I walked over to the door, and pressed my ear to it. I could hear muffled voices on the other side.
I sat down and rested my head on my knees.
“Shit!” I said.
I looked at my watch, and it was 2 pm. I just sat there, hoping and praying that someone would rescue me.
At 3 pm, the door opened, and I had given up hope of rescue.
“Out,” said the voice.
I put my shoes on and walked out, squinting in the bright lights.
There was just the black man and another older man. He was in a suit and looked quite smart.
“All right darling, it’s time you and me ‘ad a little chat,” he sounded as if he was straight off Eastenders on the TV.
I stared at him.
“Well?”
“Well what?” I said.
“Where’s Johnny, your Dad?”
I realised he was in no doubt as to who I was.
I shrugged. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him for weeks.”
“My employer is very anxious to speak to him. You see, he has over-run on an appointment.”
“You mean he hasn’t paid Frankie Holland eight million by the end of the month?” I said.
He stared at me. “So, you have seen the old man?”
“Yeah, as I said, several weeks ago. He said he was trying to raise some cash.”
“How do you contact him?”
“I don’t. I’ve seen him twice in six months, and one of those times I never got to speak to him.”
“No love lost there then?”
“He’s a useless bastard. He drove my Mum away and then did her in,” I said, seeing a strategy open up.
The man nodded.
“You look like your Mum.”
“So you knew her too?”
“No, I went to the house, I’ve seen the photos. Your Dad was smart trying to make us believe that you were a boy.”
I just looked at him.
“What do you want from me?”
“Not a fucking thing. You’re the bait. All we do is wait for your dad to come and rescue you and we’ll have him.”
“Can I watch?”
He frowned. “You hate him that much?”
“What do you think? He made me dress as a boy for ages, and killed my Mum. He fucked me up completely.”
The man laughed, but without any humour.
“Well, well, well. Johnny Lake’s little girl hates his sodding guts. What a turn up.”
“Can I speak to Frankie Holland?” I asked.
“Frankie? What for?”
“Maybe I can help you catch the bastard.”
He looked at me, his eyes narrowing.
“Frankie isn’t available. What can you give me?”
“Nothing. Frankie wants him, and I want to live my life, so why should I give you anything? It is Frankie or nothing.”
He nodded.
“Watch her,” he said to the black man. Then he walked out and I got a glimpse of a modern industrial estate in red brick.
I sat on the edge of a table, and looked around. There was nothing. No pictures no papers, just a table and three chairs. There were three windows, and each had blinds pulled down, and two bulbs hung from the ceiling. They were both on, despite the sunny day outside.
The man returned.
“Okay, we’ll go see Frankie, but fuck about and you’ll be sorry,” he said.
“Yeah, like I can take you and King Kong here by myself,” I said, and he grinned.
The hood was pulled over my head again, as I was taken out and down the stairs. I was half way over to the car when I heard a shout.
“ARMED POLICE. YOU WITH THE GIRL. DO NOT MOVE.”
I simply dropped like a stone, and started rolling towards the voice. I heard the smart man swear, and then there were about four shots.
“STAND STILL. DROP YOUR WEAPON.”
“STEP BACK.”
“TURN AWAY AND PLACE YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD.”
“ON YOUR KNEES.”
I heard running feet, and the hood was removed. I looked up to see Scott Collins looking down at me.
“What the fuck took you so long?” I said, and he grinned.
I turned round, and saw the black man lying in a pool of dark liquid. He was very still, and there was a small black pistol on the ground beside him. An officer was checking for signs of life. The other man was on his knees with his back to me, being searched by an officer with another pointing an MP5 H & K carbine at him. Another gun lay a few yards away from him and was being photographed by another of the officers.
“Shit,” I said.
Scott helped me to my feet.
“Come on, let’s get you out of here,” he said, taking me to a waiting Range Rover with blacked out windows. I jumped into the back, and we left there very fast.
They took me to a police station. I still had no idea where I was. Scott gave me a sweet cup of tea, and I found my hands were shaking.
Scott asked me if I wanted anyone present when I made a statement. I shook my head. A female Detective Constable came and I made my statement to her. I was quite specific about Frankie Holland’s name, and very precise about the threats that were made to me. I was clear about what I said and the reasons behind them.
I called Jenny to tell her that I was all right, and found that she was almost hysterical. I couldn’t cope with that right now, so I rang off.
Scott came in to the room.
“How are you doing?”
“Better now. Why did you wait for so long?”
“We’re in Sussex. I had to get my boss to call the local boss, and he had to call the Chief, who had to authorise his own firearms support unit, so we just sat tight watching the place. In the end, they made the decision to take them when we saw you were okay.”
“If you’d waited, they were taking me to Frankie.”
“We couldn’t take that risk. My job is to protect you, not nick Frankie.”
“I’m pleased you did, though,” I said.
“They didn’t hurt you?”
“No, they scared the shit out of me, but I wasn’t hurt.”
“Well, you’re okay now.”
“Frankie will be well pissed off,” I said.
“Not my problem.”
“So how’s King Kong?”
“Who?”
“The big black bloke.”
“Oh, he’s not good. They hit him with four bullets. He’s intensive care.”
“Shit. Was that you?”
“No, we were withdrawn in favour of the local boys. It gets embarrassing when the Met kill people on other Force areas.”
“Have you ever shot anyone?”
“Not yet, but I’ve only been on the section a few months.”
“I could.”
He looked at me.
“Really?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“But you won’t have to.”
“I hope not, but I could.”
“Come on, let’s take you home,” he said, leading me out of the police station.
“So what happened when I was grabbed?” I asked, as he started his car.
“Pete was watching, and there were three of them. They had you and were away before he could react. He called it in and kept the vehicle under observation, keeping a commentary up. The local chopper took over, so Pete dropped back. Once the helicopter saw where you stopped, the local police came and put in a containment. Then it was a waiting game, as no one knew whether you were alive or dead.
“Then out you came, hooded up, with those two blokes, so then it was all over.”
“You make it sound simple.”
“Any jobs with risks to life are never simple.”
“Thanks anyway.”
“No problem. It’s why we were there. At least we know the risk is genuine.”
I smiled.
“Yeah, just as well we didn’t go to France.”
I was quiet for most of the journey. I still didn’t know where they had taken me, some industrial estate nearer London, I think.
He pulled in at the hotel, and we went inside. Jenny was very anxious, and Scott calmed her down. He explained what had happened, and I could tell that John and Liz were having serious second thoughts about having me around.