Balthazar watched Sarah kiss Alex goodbye. He took his son by the hand to the playground. ‘There are two people I want you to meet. They are coming for burgers with us. I hope that’s OK.’
Alex looked up at Balthazar. ‘Sure, Daddy. Who are they?’
Balthazar stepped into the playground. Jozsi looked up from his sandcastle and ran over to him. Balthazar introduced the boys to each other. ‘Jozsi, meet Alex. Alex, meet Jozsi.’ They shook hands with all the gravity of youth then ran off to the playground. After a few yards Alex stopped, turned around and sprinted back. ‘Who else are we meeting, Daddy?’
‘A lady, but not here, at the burger bar.’
Alex’s face lit up with excitement. ‘A lady. Is she your girlfriend, Daddy? Will I have three mummies now?’
Balthazar laughed, squeezed his son’s shoulder. ‘No. I don’t have a girlfriend.’
‘What’s her name?’
‘You’ll see.’
Balthazar sat on the bench that overlooked the playground. Jozsi and Alex were clambering up the sides of the brightly painted wooden train. He took out his mobile telephone and found the number he wanted. She answered after two rings.
‘Nice story,’ Balthazar said. ‘Your editors must be pleased.’
‘They are. Very,’ said Eniko. ‘How about you? Are you OK?’
‘I’m fine. I’m with Alex in the park on Freedom Square. We’re going for burgers.’ He smiled, stopped talking.
‘That sounds nice.’ She paused before she spoke. ‘I’ve hardly eaten today.’
Balthazar let the moment draw out for several seconds, listened to the sound of Eniko’s breathing before he asked, ‘Would you like to join us?’
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
District VIII has been many years in the making. I have written about Hungary and its neighbours in Central Europe and the Balkans since the change of system in the early 1990s. I have always been fascinated by the Roma and the near parallel universe in which many live, alongside wider society but not fully part of it, and by the fierce bonds of family and blood that unite them against a frequently hostile outside world.
Too often the stories I wrote were about exclusion: a wall in the Czech Republic to separate Roma people from their neighbours, heart-rending accounts of young Roma women sterilised against their will in Slovakia, Roma settlements with no running water, sewage system or electricity. But there is also good news, as a new generation passes through the education system and finds its voice as activists, politicians or simply in the professions, including the police. I was glad to attend an event several years ago at the British embassy in Budapest in support of the Hungarian Roma Police Union.
As well as my own experience I drew on several books: I Met Lucky People, by Yaron Matras, is a lively and informative guide to Roma life and history, while Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca, is an evocative journey through the world of the Roma. The European Roma Rights Centre, in Budapest (www.errc.org), is a valuable source of reports and analyses on Roma life. I am grateful to all those who shared their insider knowledge of Roma society, Budapest’s police and underworld.
My thanks go to my agents, Georgina Capel and Simon Shaps, for their steadfast support and for their belief in Balthazar Kovacs and District VIII. It has been a pleasure to work with the team at Head of Zeus: Nicolas Cheetham, Sophie Robinson, Clémence Jacquinet, Jessie Price, Blake Brooks and Louis Greenberg. Thanks also to Val McDermid and Andrew Taylor, my tutors on a crime-writing course at the Arvon Foundation, who strongly encouraged me to write what would become District VIII. I am especially grateful to the Society of Authors for a generous grant from the Authors’ Foundation. Thanks to Tamas Varga, Kitti Horvath and everyone at Central Gym in Budapest for lessons in various Krav Maga techniques which helped add realism to the book’s fight scenes. Clive Rumbold, a diligent reader and astute critic, read an early draft and made several helpful suggestions. A number of other friends helped along the way, especially Justin Leighton, Roger Boyes, Nick Thorpe, Pablo Gorondi and Peter Green, who accompanied me on several reporting trips in central Europe. My thanks most of all, to my ever supportive, patient and loving family: Kati, Danny, Hannah and my brother Jason.
Also by Adam LeBor
FICTION
Yael Azoulay thriller series
The Reykjavik Assignment
The Washington Stratagem
The Geneva Option
The Istanbul Exchange (short story)
*
The Budapest Protocol
NON-FICTION
Tower of Basel
The Believers
Complicity with Evil
Milosevic: A Biography
Surviving Hitler (with Roger Boyes)
Hitler’s Secret Bankers
A Heart Turned East
DISTRICT VIII
Pegasus Books Ltd
148 West37th Street, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2018 by Adam LeBor
First Pegasus Books hardcover edition June 2018
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ISBN: 978-1-68177-734-4
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