THIRTEEN
The hours passed slowly with the mixture of tension and boredom that I imagined soldiers felt when waiting for battle. Half of the time my pulse rate was up in the stratosphere, half the time I felt like sleep. At only one point did the watch jerk from stand-by to nerve-racking, and that was at midday.
For most of the morning I had been listening to the bug on the lower of the two floors, not parking the whole time in one place but moving about and stopping for a while in any of the streets within range. The two kidnappers had repeated a good deal of what we'd already heard; grouse, grouse, shut up.
Dominic at one point had been crying.
'The kid's whining,' the first voice said.
I switched to the top floor bug and heard the lonely heartbreaking grizzle, the keening of a child who'd lost hope of being given what he wanted. No one came to talk to him, but presently his voice was obliterated by pop music, playing loudly.
I switched to the lower bug again and felt my muscles go into knots.
A new voice was speaking. '… a bloke sitting in a car a couple of streets away, just sitting there. I don't like it. And he's a bit like one of the people staying in the hotel.'
The first-voice kidnapper said decisively, 'You go and check him out, Kev. If he's still there, come right back. We're taking no bleeding risks. The kid goes down the chute.'
The second-voice kidnapper said, 'I've been sitting at this ruddy window all morning. There's been no one in sight here, sussing us out. Just people walking, out looking.'
'Where did you leave the car?' Kevin demanded. 'You've moved it.'
'It's in Turtle Street.'
'That's where this bloke is sitting.'
There was a silence among the kidnappers. The bloke sitting in the car in Turtle Street, his heart lurching, started his engine and removed himself fast.
A red light on Tony's radio equipment began flashing, and I pressed the switch to talk to him. 'I heard,' I said. 'Don't worry, I'm on my way. Talk to you when I can.'
I drove a mile and pulled up in the car park of a busy pub, and bent my ears to catch the much fainter transmissions.
'The bloke's gone,' a voice eventually said.
'What do you reckon, Kev?'
The reply was indistinguishable.
There hasn't been a smell of the Force. Not a flicker.' The first-voice kidnapper sounded as if he were trying to reassure himself as much as anyone else. 'Like Peter said, they can't surround this place without us seeing, and it takes eight seconds, that's all, to put the kid down the chute. You know it, I know it, we practised. There's no way the police would find anything here but three blokes having a bleeding holiday and a little gamble on the cards.'
There were some more indecipherable words, then the same voice. 'We'll both watch, then. I'll go upstairs, ready. You, Kev, you walk round the bleeding town and see if you can spot that bloke hanging about. If you see him, give us a bell, then we'll decide. Peter won't thank us if we panic. We got to give the goods back breathing, that's what he said. Otherwise we get nothing, savvy, and I don't want to have gone through all this aggravation for a hole in the bleeding pocket.'
I couldn't hear the replies, but first-voice seemed to have prevailed. 'Right then. Off you go, Kev. See you later.'
I went inside the pub where I was parked and ate a sandwich with fingers not far from trembling. The low profile, I judged, had never been more justified or more essential, and I'd risked Dominic's life by not sticking to the rules.
The problem with dodging Kevin was that I didn't know what he looked like while he could spot me easily, and probably he knew the colour, make and number of my car. Itchenor was too small for handy hiding places like multi-storey parks. I concluded that as I couldn't risk being seen I would have to give the place a miss altogether, and drove by a roundabout route to reach Itchenor Creek at a much higher point, nearer Chichester. I could no longer hear the bugs, but hoped to reach Tony down the water; and he responded to my first enquiry with a faint voice full of relief.
'Where are you?' he demanded.
'Up the creek.'
'You've said it.'
'What's happened in the house?'
'Nothing. Whatever that chute is, the goods have not yet gone down it. But they're still quivering like effing jellyfish.' He paused. 'Effing bad luck, them having their car in that street.'
He was excusing me. I was grateful. I said, 'I'd been there only ten minutes.'
'Way it goes. Kev is back with them, incidentally.'
'I'll be here, if you need me.'
'OK,' he said. 'And by the way, it was the one called Peter who picked the goods up. Sweet as a daisy, they said. Peter 'phones them every day and apparently might go there himself tomorrow or the day after. Pity we can't wait,'
'Too risky.'
'Yeah.'
We agreed on a time and place for me to meet him, and switched off to conserve the power packs he had with him in the boat. Listening to the bugs was far more important and, besides, drained the batteries less.
There was always the slight chance with radio that someone somewhere would be casually listening on the same channel, but I reviewed what we'd said and thought it wouldn't have enlightened or alarmed anyone except the kidnappers themselves, even if we had, on the whole, sounded like a couple of thieves.
I stayed by the water all afternoon, in or near the car, but heard no more from Tony, which was in itself a sign that the status was still quo. At a few minutes to five I drove inland to the nearest telephone box and put a call through to Eagler.
He was off duty, the station said. What was my name?
Andrew Douglas.
In that case, would I ring the following number?
I would, and did, and he answered immediately. What a terrific change, I thought fleetingly, from my disaster with Pucinelli's second in command.
'Can your men work at night?' I said.
'Of course.'
'Tony found the kidnappers,' I said.
'I don't believe it!'
'It should be possible for you to arrest them.'
'Where are they?'
'Er,' I said. 'They are extremely alert, watching for any sign of police activity. If you turn up there too soon it would be curtains for the boy. So would you - um - act on our suggestions, without questioning them, and positively, absolutely not altering the plan in any way?'
There was a fair pause, then he said, 'Am I allowed to approve this plan, or not?'
'Er… not.'
Another pause. 'Take it or leave it?'
'I'm afraid so.'
'Hm.' He deliberated. 'The kidnappers on your terms, or not at all?'
'Yes,' I said.
'I hope you know what you're doing, laddie.'
'Mm,' I said.
A final pause, then he said, 'You're on. All right. What's the plan?'
'You need enough men to arrest at least three people,' I said. 'Can you get them to your Chichester main police station by one in the morning?'
'Certainly.' He sounded almost affronted. 'Plain clothes or in uniform?'
'I don't think it will matter.'
'Armed or not?'
'It's up to you. We don't know if the kidnappers have guns '
'Right. And where are my men to go?'
'I'll call you with directions after one o'clock.'
He snorted. 'Not very trusting, are you?'
'I do trust you,' I said. 'Otherwise I wouldn't be setting this up for you at all.'
'Well, well,' he said. 'The iron man in the kid glove, just as I rather suspected. All right, laddie, your trust won't be misplaced, and I'll play fair with you. And I'll tear the both of you to shreds if you bungle it.'
'It's a deal,' I said thankfully. 'I'll call you at the station.'
I went back to the water to wait but heard no squeak from Tony; and long after it had grown dark I drove to where we'd agreed to meet, and transferred him and his equipment from boat to car.
'They simmered down a bit in the house,' he said. 'They had a 'phone call from Peter, whoever he is, and that seemed to steady them a bit. Pity I couldn't have fixed a tap on the telephone. Anyway, Peter apparently told them to carry on with the look-out and not dump the boy unless they could see the police outside.' He grinned. 'Which I hope they won't do.'
'No.' I stowed the power packs from the boat beside a large, amorphous canvas bag. 'Our friend Eagler promised. Also…' I hesitated, 'I've thought of another safeguard.'
'Tricky, aren't we?' Tony said, when I told him. 'But yes, we can't afford a balls-up. Want a nut bar? Good as dinner.'
I ate a nut bar and we sat quietly and waited, and a good while after one o'clock I telephoned Eagler and told him when and where to bring - and conceal - his men.
'Tell them to be silent,' I said. 'Not just quiet. Silent. No talking. No noisy feet. Absolutely silent.
'All right.'
'Wait for us, for Tony and me. We will come to meet you. We may be a long time after you get there, we're not sure. But please wait. Wait in silence.'
'That's all you're telling me?' he said doubtfully.
