“These people” never give up. Julia was frozen. She knew they would find her everywhere

After leaving the ugly, silver building, decorated inside as if the architect had been guided by the idea that the sense of aesthetics was a sign of decadence and therefore decided to avoid it at all costs, Julia wondered for some time what she should do now. She didn’t get much out of it except the confirmation that her mother was steadfast and that the Painter was a mole. Other documents included receipts for various amounts in old Polish zlotys that meant little to her, and a note from an official that permission had been granted for her mother’s departure. By the way, I wonder if breaking his spine at least saved her life. Dorota mentioned something about extending it, but for how long, she didn’t ask her. Maybe he’ll ask next time, if there’s ever a next time. After a moment of standing suspended by the car door in the parking lot in front of the Institute of National Remembrance, she finally reached for her new phone with a new number, which cost her far too much, and pressed the number written under the very telling word “he”.

They never let up

He, aspirant Tomasz Bury, answered it almost immediately. Julia quickly reported to him the poor results of her investigation, and he suggested that we should look for traces of Colonel Jasiak, alias Jarniak, in some archives at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. When she confided in him that she didn’t really know what to do next, Bury, first of all, categorically advised her not to return home and suggested that she change her place of residence. In his opinion, attempts by these or those to kidnap her could happen again at any time. Because, as he said, “these people” never give up. – But where would I go? – she asked a little helplessly. – I could stay at my mother’s, but it’s because of the rain. They were waiting for me there last time.

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– Any hotel? – he suggested. – Cheap in the sense of, or an apartment à la hotel, but for long-term rental? Or just rent something, but without a receipt, because they now have access to everything: tax offices, banks, cards too, and in real time.

“So if it’s a hotel, they’ll expel me too,” she said, discouraged.

– Not immediately. Hotels report check-ins with a delay of several days, you can change hotels every three or four days, he replied. – Let’s meet – he said suddenly, interrupting the discussion, which did not lead to any constructive conclusions, and then added, perhaps for better justification: – I looked at the last hours of Mr. Wojtek’s life. I have some monitoring, I was in the pub where he had his last dinner. I’ll tell you, but not over the phone.

***

They met there, in the pub where Wojtek had his last dinner, in the Algerian restaurant on Burakowska Street. The place was specific, its appearance suggested more that after entering the narrow driveway you would find yourself in a car repair shop of the type that changes oil or brake pads, rather than in an exquisite Arabic restaurant. However, the smell spreading over almost the entire street said something completely different. Oil changing workshops do not smell of fried garlic, tomatoes, olive oil and coriander.

Fourteen minutes decided everything

When Julia arrived, Tomek was waiting for her in the restaurant garden. First he asked her to sit down, and he disappeared somewhere on the street before entering the narrow yard. – Where have you been? – she asked when he returned two minutes later. – Outside. I was checking if you hadn’t dragged those stakes from the Internal Security Agency behind you – he replied, smiled and sat down opposite her. – And?

– And it doesn’t seem like it, although we can’t be sure, so we talk quietly and at least I will cover my mouth with my hand – he explained. Julia laughed briefly. It seemed to her that the Bury aspirant was a bit too immersed in the reality of a spy movie or a match at the top of the Champions League.

“It’s not funny,” the young man said indignantly.

“It’s not,” she tried to justify herself, which even surprised her a little, because she didn’t normally use such a mode with men. Tomasz looked at her for a moment.

– Thanks to the monitoring, I managed to get here. – He pointed to the barracks behind them. – I talked to the owner, he brought in the waiter who was on duty that evening. Wojtek was at dinner with two guys; they ate, drank, they seemed happier to be here than him. He remembered the entire three-person menagerie, because apparently he didn’t fit in with them at all, it was obvious. Two different worlds. Apart from that everything was fine until suddenly he seemed sleepy or pretended to be sleepy and then he paid and they left. – Description of the guys? – Julia flashed police reflexes. – There is something there, but apparently they are roughly similar to everyone and no one. Perfect profile – concluded Tomek. – Ideal?

– Yes, this is how they are selected, this is how they are trained; no expressive personality traits, the more transparent they are, the better – he explained. – Who selects whom? – she asked, although she probably guessed what she would hear.

– Interview, your triggers. – Tomek was now looking at her intensely. – I don’t know much about it, I’m a policeman, but that’s what I think. We can bring in a cartoonist to make memory portraits, but they will be so precise that we will be able to arrest any guy based on them.

– What did other monitoring show? – Julia dropped that thread.

Few. There’s nothing underneath the house, and apparently the camera at the bank across the street was damaged earlier that day. What about later? The only thing I found was that they didn’t call a taxi from any known network; anyway, the numbers on the car were stolen from another one, so the taxi wasn’t a taxi, but their car, or one that had been picked up from somewhere a moment earlier. Sometimes they steal them for a few hours and then put them back where they belong. The owner doesn’t even know that his car was used at night to take someone to death, so he doesn’t report the theft. – Tomek fell silent, tired of the slightly long speech.

– Execution? – was surprised Julia, who knew the dictionary meaning of this word, but did not remember anyone ever using it in her presence.

“Execution of the sentence,” he explained something she knew. – Sometimes it’s faster to use one short word than two, that’s probably why these words were invented.

– I think so. – Julia nodded.

It wasn’t the first time this young guy had surprised her with something, but she still wanted to keep it a secret, so after a while she asked to cover what he could see:

– Who were these guys and why did he meet with them?

-Who were they? – He threw up his arms. – I bet that, as I already said, they are agents of some intelligence service, but they are hard work. And why did he meet with them? I have no idea. But I think the answer is either with your mom or in that notebook of his. It seems that he did not confide in anyone else about the progress of his investigation. Although there is one interesting thing… – he said and fell silent for a moment.

– That is? – she pushed him lightly.

– I also traced calls to and from his phone. The last one was when he was already sitting here, from an unknown number – he explained. – I tried to find out what the number was, but it was bought somewhere on fake data and used only once for this conversation. Someone called while standing in the middle of Pole Mokotowskie, there are no cameras there. He knew what he was doing.

– So there were guys who already had it assigned, but someone else called. What for? – Julia thought quickly.

– Maybe to calm him down. The guys he met were dark stars and yours… – Tomasz hesitated for a moment, because again he wasn’t quite sure how to describe the relationship Julia had with Wojtek, but he finally decided. – Your friend must have known about it, maybe that phone call reassured him that he had nothing to worry about, he let down his guard, and then it was over – the midshipman mused. – According to my findings based on the copy of their dinner receipt with the exact time of issue, exactly fourteen minutes passed between that call and their departure. When he left, he was apparently behaving strangely. The other two helped him walk. The waitress noticed this and was a bit surprised because he drank very little. I think that phone call and those fourteen minutes decided everything.