I knew we’d made the right decision when Ridley called out from the other side of the door.
“Stand back, or I’ll kill you.”
We retreated to the corner and waited. Would he notice our rain collection device? Or the empty jars? Hopefully not—my sweater was navy blue, and the food was all at the other end of the cellar.
The door creaked open and Ridley’s silhouette appeared at the top of the wooden stairs, gun in hand.
“Stinks in here.”
“Where else do you expect us to go to the toilet?”
He ignored my words and tossed two bottles of water in our direction. Now he thought hydration might be a good idea?
“Drink that, and then you’re going to make a video.”
“What kind of video?”
He threw a folded newspaper at me too. “Hold that up. You each give your name, the date, and say you’re okay.”
“What is the date?” I asked, just to check we hadn’t somehow lost a day.
“June twenty-fifth. Hurry up—I don’t have time to waste.”
“And what if we refuse?”
“Then I’ve got no further use for you, so I might as well shoot you right now. The girl first. You can watch her bleed to death.”
That was when I understood—Alaric had asked Ridley to prove we were alive before he’d pay a ransom. As long as we played along, he couldn’t kill us, not yet. He might need us again, hence the water. I wasn’t sure whether Alaric would actually pay the ransom or if he was just trying to buy time, but either way, he had a plan, and we had to play our part.
“All right, we’ll do what you want.”
The bottled water tasted like the finest champagne after what we’d been drinking. I offered half of mine to Rune, but she shook her head.
“You finish it.”
“What are you whispering about?” Ridley asked. “Quit stalling.”
I unfolded the newspaper and held it up. The Washington Post. Saudi Arabia was threatening war with Iran, and an experimental rocket promised to usher in a new era of space travel. At the moment, I’d settle for getting out of the damn basement.
Ridley almost blinded us with a torch beam, and I couldn’t keep the tremble out of my voice when I spoke.
“My name is Bethany Stafford-Lyons. It’s the twenty-fifth of June, and I’m okay.”
“My name is Rune Andi Manette-McLain. It’s June twenty-fifth, and I’m okay.”
The light went out, but Ridley kept pointing the gun at us as he backed towards the stairs. I saw it in silhouette.
“Hey, can we have some more water? Food?”
He didn’t answer, just jogged sideways up the stairs and slammed the door. The key turned in the lock with a loud click.
Brilliant.
I slumped against the wall, exhausted, and Rune undid our handcuffs again. We tucked them into our back pockets, ready to be put on again when Ridley came back. If he came back. Maybe we’d been abandoned for good? We’d barely slept, and we’d been rationing the food because we didn’t know how long it would need to last. Rune’s insulin was a bigger worry, though.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
She managed a faint smile, but I could see it was an effort. “I’m all right.”
“Rune Andi Manette-McLain. That’s a pretty name. Is the Manette part from your mother?”
Rune had barely spoken about her past, although she had told me a little about Thailand and taught me a few Thai phrases to while away the time.
“No, Andi Manette is a character from a book. She and her daughters got kidnapped and imprisoned in a cellar. When Alaric sees that video, he’ll know I’m trying to send him a message, and when he googles who Andi Manette is, he’ll realise where we’re stuck.”
“That’s genius.” For the first time since we got captured, I felt a real flicker of hope. Rune definitely took after her father. “He’ll need to narrow down the locations to search, but he’s smart. He’ll find us.”
“We might not need to wait that long.”
“What do you mean?”
Rune tiptoed over to the stairs. “I didn’t hear Ridley push the bolt across. Did you?”
Honestly? I’d been so frazzled after the video, I couldn’t say either way. But now that I looked, I couldn’t see the telltale shadow across the tiny gap between the door and the frame.
“I don’t suppose you know how to pick a lock?”
“Ravi taught me, but that one looks stiff. There might be an easier way.”
She picked up the newspaper and hurried up the stairs. When she got to the top, she spread the pages wide and slid the whole thing under the door, leaving only a tiny corner on our side. Next, she took one of her syringes and wiggled the capped needle into the lock. I heard the key hit the floor on the other side, and when Rune pulled the paper back towards us, there was the key. Wow.
“Ravi taught you that too?”
Rune nodded. “Should we leave now? Or wait a while?”
I didn’t know why she asked me—Rune was clearly the brighter one out of the two of us.
“Should we leave at all? We’ve sent a clue, and we’ve got enough supplies for another week at least. Longer if it keeps raining.”
“Ridley wants to kill us. If Alaric pays the ransom and doesn’t get to us in time…”
Rune didn’t need to spell it out.
But it was a risk. If we tried to escape and failed, if we got caught, then Ridley would be furious. The man had already murdered his own girlfriend, plus two employees and those people in Syria and Afghanistan, and Alaric said he had a terrible temper.
Could we afford to try escaping? Could we afford not to?
What would Emmy do in this situation? That was an easy one—she’d probably have tunnelled out of there with her bare hands already.
“Let’s listen for a minute or two and see if we hear any more
