moment’s notice, glanced at her for a few seconds before going back to the television.
‘Is this the only place I can wait?’ she asked the guard commander.
‘You can wait in there if you want,’ he said, pointing to a small room across the hall. She walked to the room and stood in the doorway. It was a cell. There was a simple cot in one corner, a blanket folded neatly at one end of its stained mattress, with a clean pillow squared away on top of it. A sink was fixed to the wall in another corner and bars covered the tiny window near the ceiling. She looked back but the guard commander was already heading down the hall into his office.
She walked in to the immaculate cell, sat on the edge of the bed and put her face in her hands, holding it there as if trying to shut everything out for a moment. Hank remained at the forefront of her thoughts. She could not begin to imagine what might have happened to him. The night he left he had mentioned going on an exercise but she had paid no attention. She remembered him saying he didn’t know much.
The sound of the main door opening made her look up. A man was standing in the hallway looking at her, a Royal Marine officer in lovat trousers, woolly-pully and green beret. He was wearing the expression of someone who was uncomfortable with what they were about to do. She stood up as he approached.
‘Mrs Munro,’ he said with a sincere, warm smile as he stepped into the cell. ‘I’m Lieutenant Jardene.’ He held out his hand to her. There was something pleasant about the man. He was strong and forthright in manner. She offered her hand and he shook it.
‘I’m sorry we haven’t met before now. My wife tried to call you last week to invite you to a get-together but you must’ve been out. She called several times in fact. I’ve been trying to phone you myself. I drove to your house yesterday evening but I missed you again . . . I’m Hank’s team commander.’
‘Are you the commander of the SBS?’
‘No. I’m in charge of training. Hank is in one of the training teams.’
‘I want to see the commander.’
‘I’m afraid that’s not possible. He’s in London at the moment.’
‘What’s happened to my husband?’
Jardene looked back into the office where the duty corporal was looking up at them from his desk. Jardene closed the cell door, not completely, and stood opposite Kathryn in the confined space. ‘Mrs Munro. Your husband is missing. ’
‘So I’ve been told,’ she said, starting to raise her voice. ‘Where is he?’
Jardene raised his hand in a calming fashion. ‘I’ll tell you everything I can. Before I do you must understand one thing. What has happened is of a very sensitive nature. It is highly classified.’ He took a moment to consider his approach. ‘Your husband was involved in an operation.’
‘Operation? What operation?’
‘I’m not at liberty to discuss those details right now.’
‘Hank didn’t come here to get involved in any operations. He never said anything to me.’
‘Hank wasn’t meant to be on the operation. He was there as an observer.’
‘Where?’
‘I can only tell you what I’m allowed. Unfortunately something went wrong.’
‘Why can’t you tell me where?’
‘Because I can’t, Mrs Munro. Please try and understand. Everything will be revealed in good time.’
‘Has he gone to the Middle East? Is that where you sent him?’
‘No . . . ’
‘Where then?’ she insisted.
‘Please, Mrs Munro . . . Something went wrong and Hank was taken.’
‘Taken?’
‘Kidnapped.’
Kathryn couldn’t believe her ears. ‘Kidnapped?
Jardene gave her a moment to digest the news.
‘By whom?’
‘I’m afraid—’
‘By who, goddammit?’ she shouted, her voice almost painful in the concrete room.
‘Please, Mrs Munro. You have to show calm.’
She suddenly became as calm as he asked, but it was a dark, calculating calm. ‘Now you listen to me,’ she said. ‘If you don’t tell me where my husband is, what happened to him, who’s kidnapped him, I’m gonna walk out of here and go to the police, I’ll get a lawyer, I’ll go to the damned newspapers. I’ll kick up such a ruckus between here and the US you’ll have to tell the whole goddamned world what happened to him, not just me.’
‘Please, Mrs Munro. That wouldn’t be wise.’
‘What are you gonna do to stop me? Lock me up in here?’
‘No one is going to lock you up, Mrs Munro. If you go public with this it can only worsen matters for your husband.’
‘Bullshit! Tell me where he is!’ she shouted. ‘Tell me!’
Jardene was not equipped to deal with this kind of situation. Give him a battlefield, an enemy, exploding shells, raking machine-gun fire and he would feel confident, but a hysterical woman was another matter.
‘Mrs Munro—’
‘Would you step aside please. I’d like to leave now.’
Jardene remained blocking the doorway.
‘I said I want to leave now.’
Jardene was in an awkward situation to say the least. He had to deal with this here and now. It was his responsibility but Kathryn did not appear to be in any mood to negotiate. ‘Mrs Munro—’ he started again, but she cut him off.
‘If you’re keeping me in here against my will I want that soldier outside to tell me. Guard!’ she shouted. ‘Guard!’
‘Mrs Munro,’ Jardene said, raising his voice, trying a touch of male domination as a last effort. The door pushed open gently and the guard commander stuck his head in.
‘Is everything okay, sir?’ he asked.
‘Yes, Corporal, thank you.’ Jardene reinforced his comment with a look that conveyed the woman was being difficult but he could handle it.The corporal nodded, glanced at Kathryn, then withdrew. Jardene closed the door completely this time. Kathryn looked at him defiantly.
‘Okay,’ Jardene said, sighing deeply. ‘Will you assure me that you’ll keep this in confidence. I’m serious when I say it could harm your husband if it got out.’
‘I’m not going to do anything that will hurt my husband.’
‘Your husband’s been kidnapped by people who, well, people I would have to describe as terrorists.’
Kathryn listened quietly, absorbing every word.
‘They obviously thought he was one of ours,’ Jardene continued. ‘Hank found himself in a situation he should not have been in. It was as much our responsibility he was in that position. He ended up isolated and was abducted. Now, we fully expect that when the kidnappers realise their mistake they’ll let him go.They have no reason to hold an American. It doesn’t serve them any purpose.’
Jardene felt he had revealed more than enough and waited for her reaction.
‘That’s it?’ she asked.
‘I can’t tell you more than that I’m afraid. Perhaps in a day or two . . . ’
‘Well, I’m sorry but that’s not good enough. If you can’t tell me, then perhaps you’ll tell a lawyer or the newspapers.’
‘Mrs Munro—’
‘Where was he kidnapped?’
Jardene was being outgunned and he knew it.‘A European country,’ he said.
‘Eastern Europe?’ she asked.
‘Western.’
That was a surprise to her. ‘What were you guys doing?’
‘There are some things that lawyers and newspapers will never be told.’
