Missing Me by Sophie McKenzie Page B

Natalia leaned forward, her head in her hands. Tears leaked out from between her fingers. ‘I’m so scared. Whichever way I look, I’m
so
scared.’
    I looked at her. My heart was beating fast. ‘Come on.’ I held out my hand. ‘I know someone who can help you.’
    ‘Who?’ Natalia peered up at me from between her fingers.
    ‘His name’s Allan Faraday. He’s . . . well, he’s actually my dad . . .’ The words sounded strange as I spoke them. ‘He’s the one who suspected Baxter
was doing something illegal.’
    Natalia gulped. She suddenly seemed much younger than before. I felt older . . . responsible . . .
    ‘But . . . but . . . the tracker . . . Mr Baxter will know where I am.’
    ‘Allan will know what to do about that.’ As I spoke, I remembered Allan was out of the country until tomorrow. I hesitated.
    ‘I can’t,’ Natalia said. ‘I can’t leave here if he can trace me. Lana tried to do that. She didn’t get as far as the end of the road.’
    ‘OK.’ I thought fast. ‘I’ll call the police.’
Yes
. I should have thought of that in the first place. If Baxter was conning girls into giving up their babies,
he was clearly acting against the law. The police would rescue Natalia and arrest him.
    But Natalia shook her head. ‘If Mr Baxter knows I’ve gone to the police, then he’ll come after me, take my baby
and
kill me.’
    ‘But the police will arrest him before he can do any of that,’ I insisted.
    ‘No.’ Natalia’s eyes welled with tears again. ‘Don’t you see, he’s kept himself out of anything illegal. Lana told me before she ran off. There’s no
money in his name. It’s all done through different accounts. It’d be years before the lawyers sorted it all out and in the mean time he’d be free to take revenge on me for talking
to the police.’
    ‘But we’ll explain what really happened,’ I insisted.
    ‘Don’t you see? Baxter has covered his tracks too well for that. There’s no proof. Everyone will think I’m just trying to put the blame on him, but the money
I
took will be easy to find,’ Natalia sobbed. ‘Didn’t you hear what I said before? There’s nothing illegal about surrogacy except accepting lots of money to do it. And
I’ve already taken thousands of pounds.
I’ll
be sent to jail before Mr Baxter even goes to trial. And then I’ll
never
see my baby.’ She dissolved into tears
again.
    I stared at her, feeling helpless.
    Natalia wiped her eyes. Her fingers trembled as they brushed over her cheek. I suddenly saw how completely and utterly terrified she was.
    She looked up at me with a wan smile. ‘You should go,’ she said. ‘The nurse will be here soon.’
    ‘Right.’ I tried to pull my thoughts together. ‘So . . . so if I could find some way of getting the tracker off you here, so Baxter won’t know you’ve left,
that’s the only chance of you getting away from him. No police. No lawyers. Just escape.’
    ‘Yes, but you’d need proper equipment to do it, and . . . and there’s nothing in the whole flat I can use.’ Her voice cracked. ‘It’s hopeless. There’s
no scissors, no sharp knives – not that they’d be strong enough – this plastic is tough.’ She paused, clearly trying to calm herself. ‘Anyway, even if I could buy some
time by getting rid of the tracker, I’d need more money than I can get my hands on to get out of the country.’
    ‘OK,’ I said. I thought it through. Surely Allan would help me, if I could just get hold of him. ‘What if I could bring tools to get the tracker off
and
some money? What
if I came back tomorrow with all that?’
    Natalia stared uncertainly at me. ‘Would you really go that far to help me? I don’t understand. Why would you do all that? You don’t know me.’
    I shrugged, feeling awkward. To be honest, I didn’t really know the answer to that question. All I knew was that Natalia needed help and that Allan and I appeared to be the only ones who
could help her.
    ‘What