Free Run for Home by Dan Latus

as head of state. Coalition governments can come and go, but he sees himself as the Great Protector of the Czech Nation.’
    ‘Something like that,’ Lenka said, putting a hand to her mouth to cover a yawn. ‘He’s nothing like Havel, though. Maybe his ideas will work. I don’t know. Tell me about your daughter, Harry.’
    The change of tack caught him off guard. He sighed, but he knew he couldn’t put Lenka off any longer, not if he wanted to retain her support.
    ‘She is called Lisa.’ He shrugged. ‘You were right. She is 7 years old now, and looks exactly how Marika would have looked at that age.’
    ‘So she is beautiful?’
    ‘Of course!’ He smiled. ‘Despite her father, she is beautiful. If her mother could see her now, she would be very proud.’
    ‘Marika’s death was a tragedy,’ Lenka said with a sigh. ‘We still don’t know if that car crash was a genuine accident.’
    Or something else, she meant, as some still believed the road crash that had killed poor old Alexander Dubček, the country’s first post-1989 president, had been. But he just nodded. By now it scarcely mattered. Nothing would bring Marika back.
    ‘Marika wasn’t the only officer we lost in those days,’ Lenka added.
    ‘Was there a pattern?’
    ‘Not that we could see.’ She shook her head and asked, ‘Where does Lisa live?’
    He squirmed a little over that one. They were getting close to things with the potential to hurt, things that no one at all had been told.
    ‘I know she isn’t with you,’ Lenka pressed gently.
    ‘No, she isn’t.’ He shook his head. ‘I’ve told no one where she is, deliberately. I’ve kept her out of it.’
    ‘I understand.’
    But things had changed, apparently. Lisa’s existence was known now, at least to some people.
    He shrugged. ‘She lives here, in Prague.’
    ‘So that you can see her?’
    ‘Occasionally. If it’s safe.’
    ‘And is that why you are still here?’
    ‘A large part of it,’ he admitted. ‘I could probably have moved on if I had pressed for it.’
    Jan Klaus arrived with their soup, some rough bread and two more glasses of beer. All talk of Lisa was suspended untilhe had departed.
    ‘We believe people know she is here,’ Lenka said when the conversation resumed. ‘They are looking for her.’
    He stared at her. ‘They can’t be!’
    ‘There are indications,’ she said with a shrug. ‘Communications, messages, that suggest it.’
    It was deeply worrying. He rubbed his face with his hands and uneasily thought it over. Could they find her? Was it possible?
    ‘But what could anyone possibly want with her?’ he asked.
    Lenka shrugged. ‘To put pressure on you?’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Perhaps you are in somebody’s way?’
    He shook his head and glanced distractedly at a TV behind the bar. Manic dance scenes and unwelcome noise poured from it. He turned away and drank some beer. He was thinking furiously about what Lenka had just said.
    If people were looking for Lisa, perhaps the time had come to move her. He could take her back to England with him now, which was what Lisa had long wanted. But if that was to happen, he would have to give up the idea of investigating why Unit 89 had been wiped out, never mind all thoughts of avenging Landis and the others. Well, realistically, there never had been much chance of him doing that anyway.
    Lenka give a little gasp. A spoon dropped from her fingers to clatter on the floor. He glanced at her. She was staring over his shoulder.
    ‘What is it?’
    She pushed her chair back, stood up and set off across the room. He turned, stared wide-eyed at the television screen for a moment and leapt to his feet, his heart beating wildly.

Chapter Fourteen
    The woman behind the bar had switched channels to catch a news bulletin. A photograph, a headshot, dominated the screen: it was of Lisa. No question about it.
    Harry stumbled forward and caught the tail end of the opening commentary. A little girl was missing, believed