Page 28 of Savage Protector

Tomasz shuffles towards me. “Sorry, miss.”

“My name’s Leila, and that’s perfectly okay. I’m not offended, but Zayn said to meet him here. I’m sorry I spoiled your game.”

“You didn’t, Leila.” Ethan ruffles his son’s hair. “You go play. I’ll be there in a moment.”

Aaron leads the eager troop back onto the ‘pitch’.

Ethan regards me for a few seconds. “I understand congratulations are in order. Medical School, eh? In Glasgow.”

“That’s right, sir. I just accepted their offer.”

“Less of the ‘sir’. It gives this lot ideas. Ethan is just fine. Do you have anywhere to live in Glasgow?”

“No, si— I mean, Ethan. That’s one of the problems. I start there in three weeks, so I need to get a flat or a room somewhere. And quick.”

“I have a house in Stirling. Cristina used to live there before we got together, and I never got round to selling it. It’s converted into an HMO. That’s a house in multiple occupation,” he adds, seeing my puzzled expression. “Perfect for students. Individual rooms. There’s a shared kitchen I seem to recall, but they all have their own shower and loo. Zayn asked me if there were any rooms spare, and there’s one. It’s on the top floor, and it’s yours if you want it.”

I gape at him. “Are you sure? I mean, I don’t know if I can afford it. How much rent do you want?”

“I don’t need any rent. But I would expect you to keep an eye on the place while you’re there, let me know of any issues, repairs needed, that sort of thing. The other tenants are all students. There are, I gather, five of them currently, and I’d expect you to collect their rents on my behalf and let me know if anyone doesn’t pay up.”

“You…you want me to work for you?” All my instincts are screaming at me that this is dangerous territory. These people may have been kind to me, they saved my life, no doubt about that. But they are…what? Criminals? I’m not entirely sure what the set-up is round here, but something doesn’t seem quite right.

“You could call it that,” he agrees. “Oh, and you get to keep the rent you collect, to go towards your living expenses. It’ll save you getting a job in a bar or waitressing.”

It’s a good offer. It soundstoogood, in fact. Too good to be true? “I’m not certain…”

“Well, the offer’s there if you want it. Let me know.” He shifts his gaze to Zayn. “You on your way to see Frankie?”

“That’s right, boss.”

“You might want to check the kitchen on your way up.” He swings around to head back into the game. “I think I’m in goal.” He raises one hand in a wave and jogs back across the stone flags to where his team is waiting.

Frankie isn’tin the kitchen, to Zayn’s apparent amazement. We find him up in his computer room, hunched over a tablet. He glances up when we enter.

“Ah, you’re here.”

Zayn drags a rickety chair over, having cleared a stack of magazines off it first. “Have you got anywhere?” he asks Frankie as I take the seat he offers.

“Oh, yes. He’s not short of a bob or two, our Uncle Abdul. What does he do for a living?” Frankie is tapping something into the keyboard of one of his desktop machines to bring up a list of some sort.

Zayn turns to me, one eyebrow raised.

“I’m not sure. He has businesses…”

“Buys and sells cars by the look of this. Dodgy motors, probably.”

This is news to me, but I’d believe anything of my uncle since I saw that damning video.

Frankie continues. “Anyway, I found half a dozen accounts with various banks. He likes to shift his cash around.”

“Does that mean my money is gone? Disappeared?” I was relying on that college fund.

“Not at all,” he mutters. “He thinks he’s clever, but he’s no match for Casey’s ‘Dosh Digger’ program.”

“Casey’s what?” I’m baffled.

“It’s based on banking software but with some interesting…refinements. With this, I can hack into pretty much any bank account and track where any deposit came from, and where he sends payments to.”

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