‘Then my father should have gone to the police.’
‘Do you know what the statistics of surviving a kidnapping are, even if the ransom is paid?’
Hannah shook her head.
‘They’re not good, Hannah. Your father took the national line: you don’t deal with terrorists.’
‘They weren’t terrorists.’
‘They held a gun to yours and your mother’s heads and threatened to kill you if he didn’t pay the ransom. You got a better word for what they did?’
She looked down at the floor again. Taking it all in. Annabelle Weston had been like a second mother to her. Except that she had been betrayed all over again. She looked up, her face wet with tears once more.
‘I believed her.’
‘I know, Hannah. And she’s going to pay for it, I promise you.’
‘And you always keep your promises!’
‘I try.’
‘You promised to look after me.’
‘And it’s what I’m doing. You have the truth, Hannah. You have that, at least. What you do with it is up to you now.’
Hannah nodded, straightened herself and looked at me with something like determination in her eyes.
‘Okay,’ she said.
Chapter 98
‘The first tape you made you were play-acting, the second time you weren’t. What happened?’
‘Annabelle…’ Hannah caught herself, the name seemingly tasting like ash in her mouth. ‘She kept me at her flat. She came back excited with the news that my father was flying over.’
I nodded. It was pretty much as I had deduced.
‘She made some calls. Soon after that some people came.’
‘Who?’
‘I don’t know. A woman in a burka and two men with her. But they were deferential to the burka woman. They were like bodyguards.’
‘And what did they say?’
‘I don’t know. They all spoke in Arabic. At least, the women did. The men said nothing. Then they tied me up, properly this time, and left me in Annabelle’s study. She didn’t talk to me again.’
‘And there was nothing else you can remember?’
‘When they arrived the women hugged. It was a long hug, not as though they had just met. It seemed more than just a greeting.’
‘Like lovers, you mean?’
Hannah shrugged, pink spots of colour brightening her cheeks. ‘Maybe,’ she said quietly.
‘And did she say a name?’
‘They both said the same thing.’
‘Which was?’
‘It sounded like “cut min holby”.’
‘Holby? Like the TV show?’
‘Something like that.’
‘Kht Mn Qlby?’ said Del Rio, speaking for the first time in a long while.
Chapter 99
Hannah looked over at Del Rio. ‘Say it again.’
‘Kht Mn Qlby,’ he repeated and Hannah nodded.
‘That’s it. That’s what they both said.’
‘What does it mean?’ I asked Del Rio.
He shrugged. ‘“Sister of My Heart”. Something like that.’
‘Sounds like lovers to me,’ said Sam.
Del Rio grunted. I looked at Hannah. She was clearly conflicted: she had been in love with Annabelle Weston and now she was finding out that she had been betrayed in the worst possible way.
‘She said we’d be together when all this was over. She said she had to tie me up because things had changed. But she also said that she loved me, that she’d come for me.’
‘Believing someone loves you is not the worst crime in the world, Hannah,’ I said.
If Hannah heard me, then she didn’t register it. ‘And all the time there was someone else.’
‘Maybe not.’
I moved to the telephone console and requested a video conference with Sci. After a few moments of blank screen, the dull grey disappeared in a flurry of pixelation to be replaced with the image of Doctor Science sitting in his office.
‘What can I do for you, Dan?’ he asked.
‘Annabelle Weston had a relationship with Jesus Ferdinand…’
‘That’s correct.’
‘Can you check your records and see if he has any surviving relatives?’
‘Sure.’
His hands flashed over his computer keyboards with expert speed.
After a few moments the Doctor turned back to us. ‘His father died some years back and…’ He turned his monitor so we could see it and pressed some keys. A woman’s face filled the screen.
She was in her thirties and had almond-shaped eyes made enormous with kohl in a heart-shaped face. Her skin was the colour of caramel. She wore a scarf that draped loosely around her neck and framed her face.
She was beautiful.
‘His sister – Mary Angela Al-Massri.’
The Doctor clicked on some more keys and the picture was replaced with biographical data. ‘She’s living in England and she’s married to a member of the Palestinian General Delegation to the UK.’
Chapter 100
Sci’s hands flew over his keyboard once more. ‘I just mailed you the data.’
‘Thanks, Sci.’
‘De nada. We’re here twenty-four seven till we get the scientist home.’
A monkey scampered into view and jumped onto his lap. He patted its head affectionately.
He clicked on the keyboard and the screen went blank again. That’s another thing about the Americans that I like. They just hang up on you. No need for goodbyes. There’s a job to be done. Get on with it.
I pulled up the data he had sent. Mary Angela certainly was a striking woman.
‘“Sister of her heart”, Mary Angela said. Her brother was Annabelle’s heart. It was him she loved.’
I scrolled through the data on the screen. ‘The delegation’s based in Hampstead.’
‘Is it an embassy?’ asked Sam.
I shook my head. ‘Kind of. But Palestine isn’t an independent state. So it has the same kind of functions but without any real clout. It basically represents the interests of the PLO and the PNA.’
‘No diplomatic immunity,’ said Del Rio, getting to the heart of the matter.
‘So what do we do?’ asked Suzy.
I scrolled through the data. ‘Mary Angela’s husband – Youssef Saad Al-Massri – he’s a translator working for the delegation.’
‘Translator?’
‘Officially, anyway. Who knows? Could be Hamas.’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Del Rio.
‘Go on,’ I prompted him.
‘The way this whole thing has been conducted. Opportunistic. Reactive. Shifting goalposts as the situation changed.’
‘Yes?’
‘If Hamas are behind this or Palestine Islamic Jihad, or the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade or any of those other groups – then do you really think Hannah would still be sitting here?’ said Del Rio.
I looked across at Hannah, still shell-shocked, closed in on herself, her arms wrapped around her body, and realised that Del Rio had a point. She’d never have been found. Certainly not alive.
‘So we’re not dealing with one of the mainstream outfits?’
Del Rio shook his head.
‘Which is good, right?’ asked Lucy, speaking for the first time.
I looked at her and forced a half-smile, remembering what had happened when freelancers operating out of their area of expertise had kidnapped the girl and her mother before, and lied.
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘It’s good.’
Maybe it was. Maybe there was still time.
I turned back to the monitor and scrolled through the data. ‘Mary Angela’s husband lives out of the city.’
‘Where?’
‘Moor Park. West of London – a small estate between Northwood and Rickmansworth. One of the richest concentrations of real estate in the country.’ The translation game clearly paid more than I would have guessed. ‘They don’t know we’re onto them yet. But they must be figuring it’s a matter of time so I suggest we take the house in Moor Park.’
‘What about the delegation building?’ asked Sam.
‘I don’t see it. Like Del Rio says, this is most likely a freelance op. I’ll call Brad Dexter, though, get a team of boys to stake it out. Check anyone leaving.’
I snatched up the keys up from the table. ‘If he’s not in Moor Park we’ll come back and go in. They don’t have immunity, remember. Not from the law and definitely not from us.’