‘Mike, I’m being kidnapped! The reg is EF14 3DW!’
‘Open up now or I’ll put one in your leg!’ screamed the gunman.
‘All right, all right, I’m coming!’ she shouted, as much for Mike’s benefit as anyone else, then opened the door.
The gunman yanked her out by the arm and pushed her towards the one with the taser, who immediately discharged it.
The electric shock was all-consuming. Tina’s knees went from under her and she crumpled to the ground, landing on her side. She felt herself being picked up by several hands and dragged rapidly over to the open boot of the lead car. She just had time to see another gunman jump into her car, and then she was being lifted up and shoved inside like an unwieldy parcel, unable to do anything to resist.
Then the boot slammed shut and the world went dark.
‘Jesus Christ,’ said Bolt. ‘Tina’s been abducted.’
He and Mo were on the M3 eastbound, heading back to HQ. Mo was driving and Bolt was writing down the registration number Tina had given him in his notebook.
‘I thought we had people watching her,’ said Mo.
‘We’ve got a car watching her lawyer’s house 24/7, but she’s not under surveillance. We haven’t got the manpower for that, and anyway we’ve got her passport so she isn’t a flight risk. I didn’t think she’d be in danger.’ But even as he spoke the words, he knew he’d made a serious mistake.
‘Who do you think’s got her?’
‘I don’t know, but there’s a half-million bounty on Mason’s head and there are people out there who think she knows where he is. She managed to give me the reg of the car the kidnappers were driving. We’ve got to find it before she comes to any harm.’
45
Tina was trapped in the boot for what felt like an interminably long time. Her abduction had been highly professional. These guys knew exactly what they were doing. The most obvious suspects were the Kalamans – the same people who’d visited her in the office two days earlier. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. What they wanted was also pretty obvious. The question Tina was asking herself was, would she give up Ray?
And right at that moment, feeling scared, dizzy and claustrophobic, she wasn’t at all sure of the answer.
The car eventually stopped and she heard footsteps coming round the back followed by bright light flooding in as the boot lid was opened. Two sets of hands roughly pulled her out and she was forced to her knees and a hood placed over her head before she could properly take in her surroundings.
A voice spoke close to her ear in a rough London accent. She wasn’t sure but she thought it might be the man with the scar on his lip from her office. ‘You’ve got a reputation as a fighter so a word of advice,’ he said. ‘Put a lid on it this time. My friend’s got a gun pointed at you, he’s ex-army, and he’s got orders to put a bullet in your kneecap if you start playing up. But if you do what you’re told, you won’t get hurt. Nod to show you understand.’
Tina nodded.
She was lifted to her feet and marched inside a building with hard floors that smelled of grease and engine oil, the door shutting with a loud clang behind her. No one spoke as she was led through another door, and then a few seconds later she was pushed into a metal chair that felt cold against her bare forearms. Two thick straps were forced round her torso and arms, pulling them tight. Two more tied her to the chair’s arms and a final two were used to tie her to the legs. She was now completely helpless and it gave her a sick, cold feeling in her stomach.
‘What do you want?’ she asked, already knowing the answer.
But there was no reply, and she heard footsteps moving away from her, then the door shutting and a lock being turned. She tried to move around in the chair but it was held fast to the floor and her bonds were tight. The room was cool, and Tina suddenly felt very thirsty. Her only hope was rescue. Mike had the registration of the car they’d brought her here in and she hadn’t heard it being driven away. But any rescue would take time. They’d have to find the car, and it wasn’t like tracking a mobile phone. If there were no cameras in the vicinity then it would make their task almost impossible.
Was this the place where she would die? The Kalamans were ruthless enough to kill her, and once they’d extracted the information they needed, there really wouldn’t be much incentive for them to let her go. The thought scared her, but not as much as it would have done many years ago, before the job and her own innate self-destruct button had turned her life upside down. She’d been held at gunpoint before, too many times, and had always survived, but if this was the end, then so be it. It was a waste of life – that was the worst thing – but it wasn’t as if her life was worth that much any more, and at least it would mean that her family would be safe.
She just hoped it would be quick.
But right now, her abductors were taking their time. The minutes passed. She could hear the faint sound of muffled voices coming from outside the room, and an even fainter sound of traffic coming from somewhere further away. She wondered why they weren’t questioning her already. Maybe they wanted to let her stew for a while to make her more compliant. If so, it was working. Her thirst
