The Boudicca Parchments

Chapter 35

Bar Tikva was waiting in Chalk Farm, in the cheap van that he had bought from a man in a pub. He was parked down the road from where Julia Sasson had taken little Romy for her gymnastics lesson. This was going to be difficult to pull off alone, but he had promised his revered father that he would do it and he intended to keep his promise.

It was going to be difficult for two reasons. First of all, this time he had no back-up whatsoever. After the fiasco last time, he didn’t think it wise to approach Chienmer Lefou or her underworld contacts. He had probably alienated them by getting two of them killed the last time. They for their part probably thought he was a loose cannon and would not be inclined to trust him.

Furthermore, he had read somewhere that mainstream British criminals are not into child-abduction, even if it were purely for blackmail purposes. He knew that he would probably get a rough reception from them if he had approached them about this project.

The other reason it was dangerous was because he couldn’t actually drive. In Israel, because of Shomrei Ha’ir’s refusal to recognize the State of Israel or participate in any of its institutions or official processes, he and other members of his sect had never learned to drive. He did in fact have some practice, from when he was in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn, with other members of his sect. But he had never passed a driving test or acquired a driving licence. So he could control a car — at least an automatic like this one — but he didn’t know the driving laws or understand the road signs.

This time, Julia had stayed in the cafe, rather than taken the twins elsewhere. So all three of them would be together when she led them to the car that she too had parked down the road.

He waited nervously as the minutes ticked by, praying to HaKadosh, Baruch Hu — the Holy One, Blessed be He — that he would succeed in this plan and fulfil his obligations to his father and to Shamayim — Heaven.

Finally they emerged: Julia, holding Romy’s hand, and the twins on their mother’s other side. She led them down the street on the same side as the sports centre and then as they were about to cross the road he gunned the engine and drove straight at them. He was not planning to hit them: only to get them to react exactly as they did.

He saw the look of terror in Julia’s eyes as she scooped up Romy and shouted at the twins to get back. They obeyed their mother’s instructions and Julia followed them, leaping back to the pavement and practically dropping Romy as she lost her balance. Bar-Tikva flung the passenger door open and reached out, trying to yank little Romy, who was now crying like her sisters, while Julia tried to assess the damage and the overall situation. He was just about to grab her when he heard a screeching sound and beheld a sight that terrified him.

For with that screeching sound came a motorbike like the one that had slammed into him a couple of days before, preventing him from killing Julia’s brother.

No, not “like the one” — the SAME one!

And as it screeched to a halt behind his van, he saw the same black-leather clad rider. His first reaction was to panic. But then he noticed that the rider was actually quite small. And it occurred to Bar-Tikva that he would probably beat this man in a fight. But then he saw the rider reaching for something and he remembered that the rider also carried a gun — and knew how to use it.

Realizing that he didn’t stand a chance, he pulled his large frame back into the van and slammed the door behind him. For a split second, he considered reversing into the bike and throwing the biker into the air. It would be sweet revenge for the painful knock he had taken last time, as well as for this time. But that hand was still poised to produce the gun and he knew that the biker could probably roll clear and then put a bullet or two in him just he had dealt with the two gunmen he had brought with him on the previous job.

It wasn’t worth the risk, he realized.

It angered him that he had been thwarted twice. But if this was the will of Hashem — the Name — then he must accept it. He put the van in gear, put his foot down on the accelerator and drove off at speed.