The Boudicca Parchments

Chapter 27

“How could you let this happen!”

“I don’t know who he was! One minute I was all set to kill him and a second later I was hit by the motorbike!”

This exchange between Baruch Tikva and his father was taking place over the phone. But their voices were so loud, they could have been standing eyeball to eyeball in the same room.

“But why were you standing in the middle of the road?”

“I wasn’t. I was standing directly behind the police van.”

“Then why did the motorbike hit you?”

“That’s what I’m telling you! It was deliberate!”

“What do you mean, deliberate?”

“After the bike hit me, he shot the two men who were helping me. They were professionals… men with guns who knew how to use them… and he just pulled a gun and shot both of them.”

“I thought you had three men with you?”

“Yes, but one was the driver.”

“And what did he do?”

“He ran away — the coward! He left me there. I nearly got caught. I had to run away… and I was limping. I thought he broke my leg.”

“You could have made up a story. Said you were a bystander and said the man on the motorbike was part of it.”

“But then I’d’ve been in the public eye. They’d ask me to tell them everything I saw. It’s better this way.”

“It’s not better, Baruch, it’s very bad!”

“I know… I know.”

Baruch Tivka was genuinely apologetic. He knew that he had let his father down and he felt guilty. He revered his father and would do anything for him.

“Do you have any idea where he has gone?”

“No. It came completely out of the blue. I don’t know how anyone could have known what I was planning.”

“Is it possible that the shiksa betrayed you?”

“ Chienmer Lefou. I don’t think so.”

“You know she hates all Jews?”

“Yes, but she made it clear that she was ready to work with us because we are against the Zionist heretics.”

“Then who could it be?”

Baruch Tikva tried to think.

“Maybe there’s a spy in the camp.”

“That’s impossible. I told no one but you.”

“Do you think they’re watching us?”

“Possibly. Or maybe Lady Lefou is being watched. She’s quite a controversial figure, you know. She attended the holocaust conference in Teheran.”

At the other end of the phone, there was silence. Finally the old man spoke.

“That would have brought her to the attention of the British authorities. They probably are watching her! You should have been more careful.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Well at least we are not being watched.”

“But what are we going to do?”

Baruch had always wanted to impress his father with his initiative — as he had when he found out about Daniel not being dead. But now he too had failed to kill him. And worse still, he had effectively helped Daniel escape from the police. Apart from that, he had got two of Chienmer Lefou’s men killed. And the driver would probably go running back to her with tales of Baruch Tikva’s carelessness. He would get the blame.

And worse still, the people she hired were probably not her own. They were gangsters. That meant they had their own friends and contacts who would be looking out for them.

What if they think I lured them into a trap?

He knew now that he would have to lie low for a while, not only from the police but also from Chienmer Lefou and her network of contacts. Fortunately, she didn’t know where he was staying. All she had was a mobile phone number. And he knew that he could blend in with other ultra-orthodox Jews in Golders Green or Stamford Hill. The only thing that marked him out was his height.

His father spoke again.

“Do you remember I asked you about Daniel’s family?”

“Yes. But like I told you, he’s divorced. And they didn’t have children.”

“No,but I was thinking about his extended family… parents, brothers sisters, etc.”

“I think he has three sisters. I know that one of them has three daughters, eight-year-old twins and a five year old.”