Suddenly Eduardo stiffened.
‘Listen,’ he said sharply.
And above the thumping of her heart, Bella could hear a faint droning, like a Hoover in a far off room. Then it grew louder, buzzing like an angry wasp, coming nearer and nearer.
A helicopter, thought Bella. Thank God.
It was obviously taking its time, buzzing round and round overhead.
Eduardo swore softly. Both he and Ricardo went out to look. She could hear their anxious voices outside.
‘I think,’ she said to Chrissie, ‘we’ve been located.’
Pablo came and sat on guard in their room and picked up his book, but Bella noticed he was reading with unnatural slowness, his eyes fixed on the same place. Occasionally his fingers drummed on the back of the book, and he kept darting fearful glances towards the window.
They’re rattled, thought Bella joyfully. Really rattled.
Next door she could hear Eduardo gabbling away to Ricardo in Spanish. It was too fast for her.
‘What are they saying?’ she asked Chrissie.
‘They’re arguing about whether to make a bolt for it now, or wait until dark,’ said Chrissie.
Bella’s red and white dress was drenched in sweat. It was impossibly hot. Suddenly there was a flash, followed by a huge clap of thunder, and the storm that had been lingering for days broke over the house. Flash after flash filtered through the boarded-up window. The rain was falling like machine-gun fire on the roof.
People were crashing about next door. Oh God, they’re getting ready to move out, thought Bella. Perhaps we haven’t been discovered at all. Maybe the helicopter was just a farmer going home, or a politician returning to his constituency. Ricardo, probably for something to do, returned to his taunting and questioning.
‘We’ll cut off your foot, I think,’ he said. ‘And send it through the post to El Gatto.’
‘Wouldn’t go through the letter box,’ said Bella. ‘Lazlo’s always out anyway, so the Post Office’d have to send him one of those buff pieces of paper saying we have tried to deliver this foot several times; why not apply to Knightsbridge Post Office?’
She began to laugh hysterically, then clapped her hands over her mouth. She mustn’t crack up, she mustn’t.
Ricardo then tied up their hands and took them into the living-room. Everything had been tidied up, a couple of suitcases packed. Carlos was burning rubbish in the fireplace; Pablo was running a duster all over the furniture to remove the fingerprints.
There was a commercial on the wireless now, a girl’s voice crooning about men loving her shining, lustrous hair.
Lucky thing, thought Bella wistfully, remembering her long mane. What would Lazlo think when he got the parcel, she wondered. Would he be sorry, or just think how ugly she must be now? It’s what you are — funny, talented, beautiful — that matters. Oh, Lazlo, Lazlo. She felt the tears trickling down her cheeks.
Suddenly her musings were interrupted by the calm impassive voice of the newsreader.
‘News has suddenly come to light of a double kidnapping which began in London nine days ago, when Christine Henriques, the niece of Charles Henriques, chairman of Henriques Brothers, the banking firm, was seized as she was leaving her uncle’s house in Chelsea. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of two million pounds, but warned the family to raise the money privately and not to notify the police. Three days later, actress Bella Parkinson, who is engaged to Rupert Henriques, the son of Charles Henriques, was also kidnapped on her way home from the theatre, and the kidnappers stepped up the demand.
‘Today, however, there was a major breakthrough when one of the gang contacted the family with vital information about the whereabouts of the kidnappers and their victims. The men are all believed to be South American, and police have made important steps in tracing the men behind the kidnapping, both in England and South America. The kidnapping is not believed to be motivated by politics.’
There was a long pause, then everyone started shouting and swearing. Bella didn’t dare look at Chrissie.
‘They’ll kill us in a minute,’ said Chrissie in a shaking voice.
‘I don’t think so,’ said Bella. ‘We’re the only card they’ve got left.’
‘I can’t stand the tension,’ said Chrissie.
‘You’ve got to,’ said Bella. ‘Don’t upset them. All we can do now is wait.’
In the silence between thunder claps they heard the helicopter buzzing round again.
‘Come on,’ said Eduardo. ‘We’d better get the hell out of here.’ He put a blindfold over Bella’s eyes, tied it tightly. Then she felt herself being led down the stairs.
Oh why doesn’t Lazlo hurry, she prayed. If we leave here they’ll never find us.
They paused at the bottom of the stairs. Bella could sense the tension around her. The storm seemed to have stopped.
‘I’m going outside to see if the coast’s clear,’ said Carlos. He opened the door and shut it again.
‘What’s that?’ said Ricardo.
There was a crackling and they all jumped at the sound of a loudspeaker.
‘You are completely surrounded,’ said a voice. ‘Throw your guns out of the window. Send Bella and Chrissie out at once, alone, and then come out one by one with your hands up. Do not attempt to escape, or you will be shot down.’
‘They’re bluffing,’ said Eduardo. ‘I’m going to have a look.’ He put his head out of the door.
In answer, a semi-circle of floodlights flashed on, flaring between the trees in an arc nearly a hundred yards long.
‘Jesus!’ said Carlos. ‘We’re done for.’
‘No we’re not,’ said Eduardo. ‘They won’t shoot into the house for fear of killing Bella or Chrissie.’
A policeman moved forward from the lights. The next moment Eduardo opened up with a machine gun. Then he seized the terrified Chrissie, jammed the smouldering gun in her back and, dragging her upstairs, opened the window.
‘Go on,’ he hissed, jamming the gun further into her back, ‘or I’ll pull the trigger. Tell them to go away, that they’re not helping, and they’ve got to do anything we ask.’
‘Go away!’ screamed Chrissie. ‘They’ll kill us, they’ll kill us.’ Her voice dried up on a screeched whisper.
‘Tell them they’ve got to do what we tell them,’ whispered Eduardo. ‘We want a car to get out of here and a plane to take us to South America. Go on.’
‘You’ve got to do what they tell you,’ screamed Chrissie, repeating his message, then breaking down into hysterical coughing and sobbing.
There was total silence.
Eduardo pulled Chrissie inside and shut the window.
They all gathered in the living-room at the back, Bella and Chrissie tied up, Pablo keeping watch at the front, Ricardo with his gun trained on the two girls, Carlos and Eduardo discussing their next move.
Chrissie was still coughing and crying.
‘Don’t worry,’ whispered Bella. ‘They can’t hold out much longer. It must be over soon.’
Carlos found a further news bulletin on another channel. The kidnapping was again the lead story.
‘The hideout of the kidnappers has now been discovered,’ said the announcer. ‘A remote farmhouse just outside Haltby on the Devonshire coast. It has been completely surrounded by the army and the police. Police also know the names of the four kidnappers, and realize they are only the front for a much larger organization. Police and the army now have the whole area cordoned off and are preparing for a long siege.
‘A quarter of an hour ago, one of the gang appeared at the front door and shot at the police. Later a gunman held Miss Christine Henriques out of a first floor window at gunpoint. In considerable distress she appealed to the police not to threaten the gunmen and to agree to anything they ask for.’
Chrissie was coughing non-stop now.
‘For Christ’s sake shut her up,’ said Ricardo.
‘Why don’t you let her go?’ said Bella. ‘If she gets any worse, you’ll have a murder on your hands without trying.’
There was another crackling over the loudspeaker. Another voice was speaking now in fluent Spanish. Bella’s
