‘How often do you reach the negotiating stage?’
‘About 50 per cent of the time. That’s the point when you discover whether or not you’re dealing with professionals. The longer you can stretch out the negotiations, the more likely it is that amateurs will become anxious about being caught. And after a few days they often grow to like the person they’ve kidnapped, which makes it almost impossible for them to carry out their original plan. In the Peruvian Embassy siege, for example, they ended up holding a chess competition, and the terrorists won.’
All three of them laughed, which helped Maggie to relax a little.
‘Is it the pros or the amateurs who send ears through the post?’ asked Stuart with a wry smile.
‘I’m happy to say I didn’t represent the company that negotiated on behalf of Mr Getty’s grandson. But even when I’m dealing with a pro, some of the best cards will still be in my hand.’ Connor hadn’t noticed that his wife and daughter had allowed their coffee to go cold.
‘Please continue,’ said Stuart.
‘Well, the majority of kidnaps are one-off affairs, and although they’re nearly always carried out by a professional criminal, he may have little or no experience of how to negotiate in a situation like that. Professional criminals are almost always over-confident. They imagine they can handle anything. Not unlike a lawyer who thinks he can open a restaurant simply because he eats three meals a day.’
Stuart smiled. ‘So what do they settle for once they realise they’re not going to get the mythical million?’
‘I can only speak from my own experience,’ said Connor. ‘I usually end up handing over around a quarter of the sum demanded — in used, traceable notes. On a few occasions I’ve parted with as much as half. Only once did I agree to hand over the full amount. But in my defence, counsel, on that particular occasion even the island’s Prime Minister was taking a cut.’
‘How many of them get away with it?’
‘Of the cases I’ve handled over the past seventeen years, only three, which works out at roughly 8 per cent.’
‘Not a bad return. And how many clients have you lost?’
They were now entering territory even Maggie hadn’t ventured onto before, and she began to shift uneasily in her chair.
‘If you do lose a client, the company backs you to the hilt,’ said Connor. He paused. ‘But they don’t allow anyone to fail twice.’
Maggie rose from her place, turned to Connor and said, ‘I’m going for a swim. Anyone care to join me?’
‘No, but I’d like another go on the board,’ said Tara, eagerly assisting her mother’s attempt to end the interrogation.
‘How many times did you fall in this morning?’ Connor asked, confirming that he also thought it had gone quite far enough.
‘A dozen or more,’ said Tara. ‘That was the worst one.’ She pointed proudly to a large bruise on her right thigh.
‘Why did you let her go that far, Stuart?’ asked Maggie, sitting back down to take a closer look at the bruise.
‘Because it gave me the chance to rescue her and look heroic.’
‘Be warned, Stuart, she’ll have mastered surfing by the end of the week, and she’ll end up rescuing you,’ said Connor with a laugh.
‘I’m well aware of that,’ Stuart replied. ‘But the moment it happens I plan to introduce her to bungee jumping.’
Maggie turned visibly white, and quickly looked in Connor’s direction.
‘Don’t worry, Mrs Fitzgerald,’ Stuart added quickly. ‘You’ll all be back in America long before then.’ None of them wanted to be reminded.
Tara grabbed Stuart by the arm. ‘Let’s go, Superman. It’s time to find another wave you can rescue me from.’
Stuart leapt up. Turning to Connor, he said, ‘If you ever discover your daughter’s been kidnapped, I won’t be demanding a ransom, and I won’t be willing to settle — in US dollars or any other currency.’
Tara blushed. ‘Come on,’ she said, and they ran down the beach towards the breakers.
‘And for the first time, I don’t think I’d try to negotiate,’ Connor said to Maggie, stretching and smiling.
‘He’s a nice young man,’ said Maggie, taking his hand. ‘It’s just a pity he’s not Irish.’
‘It could have been worse,’ said Connor, rising from his chair. ‘He might have been English.’
Maggie smiled as they began walking towards the surf. ‘You know, she didn’t get home until five this morning.’
‘Don’t tell me you still lie awake all night whenever your daughter goes out on a date,’ said Connor with a grin.
‘Keep your voice down, Connor Fitzgerald, and try to remember she’s our only child.’
‘She’s not a child any longer, Maggie,’ he said. ‘She’s a grown woman, and in less than a year she’ll be Dr Fitzgerald.’
‘And you don’t worry about her, of course.’
‘You know I do,’ said Connor, taking her in his arms. ‘But if she’s having an affair with Stuart — which is none of my business — she could have done a lot worse.’
‘I didn’t sleep with you until the day we were married, and even when they told me you were missing in Vietnam, I never looked at another man. And it wasn’t because of a lack of offers.’
‘I know, my darling,’ said Connor. ‘But by then you’d realised I was irreplaceable.’
Connor released his wife and ran towards the waves, making sure he always remained just one stride ahead of her. When she finally caught up with him, she was out of breath.
‘Declan O’Casey proposed to me long before...’
‘I know, my darling,’ he replied, looking down into her green eyes and brushing back a stray wisp of hair. ‘And never a day goes by when I’m not thankful that you waited for me. It was the one thing that kept me alive after I’d been captured in ‘Nam. That and the thought of seeing Tara.’
Connor’s words reminded Maggie of the sadness she had felt at her miscarriages and the knowledge that she couldn’t have any more children. She had been brought up in a large family, and longed to have a brood herself. She could never accept her mother’s simple philosophy — it’s God’s will.
While Connor had been away in Vietnam, she had spent many happy hours with Tara. But the moment he returned the young madam had transferred her affections overnight, and although she remained close to her daughter, Maggie knew that she could never have the same relationship with Tara that Connor enjoyed.
When Connor signed up with Maryland Insurance as a management trainee, Maggie had been puzzled by his decision. She had always thought that, like his father, Connor would want to be involved in law enforcement. That was before he explained who he would really be working for. Although he didn’t go into great detail, he did tell her who his paymaster was, and the significance of being a non-official cover officer, or NOC. She kept his secret loyally over the years, though not being able to discuss her husband’s profession with her friends and colleagues was sometimes a little awkward. But she decided this was a minor inconvenience, compared with what so many other wives were put through by husbands only too happy to discuss their work in endless detail. It was their extracurricular activities they wanted to keep secret.
All she really hoped was that one day her daughter would find someone willing to wait on a park bench all night just to see her draw a curtain.
Chapter Seven
Jackson lit a cigarette, and listened carefully to every word the man from the White House had to say. He made no attempt to interrupt him.
When Lloyd eventually came to the end of his prepared piece, he took a sip of the acqua minerale in front of him and waited to hear what the former Deputy Director of the CIA’s first question would be.