CHAPTER 23
I fixed my headscarf in place, checked the time on the dashboard – there was less than an hour to kick-off – then stepped out of my Porsche, making my way quickly across the crowded car park to his vehicle.
“Sasha,” he started, before I'd even shut his passenger door, “this isn't smart, meeting here like this.”
The neon lights of the cinema shone down on his car. “I don't care if anyone sees us at this point. Maybe people need to start talking before it's too late.”
“My kid's in there with her friends, watching some movie. She'll be out soon. I'm not happy about meeting like this-”
“I'm sorry, but this couldn't wait.” I touched his wrist. “I had to see you.”
He looked at me, hopefully. “You did, Sasha?”
“Yes, representatives of the consortium want me to meet with them. I'm trying to delay, but I have to know, Dex, have you found financial links between them and Drew?”
“Oh, you had to see me for information?”
Of course! “Maybe I missed you a little too,” I lied, flashing him a seductive smile I'd used on cameras around the world thousands of times before. “Please, tell me you've got something.”
“Not yet, Sasha, it's only Saturday-”
“Dex, I need something! The meeting's imminent!”
“I'm still trying. I need a few days.”
“A few days, Dex? I need something now.”
“Well, a couple of days. Hopefully. I'm trying my best, Sasha-”
“Have you seen today's paper?”
He nodded, his eyes drinking in the image of my crossed legs.
“Then you must realise how urgent things are.”
“Sasha, if you're accepting the bid, is this investigation even necessary anymore?”
I let out a long exhalation and leaned my legs away from him. “I only told one person I intended to sell the club.”
“I see, and they leaked the information?”
I nodded.
“Who was it?”
“DeShaun,” I said. “My so-called boyfriend. And, for the record, not only is this investigation absolutely necessary, but I'm not convinced about selling. Not at all.”
“You're not?” he asked. “The paper made it sound like a done deal.”
I shook my head.
“Then, Sasha, I implore you not to share any more information with Mr Wilkesboro, and to steer clear of him in future. It may harm any outcome of the deal.”
“You're saying I should end the relationship?”
“Of course. With what you just told me about him leaking information, I would've assumed you'd already done so, is that not the case?”
“I will,” I insisted, looking around the car park. “In fact, consider it done.”
“Then, listen, what about us having that drink together?”
I placed my palm on the door handle.
“How about tonight, after I drop my daughter home?”
“Dex, I have a football match to get to.” I spotted a ladder in my tights. “But, if you can get me that information I really need, I'll go for a drink with you.”
His lower lip quivered.
I got out of his car.
My first clue something wasn't right came as I drove back into Broxburgh and noticed a bigger build-up of traffic than usual for a match day, yet still I didn't think anything of it.
There were a few hoots of horns directed my way, but this wasn't strange as my Porsche often brought attention.
What I didn't realise was the total animosity behind it.
I neared the ground and realised there was a larger police presence. Cars were now bumper to bumper.
One cop signalled to me to roll down my window.
“Yes, officer?” I asked politely, leaning my head towards him.
“Ms Liu, yes?” he said.
I nodded.
“Yeah, we've a lot of activity at the ground. Rival protesters.”
I stupidly took rival as a sign of some support.
“I'd advise you to try parking somewhere else.”
“I can't get into the car park?”
He scowled. “They've blocked off the entrance...”
It was on the tip of my tongue to suggest the police should set about unblocking it then.
“... So we can't guarantee the safety of your vehicle. Please find somewhere else to park.”
I watched him walk away before I could get another word in, then the car in front pulled a couple of lengths ahead and I saw an opportunity to take a left into a side street. I parked the Porsche halfway down, between a van and a minicab, then got out, forgetting I was still wearing a headscarf.
I was about a quarter of a mile from the ground when I first heard the protesters.
They were chanting, shouting and even roaring.
I checked the time to make sure I wasn't mistaking the noise for the match already being underway.
I definitely wasn't. All this was coming from outside Lady Macbeth Park.
Then I spotted a man and a woman in front of me carrying signs.
His said 'WOKEISM OUT' and hers 'GO HOME SASHA'.
I tightened my headscarf.
There were more police outside the ground as I approached, each standing firm in something of a line but doing little to quell what was going on.
“Sell the club! Sell the club! Sell the club!” rang out the voices of a crowd dressed in Broxburgh FC home shirts.
'END GENDER EXTREMISM' was a sign amongst another group, some wearing suffragette colours, as were 'WOMEN'S SPACES FOR WOMEN ONLY' and 'SEX NOT GENDER' to name just a few.
Meanwhile, kept on the other side of the road by police, was the smallest group of the lot. Perhaps a dozen or less youths, making much less noise, shouting for trans rights.
Eggs splatted first at my feet, then one across the ladder in my tights. I was startled, and stopping walking.
“There's Sasha Liu!” screamed a voice.
I stopped on the spot.
A cacophony of cries rang out, as a mob of protesters flooded suddenly from the entrance to the car park in my direction.
Sheer terror took to my body in a way it never had before, erupting ice cold from head to toe. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. I couldn't comprehend the magnitude of hate.
“Give the club back to the people!”
“Leave our kids alone!”
“Stop fucking other men!”
A flock of police broke their lines and made a small, soft barrier between me and the surge of maniacal rage coming for me.
“Go back to where you came from!”
The police were having to hold them back, but there were more amongst the mob than the law.
“Go home, you freak!”
“I am home!” I squealed.
“Back to Thailand, ya wheure!”
“I was born in Scotland!” I screamed. “In Edinburgh!”
“Stop screwing our club!”
A beer bottled whizzed past my head.
“Stop screwing our players!”
A policeman was shoved and his shoulder inadvertently collided with my forehead.
“Take your tranny filth and fuck off, Sasha!”
“Nobody wants you here!”
“We fucking hate you, cunt!”
More police swelled from the entrance to where I was stood.
“Sell the club! Sell the club! Sell the club!” broke out again, quickly gaining a deafening momentum.
“Ms Liu,” snapped a cop. “We can't get you inside. Not safely.”
I was shaking.
“We need you to go.”
I couldn't take a step in any direction.
“Leave, please. For your own well-being.”
The mob surged again, shoving the police.
I was propelled several steps back on the heels of my stilettos.
“Ms Liu!” cried a voice to my right.
I swung my head to see the receptionist from the club.
She tried to get to me, but was stopped by two policemen.
“I know her,” I shouted. “Let her through!”
A football bounced off the head of a cop, eliciting laughter from the crowd.
“No trans here! No trans here! No trans here!”
The receptionist said something in my ear, but I couldn't hear her amid the panic within and the mania without. She seized my hand, pulling me backwards in retreat.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, trying to stop her.
“They'll kill you, Ms Liu!” she cried.
“I don't understand, what's happened?”
“Sell the club! Sell the club! Sell the club!”
“What's going on?” I asked.
“Real football! Real men! Real football! Real men! Real football! Real men!”
“There's rumours you rejected the takeover bid,” the receptionist said.
“I haven't!”
“Ms Liu, I need to get you out of here.”
“But what about the match?”
She forcefully dragged me away.
“I need to be with my club,” I said.
Cheers broke into chorus as the protesters watched me forced into retreat.
“Did you drive?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Where are you parked?”
I pointed back to where I'd walked from.
“I'll take you there, Ms Liu.”
I surrendered my stilettos to following her, my heart pounding just a little slower as the hatred behind me quelled, but I wanted to turn and face them. “I can't just walk away. I should be in there.”
“Ms Liu, it isn't safe. The match might not go ahead if you try to get in. The police have already warned us they don't have the numbers.”
“I can't understand this.”
“It's awful, I know.”
“Those rumours aren't true. This is insane. I should go back.”
“No, Ms Liu!” she said firmly. “I'm under orders to escort you away.”
I stopped.
She tried to pull me on.
I hauled my wrist free from her hand. “Who the fuck told you to escort me away?”
She hesitated.
“Tell me the fuck now.”
A sea of Stenhousemuir supporters crossed the road.
“Was it Kyle?” I demanded. “Drew?”
“No.”
“Willie McGlinchey?”
She shook her head.
“Who then?”
“It was DeShaun,” she said. “He's worried sick, Ms Liu.”
“He is?”
“He's only going along with what the police advised. He wanted to go outside and confront the crowd himself, but his team-mates stopped him. It could've blown up. Somebody might've got hurt. So I offered to find you and get you to safety, and he told me to do it.”
I looked back.
“Ms Liu, it's not safe out here.”
I could still hear the hatred in their voices as they chanted.
“We need to get to your car.”
I pulled my mobile out from my purse, but my hands were trembling. I couldn't even unlock it.
The receptionist took my free hand, pulling me after her once more.
“I can't work this,” I said. “My hands are shaking.”
“Give it to me,” she said.
I slapped the phone in her palm, as we turned into the side street where I'd parked. “I need you to call a number for me.” I heard my voice, little more than a quiver. “You need to speak for me.”
“Okay, what's your PIN code?”
I told her, then the number to call.
She tapped it in, then held the phone to her ear. “What am I saying to them?”
“Tell them under these circumstances the meeting needs to be postponed.”
She nodded. “It's ringing... Uh, Ms Liu, who is it I'm calling?”
“Her name's Isobel. She's a representative of the consortium behind the takeover. We're supposed to be meeting later.” I held up my shaking hands. “I'm not meeting them like this.”
The receptionist stared at me.
“What is it?” I asked.
She ended the call before it was answered, then handed the phone back to me. “Ms Liu, the consortium are already there.” She pointed back to Lady Macbeth Park. “They're ready to watch the match.”