Deceit. [COMPLETED.]

Chapter 75

"Drawing the battle lines"

She sounded frightened.

I looked at the address. It was in Austria. In her message she told me that Uri had given it to her.

All the hairs along the back of my neck were sending out alarm signals and yet here we were with exactly what we wanted.

But why?

'It's a trap though isn't it?' I said. 'How do we even know Jenny is there?'

'We don't.'

Geoff looked concerned. I could see he was deep in thought and none of it was good. He then offered me a cautionary note.

'I think it might be wise under the circumstances that we get your family away for a while.'

He said it was obvious that Uri knew where I lived and that he may also want to harm them too.

'And we don't want any distractions,' said Geoff. 'We don't want you making wrong decisions worried about their safety when all the time we need you to stay focused.'

He then went on to reinforce that while the loss of my middle daughter was only temporary I didn't want to make matters worse by losing anyone else.

And he was right of course. My whole family were the innocent victims in all of this and I started to think of where they might go.

'America,' suggested Geoff. 'Get them as far away from here as possible. Get them out today and don't even think about it.'

He then told me he would contact a friend of his.

'He's in London,' he said. 'He could meet Cheryl at a place of her choosing. He could then take them down to Felixstowe where he could then hire a boat and take them all to France. A train journey would then take them to Marseille where they could board another boat that would eventually take them to one of the Corsican Islands.'

It was a complicated but necessary route and for two reasons.

One, it had every chance of succeeding and stopping anyone else from tracing their whereabouts.

Two, the long journey would give his friend time to arrange false passports and any visas that might be needed to get my family to America.

Four days should be enough thought Geoff.

Four days to send my family away. Four days to get Danny back. Four days to show someone that I loved her.

'Does Uri know that we are here do you think?' I asked pensively.

Geoff shook his head.

'I doubt it. If he did then I think we'd be toast by now.'

I remarked that I should have shot him in the head instead of the chest only to receive a shrug of the shoulder.

'But you didn't,' remarked Geoff passively. 'So there is no point in worrying about it.'

'Do you think Max knows I'm still alive?' I asked.

Geoff had been mulling over this very same question and said that if she did then we had to ask ourselves whether she would still be at the address Uri had just given us.

'And why stay in Austria,' he asked, 'when she knows you will come looking for her?'

It didn't make any sense unless she had wanted me to go there all along.

Geoff was worried about the implications of the deal.

'He's pitting me against Max,' I said briskly. 'That's what he is doing. He doesn't care about us. He just wants the money.'