the highway above. Magda reached the end of the road, made a sharp turn, and joined the main road again. They could see the ambulance and the police escort a few 100 meters ahead. They had caught up.
For the first time, they could both see the Jebel mountain in the distance. And sitting majestically at the top of the 500 meters hill was the Jebel TV tower shaped like a giant alien spaceship surrounded by the morning fog.
“Wow!” said Michel. “What a strange building. What is it?” as he looked at Magda curiously.
“It was a Surveillance tower used by the army in the 1950s. But then the army gave it to the government, and now is the telecommunication headquarters of the city. But it also has a 5-star hotel on the 3rd and 4th floor. The hospital is at the bottom of the hill and was first used during the second world war. Now it is used mostly like a clinic to support the Hotel and the government staff who live around here and maintain the tower.”
As they looked on, the ambulance had entered the hospital gate and disappeared inside. The police car did not follow.
It just waited outside…like a sinister sentinel under the watchful blinking lights of the giant spaceship domed Jebel tower on top of the hill.
