No Going Back by Lyndon Stacey

out after all.
    Very carefully he opened the cab door and leaned out, making his movements soft and slow, as if she were a flighty horse.
    Katya held her ground, her dark eyes wide with apprehension, but she glanced behind her as if suspecting him of having an accomplice who might even now be creeping up to cut off her escape.
    Daniel stayed in the cab, letting her make the first move, and eventually she did, edging forward alongside the lorry until she was only a matter of feet away. She was boyishly slim, and without her riding hat he could see that her dark hair had been very inexpertly cut. He imagined she had probably done it herself.
    â€˜I don’t want to hurt you, Katya,’ he said softly. ‘I just want to help you.’
    â€˜Why?’
    The question caught Daniel on the hop slightly. Why indeed? How to explain to someone with her likely background that his interest was purely philanthropic? He had an idea the concept would be entirely alien to her, but he had no other ready excuse.
    â€˜Elena is your sister, right?’ he asked, hedging slightly.
    Katya nodded slowly, and again glanced over her shoulder.
    â€˜I was there the day you ran away. The man – Reynolds, he said his name was – called me to help track you down. He said he was your father . . .’
    â€˜His name isn’t Reynolds, it’s Patrescu,’ she said. ‘I saw you on the moor with the dog. Why did you help him? Who are you?’
    â€˜I thought I was doing the right thing,’ Daniel told her. ‘He said you were lost. It wasn’t until I saw how scared your sister was that I began to wonder why you’d really run away.’
    â€˜I had to leave Elena. I didn’t want to, but she couldn’t run any more. I thought if I got away, I could maybe go back for her, but . . .’
    â€˜But?’ Daniel prompted.
    â€˜Now I don’t know how I will do it. I don’t even know where she is for sure.’ Her eyes filled with tears, which she wiped away with an impatient hand. ‘He – my father – will be looking for me. He won’t give up.’
    â€˜If he’s your father, why are you running from him?’
    Katya’s eyes dropped for a moment – the ridiculously long lashes sweeping her cheeks. ‘He took us from our mother – stole us. He means to take us back to Romania, but we don’t want to go.’
    â€˜And where is your mother?’
    â€˜She’s in London.’
    â€˜Is that where you live?’
    She nodded, her eyes dipping again briefly.
    â€˜And the other man, who is he?’
    Her expression hardened. ‘His name is Anghel. He works for my father. He is a brute.’
    â€˜What does your father do?’
    Katya’s eyes flickered up and away. She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. He left us when Elena was a baby. Will you really help me?’
    â€˜If I can, but you should really go to the police. They could do much more than me.’
    â€˜No!’ Her reply was sharp and immediate, and she backed away a step or two, apparently afraid that Daniel was about to try and capture her and deliver her to the authorities himself. ‘You can’t tell them!’
    â€˜It’s all right. Calm down. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to, but please believe me, it would be the best thing to do.’
    â€˜No. There would be trouble. You must promise you won’t tell.’
    â€˜Trouble for your father, yes, but not for you,’ Daniel assured her. ‘You’ve done nothing wrong.’
    She shook her head. ‘You don’t understand. We don’t have our papers – he took them.’
    â€˜What papers?’
    â€˜Our passports.’
    â€˜But if you’re not trying to leave the country, you don’t need them,’ Daniel pointed out.
    â€˜Please – you don’t understand . . . He’ll find out and I’ll never see Elena