Page 45 of A Life Imagined
Mathias passed it to him through the open window.The guard asked where they were going and what was the purpose of their trip.Mathias provided a spare account, his expression bored yet his tone polite.
“You.”The guard pointed a thick finger at Rayan in the passenger seat.“ID.”
Rayan held out his driver’s license, but the man shook his head.
“I want to see your national identity card.”
Rayan returned the license to his wallet and removed his CNI.
The guard inspected the card as though he’d never seen anything like it before.“You live in France?”
“Yes.”
“But that’s not where you’re from.”
“Are you asking where I’m from?”
The guard made a face like Rayan had spat in his coffee.“I’m the one asking the questions.”
Rayan kept his voice measured.“I’m from Quebec.”
“Is that where you were born?”
“Yes.”
Mathias let out a frustrated sigh.“Is the problem that he lives in France or that he comes from Canada?”He gave the guard a pointed look.“Perhaps the real issue is that you don’t think he belongs in either.”
The guard held Mathias’s gaze.“It’s my job to be thorough.”
“Of course.Would you like to see my identity card?”Mathias asked.“I have it right here.”
“That won’t be necessary.”The guard handed back Rayan’s CNI with a scowl and indicated for them to drive on.
As Mathias drove through the border crossing, his eyes flicked to the guard in the rearview mirror.“Fucking idiot,” he muttered.Then he turned to Rayan.“Your face was so distracting he didn’t bother looking in the truck.Maybe we should try that on the way back.”
Rayan could still hear his heart pounding in his ears.“No.Let’s not.”
It was another eight hours before they reached Korczowa.Rayan was beginning to feel the effects of almost two days on the road.He couldn’t imagine what Farhan had been through, making this journey against his will and not knowing what would happen to his daughters back in Calais.Rayan remembered how adamant Farhan had been that Amina and Zahra be given a chance at a new life so that his wife’s death wouldn’t be in vain.They had to find him.Rayan couldn’t go back empty-handed.
By the time Mathias drove the truck through the small Polish village, it was late afternoon.They continued out of town and along a single-lane road flanked by grassy fields.Above them, the sky began to darken.
At one point, Mathias pulled over to check his phone.He let out a string of curses as he realized they’d missed the turnoff.Mathias turned the truck around and headed back the way they’d come, slower now, peering out the window for any sign of the dirt road that would lead them Zabawski.Rayan spotted it first, and they veered off onto a crude gravel driveway.
At the end of the driveway was an old, weathered farmhouse, and behind it in the distance, two large grain silos came into view.Smoke curled from the chimney of the house, and Rayan could see light through the gaps in the curtains.Someone was home.
Mathias parked the truck out front, and they both got out, limbs aching, their shoes crunching on gravel.The door to the cottage opened, and a man moved into the doorframe.He was older than Rayan had expected, his dirty-brown hair streaked with gray.He had a curved nose that turned down at the end and dark eyes that squinted as Rayan and Mathias approached.Out of instinct, Rayan zeroed in on the pistol tucked into the man’s belt and was immediately on edge.
“Beauvais?”
“Zabawski?”
The two men shook hands, and Mathias instructed Rayan to retrieve the box from the cab of the truck.Zabawski ushered them into the house, and Rayan set the box down on the dining table.Aside from two scuffed wooden chairs, the room was empty.Zabawski disappeared into the hallway and returned moments later with a dull steak knife.He used it to open the seal on the box and pulled out six pristine bottles of amber liquor.
He made an approving noise and spun one of the bottles in his hand.“Louis XIII?This would’ve set you back.”
“A token of our appreciation,” Mathias said.
The Polish gangster held the distinctive curved decanter up to the light.“Beautiful,” he murmured.Then he placed the bottle on the table and gestured for them to follow him.
