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Sophia watched as some of The Drifters apprehended a few of the Death Division — including Groat. They also took her father. He was in no fit state to fight back. One of The Drifters — she thought it was Rainer — took out a cable tie and strapped her father’s hand behind his back, then bundled him onto the back of his bike.
Soon, her mother was on the back of another bike, and she was sitting behind Wolf. It was a quick operation, and Sophia couldn’t hear any sirens. When Wolf finally kicked the engine of his bike into gear, she finally felt as though she was back in her own body, in control of her actions.
And the first thing she did was to give her Daddy a long, hard squeeze.
CHAPTER 23
TWO MONTHS LATER
Surprises. Why did it always have to be surprises?
‘I can’t cope!’ Sophia struggled to keep the excitement out of her voice. ‘Please pleaseplease, can I just see?’
She heard her Daddy’s chuckle from nearby. Ugh, he was so infuriating. So wonderfully, perfectly, beautifully infuriating.
‘Nearly, nearly,’ he said in that rumbly, gravelly voice of his. ‘Just want to put the finishing touches to it…’
She was waiting, blindfolded, in her brand-new toy hospital. Ever since she’d completed the work on The Doctor — the final toy in the consignment from Clever Monsters — Sophia’s work had gone from strength to strength. She had a waiting list now — a queue of customers so long she’d even had to turn work down.
Her new toy hospital was amazing — she had a whole room in the attic of the building, with lots of windows for natural light and tons of space. There was ample storage for all her fabrics and tools, and everything was — for the first time ever — perfectly organized.
The only downside was that there weren’t any filthy urinals built into the space.
‘I’m impatient!’ she said, stating the obvious.
‘Really?’ Wolf asked, sarcastically.
‘Just… please…’
‘Fine, you ready? I’m sorry if I’ve made a bad job of this. I just know that if you’d had to do it, you’d never get round to it.’
What had he done?
She felt his hands untie the blindfold, and it fell away.
‘Oh my,’ she gasped. ‘Teddy.’
But he didn’t look like Teddy. Wolf had completely transformed her old bear. Gone were the stains and the scuff marks. The bear looked ten years younger. Not perfect, of course, and as a professional restorer, she could see small improvements that could be made. But truly, the job that Wolf had done — for an amateur — was incredible.
‘How did you do it?’ she asked, running her fingers over her beloved stuffie’s fur.
‘Had to find time where I could,’ he explained. ‘It was tough. But you deserve it. And I wanted to give it to you today.’
Sophia breathed in deep. Yep. Today. A big day.
‘Thank you,’ she said.
‘It’s to remind you that you own your past,’ he said. ‘Keep what serves you, lose what doesn’t.’
She threw her arms around her Daddy and kissed him hard on the mouth. His generosity was limitless, and — for a biker — he’d shown himself to be something of a romantic.
‘Right,’ he said, ‘we better get going. Don’t think the prison service likes you to be late.’
She nodded and felt the tightening of her lungs. It was going to be a tough day, but Wolf only knew the half of it.
The air here smelled strange. Even though Sophia had never visited a prison before, she almost felt like she had a memory of them. It was the smell of catering, the smell of school, the smell of hospitals, the smell of communal spaces.
Sophia sat at the smooth plastic table on her smooth plastic chair. She’d read and reread the rules for visits in the days leading up to it, and made sure that she did everything she was meant to.
